The History of Typography

Humans of New York

“Where’d you grow up?”
“We’re growing up right now.”

NYC street photographer Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York is the best photo weblog I’ve found in quite a while. I always feel a little better about the human race when I check out his posts.

Photo above was actually taken on the streets of Cambridge, MA. I assume Stanton is around Boston this week to document the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Teaching to See

Inge Druckrey: Teaching to See from Edward Tufte on Vimeo.

Master teacher Inge Druckrey on teaching design students to see. Heavy emphasis on type and design.

Design of Communication Conference

ACM’s Design of Communication SIG has posted their 2013 conference call for participation. The theme is “Simplifying Complexity.” They’re looking for research and technical papers, project reports, posters, and workshop proposals on these topics:

• How do you identify complexity in an interactive system and simplify it for the people who use it?
• How do you capture complexity in a domain and simplify people’s understanding of it?
• How do you simplify complex person-to-person interactions?
• How social media and new media (rss feeds, analytics, streaming, user-contributed content, mashups, wikis, and blogs) simplify or increase complexity, and social implications of using these media.
• Simplifying the design, development, and delivery of interactive instructional media, including content management, website development and use, e-instruction and e-learning, and technical communication.
• Using responsive design methods and tools to simplify multi-platform issues.
• User research in all of these areas.

What Type Says

Taxi tells you what subliminal message your font choices send.

Do Not Adjust Your Set

Via Amazon.com streaming. Thanks.

NYC Nights Typography Tour

A type tour of New York City at night. Nice.

Depot

Railroad Depot in Plattsburgh, NY. More new scans up at my Flickr stream.

Unfortunate Adwords

Google should consider suspending its automated Adwords service during times when the media is covering mass tragedies. Here’s a screenshot from a Chicago Trib story on the Newtown shootings that I just opened.

Maybe someone at the Trib noticed it, since reloading the page brings up a cellphone ad.

Out Now

Consider this excellent holiday gift for your family, close friends, small relatives, and students. Only $40 in softcover. Think of the smiles on their faces when they unwrap this—priceless!

Seriously, though, I’ve edited more than a couple of collections in my career and this text if far and away the one I’m proudest of. Thanks to my co-editor, Stuart Selber; the great contributors we had (listed below); and David Morrow and the rest of the staff at U of Chicago Press.

And check out the list of Table of Contents:

Introduction

0 “Introduction” Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Stuart A. Selber

Part 1: Mapping the Field

1 “What Are the Boundaries, Artifacts, and Identities of Technical Communication?” Richard J. Selfe and Cynthia L. Selfe

2 “What Are the Work Patterns of Technical Communication?” William Hart-Davidson

3 “How Can Technical Communicators Fit into Contemporary Organizations?” Jim Henry

4 “How Can Technical Communicators Develop as Both Students and Professionals?” Kelli Cargile Cook, Emily Cook, Ben Minson, and Stephanie Wilson

Part 2: Situating the Field

5 “How Can Rhetoric Theory Inform the Practice of Technical Communication?” James E. Porter

6 “How Can Work Tools Shape and Organize Technical Communication?” Jason Swarts

7 What Can History Teach Us about Technical Communication? Bernadette Longo and T. Kenny Fountain

8 “What Is the Future of Technical Communication?” Brad Mehlenbacher

Part 3: Understanding Field Approaches

9 “How Can Technical Communicators Work in an Ethical and Legal Manner?” J. Blake Scott

10 “How Can Technical Communicators Plan for Users? Antonio Ceraso
11 How Can Technical Communicators Study Work Contexts?” Clay Spinuzzi

12 “How Can Technical Communicators Evaluate the Usability of Artifacts?” Barbara Mirel

13 “How Can Technical Communicators Manage Projects?” R. Stanley Dicks

Part 4: Developing Field Knowledge

14 “What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about Genre?” Brent Henze

15 “What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about Writing?” Ann M. Blakeslee and Gerald J. Savage

16 “What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about Information Design?” Karen Schriver

17 “What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about New Media?” Anne Frances Wysocki

18 “What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about Collaboration?” Rebecca E. Burnett, L. Andrew Cooper, and Candice A. Welhausen

19 “What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about International Environments?” Kirk St. Amant

List of Contributors

Index