BOOK REVIEW ESSAY
3DCAD in Technical Communication:
Three Books for Adapting to this Trend
On line and on paper: Visual representations, visual culture, and computer graphics in design engineering. Katherine R. Henderson. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 1999.
Visualizing technical information: A cultural critique. Lee E. Brasseur. Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing Company, Inc, 2003.
Reading images: the grammar of visual design. Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen. New York: New York, Routledge, 1996.
Reviewed by Tom Burns
Texas Tech University
On September 27, 2011, the Society for Technical Communication sent an email blast to its members with a link, http://go.decipherinc.com/noe, asking for feedback about a proposed software package. The survey opens with the following description of the hypothetical product.
Product X is innovative, easy-to-use software for creating and sharing highly-visual and interactive 2D and 3D technical documentation that explains and differentiates your products. Product X extends the power of Digital Prototyping beyond engineering, making it easy for anyone to work directly with 3D CAD data to create animated assembly instructions, operating procedures, repair instructions, and more. You can even publish to iPhone®, iPad™ and Android mobile devices - so your customers have the instructions they need, right at their fingertips. Product X can help you increase competitive advantage by reducing documentation and service costs, accelerating time to market, and delivering a superior customer experience.
Two days later, the Society emailed an invitation to download an eBook published by the Parametric Technology Corporation entitled, 3D Illustrations: Taking service to the next level, which describes a software product designed to repurpose existing 3DCAD manufacturing data into technical documentation.
On October 13, 2011, Beth Stackpole reported in her CAD/CAM Corner blog posted on the Design News website an announcement of a beta-release plug-in for a popular engineering design software program that allows the sharing of 3D CAD data on social networking sites.
Inventor Publisher is Autodesk's offering that allows non-CAD users responsible for creating technical documentation to leverage 3D CAD files, 2D drawings, and animations to produce more engaging technical documentation for their products. This could be a 3D interactive manual for a consumer electronics product or an animation that would show a plant worker how to install and maintain a piece of machinery on the shop floor. (http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1394&doc_id=234261)
A quick Google search reveals that other developers have created software such as Dassault 3DVIA Composer, Cortona3D RapidAuthor, and QuadriSpace Document3D Suite that will leverage the information embedded in existing 3D CAD models to rapidly and sometimes automatically generate a variety of static and dynamic technical documentation.
I include these observations as evidence of an emerging trend to use 3D CAD data for technical documentation that seems to be intensifying in response to a foundational shift in collaborative discourse, which has already occurred in the engineering profession. This access to information previously considered to be in the realm of engineering provides an opportunity for technical communicators to expand their expertise and horizons.
As a technical communicator in the industrial distribution sector, I can attest that the provision of free 3D models is rapidly becoming a popular method of marketing a product line to potential customers who are enthusiastically embracing the technology. A fellow employee calls these users “Customers 2.0” because of their tendency to use social networking and other Internet features to make their buying decisions. I prefer the term “Engineers 2.0” because they are also engineers who have recently developed their craft at universities that require freshmen to learn the language of design in 3DCAD and enter the engineering profession as 3D natives. As the STC email blasts indicate this cultural shift in engineering discourse and advancement in expressive technology is filtering down to the technical communication profession. As these specialized software tools become available, how can technical communicators become prepared to take advantage of these developments and the potential 3D-ification of visual rhetoric?
Technical communicators need information to fuel the creation of documentation, and as the culture of engineering discourse shifts to embed information into 3-D CAD models and use these models as vehicles for communicating this information, it is incumbent on professional writers to develop the expertise necessary to tap into this information flow. This fluency with 3DCAD provides a level of independence for the technical communicator as the data-saturated 3D model takes on the role of subject matter expert. The document creator, fully empowered with 3-D literacy, attains the perspective of a project manager, and with this capability he/she could use specialized software to acquire information pertaining to any point in the production process or other aspect of the product lifecycle. This capability would allow the technical communicator to make connections between all aspects of a product and assume more of the authorial responsibility and more fully embrace the role of “articulator” (1993) described by Slack, Miller, and Doak.
There is a growing collection of products formatted in 3D that is available online for remediation in a variety of formats and genres. The objects may be combined in assemblies to create both functional objects and meaningful artifacts.
Because these objects are ready-made, a technical communicator will not need any artistic skills to create a serviceable illustration. When supplied with 3D objects that may be arranged in any position desired and equipped with the tools to facilitate the remediation of these objects in a wide variety of genre, how will the technical communicator engage this opportunity of expression? For example, technical illustration has in the past been done in an imitative manner. The illustrator worked from a picture or some other reference. Now a technical illustrator may have access to the production flow and the design imagery used by engineers. This 3D object provides the essence of a given product, and the technical communicator is empowered to contextualize and remediate the object according to institutional constraints and rhetorical principles. As author, the technical communicator taps into the functional aspects of the 3DCAD model and may bypass the traditional relationship with a subject matter expert. This flexibility allows a wide variety of contextual scenarios to be explored in the development of documentation that will fit user requirements.
All of the authors reviewed in this essay anticipate the impact graphical technology will have on the technical communication process. As it becomes more intuitive, usable, and accessible to all, it enables the user to create visual documents for a variety of genre with the touch of a button. Kress and van Leeuwen contend that image creation is moving from the provenance of “specialists” to general usage and a “ ‘[v]isual literacy’ will begin to be a matter of survival, especially in the workplace” (1996, p. 3).
Once these tools and data assets become readily available will there be a need for using them in accordance with the rules of rhetoric? Is there a visual grammar? Is there an existing set of conventions and genre that will need to be understood by the rhetorician? Is there an existing convention of discourse with rules that need to be understood before an outsider such as a technical communicator can participate?
Brasseur acknowledges a characteristic of human communication; people will gravitate to and use visual signs that are available for graphic expression. This visual expression is leveraged by the rapid development of computer technology. The concomitant technological advance of 3D CAD in the last decade, and its broad embrace by the engineering profession will certainly have an effect on how we communicate information. As Henderson writes, “[s]ince the visual culture of engineers is constructed by all these component parts [verbal, mathematical, tacit], in consort, a technological change in the everyday practice of rendering, such as the introduction of a computerized graphics system, will necessarily create profound changes in the visual culture ” (p. 204). This change also has a profound impact on technical communication.
As Brumberger writes, “[t]echnology has brought rapid change to the field of professional communication, recasting the writer in a role that requires aptitude in a number of domains. The field has recognized that visual communication is among the most important of these domains, particularly because it transcends the border between print and digital text and is therefore central to the notion of multi-literacies” (2007, p. 397).
This viewpoint suggests an increase in multi-modal documents. Because 3D objects contain the geometric information that is used to manufacture a product, and this information can be combined with other objects and placed in a context to create meaningful illustrations and animations, they are capable of generating virtually any type of artifact. For example, various software packages make it very easy for technical communicators to create derivative illustrations from 3DCAD.
Brasseur explains, “technical illustration remains an evolving form” (p. 68), and “[c]omputer technology has advanced to the place where business and technical professionals with no artistic training make use of computer-based drawing programs to produce illustrations” (p. 67). According to Brasseur, technology allows the creation of “de facto” illustrators (p. 11). I'm a de facto illustrator empowered by technology and dependent on an autodidactic skill set. As a worker in the field, I'm often confused by the variety of genre available to technical communicators, and I’ve found the three books reviewed in this essay to be very helpful in my development as an illustrator. Technical communicators may benefit from the knowledge of how to use the rhetorical power of these software affordances to their fullest effect. The three books reviewed in this essay can serve as an introduction to the nature of expression in this rapidly developing area.
The greatest change in engineering culture may come from the newest graduates of engineering schools. Indeed, Henderson observes, “a new visual culture is beginning to emerge through the practices of engineering design students trained on CAD systems" (p. 138), and she opines, “[y]oung designers trained on graphics software are developing a new visual culture tied to computer-graphics practice, that will influence the way they see and will be different from the visual culture of the paper world" (p. 57). Henderson's insight is confirmed by the trend embraced by universities to bypass conventional drafting to train engineering students as 3D natives. These students also use 3D affordances to communicate their designs to other stakeholders.
This book review essay recognizes the relentless march of technology and the changes brought to technical communication by these developments. Various software packages make it very easy for technical communicators to create illustrations. The text reviewed provides general principles that when combined with practical tools can help technical communicators create better illustrations, and these books provide guidance to the technical communicator interested in visual rhetoric who want to learn how to apply theory to practice. They also provide general principles that when combined with practical tools can help technical communicators become better equipped to handle the explosion of visual resources.
Henderson explains how engineers use visual artifacts such as CAD to communicate their ideas and navigate the social landscape and cultural transactions that characterize product development. She provides a chronicle of how engineers express their designs to colleagues, stakeholders, and suppliers. Kress and van Leeuwen describe visual grammar and specific techniques for leveraging the cultural and perceptual intuitions of the viewer and assemble an image that conveys the intended message. Brasseur provides a guide to the variety of genre used in technical communication. These visual expressions are most effective when grammatical rules and institutional conventions are followed.
In On line and on paper: Visual representations, visual culture, and computer graphics in design engineering, Henderson has a unique perspective of the transitional period when engineering firms experienced a digital upheaval. Her book is a case history of the evolvement of engineering culture as it moved from paper-based drafting to digital design using CAD-based resources and includes her analysis of the discourse that is dependant on this culture. The experience she describes is compatible with the transition to 3DCAD that is currently occurring in the engineering field and as a result, impacting technical communication. She examines drawings, sketches, prototypes, and CAD files and draws on her experience working for a turbine manufacturer and the observations she made while conducting ethnographic research at a medical appliance manufacturing facility. In a vein similar to that “fieldwork-to-formalization” method explored by Spinuzzi (2003, p. 11), she uses her experience to explore the reality behind the design engineering workplace.
Henderson writes that technology provides opportunity for visual expression and argues for the advantages of sketching. She explores the use of visual expression as a developmental language used by engineers in the give-and-take of design transactions while noting its changing nature as the “culture of visual communication has been strongly affected by computer graphics, and a primary goal of this book is to understand the changes triggered by innovation” (p. 1). With the development of the iPad and other personal portable devices, the innovation and resulting change has become greater, and the range of opportunity for visual expression has become even wider.
Visual expression has a long association with engineering, and Henderson cites Eugene Ferguson’s “account of how technical knowledge was transferred almost solely through visual representations from the 1400s to the recent past” (p. viii). Visual artifacts organized and preserved technical knowledge over several centuries of engineering practice (p. 8). She writes, “[i]n the world of engineers and designers, sketches and drawings are the basic components of communication: words are built around them” (p. 1) In the past, technical communicators were expected to be those word-builders. Now our responsibility may include repurposing visual assets. When these digital devices tap into the wealth of information contained in 3D models available on the Internet, an abundance of multi-modal capabilities will become available.
Henderson’s major premise is that engineering discourse is expressed through inscription devices, conscription devices, and boundary objects. She notes Latour and Woolgar (1979) identified inscriptions as “visual or verbal devices such as intentionally arranged, trimmed, and filtered samples, carefully cropped photographic records, and edited chart tracings” (p. 6). Inscriptions are “images [that] have been extracted from the laboratory [that re-] appear later cleaned, redrawn, and displayed as figures in support of the text. They are mobile, presentable, combinable with one another, and immutable" (p. 32). Henderson takes the notion of the inscription device developed by Latour and Woolgar and extends it to what she calls a “conscription” device, which has the characteristics of a “boundary object.” She identifies conscription devices as “a subgroup of inscription devices, [which] enlist group participation and are receptacles of knowledge that is created and adjusted through group interaction with the common goal” (p. 53) Leigh Star is credited with initiating the concept of the “boundary object,” which “can be interpreted in a tightly focused way by specialists while being simultaneously readable by generalists” (p. 5). “The focus of conscription devices is process, while the focus of boundary objects is a product” (p. 53). In this way, Henderson “develops the concept of visual representations as conscription devices to explain the intersection between the roles of inscriptions and boundary objects, which facilitate distributed cognition in team design work” (p. 9).
Boundary objects “allow members of different groups, stratified or non-stratified, to come together for some common endeavor, though their understandings of the object of their mutual attention may be quite different” (p. 51). The boundary object concept is especially relevant to the transcoding of 3DCAD into a variety of genre including technical documentation. Furthermore, Henderson identifies scale models and prototypes “as boundary objects that represent different meanings and uses for various groups—representation of a future product idea, configuration of piping installation formations, a customized product, or a sales tool, depending on the individual viewers interest" (p. 80). A 3D CAD object is a perfect boundary object because it has the embedded information that will allow it to be remediated in forms that satisfy all of these semantic requirements.
In her discussion of conscription devices and boundary objects, Henderson establishes sketching as a fundamental function of an engineering dialogue and contends, “sketches are the real heart of visual communication and are the most important carriers of visual knowledge. They serve both as an individual thinking tool and as an interactive communication tool” (p. 81). She focuses on sketching as a fundamental aspect of a design-engineering dialog and writes, “[e]ngineering sketches and drawings are the building blocks of technological design and production. Moreover because they are developed and used in interactions, these visual representations act as the means for organizing the design-to-production process and hence serve as a social glue both between individuals and between groups” (p. 6). Mobile iPad technology, cloud computing, and social networking capabilities are providing platforms that facilitate this form of collaborative sketching in a powerful and compelling manner.
Henderson touches on the process in which engineers use visual artifacts as a promotional tool to appeal to a variety of stakeholders. Perspective drawings, rendered in-context, make excellent boundary objects although they do have some limitations. Henderson describes the process of engineering promotion. “Marketing departments distribute illustrations with a high-tech look... [and] … [this] practice is not unlike the historical use of perspective in detailed renderings of ships and machines in order to attract investors and the use of less dramatic plan, profile, and section drawings as the actual workhorses of production" (p. 12). On the other hand, she writes about the 18th century procedure of designing ships for the Royal Navy. Drawings were rendered in 2D "profile, section and plan views" (p. 34). Perspective drawings were not executed. Instead the vessels were physically remediated as scale models. This makes sense when the difficulty of creating an accurate perspective drawing is considered. It's a lengthy process that emphasizes only one point of view. A physical model on the other hand may be rotated and viewed from any angle as may be done with a digital 3D model available with today's technology. At one time the US patent office required all requests for patents to be accompanied by a physical model. This historical practice correlates nicely with 3D renderings and materializations that are available to the engineer today. 3D technology available today has a great advantage in that it allows the promotional material to be generated and used before the design work is complete and while the project is still in the conceptual phase.
Perspective and orthographic drawings are different genres and appeal to different stakeholders. Henderson writes, “[p]erspective is used where engineers must interact with others, often in non-engineering networks – in project drawings for funding and organizational support: presentation and maintenance drawings for direct consumers, and technical illustrations for public relations... Orthogonal or two-dimensional plan, profile, and section drawings are the acknowledged carriers of engineering production information” (p. 36). Today a 3D object can generate any of these views instantly. It is not necessary to create individual drawings. The 3D object has the capability to display itself as a 2D orthogonal view to satisfy one type of stakeholder and the same object can then be remediated as a near-photographic image to satisfy stakeholders such as the marketing department.
This characteristic of being able to quickly change and repurpose a genre is reinforced by the meta-indexical quality of 3D objects. Henderson developed…
[t]he concept of the meta-indexical role of visual representations, which allows them to be more than the sum of their parts. They serve as a holding ground where codified and uncodified knowledge can meet (p. 12).
This meta-indexical role is super-charged by the capability of 3D objects to index all of the associated characteristics in one document and make them available for a variety of functions. The 3D object is different in the sense that it will not only index the characteristics through implication, but will also materialize a functional representation of the indexed information. Say for example a designer changes a casting in a design from aluminum to brass. Once the material characteristic is changed in the 3D object, the rendering engine will create an illustration for the marketing department that shows shiny brass, the engineering drawings will automatically show a thinner filet on the edges to account for a stronger material. The cost analysis pulled by the procurement department will show the increased cost of brass over aluminum. The warehouse and shipping departments will be better prepared for a heavier item. All of these outcomes will be indexed from one change to a material property in the 3D object.
One more important benefit of the integration of 3D objects into engineering discourse and the design process is that technical communicators may also be better integrated into the project development process. Instead of waiting for the finished product before beginning the documentation process, they can have access to the product in its virtual form. If the 3D model is plugged into a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system, the technical communicator also has access to the design specifications. Often when technical documentation is created in parallel with product development and distributed for review by designers, it may potentially drive further design iterations in response to flaws observed through the lens of the documentation.
In Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, Kress and van Leeuwen analyze the process of how images express and communicate a variety of information. They forego the “denotative and connotative” (p. 1) significance of imagery and instead focus on the grammatical arrangement of images and how their combination can create meaning. Their sense of visual literacy is based on a wide range of semiotic theory and concepts of sign-making extending from Charles Peirce to the Prague school of Russian Formalists and Paris school of de Saussure and Barthes. (p. 5)
The authors extend their social semiotic theory of communication using concepts derived from the work of linguist Michael Halliday who identifies three meta-functions of communication, the ideational, the interpersonal, and the textual. For the purpose of analyzing images, the ideational is concerned with how images are represented, the interpersonal is concerned with how images interact with the viewer, and the textual organization is concerned with the context and arrangement of imagery. Halliday’s concepts are referred to throughout the book. Imagery is just one aspect of communication, and as technology, which is under continuous development improves the communication process becomes increasingly multimodal (Kress and van Leeuwen, p. 39).
Kress and van Leeuwen analyze structures of grammatical representation that have evolved in the formation of visual literacy. One such structure forms an image that communicates a narrative representation using vectors and locative prepositions. For example, an image might use vectors to represent action verbs while employing the contrast between field and ground to represent locative prepositions (p. 44). When describing a composition, the authors use the term “participants” instead of “objects” or “elements” (p. 46) to describe the components of a given image. This image participant may be either interactive or representative, and the interactive participant may be embedded into a representational image. Vectors are seen to depart from one participant to imply some action on another participant, and the nature of this action is suggested by the context represented in the image. The directionality of a vector may be explicitly assigned by using a device such as an arrowhead or a finger pointing. A simple line without a directionality cue can be utilized to suggest only a connection or relation between elements (p. 57).
A diagram with multiple participants represents either some form of "transport" (movement) or "transformation" (change). A diagram that consists of one participant is considered to be “non-transactional” and may also be considered to be “analogous to the intransitive verb” (p. 61). The beauty or glamour shot could be described as an intransitive verb because it’s just there, and simply by its presence makes the statement, “I am beautiful.” In a narrative process the source of the vector is the action and the recipient is the goal (p. 62). A portrayal of the goal may confirm the receipt of an action back to the actor through a reaction to a process that further defines the nature of the transaction or visual proposition.
Image structure may be analyzed as either “subordinate” or “superordinate” (p. 81) elements of the compositional structure. Subordinate objects without a superordinate may be arranged in a “covert taxonomy” (p. 81). When the superordinate is present, a flow to the subordinate is suggested by the visual composition. When this arrangement is implicit, the relationship is called “inter-ordinate” (p. 83). Some images may be considered to be “carriers” of component elements or “possessive attributes” that can be identified and analyzed.
The carrier concept reminds me of a technical illustration portraying a system using a realistic image, which has been ghosted back or sectioned to reveal interior parts that invite inspection or require further emphasis. These components may be arranged as an exhaustive and inclusive analytic process illustrating an assembly, which includes all the component parts. This carrier structure could be used to describe a 3DCAD assembly composed of an assortment of parts or individual components each of which is readily available for examination or analysis by exploding the assembly (p. 90). Additionally, these image participants may be configured in an arrangement or structure that has both narrative and analytical characteristics to suggest a passing of time (p. 96).
“Topographical” (p. 101) structures are detailed representations of the component parts showing their relative position in an assembled image. A “topological” structure on the other hand is a representation that shows the logic controlling the arrangement of the component parts. Kress and van Leeuwen demonstrate the difference by showing a picture of an electronic circuit and a schematic of that circuit. These “carrier” (p. 108) structures become symbolic through attributes or suggestions invoked when some form of emphasis creates meaning. This emphasis or salience could be generated through graphic techniques, vectors or an unusual juxtaposition of components (p. 108).
Kress and van Leeuwen address the transactions between communicator and recipient and the evolution of mutually sanctioned patterns, which govern these transactions with a discussion of three characteristics of images. First there is the characteristic of image act and gaze (p. 124). This characteristic describes how an image addresses the viewer through an offer or demand. The second characteristic is framing size and the implication of personal space (p. 130). Finally, the third characteristic is the objective and subjective implications suggested by perspective (p. 135).
A “demand image” generates an imaginary interaction with the viewer. This interaction could be generated by a portrait gazing out at the viewer and pointing or through the expression of a seductive look and gesture. The demand image addresses the viewer through gaze and demands a response (p. 124–126). The “offer image” offers information that is more dispassionate and objective such as diagrams, maps, and charts (p. 126). In an offer picture there is a detachment between viewer and subject where the viewer becomes more of a voyeur spying on the unaware. An interactive image could make a demand on the viewer or offer something to the viewer. Mechanical objects can be “anthropomorphized” (p. 124) into participants that demand or offer interactivity.
The authors adapt Edward Hall's theory of social distance to the evaluation of imagery. The nature of the demand/offer image is determined by the personal space or “social-distance” portrayed by the framing of the image. A close-up provides detail that suggests an intimacy available only in the personal space. A medium shot, typically used as a beauty shot, and framed as a participant, is available and within reach of the viewer. The long shot, is an overview and out of reach suggesting a objective detachment or perhaps a need for effort to bring the participant within reach (p. 135).
3D objects provide an infinite selection of angles to choose for displaying an object, and the authors describe the variety of meaning imparted by the angle of viewing. An oblique angle is more detailed and objective while a horizontal or perpendicular angle is more engaged and involved (p. 143). Power relationships are suggested by the vertical angle (p. 146). An angle that looks up to an image confers power over the viewer to the image. An angle that looks down on an image confers power on the viewer over the image. At eye level, the power is neutralized and arbitrary. The objectivity or subjectivity of the image is influenced by the angle of viewing. A frontal image suggests the greatest involvement within the view (p. 152 ). The involvement wanes as the viewing angle becomes more oblique. An image viewed directly from the top down at a maximum perpendicular angle such as a map is the God view and perceived to have “maximum power” (p. 149) over the image. It is a more theoretical and objective view of an object that is available for dissection and inviting analysis. An image viewed directly from the full frontal view such as a procedural diagram is the angle of “maximum involvement” (p. 149) and is considered to be more engaging to show “how it works”(p. 149).
A cross-section view, because it penetrates the participant, is also an objective view with power implications. A narration may be created by combining the image participants with contextual imagery or by suggesting an imaginary viewer with the inclusion within the image frame of hands or other body parts (p. 148). Isometric engineering drawings employ undistorted lines that provide accurate two-dimensional measurements in addition to showing hidden views in a suggestion of three-dimensions. This view provides a perspective-like image that also contains functional information about the image participant.
An analysis of perspective is complex because the characteristics of objective and subjective used in the description of perspective are socially constructed. A subjective perspective is considered to be such because it has a defined point of view such as that formed by a three-point perspective. On the other hand, a socially constructed view of mathematically correct three-point perspective might be considered to be an objective view depending on the context in which it is presented. Kress and van Leeuwen describe the objective perspective view as that constructed by an image that “reveals everything there is to know (or that the image produced has judged to be so) about the represented participants.” (p. 136).
A viewer is influenced by the vividness conveyed by an image. Modality markers are expressions drawn from a common societal experience, which reinforce the veracity of a communication. 35mm color photography is the technological mediation that currently provides the general definition for modality representing reality in today's culture (p. 163). Kress and van Leeuwen provide eight image characteristics that may be used to measure modality (p. 165-167). Based on this standard, modality may be coded and its perception controlled by the purported intention of the image and the purposeful interpretation by an individual. Kress and van Leeuwen refer to these intentions as “coding orientations” and identify four types, “Scientific/technological, Abstract, Naturalistic, and Sensory” (p. 171). An example modality of coding orientations would be schematic weather maps versus realistically mediated satellite maps. Each modality conveys credible meaning to respective communities.
Three principles of composition interact to create meaning. This interaction may be of a singular or multimodal nature combining multiple forms of code.
Information value – The arrangement of the information being conveyed as it relates to other informational values.
Salience – The relative size of the picture elements and their arrangement develops the compositional hierarchy
Framing – How elements are formed into the picture frame (p. 183).
Framing leads into the phenomena of a “given-new” arrangement. (p. 187) Additionally, the placement of participants, lighting effects can be arranged to suggest given and new. Information placed at the top of an image tends to be perceived as “Ideal” and information placed at the bottom of an image tends to be perceived as “Real” (p. 193). The center of a composition and the relationship to its edges conveys meaning. In some cases, the left side is the new and the right side is the given while the center acts as a mediator between the two. This mediation effect may also be seen in the center element of a vertical structure of Ideal and Real (p. 211). Salience in images is an indicator of the implied hierarchy or order of importance in the arrangement of visual elements. The most salient element might be the “hook” that draws a viewer to the image. (p. 213). A composition that uses strong framing elements intends to portray those elements as separate while the use of weak or implicit framing elements indicates stronger integration into the larger composition. (p. 214). These compositions may be arranged in a linear fashion to impart additional meaning in the suggestion of a narrative.
A choice of material is a style statement, and the material used to form an inscription has important meaning. The technology available today makes it a simple matter to transcode a material expression from something that appears to be a photograph to a watercolor with the touch of a button or click of a mouse in an effort to style the expression. This form of transcoding allows digital imagery to be expressive in a wide variety of material. From a technical communication perspective, a line drawing signifies more of an objective concept while photographic images suggest a more subjective expression. Material also acts as a “signifier of the pretense of value.” (p. 232). For example, a shiny gold surface projects an extravagant value while a rusty corroded surface projects a decayed industrial value.
In Visualizing technical information: A cultural critique, Brasseur examines the “various ways in which the technical visual genres are designed, discussed, and used,” (p. 1) and she is concerned with a model that “privileges the idea of a universal viewer, whose needs can best be met by designing technical visuals that respond well to the innate perceptual abilities of readers” (p. 1). Her book is organized by variations of technical communication genre. Each chapter focuses on a particular type of visual document that includes graphs, technical illustrations, charts and diagrams, tables, and a practice she call “information visualization” (p. 2). To sharpen her focus, she omits maps from this particular examination. To ground her work, she quotes Friedman and Medway asking “how do some genres come to be valorized? In whose interest is such valorization?” (p. 3). In terms of technical communication some genres are conventions established by institutional, legal, and professional concerns, but these conventions are mediated by rapidly developing technology that allows for novelty and creativity.
To be effective, a developing genre can be guided by established principles such as those described by Brasseur for developing technical visuals.
1) conduct more thorough analysis of the data or information, purpose, and audience;
2) learn and apply basic perceptual principles and research findings;
3) approach analysis and design of an ethical standpoint; and for use textual cues and layout to better integrate the presentation with the text. (p. 3).
She uses “genre theory” (p. 5) to explore a variety of technical visuals, and notes Swales’ explanation that the definition of genre is tied to the expectations of the discourse community. Swales (p. 6) presents four analytical benchmarks that define a genre:
1 a communicative purpose;
2 form,
3 structure;
4 audience expectations.
Additionally, Brasseur writes, “[d]efining a genre becomes a struggle to capture a multitude of physical, verbal, and spatial features under the umbrella of a social context” (p. 8). She notes that genre is best defined not by the designers intention but by the artifact’s eventual function, and this view appears to align with Spinuzzi/Russell’s identification of genre as a “tool-in-use” (2003, p. 44).
As she delves into the documents handled by engineers, Brasseur (p. 203) provides some clarity in understanding the binary relationship of engineering drawing and technical illustration. She makes a distinction between the drawings made for engineering purpose and those made for technical illustration noting that engineering drawings are abstracted “orthographic and projected views” while those made by technical illustrators provide “realistic or semi-realistic views” (p. 41). Technical illustrations can include “exploded drawings, transparent views, cutaways and other specialized illustrations that help the user use and understand an object or process” (p. 43-44), and they have the potential to provide both of Foucault’s synoptic and analytic views described by Barton and Barton (1993, p. 141).
According to Brasseur, “[t]he goal, of course, in a technical illustration is to convey visual information in a realistic yet simplified view” (p. 45). The technical illustration has an advantage because the artist can isolate, clarify, and emphasize selected details.
There are distinct differences in genre for 2D projections and 3D perspective drawings. and “[t]hree-dimensional perspective is the primary tool for formatting the image, unlike engineering drawings that are two-dimensional (or orthogonal) drawings” (p. 67).
Brasseur explains that technical illustrations are typically used for two purposes. They are provided for the use of engineers in the design process and they are used to explicate a resulting design to users. The variety of projections used for technical illustration may range from orthographic to isometric views (p. 47). The projection views described by Brasseur that were once tediously created with intensive calculations and manipulation of drawing implements are now instantly available through 3D CAD to even the most unskilled user. These drawings are used for industrial and manufacturing purposes and are intuitively understood by engineers and machinists. According to Brasseur, “[t]hey do not provide realistic, immediately understandable perspective views; instead they are rhetorically situated for a specialized audience” (p. 53). Because they require knowledgeable interpretation, these drawing confer power upon the skilled user.
Perspective drawings on the other hand are typically used to explain structures or procedures to end-users, and they have been in use since the discovery of the vanishing point by Renaissance artists (p. 56). The vanishing point defines the position of the viewer (p. 61) and thus defines the context of presentation into what Kress and van Leeuwen (1996 pg. 136) could consider to be a subjective view. In additional to supplying a contextual foundation, the technical illustration also establishes a narrative (p. 61) by providing a given/new arrangement, framing, and other means of composition. This narrative is typically designed to portray the product in the most efficient light and may also be a transmitter of an “ideology of the industry it represents” (p. 63). The recognition of this ideology provides an opportunity for critical examination.
Perspective drawings were often laboriously drawn with multiple measurements and constructions guides. With 3DCAD, they may be generated almost instantly from the existing geometry. When understood in terms of genre, 2D is the primary expression for engineering functionality while 3D is a defining characteristic for contextually situated technical illustration. In today’s world, many machinists and manufacturers no longer use 2D artifacts for manufacturing. Instead they derive dimensional information directly from the 3D model. Perhaps as the use of 2D imagery diminishes for production purposes, and the implementation of 3DCAD becomes seamless and ubiquitous, this distinction described by Brassuer may also recede.
Brasseur notes, “[t]echnical illustration remains an evolving form” (p. 68). As technology advances and more powerful software becomes more accessible, I propose that new hybrids of genre are developing, which are unencumbered by conventional training and traditional knowledge. Currently users can combine imagery and are able to draw from a variety of genre, and it will be exciting to see how a wider discourse community, empowered with 3D technology and social networking venues add to the pool of existing genre.
Brasseur opines, that interactive “information visualizations” as a developing genre have great potential for technical communication, and she identifies it as a “medium that can possibly move us into the next generation of technical visual genres” (p. 126). I whole-heartedly agree with this statement. To make her point, she concentrates on data displays and considers information visualization as a tool for the interactive display of abstract data. I disagree with Brasseur at this juncture. I believe the expression of realistic imagery driven by data will have a greater impact on technical communication. When Brasseur writes that information visualization “has the potential to make communication…far more responsive to questions and queries,” (p. 126) I’m reminded of the online configurators available from vendors such as IKEA that allow the consumer to acquire and interact with 3DCAD models.
Although the abstract form of information visualization discussed by Brasseur is more useful for scientific and academic purposes, the subjective and contextual application of information visualization, as it’s applied in commercial and industrial environments, will assure its success. Brasseur notes the success and general adoption of information visualization is dependent on the integrity of an updated database. Software called Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), which organizes and combines data-driven 3DCAD objects, will accomplish this task. This type of software will not only provide “multi-dimensional views” ” (p. 129) of the data envisioned by Brasseur, but a single 3D model, responsive to this database, can also be used to generate multiple genres from line drawings and animations to near-photographic imagery in response to user demand.
Because information visualization is data-driven and interactive, the user is free to generate either the synoptic or analytic Foucaultian viewpoints described by Barton and Barton (1993, p. 141). The development of this visualization technology will no doubt be greatly impacted by the parallel development of cloud computing. Brasseur predicts a wide adoption of information visualization to wireless, portable, and screen-based systems. She notes the genre is still very unstable, and this instability provides opportunity “for those who seek to make changes to have an effect on its ultimate end” (p. 142).
In anticipation of the protests that technical communicators are neither artists nor engineers, I put forward the following argument. The current developments in software makes everyone an artist. The objectification of 3D and its associated imagery reduces the creation of artwork to a matter of considering the compositional strategies described by Kress and van Leeuwen and the institutional expectations described by Brasseur. The technical communicator will not become an engineer but instead will more fully engage the engineering design process. There is a role for the technical communicator in this process because; an engineer may lack the rhetorical and compositional skills necessary to effectively communicate an appropriate message. Additionally, engineers are often compartmentalized into domains of expertise such as design engineering, production engineering, electrical engineering, etc. and lack an overall view of product details. A technical communicator familiar with the PLM system will have this capability.
Technical communication has a fundamental relationship with business and industry and our profession depends on a seamless integration with their methods. Becoming familiar with 3D CAD and PLM software should be compared to the current adoption of XML by many sectors of the technical communication profession. In some ways, it solves the problems brought about by XML, which requires a change in writing style and tends to limit the scope a technical writer has on a project. 3DCAD is a boundary object that crosses domains and empowers the technical writer with greater access to more product information. In this way, 3D CAD objects, saturated with data, rebalance the prevailing information asymmetry in favor of the technical communicators, and the practitioner becomes more of an information navigator.
References
Barton, B., F., and Barton, M., S. (1993). Modes of power in technical and professional visuals. Journal of Business and Technical Communication. 7(1) 138-62.
Brumberger, E., R. (2007). Making the strange familiar: A pedagogical exploration of visual thinking. Journal of Business and Technical Communication 21(4), 376-401.
Slack, J., D., Miller, J. M., & Doak, J. (2006). The technical communicator as author: Meaning, power, authority. In J. B. Scott, B. Longo, & Wills, K., V. (Eds.), Critical power tools: Technical communication and cultural studies. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Spinuzzi, C., (2003), Tracing genres through organizations: A sociocultural approach to information design. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Star, S., L., (2010), This is not a boundary object: Reflections on the origin of a concept. Science, Technology, & Human Values. 35(5) 601-617.
