Communication Patterns of Engineers

278 Pages·2004·2.873 MB·English

by  Carol Tenopir, Donald W. King

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COMMUNICATION
PATTERNS
OF ENGINEERS
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IEEE Press
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Stamatios V. Kartalopoulos, Editor in Chief
M. Akay R. J. Herrick M. S. Newman
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Technical Reviewers
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Katherine Thomes, University of Pittsburgh
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COMMUNICATION
PATTERNS
OF ENGINEERS
CAROL TENOPIR
DONALD W. KING
IEEE Education Society, Sponsor
IEEE Professional Communications Society, Sponsor
IEEE PRESS
A JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC., PUBLICATION
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Copyright © 2004 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Tenopir, Carol.
Communication patterns of engineers / Carol Tenopir, Donald W. King.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-471-48492-X (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Communication in engineering. I. King, Donald Ward, 1932– II. Title.
TA158.5.T46 2004
620'.001'4—dc22 2003062037
Printed in the United States of America.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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CONTENTS
Preface ix
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Focus of the Book 1
1.2 Structure of the Book 6
2 Communication Models 11
2.1 Introduction 11
2.2 Models of Communication Systems 12
2.3 Models of Scholarly Journals 14
2.4 Models of Information Seeking 22
3 A Communications Framework for Engineers 27
3.1 Introduction 27
3.2 Time Engineers Spend Communicating 29
3.3 Engineers’ Communication Channels 31
3.4 Factors Affecting Engineers’ Communication 35
Choices
v
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vi CONTENTS
4 The Engineering Profession and Communication 37
4.1 The Engineering Profession 37
4.2 How Industry and Government Engineers Spend 38
Their Time
4.3 The Importance of Information Resources to 38
Engineers’ Work
4.4 The Value of Reading 41
4.5 The Impact of Information on Innovation 44
4.6 Organizing Information for Better Use in 46
the Workplace
4.7 Engineers’ Adaptation to Information Innovations 52
5 Engineers’ Information Seeking and Use 57
5.1 Introduction 57
5.2 Engineers’ Channels for Information Seeking 58
and Use
5.3 Resources Used by Engineers for Information 63
Seeking
6 Factors Affecting Information Seeking and Use 71
6.1 Introduction 71
6.2 Effects of Geographic and Cultural Differences 72
on Information Seeking and Use
6.3 Effects of the Nature of Work on Information 74
Seeking and Use
6.4 Effects of Organization Policies on Information 83
Seeking and Use
6.5 Effects of Personal Characteristics on Information 85
Seeking and Use
7 Information Output by Engineers 89
7.1 Introduction 89
7.2 Channels Engineers Use to Communicate 91
Information Output
7.3 Resources and Tools Engineers Use for 94
Communicating Information Output
7.4 Communicating the Written Word 95
8 Engineering Education and Communication Skills 99
8.1 Introduction 99
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CONTENTS vii
8.2 Improving Engineers’ Communication Skills 100
8.3 Improving the Use of Communication Channels 108
and Sources
9 The Engineering Scholarly Journal Channel 113
9.1 Introduction 113
9.2 Engineering and Science Journal 114
Characteristics: 1977, 1995, and 2001
9.3 Engineers’ and Scientists’ Authorship and 117
Reading of Scholarly Journals
9.4 Changes in Information-Seeking and Reading 126
Patterns Following Electronic Journals
10 Engineers’ Journal Information-Seeking and 133
Reading Patterns in an Emerging Electronic Era
10.1 Introduction 133
10.2 Use, Usefulness, and Value of Articles to 135
Engineers
10.3 Where Engineers Get the Articles They Read 139
10.4 Format of Articles Read 140
10.5 How Engineers Learn About the Articles 141
They Read
10.6 Age of Articles Read 143
10.7 Factors That Affect Use 144
11 Engineering Communication Patterns Compared 149
with Science and Medicine
11.1 Introduction 149
11.2 Professions of Engineering, Science, and 151
Medicine
11.3 Communication Channels Used by Engineers, 155
Scientists, and Medical Professionals
11.4 Resources and Tools Used by Engineers, 158
Scientists, and MedicalProfessionals
12 The NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion 163
Research Project
12.1 Introduction 163
12.2 Focus on Commercial Aircraft Manufacturing in 164
the United States
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12.3 Communication by U.S. Aerospace Engineers 166
and Scientists
12.4 Other Related Work 175
12.5 Summary 179
13 Summary 181
Bibliography 187
Index 253
About the Authors 265