Applied Theory: Corporate Intranets

In the final article of chapter four in Dubinsky's Teaching Technical Communication, Lisa Ann Jackson provides a practical example of the importance of focusing web design on the needs of users instead of overlooking user input in the name of “‘making information available to people who might need it’” (p. 273). Jackson argues that ignoring elements of design like repetition, the need for simplicity, and adherence to an intuitive structure takes away from any attempt by a company to make information available because overlooking aspects of design in such a way makes it so users are more likely to abandon an intranet structure than to continue toiling (p. 273).

Jackson’s article, “The Rhetoric of Design: Implications for Corporate Intranets,” applies theories of user-centered design as they are postulated by Robert J. Johnson in order to show how crucial an adherence to the wants and needs of users can be to the success of a corporate intranet structure. Originally published in the year 2000, Jackson encourages designers of intranets—or communication systems designed to be used and accessed by members of certain discourse communities—to recognize Johnson’s advice to see users as “involved in the actions of practice and production” (Johnson 59), which Jackson reframes by quoting Cate Corcoran’s suggestion “that developers ‘figure out who is communicating and what information they are exchanging’” (p. 272).

The examples use by Jackson are all drawn from corporate settings that use massive amounts of information. Large-scale information management needs to be systematically organization so inefficient use is reduced , Jackson claims (p. 269). Without some type of convention, even possibly a grammar book or a company style guide, Jackson shows how companies like Sun Microsystems can face challenges from users who feel that greater attention to the previously mentioned features of design would “facilitate employees’ use of the intranet and guide them to the information they seek” (p. 274).

The application of a user-centered theory of design is clearly established as important to Jackson and other scholars. While her examples are taken from corporate situations around the year 2000, other articles in chapter four also establish how a user-centered approach works and the greater aspects that make it a viable theory for basing technical and professional communication instruction. Janice C. Redish defines information design through a user-centered lens and echoes Johnson and Jackson’s claims surrounding the importance of having a “clearly visible, separable, and easily identified” (p. 216) web page design. Barbara Mirel elaborates on the definition of usability in general so that Jackson’s article appears as only a practical application of Mirel’s conceptions of usability and those established by Johnson in User-centered Technology.

While chapter four focuses on web design, I wonder how much these principles can still be applied today? Are our notions of design and the general need to adhere to certain concerns regarding contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity (C.R.A.P) (Non-designer’s Book of Design) still being actively taught and considered by students in technical and professional writing? Are these features being taught so the rhetorical implications of design are the central focus, like when Jackson’s article was written, or is there a new way to situate the importance of C.R.A.P.? Finally, I wonder, is design something better taught in other classrooms or is it an integral part of technical and professional communication instruction? Jackson would argue that design is central to technical writing instruction, but is that so at WSU?

I personally agree with all of chapter four and also heavily favor a user-centered approach to understanding technology and the best methods for communicating technically and professionally. With underlying structures of communication adhered to, I believe users are more inclined to participate in an intranet and are also more likely to be able to learn the discoursal standards associated with corporate intranet communication expectations, thus encouraging greater user participation.