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IN PRAISE OF
"An overall highly readable text . . . Brasseur’s effort helps us to be more mindful and leads us to critically examine these maps of the world that we live in."
—John Chetro-Szivos, Ph.D., Fitchburg State College, Massachusetts

". . . the book opened my eyes to a number of issues . . . it presents thought-provoking information that will help anyone who has to present technical information graphically." 
—Randy Howe, Ph.D., Fitchburg State College, Massachusetts

ABOUT THE BOOK
Visualizing Technical Information: A Cultural Critique demonstrates the ways in which the leading technical visuals of information design—graphs, charts, diagrams, tables, illustrations, and information visualization—are designed and read. Using genre theory as an analytical tool, the author makes the argument that problems with these visual forms are not necessarily the result of a designer’s poor decisions or a reader’s poor interpretation skills. Instead, there may be inherent problems in the visual genres themselves that are a direct result of their cultural history and current use.

In presenting this argument, Visualizing Technical Information breaks new ground in bringing issues of culture and theory into the foreground as the key to many of the problems associated with information design. The author critiques the influences of Cartesian-based thinking, mathematical approaches, and logic-based methods to problem solving and a reliance on perceptual-based visual abstractions. In making this argument, the book addresses such issues as: Can a visually abstracted graph represent a clear picture of an emotionally centered topic such as rape? Does a technical illustration, through its clean lines and context-less space, communicate efficiency about an object that in actual use might be inefficient? How can a table communicate persuasive information merely by its detailed numerical format when, in fact, its results are far from conclusive? Does the reader have a difficult time interpreting an idea diagram because the diagram was created as a heuristic, not as a rhetorical device? What role does computer culture play in the newly developing genre of information visualization when programs are designed in great part with algorithms based on perceptual research, not on context-specific, user-centered research? Finally, what can we do now and in the future to improve the communication abilities of these technical information designs?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Lee Brasseur is an associate professor and the associate chair of the Department of English at Illinois State University. Dr. Brasseur teaches courses in visual rhetoric and technical writing. She conducts research in the design of graphs and charts, and her critical scholarship examines the cultural implications of visual information, including issues of gender. Dr. Brasseur served as the 2002 co-chair of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing Conference and has served as a member of the executive board of the NCTE Committee on Technical Communication, coordinator of the NCTE Awards in Technical Communication, and reviewer for Technical Communication Quarterly. Her book chapter "Visual Literacy in the Computer Age: A Complex Perceptual Landscape" was part of the NCTE award-winning book of collected essays, Computers and Technical Communication: Pedagogical and Programmatic Perspectives, edited by Stuart Selber. Her articles have appeared in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, the Journal of Computer Documentation, the Journal of Business and Technical Communication, and the Journal of Aesthetic Education.

INTENDED AUDIENCE
Technical and business communication teachers, scholars, researchers, and professionals; desktop publishers, graphic design instructors and professionals; information design specialists and researchers.