ABSTRACT

This chapter considers the work of reading text, the means and methods by which people read text and the ways in which text is written, designed and positioned. Written language and diagrammatic forms are pervasive in our everyday and working lives. As an example of mundane reading, consider how text is often placed on or beside doors, particularly on or beside doors in public or organisational settings. The role of texts in software engineering, how accurately they represent the problem and how they are structured and used during implementation has been core to the debates in Software Engineering since the field was born in the late 1960s. Texts are written for reading, medical reports present what the reader needs to know in a consistent and logical format. Neuroradiology report provides a docile contrast to the activities that produced it, one that both exhibits and conceals what was done during its production.