Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Science forms an integral part of our lives. It is tied to social practices, public policies and political affairs. Yet, very little is reported on it unless it is making hard news. This thesis was written from the premise that the public requires as much accurate information as possible to make choices and decisions. In many instances, they solely depend on the news media to supply that information. Journalists have a responsibility to reflect and explain the complexity of a world that is increasingly influenced by science. In Namibia the establishment of conservancies under the CBNRM programme of government, have an influence on many rural people's lives who would previously not have been too concerned about science news. Through the Media and Publicity Strategy of the CBNRM programme, communication of the environmental message of conservancies has been successful to a large extent, especially in terms of reportage in the local press. The messages conveyed in the press have been overwhelmingly positive and supportive of the system. From the perspective of the level of journalism practised in this regard, the effort has not been that great. Publications in Namibia operate on very limited budgets and have to manage with a minimum number of reporters. This means journalists are expected to cover a range of different beats, and are seldom offered the opportunity to develop as specialist writers in specific fields. The field of science and environment is generally not regarded as an area that produces hard news on a regular basis. This was evident in the articles reviewed for the purposes of this thesis. The majority of stories were written from press releases or field trips organised by the CBNRM programme organisers. Stories that were self-generated were not very well researched, or did not follow through on potential hard news angles or ideas. In a world of war, hunger, poverty, diseases and many other tragedies, the story of the development of communal conservancies is a wonderfully positive story that highlights the success of sustainable development, the upliftment of the rural poor and achievements in terms of conservation. It is a welcome change for journalists to tell a positive story to the world. However, as journalists should know, every story has two sides. The purpose is not necessarily to find fault with the conservancy philosophy or to shoot it down or find sensationalism where it is not due. Their role is to present a full, unbiased account of the facts so that their readers can make up their own minds on whether they support the concept, or not. If journalists failed to inform their readers about the problems experienced by the implementation of conservancies, then they have failed to give their readers the full picture. The conclusions drawn in this thesis on the level of science or environmental reporting in Namibia, serve to emphasise the urgent need for specialist writers in the profession. A handful of dedicated and committed science writers that increasingly raises the level of reporting will make a vast difference in the fields of science and environment in Namibia. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Wetenskap vorm 'n integrale deel van ons lewens. Dit is gebind aan sosiale gebruike, openbare beleidsrigtings en politieke sake. Tog word daar baie min daaroor geskryf, behalwe wanneer dit harde nuus is. Hierdie tesis is geskryf vanuit die oogpunt dat die publiek soveel as moontlik akkurate inligting nodig het om keuses te maak. In baie gevalle vertrou hulle uitsluitlik op die nuus media om daardie inligting te verskaf. Joernaliste het 'n verantwoordelikheid om 'n wêreld wat al hoe meer beïnvloed word deur wetenskap te verduidelik. In Namibië het die daarstelling van bewareas deur die CBNRM-program van die regering, 'n groot invloed op die lewens van baie plattelandse mense se lewens gehad wat voorheen nie veel sou omgegee het oor wetenskapnuus nie. Die daarstelling van bewareas het 'n hele nuwe wêreld met baie nuwe uitdagings tot by hulle voordeur gebring. Dit was belangrik om hulle genoegsaam in te lig oor die voor- en nadele van die stelsel om hulle in staat te stelom te besluit of hulle wou betrokke raak of nie. Die boodskap wat die pers oorgedra het, was oorweldigend positief met baie steun vir die stelsel. Vanuit 'n joernalistieke perspektief gesien, was die beriggewing rue so noemenswaardig nie. Publikasies in Namibië werk met baie beperkte begrotings en moet klaarkom met 'n minimum aantal verslaggewers. Dit beteken daar word van joernaliste verwag om oor 'n wye verskeidenheid onderwerpe te skryf. Wetenskap- en omgewingsberiggewing word oor die algemeen gesien as 'n gebied wat nie werklik harde nuus op 'n gereelde basis produseer nie. Dit het duidelik gebleik uit die artikels wat ontleed is vir die doel van die tesis. Die meerderheid van die stories is geskryf van persverklarings en uitstappies georganiseer deur die CBNRM. Die stories wat wel self gegenereer is, was nie baie goed nagevors rue. In 'n wêreld van oorlog, hongersnood, armoede en siektes, is die ontwikkeling van . bewareas 'n wonderlike positiewe storie wat dien as bewys van die sukses van volhoubare ontwikkel, die opheffmg van plattelandse arm mense en wat bereik kan word met bewaring. Dit is 'n welkome verandering vir joernaliste om vir 'n slag 'n positiewe storie aan die wêreld te vertel. Maar, soos joernaliste behoort te weet, het elke storie twee kante. Die doel van 'n joernalis is nie noodwendig om fout te vind met die filosofie van bewareas nie, of om dit af te skiet of sensasie te soek waar dit nie nodig is nie. Hulle rol is om 'n volledige, onsydige verslag van die feite weer te gee sodat hulle lesers self kan besluit of hulle die konsep ondersteun of nie. As joernaliste daarin gefaal het om hulle lesers in te lig oor die probleme wat ondervind is met die implementering van bewareas, dan het hulle daarin gefaal om die volledige prentjie aan hulle lesers te skets. Die slotsom van die tesis oor die vlak van wetenskap- en omgewingsjoernalistiek in Namibië is dat daar 'n dringende tekort aan spesialis skrywers in die professie is. Selfs net 'n handvol toegewyde wetenskapskrywers sal al klaar 'n groot verbetering bring in die kwaliteit van verslaggewing in die wetenskap- en omgewingsvakgebied in Namibië.

In the area of project management, it is well understood that effective communication processes impact positively on project performance. Despite this, project teams still struggle to develop effective communication plans that address their project communication needs. The evidence of this is that many project problems are attributed to poor communication. The literature addresses the needs and shortcomings of group communication and communication planning in general; but there is however, a scarcity of literature describing how to plan for the internal communication needs of high-performance civil engineering teams. With the limited literature available on the topic, this study seeks to validate how effective the current communication planning methods are at Aurecon in meeting the communication needs of its project teams. This qualitative research project is a case study of communication planning within the project teams at Aurecon in Port Elizabeth. A semi-structured interview process was followed, addressing specific questions, without limiting the direction of the interviews. Project team members, working on high performance projects, were asked for their thoughts, feelings and suggestions about existing communication practices and project communication planning. Overall, it was found that the existing communication-planning practices at Aurecon did not have any beneficial effect on how team members communicate. It was concluded that project teams would benefit from improved communication-planning processes that are more inclusive of their specific communication needs. Organisations working on high-performance projects will benefit directly from the research, which challenges these organisations to think more broadly about how they plan for communication at a project level. The research provides practical suggestions for improving the way that teams plan their communication processes; and it does so by focusing on the communication needs of the team members. Recommendations are made to professional bodies, tertiary institutions, project organisations – and most importantly – to project team members themselves. The recommendations to project team members include taking ownership of communication practices, asserting their views, as well as making their needs known.

I detta arbete har kommunikationen av teknisk information varit i fokus. Som en fallstudie används en operatörsmanual och en instruktions- och reservdelsmanual för en fyllare NM-602 åt Norden Machinery AB. Norden Machinery AB är världsledande inom tubhantering och tillverkar omkring 150 tubfyllarsystem per år. Maskinen som manualerna tillhör är en medelstor maskin som fyller 60 tuber/minut och är såld till Sirius Machinery Inc. i USA som är ett syskonbolag till Norden Machinery AB. Till maskinen hör en operatörsmanual som är det dokument som alltid ska finnas tillhands för dem som sköter maskinen, här ska all information som behövs för den dagliga driften finnas. Till maskinen hör även en instruktions- och reservdelsmanual som är mer ingående och beskriver hur maskinen fungerar och hur den är uppbyggd. För att sammanställa manualen har jag använt mig av flera olika datorprogram. Det som kanske är mest speciellt är Zert Infologic då Norden är ett av de första företagen som använder sig av detta program. Zert Infologic är specialtillverkat för att hantera stora mängder av teknisk information. Med hjälp av Shannon & Weavers kommunikationsmodell analyserades informationen i manualerna. Viktiga aspekter var uur informationen når kunden och om det finns brus som kan störa eller komplicera denna process. Speciellt fokus var på bruset, vilket gav resultatet att det som framför allt hindrar informationen att nå sin destination är brister i språket i manualen, den tekniska nivån på manualen och kunskapen hos författaren av manualen. / In this work, the focus is on communication of technical information. As a case study was used an assignment to make an operator’s manual and an instruction manual as well as a manual for spare parts concerning the filler NM-602 for Norden Machinery AB. Norden Machinery AB is world leading within tube handling and produces about 150 tube filling systems a year. The manuals belongs to a middle size machine that fills 60 tubes per minute, the buyer is Sirius Machinery Inc. in the USA, which is a company in the same concern as Norden Machinery. To the machine belongs an operator manual which is the document that is always supposed to be beside the machine and provides information about the daily routine. The machined also has an instruction manual and spare part manual, these are more detailed and they describe how the machine is built. In order to produce these manuals I used different computer programs. The one that is more special is Zert Infologic, because Norden Machinery is one of the first companies to use this program. Zert Infologic is specially designed to manage large amounts of technical information. Shannon and Weavers communication model was used to analyse the information in the manuals.. An important aspect were how does the information get transmitted to the customer and if there is noise that disturbes or complicates the process. With a special focus on noise, the results indicate that the main obstacles to the successful information transmission are the language in the manual, the technical level of the manual and the knowledge of the writer.

My dissertation examines the experiences of Teachers College faculty that transitioned to online teaching for the first time during the forced circumstances of COVID-19. More specifically, I explore: 1) the relationship between feeling prepared, supported, and connected with professional development; 2) the experiences of faculty making the transition to online teaching; and 3) how faculty described re-evaluating, as Boud describes it, their teaching experiences. To better understand this, I used the case-selection variant of the explanatory sequential, mixed-methods design (quan → QUAL). I surveyed 85 participants (Phase 1) that engaged in professional development opportunities provided by the institution to better understand their experiences preparing for this transition and then interviewed 10-participants (Phase 2) to better understand their unique experiences. I found that most participants that made this transition grew both in their ability to use technology and comfort with teaching online. Participants described the experience as a challenging transition, especially as there was little time to prepare; however, participants also learned (through consultations, intensive programs, colleagues, and students) from this experience. In Phase 2, 7 of 10 participants indicated that they will take their learnings from teaching online and integrate them into their face-to-face teaching.

This exploratory study examines documentation practices and processes in ten small non-profit organizations. The objectives of this study were to answer the following two research questions: (1) What organizational needs do small non-profit organizations have that are relevant to technical communication? and (2) How are small 501(c)(3) organizations attempting to meet these needs? Which of these attempted solutions are ineffective? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two people from each organization: the executive director and a volunteer. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed, and grounded theory was used to identify coding categories related to documentation development. Primary findings suggest that interviewees are aware that they need documentation, yet they often postpone developing such documentation until problems develop. The study findings also suggest that interviewees across different nonprofit organizations value documentation for similar reasons. Strategies are provided for technical communicators interested in working with nonprofit organizations, and additional research avenues are identified.

The Rhetoric of the Regional Image: Interpreting the Visual Products of Regional Planning investigates the manner in which visual conventions and visual contexts of regional visioning scenarios affect their interpretation by urban and regional planners, who use visual communication to meet the technical and rhetorical demands of their professional practice. The research assesses Central Florida‘s ―How Shall We Grow?‖ regional land use scenario using focus groups and interviews with planning professionals, a corresponding survey of community values, and rhetorical analysis to explore the ―How Shall We Grow?‖ scenario as persuasive communication. The Rhetoric of the Regional Image proposes specific recommendations for technologybased visual communication and scenario development in urban and regional planning practice, while contributing to literature in technical communication and rhetoric by examining planners‘ professional communication within their discourse community

Online collaborations are more prevalent in society due to electronic communication allowing students and professionals to communicate with each other, without needing to spend time or money traveling. The lack of visual cues in electronic communication means writing styles primarily set the tone of a message. A group member‟s gender can affect his or her writing style and what he or she assumes about the message. The differing writing styles and potential gender bias can cause misunderstandings, which delay projects and sometimes lead to ostracizing a group member. The gender composition of an online collaboration, therefore, can have a positive or negative effect on a project. This study helps technical communicators understand how to manage online collaborations effectively to produce a successful project. The study explains how the effects of gender composition on a project are influenced by electronic communication, gender roles, and online collaborations. Society-imposed gender roles include differing writing styles for each gender causing gender bias in both writing and reading electronic messages. Group members, monitors, and project managers must take care in managing online collaborations due to the differences in each gender‟s communication style, and differences in gender roles and expectations for multinational online collaborations. The study shows mixed-gender collaborations have increased chances of misunderstandings because of the differing communication styles of each gender compared to same-gender collaborations. However, the advantages of mixed-gender collaborations outweigh the disadvantages due to the variety of ideas, motivations, and expectations. Technical communicators understanding how all the major topics relate together to influence a iv collaboration are better able to manage an online collaboration and reduce the chances of misunderstandings to create a successful project.

This thesis explores why instructors should use narrative intentionally and effectively with reflection to better understand adult students' perceptions of experiential learning activities in technical communication. The frequent use of narrative in technical discourse reminds us that the tone of technical texts is often appropriately informal, personable, and reflective. A closer analysis of narratives provides instructors with valuable opportunities to learn more about the motivations for and barriers to learning for adult students and to better understand how these students situate themselves in larger social and cultural narratives. Narrative serves many purposes in technical communication. Not only does narrative add a human element to technical discourse, but it also invites interrogation and inquiry into the technical communicator's decision-making process. For these reasons, narrative is commonly paired with reflection exercises in experiential learning programs as a way for students to make sense of their learning experiences. If instructors can capture the essence of how adult students make sense of their learning experiences, they can determine if experiential learning is an effective pedagogical approach to teaching technical communication to adult students. Using examples of ongoing, initial and summative, and alternative reflection exercises, I illustrate how narrative can be used to facilitate the learning process in adult students and gain access to these students' perceptions of experiential learning activities in technical communication.

No description available.

Natural resource decisions require consideration at many levels, ranging from how one invertebrate will be affected by a nearby road, to how an entire watershed will be transformed by a massive clearcut. Considerations reach farther than just the local ecological community-human communities, economies, and future impacts on the communities and economies must also be considered. Integral to decision-making is having the correct information, which best comes from effective communication. Because scientific results are frequently used in natural resource decision-making, communicating science effectively is particularly important. In the context of natural resource decision-making, this study examines how Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) scientists in the Pacific Northwest view communication actions for disseminating scientific research results. Secondary survey data were used with over 150 surveys returned for an 82% response rate. Perspectives on the importance of communication were analyzed with data illustrating socio-demographic information and theoretical scientific attitudes. The results support the proposition that many scientists find more participatory, holistic communication actions involving the extended peer community to be very important. Certain variables, including age, theoretical attitude, and organization of employment, significantly affect the degree of importance reported by the scientists and can be used to predict responses for specific areas of communication. / Graduation date: 2004