User-Centered Technology: A Rhetorical Theory for Computers and Other Mundane Artifacts
- Editore:
STATE UNIV OF NEW YORK PR
- Collana:
- Suny Series, Studies in Scient
- EAN:
9780791439319
- ISBN:
0791439313
- Pagine:
- 195
- Formato:
- Hardback
- Lingua:
- Inglese
Descrizione User-Centered Technology: A Rhetorical Theory for Computers and Other Mundane Artifacts
User-Centered Technology presents a theoretical model for examining technology through a user perspective. Johnson begins with a historical overview of the problem of technological use from the ancient Greeks to the present day--a problem seen most clearly in historical discussions of rhetoric theory. The central portion of the book elaborates on user-centered theory by defining three focal issues of the theory: user knowledge, human-technology interaction, and technological determinism. Working from an interdisciplinary perspective, Johnson uses rhetoric theory to present a definition of user knowledge; human factors engineering to illuminate the ideological presuppositions built into technology design; and history, philosophy, and sociology to explain technological determinism, possibly the greatest impediment to user-centered technology development in modern times. The latter part of the book applies user-centered theory in two contexts: the nonacademic sphere, where the writing and design of computer user documentation is discussed, and the academic sphere, through a discussion of how user-centered concepts might drive university technical communication and composition curricula.