Articles

Shuttle Columbia: The Perils of Powerpoint
Paul Dombrowski, University of Central Florida

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) that was empowered to investigate the causes of the loss of shuttle Columbia found that NASA often used viewgraph and PowerPoint slides to present complex information that was used to render important technical judgments. These technologies, however, had the effect of obscuring key information and hampering effective decision-making.

Academic and Practitioner Perspectives on Essential Works in Technical Communication
Gerald J. Alred, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

As I began to create categories for a list collected from many academics and practitioners, I discovered a dramatic difference in the works valued by the two groups. While some works were valued by both practitioners and academics, I also found a clear dividing line between works recommended by academics and those recommended by practitioners.

Reviews

Communication Reference Books for Engineers and Scientists
Charlotte Kaempf, University of Karlsruhe

Over the past years, many reference books have been published for various science and engineering disciplines. Based on publishers’ descriptions, I selected four for review.

Announcements

Message from the ATTW President: Recent Changes and Thanks

It’s hard to believe as I write this farewell that two years have gone by since I became ATTW president. While those two years have brought much change to me personally and professionally (a change in jobs and new locale!), the two years have also brought significant changes for ATTW.

ATTW 2005 Annual Conference Program

You are invited to join us for the

ATTW 2005 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16
8:30 AM - 8:00 PM
MOSCONE CENTER,
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

Methods Roundtables: Basics and Beyond in Technical Communication at CCCC

New and experienced teachers of technical communication are invited to choose one of six roundtable discussion groups on specific methods for handling a range of traditional and emerging curricular topics.

EngiComm: Writing Across the Engineering Curriculum at CCCC

This session focuses on issues of interest to faculty and researchers who work in the field of engineering communication.

Computers in Writing-Intensive Classroom (CIWIC) Invitation

Persons interested in higher education and K-12 writing instruction, composition, communication, new media, and pedagogies incorporating technology, are invited to a suite of summer institutes from June 1-14, 2005.

CFPs

Multimedia Composition: Pedagogies, Production, Possibilities

The guest editors invite articles that address the nature and circumstances of multimedia composition.

The Future Direction of Academic Programs and Pedagogy

Carol Barnum of Southern Polytechnic State University has agreed to serve as guest editor of this second special issue to be published in August 2006.

Corpus Linguistics for Professional Communication

A special issue of IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (September 2006) will be devoted to research in corpus linguistics for professional communication.

Special Issues of Technical Communication Quarterly

The Association of Teachers of Technical Writing is seeking proposals for special issues of its journal, Technical Communication Quarterly (TCQ).

Department of Rhetoric
University of Minnesota
64 Classroom Office Building
1994 Buford Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108