Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores a number of these important areas where technology impacts society and suggests ways that human communication can facilitate the use of that technology. It summarizes a study comparing and contrasting advice form books and journal articles on oral presentations, published in English and Japanese, with actual presentations given by nonnative English speakers. Biotechnology is arena that has provided new roles for technical and professional communicators. In “Making Connections: Teaming Up to Connect Users, Developers, and Usability Experts,” Carol Barnum and her colleagues tell the story of a collaboration of stakeholders in redesigning a product to make it more accessible to less technical users. To demonstrate how usability studies can leverage technology, seven researchers at the University of Washington analyzed the logs of remote users’ Web-browsing behaviors.