Table Of ContentCommunication on and via Technology
Text, Translation,
Computational Processing
Edited by
Annely Rothkegel and John Laffling
Volume 10
Communication
on and via
Technology
Edited by
Annely Rothkegel and Sonja Ruda
DE GRUYTER
MOUTON
ISBN978-3-11-026025-0
e-ISBN978-3-11-026027-4
ISSN1861-4272
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Contents
Introduction VII
I. Technological knowledge in communication
Annely Rothkegel
Communication on technology: Meeting point of theory and practice 3
Franck Ganier
Cognitive models of processing procedural instructions 39
Sonja Ruda
How can the user be provided with the “right” questions and
answers? 65
Karl-Heinz Pogner
A social perspective on writing in the workplace: Communities of Discourse
(CD) and Communities of Practice (CoP) 83
II. Information transfer through language(s) and pictures
Klaus Schubert
Technical communication and translation 111
Colette Cortès
The class building potential of adjectives as used in German technical and
advertising texts in a mail order catalogue 129
Clemens Schwender
Instructional illustrations: Waypoints in the historical development 147
III. Relationships between technology, communication and culture
Vasco Alexander Schmidt
Software documentation: The role of computers as a means, tool and
medium 177
VI Contents
Marc Hermeking
Cultural aspects of technology and documentation: Contributions from the
field of intercultural communication 203
Gerhard Banse and Andreas Metzner-Szigeth
Cultural diversity and new media – their interaction as an element of
European integration: Elaborating a European research network 217
Biographical notes 259
Index 263
Annely Rothkegel and Sonja Ruda
Introduction
Technology andcommunication areclosely relatedto eachother. Thisanthol-
ogy focuses on the role of communication. Without it, in the exchange of
knowledge, there would be no technical innovations. The use of technology,
supported by documentation, would not be successful without communica-
tion. Similarly technology supports communication, which – independent of
time and space – develops into new forms. The globalized trade brings about
questionsthatstressthecharacteristicsoflanguagesandculturesattheinter-
section of technology and communication. Technical artifacts play an impor-
tant,oftencentralroleinalmostallareasoflife.Inbotheverydaylifeandthe
professions we live in contact with technology in form of its products. They
determine the course of our actions, and not seldom even our objectives.
Simultaneously communication communities establish which, in turn, gener-
ate communicative products and use or work with them. The scientific study
of the phenomena resulting in this tension opens up horizons that cut across
conventional disciplines and combine them.
Thedealingwithtechnologicalknowledgeindocumentedcommunication
canbetracedbacktothedistantpast.Thuspresenttechnicaldocumentations
combine traditions of descriptions with legal and normative requirements on
theonehandandwithstandardizationtendenciesbasedonthesoftwaretools
employedforthedocumentationworkontheotherhand.Theprofessionaliza-
tion of the documentation work has produced two threads of interest. These
are the practice (in and for companies) as well as research in the disciplines
which are thematically involved. Further included are Linguistics, Translation
Science, Media Science, Intercultural Communication, Cognitive Psychology,
Sociology,ComputerScience,Mathematics,TechnologicalPhilosophy.Thedif-
ferent perspectives on the reference range “industrialized real world” bring
into bear characteristics of communication that are indispensable for dealing
withtechnicalartifacts.Theyareclusteredinthreelines:thetransferoftechni-
cal knowledge through communication (Chapter 1), the role of sign systems
likelanguageandvisualimagesforthetransferofinformation(Chapter2)and
finally the relations between technology, culture and computerized communi-
cation (Chapter 3).
Chapter 1 addresses communication problems related to the transfer of
knowledge.ThearticlebyAnnelyRothkegelexaminesthetensionofcommu-
nication on technology between theory and practice. A variety of meeting
points are discussed from a text-linguistic perspective: knowledge in the mix
VIII Introduction
of expert and common knowledge, acting with and through technology, texts
as communicative means of transferring knowledge as well as the cultural
character of using and documenting technology.
In a cognitive-psychological approach, Frank Ganier first outlines differ-
entmodelsfortheprocessingofproceduralinstructionswhichareunderstood
as a component of a user document equipment interaction. His own research
yields the interactive model which – unlike the linear concepts of reading,
understanding and the subsequent performing of action steps – consists of a
complexmentalmodelofpreviousknowledge,actionplanandthemonitoring
of error corrections. Apart from theory development the model also aims at
improving training for the practice of writing and reading technical docu-
ments.
The question of what kind of knowledge is regarded as necessary and
preferable in instruction texts or the way of determining this knowledge is
explored by Sonja Ruda from a linguistic-cognitive perspective. She outlines
amethodforascertainingknowledgeandproblemswhichcanbeemployedto
systematicallycarryoutexpertanduserinterviewsandintegratetheminterms
oftheascertaineddata.Theresultingtranscriptionsanddocumentationscon-
stituteareliablebasisfortherightquestionsandanswerswhich,inturn,form
the foundation for creating user-oriented instruction documentations.
Knowledge production, closely related to text production, is the topic of
thesociolinguisticapproachofKarl-HeinzPogner.Heappliesthecomparison
oftheconceptsofdiscourseandpracticecommunitiestothreecasestudiesin
thecontextofDanishenterprisesandauniversityinstitute.Thisresultsinthe
realization that, depending on their type, communities function differently as
contexts for the text and knowledge production. Consequences arising for the
practiceattheworkplaceontheonehandandforresearchontheotherhand
are taken into consideration.
Chapter2includesfourarticlesfocusingontheconditionsofthelinguistic
or visual construction of meaning for the presentation of knowledge and the
transfer ofinformation. The firsttwo studiesdeal with themonolingualism or
multilingualismofdocumentsandtheircreation.Fromalinguisticandtransla-
tion-theoretical point of view, Klaus Schubert discusses the close relations
betweentechnicalwritingandtechnicaltranslationelaboratingtheircommon
characteristics and employing the term “technical communication” as a joint
umbrella term. This view, already established in practice, is conceptually and
theoretically further differentiated here. Based on the drafted model with the
four key points “technical content”, “linguistic form”, “technical media” and
“working processes” and their interdependencies, both fields are systemati-
callybroughttogether.Thisisverifiedbythedetailedanalysisofselectedprob-
Introduction IX
lem areas such as wording, software localization, subtitling or the reusability
of linguistic units.
ThemicroleveloflanguageusageisemphasizedinColetteCortès’article.
She examines the conditions under which adjectives unfold their class-build-
ingpotentialthusshowingtheordersoftheworldknowledgepresentedinthe
text. The research corpus relates to a variety of articles out of a catalog for
everydayproductswhichalsoincludetechnicalproducts.Theanalyses,carried
out using classical linguistic methods, illustrate that – similar to instruction
manuals – object types rather than single objects are described. On the other
handadjectivesarealsousedforevaluating-advertisingfunctionswhichrelate
to specific speech situations. This results in a mix of technical and everyday
language typical for the expert – nonexpert communication.
ClemensSchwenderaddressesthecharacteristicsofvisualimagesassign
systems by tracing the illustration techniques of visual instructions in their
historicaldevelopment.Accordingly,allpresentlyusedprinciplesoftextvisu-
alization were introduced as early as in the time of Leonardo da Vinci and
Georgius Agricola. This includes reference systems in the image, axonometric
projections or techniques for the depiction of time, movement, direction or
intensity.Theincreasinglyusedpictograms,prototypesforthevisualdepiction
of actions, are likewise regarded as “old” inventions. “New” elements, on the
other hand, can be found in the field of visualization technologies and termi-
nology.
In Chapter 3, technology is related to communication and culture(s).
Thereby the hitherto prevailing view on technology as an autonomous field
unravels. This becomes evident with a view to the communication technology
andthecomputeraswellasthecorrespondingsoftwareastechnologyinvolved
in all areas of life which, in turn, is imparted communicatively, e.g. through
software documentation. Influenced by a mathematical background, Vasco
AlexanderSchmidtarguesthecasefortheclassificationofdealingwithcom-
puters as the fourth basic culture technique apart from reading, writing and
calculating. Thereby it needs to be considered that software as a technical
product requires medial communication itself in order to become visible and
thus manageable. This allows the connection of a specific domain (computer/
software) with another specific domain (e.g. administration, scientific disci-
plines, communication etc.) in the first place. The task to mediate the thus
resulting complexity of the software application on the basis of concurrent
functions of the computer as a tool and medium and, moreover, as an instru-
ment of gaining knowledge poses special requirements on the communicative
competence.This,inturn,islikewisedemandedwhenitcomestotheconfigu-
ration of user interfaces for the human-computer interaction or the reception
of information imparted by them.
