Sean C. Herring, Editor
The following articles on technical communication have appeared recently in other journals. The abstracts are prepared by volunteer journal monitors. If you would like to contribute, contact Sean Herring at SeanHerring@MissouriState.edu.
“Recent & Relevant” does not supply copies of cited articles. However, most publishers supply reprints, tear sheets, or copies at nominal cost. Lists of publishers’ addresses, covering nearly all the articles we have cited, appear in Ulrich’s international periodicals directory.
Audience analysis
Seeking out the stakeholders: Building coalitions to address cultural (in)equity through arts-based, community-engaged research
Wertz, O. M., Workman, K., & Carlson, E. B. (2023). Communication Design Quarterly, 11(2), 18–27. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592356.3592359
“Artists are an important, but under-recognized, aspect of rural community growth. This research article details a collaborative project between a statewide arts organization and academic researchers in West Virginia designed to document the needs of under-represented artists across the state.” In the article the authors present a “theoretical approach that meshes stakeholder and standpoint theory” and a methodology of “participatory and arts-based methods such as asset-mapping and collage-based listening sessions. Ultimately, [the authors] provide a model for others interested in research projects that explicitly prioritize coalition-building throughout a project and demonstrate how cultural (in)equity shapes multiple facets of community life.”
Lyn Gattis
Climate & Environment
Expanding the scope and scale of risk in TPC: Water access and the Colorado River Basin
Pflugfelder, E., Amidon, T., Sackey, D., & Richards, D. (2023). Technical Communication Quarterly, 32, 224-241. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2210194
“Building from a recent history of how technical and professional communication has addressed risk, we argue that the spatial and temporal frames through which the field has encountered risk must be confronted in working toward climate justice. We offer topoi that can be deployed to trace these interconnections and apply them to The Law of the River in the Colorado River Basin to illustrate how case studies can demonstrate the unequal distribution of climate risk.”
Rhonda Stanton
POWHR to the people: Fighting for climate justice and opposing the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Appalachia
Murray, S. P. (2023). Technical Communication Quarterly, 32, 270-275. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2210171
“This case study explores the rhetorical tactics and strategies of grassroots environmental efforts to oppose the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in Appalachia. I emphasize the use of epideictic rhetoric by POWHR in their advocacy for climate justice.”
Rhonda Stanton
Collaboration
Collaborating successfully with community partners and clients in online service-learning classes
Dumlao, R. J. (2023). Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 53(3), 218–239. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472816221088349
“Teaching online students to collaborate effectively with community partners and to solve problems through service-learning projects are “on trend” topics for technical communication faculty. This article presents collaboration specifics as well as the author’s Collaborative Communication Framework (CCF) to show the types of communication needed to work well with community partners/clients in service-learning…”
Anita Ford
Communication
A story about speaking up: Mediation effects of narrative persuasion on organizational voice intentions
Gans, R., & Zhan, M. (2023). International Journal of Business Communication, 60, 865–891. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294884221091275
“Despite well-recognized organizational benefits when speaking up is normative employee behavior, employees often remain reluctant to speak up in organizational settings. To date, strategies to promote speaking up have largely focused on policy and environmental factors, with scant attention paid to development of successful promotional messages. To explore message strategies for promoting speaking up, [the authors] randomly assigned participants (N = 615) to four different message conditions and measured their voice intentions. Persuasive strategies incorporating storytelling were more effective in promoting speaking up than strategies without the storytelling component, with narrative transportation as a mediating factor. Transportation effects were inversely correlated with need for cognition and work engagement, suggesting the utility of story-based message strategies for impacting employees most likely to resist speaking up. This study contributes to the field as one of the first to connect the mechanisms of narrative persuasion to the effectiveness of storytelling in organizational communication.”
Katherine Wertz
We need to talk about how we talk about accessibility
Horton, S., & Lauridsen, E. (2023). Journal of User Experience, 18(3), 105–112. [doi: none]
This essay urges user experience professionals and researchers to choose words carefully when communicating about accessibility and disability inclusion. The authors point out that “[t]he words we use shape our communities. They can drive positive change or cement us in outmoded and unproductive ways of thinking and acting. And they are contagious, spreading throughout our communities, embedding themselves in our systems, defining our behaviors, and influencing outcomes. When the words and expressions we use to talk about accessibility convey prejudice and reinforce stereotypes, whether explicitly or implicitly, they can feed discriminatory behaviors, such as minimizing or disregarding accessibility, thereby preventing disabled people from using digital products.” The essay presents “a series of vignettes, loosely based on real-life events, as a narrative device to illustrate how language reveals unseen but nonetheless solid barriers. . . . Following each vignette, [the authors] explore how the language could be problematic and counterproductive in achieving the aims of [the user experience] profession. [The authors] conclude with some resources for refactoring our accessibility discourse, individually and collectively, so that we can better support accessibility and disability inclusion in our digital world.”
Lyn Gattis
Design
Community engaged researchers and designers: How we work and what we need [Introduction to special issue on justice-oriented communication design]
Amidon, T. R., Moore, K. R., & Simmons, M. (eds.). (2023). Communication Design Quarterly, 11(2), 5–9. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592356.3592357
“This introductory essay [in the first of two special issues on justice-oriented communication design] describes the need for clarity and openness surrounding community-engaged research projects, which comprise expertise, efforts, and experiences that often fail to make their way into traditional research accounts and articles.” The articles in this issue provide “examples of agility and innovation for navigating the liminality of shifting positionality, for building transdisciplinary coalitions, and for pushing the boundaries of genre expectations in order to better document the slow labor of this work and the methodologies and practices that must be developed, adapted, and readapted to ethically, inclusively, and equitably accommodate the complexities of inquiry across community members, community organizers, and researchers, whose roles may shift and overlap in the pursuit of justice.” The second special issue of CDQ on justice-oriented communication design is scheduled for fall 2023.
Lyn Gattis
Diversity
Disrupting textual regimes of climate disaster recovery governance through translation
Lee, S. (2023). Technical Communication Quarterly, 32, 254-269, https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2210169
“Using data sets from ethnographic research, this article examines how language minorities navigate textual regimes in disaster recovery procedures governed by bureaucratic recovery technologies. To discuss the impacts of Western climate governance regimes and alternative disaster recovery communication, this article traces rhetorical practices of transnational multilingual communities of color around a disaster relief program. I argue that community-engaged translation practices operate as the locus of rhetorical strategies against disaster recovery injustice.”
Rhonda Stanton
(Re)locating the decision makers in ecotourism: Emphasizing “Place” and “Grace” in a global industry’s DEI efforts
Mathis, W. (2023). Technical Communication Quarterly, 32, 287-302. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2204139
“This article examines the role that reformed hiring practices and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the global industry of ecotourism may (or may not) play in bringing multiply marginalized or underrepresented (MMU) voices to the forefront of environmental risk communication and sustainability efforts worldwide. Ultimately, the article argues that ecotourism companies should promote grace-based hiring practices to include marginalized knowledges of threatened ecosystems (places) in a company’s decisions regarding sustainability.”
Rhonda Stanton
Education
Calling BS on ChatGPT: Reflections on AI as a communication source
Sundar, S. S., & Liao, M. (2023). & Communication Monographs, 25(2), 165-180. https://doi.org/10.1177/15226379231167135
“The arrival of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) writers has captured the popular imagination, but also raised grave concerns. What are the implications of the widespread deployment of such content generation technologies? How should we, as communication scholars, think about and study AI writing tools? We discuss these questions by reflecting on research highlighting the psychological effects of AI as a source of communication. We identify key future research directions, including a redefinition of concepts like creativity, addressing major weaknesses of AI writers, and motivating design of better AI tools with an eye toward reclaiming human agency in the post-ChatGPT era.”
Yvonne Wade Sanchez
Ethical issues
ChatGPT and large language models in academia: opportunities and challenges
Meyer, J. G., Urbanowicz, R. J., Martin, P. C., O’Connor, K., Li, R., Peng, P. C., … & Moore, J. H. (2023). BioData Mining, 16(1), 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13040-023-00339-9
“The introduction of large language models (LLMs) that allow iterative “chat” in late 2022 is a paradigm shift that enables generation of text often indistinguishable from that written by humans. LLM-based chatbots have immense potential to improve academic work efficiency, but the ethical implications of their fair use and inherent bias must be considered. In this editorial, we discuss this technology from the academic’s perspective with regard to its limitations and utility for academic writing, education, and programming. We end with our stance with regard to using LLMs and chatbots in academia, which is summarized as (1) we must find ways to effectively use them, (2) their use does not constitute plagiarism (although they may produce plagiarized text), (3) we must quantify their bias, (4) users must be cautious of their poor accuracy, and (5) the future is bright for their application to research and as an academic tool.”
Yvonne Wade Sanchez
Health communication
Narratives about cancer: What metaphors can tell us about depressive symptoms in breast cancer patients
Pfeifer, V.A., Weihs, K.L., Lai, V.T. (2023). Health Communication. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2245989
“Metaphors are pervasive in cancer discourse. However, little is known about how metaphor use develops over time within the same patient, and how metaphor use and its content relate to the mental health of the patient. Here, [authors] analyzed metaphor use in personal essays written by breast cancer patients shortly after the time of diagnosis and nine months later, in relation to their depressive symptoms at both time points. Results show that metaphor use can provide important insight into a patient’s current mental state. Specifically, patients who had no change in their depressive symptom levels used metaphors more densely after nine months. In addition, metaphor valence in the later essay was associated with depressive symptoms at study entry and nine months after. Lastly, [authors] observed a shift in metaphor reference pattern for different symptom trajectories, such that those who recovered from initially elevated depressive symptoms used fewer self-referencing metaphors and more cancer-referencing metaphors in their later essay. [This] work suggests that metaphor use reflects how a patient is coping with their diagnosis.”
Walter Orr
Information management
Professionals’ understanding of accessibility regarding business communication materials
Drye, S, L., Kelly, S., Woodard, T. (September 2023). Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 86 (3), 235-256. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294906221133068
“Inclusive practices for people with handicaps in America were mandated in 1990 beginning with the Americans with Disabilities Act; yet according to this study, neither the ADA nor the current DEI conversations seem to have made the needed progress regarding accessibility of documents and visuals that would make these inclusive. Moreover, these inclusive practices have been found to benefit not only those with handicaps but also to “provide access for second language learners … or even just someone in a crowded or loud space,” so these practices are more fully inclusive. This study of business professionals found that “roughly a third of the respondents did not have enough awareness of accessibility to guess at a definition, and after being presented with a definition, roughly half of respondents could not guess at methods of preparing accessible business documents.” The study found differences by age of respondents and by academic major. “Business majors were less likely than other majors to be able to identify disability-related methods of making a report or visual accessible. Implications for business communication education are discussed.” Because of the intended audience of this journal, this article is geared toward business instructors; however, the need to create accessible materials is even more broadly relevant to achieve goals of inclusion.”
Diana Fox Bentele
Instructions
The challenges and opportunities of AI-assisted writing: Developing AI literacy for the AI age
Cardon, P., Fleischmann, C., Aritz, J., Logemann, M., & Heidewald, J. (2023). Business and Professional Communication Quarterly. https://doi.org//10.1177/23294906231176517
“AI may significantly disrupt the teaching and practice of business communication. This study of 343 communication instructors revealed a collective view that AI-assisted writing will be widely adopted in the workplace and will require significant changes to instruction. Key perceived challenges include less critical thinking and authenticity in writing. Key perceived benefits include more efficiency and better idea generation in writing. Students will need to develop AI literacy—composed of application, authenticity, accountability, and agency—to succeed in the workplace. Recommendations are provided for instructors and administrators to ensure the benefits of AI-assisted writing can outweigh the challenges.”
Yvonne Wade Sanchez
Intercultural communication
A communicational disconnect: Establishing superordinate identities in climate communication through transgenerational responsibility
Lehnert, J., Doody, S., Steinburg, J., & Mehlenbacher, A. (2023). Technical Communication Quarterly, 32, 303-309. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2210204
“This paper explores opportunities for intergenerational communication to foster collective climate action and justice. While climate change communication can be framed as a site of intergenerational conflict and blame, we consider how the concept of superordinate identities offers rhetorical possibilities for generational coalition building to ultimately facilitate joint climate action.”
Rhonda Stanton
Leadership
Designing public identity: Finding voice in coalitional technical writing with Black-led organizations
Grant, C., & Walker, D. (2023). Communication Design Quarterly, 11(2), 10–17. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592356.3592358
“This experience report offers an applied example of coalitional communication design, written collaboratively by a white faculty member for a student grant writing program and a Black executive director of a community organization. Highlighting the needs, thought processes, and practical considerations of doing antiracist technical communication work collaboratively from varied identity positions, [the authors] detail an ongoing effort to redesign a Black community organization’s public voice to honor Black humanity and communal healing. This example spotlights the possibilities of coalitional technical writing that deeply engages with and supports community needs, one way to meet the challenge of TPC’s social justice imperative.”
Lyn Gattis
The influences of open communication by senior leaders and legitimacy judgments on effective open innovation
Wang, C., Cardon, P. W., Li, C.-R., & Li, C.-X. (2023). International Journal of Business Communication, 60, 912–931. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488420982061
“Firms increasingly recognize open innovation as a key aspect of their innovation strategies. This study of 200 open innovation managers showed that open internal communication by senior leaders drives higher legitimacy judgments, which in turn drives open innovation success. Further, legitimacy judgments mediate the relationship between open internal communication and open innovation success. Open external communication by senior leaders moderates the indirect relationship between open internal communication and open innovation success, with more open external communication strengthening the influence on open innovation success. These results suggest firm-level open communication by senior leaders is essential for project-level open innovation success.”
Katherine Wertz
Political discourse
Slow civic violence and the removal of USPS mail sorting machines during the 2020 election
Sánchez, F. (2023). Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 53(3), 175–197. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472816221074946
“This article combines historical research with demographic analysis and neoliberal/rhetorical critique to put forth the concept of slow civic violence—indirect injuries on civic process, particularly within marginalized communities. The author ties the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) rationale for removing mail sorting machines during the 2020 election year to systemic moves that damage democratic participation. The author conducts an empirical analysis of where the USPS mail sorting machines were removed to show how neoliberal arguments in favor of cost cutting make voting by mail a more precarious and uncertain act primarily for those who reside in communities of color.”
Anita Ford
Public relations
The hidden labor of sustaining community partnerships
Hartline, M. F. (2023). Communication Design Quarterly, 11(2), 44–49. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592356.3592362
This experience report discusses “the difficult, often hidden, labor of setting up, developing, and maintaining the relationships that are foundational to community-engaged research.” The author draws on personal experiences in academia and community work to “illuminate the complexities of relationship building while detailing practical examples of how to build and sustain strong community partnerships through three core processes: establishing connections, following through, and growing trust.”
Lyn Gattis
Toward a relational theory of employee engagement: Understanding authenticity, transparency, and employee behaviors
Jiang, H., & Shen, H. (2023). International Journal of Business Communication, 60, 948–975. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488420954236
“Based on the relationship management paradigm and the job demands-resources model, [the authors] proposed a relational theory of employee engagement integrating employees’ immediate supervisors’ authentic leadership behaviors and perceived transparent organizational communication as antecedents of employee engagement and contextual performance behavior and turnover intention as behavioral outcomes that engagement leads to. Employee survey (N = 727) results identified perceived transparent communication and employee engagement as key mediators between perceived authentic leadership and individual employee behavioral outcomes. [The authors’] study provided a fresh, interdisciplinary perspective to revisiting relationship management function, testing immediate supervisors’ leadership exchange and an overall transparent organizational communication climate as both relationship cultivation strategies and supportive workplace resources. [The authors’] findings also reinforced the value of transparent organizational communication in cultivating relationships with and fostering engagement of an organization’s stakeholders that prior literature called for more research about. In addition, it added more into the relatively limited but growing body of research on authentic leadership in association with organizational communication, engagement and other employee behavioral and organizational outcomes. [The authors] also discussed theoretical and practical implications of the study.”
Katherine Wertz
Research
A Review of Miscarriage and Healthcare Communication in the United States
Lacci-Reilly, K.R., Brunner Huber, L.R., Quinlan, M.M., Hutchison, C.B., Hopper, L.N. (2023). Health Communication. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2245205
“Miscarriage is a pervasive and socioemotionally complex pregnancy complication. Evidence suggests that poor clinical management can worsen these experiences. Yet, assessments of healthcare communication during a miscarriage are limited and a systematic review of the literature is needed. This review identified and synthesized original research on miscarriage and healthcare communication in the United States from the past 20 years to identify existing knowledge gaps for future miscarriage research. The following databases were searched: PubMed, PsychINFO, and ERIC Database. Data were charted according to Arksey and O’Malley’s Scoping Review Framework. Eleven articles were included in the review and three primary themes emerged: (a) patients overwhelmingly prefer patient-centered care; (b) miscarriage is often overmedicalized, which leads to poor communication; and (c) informed decision-making related to one’s miscarriage can improve patient experiences. Several gaps were also identified, including studies seeking physician perspectives on miscarriage communication, evaluation of standard care guidelines, and studies evaluating diverse patients’ perspectives. This review highlights the need for patient-centered care that utilizes compassionate and accessible language and promotes informed decision-making. Future research should use quantitative methodologies and longitudinal designs to build upon these findings and improve patient experiences of miscarriage.”
Walter Orr
Making graduate student CER practices visible: Navigating the double-binds of identities, space, and time
Allison, L., Kalim, S., Maggio, C., & Schoettler, M. (2023). Communication Design Quarterly, 11(2), 38–43. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592356.3592362
“In this dialogue, four recently commenced PhD students discuss and thus expound upon how their community-engaged research shaped their methodologies and vice versa. The four authors explain how they each individually overcame the double-binds of identities, space, and time associated with graduate school and community partnerships. They conclude by detailing how, in overcoming these double-binds, they were able to enact community-engaged practices not only tied to their respective methodologies but also focused on equity and social justice.”
Lyn Gattis
When failure is the only option: How communicative framing resources organizational innovation
Smith, W. R., Treem, J., & Love, B. (2023). International Journal of Business Communication, 60, 976–999. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488420971693
“Innovation is valuable for organizational success, yet it presents contradictions for workers who must choose between pursuing novel courses of action or practicing established strategy. One challenge is that many efforts at innovation are not successful, making workers reluctant to pursue novel projects. In this study, [the authors] seek to answer the question: How do individuals responsible for facilitating innovation in organizations communicatively construct and frame failure? Abductive analysis of interviews with 36 professionals in innovation-related roles reveal that these workers communicate in a way that frames the idea of failure in a way that bolsters innovation efforts. This framing is enacted through a variety of language tools, a mindset aligned with the frame, and the development of organizational strategy that communicatively supports this framing. The article argues that innovation failure is resourced via communicative framing as an asset that aids organizational learning. Overall, findings indicate that communication plays a central role in constituting innovation practices and facilitating change in organizations.”
Katherine Wertz
Rhetoric
Respecting conversational norms improves reception of expert messages among unvaccinated individuals
McCrea, S.M., Thurmer, J.L., Helm, M.R., Erion, C.J., Krueger, K. (2023). Health Communication. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2243047
“The association of medical experts with politically left-leaning cities and states early in the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated vaccine hesitancy in right-leaning states of the US. Criticism from outside experts violates rules of communication between social groups (i.e. an intergroup sensitivity effect), leading to rejection of messages promoting vaccine safety and efficacy. In two studies, [authors] document the effects of shared geographical group membership for medical expert messages promoting vaccination. [Authors] also found evidence that satisfying conversational norms against intergroup criticism reduces message rejection. Specifically, an invitation from ingroup political elites for a doctor to speak reduced the negative effects of unshared group identity.”
Walter Orr
Scientific writing
The use and misuse of Indigenous science
Pflugfelder, E., Goodfriend, O., & Baker, C. (2023). Technical Communication Quarterly, 32, 276-286. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2210166
“Knowledge about the use of the term “Indigenous science” (IS) is valuable to technical and scientific communication in the larger goal of exposing colonial, appropriative legacies. Using rhetorical content analysis, we analyze 61 instances of IS in US-based news articles and find that IS is often represented as an ongoing activity, connected to food production, and related to higher education activities. However, IS is rarely defined and Indigenous people are not always cited/quoted.”
Rhonda Stanton
Social Justice
Community-driven concepts to support TPC coalition building in a post-Roe world
Novotny, M., Grobel, M., Davis, G., & Vesbit, J. (2023). Communication Design Quarterly, 11(2), 28–37. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592356.3592360
“As threats against reproductive autonomy increase nationally, coalition building serves as an essential practice to advocate for the needs of reproductive persons. This experience report focuses on the work of coalition building for those seeking access to alternative family building services and fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization, which rely upon the availability of donor embryo/s. [This] report sheds light on the often unseen moments essential to supporting community-driven coalitional efforts, identifies concepts to guide coalitional practice in technical and professional communication, and underscores the value of slowness in coalitional work despite the increasing threats limiting access to reproductive care.”
Lyn Gattis
Teaching
Students’ voices on generative AI: perceptions, benefits, and challenges in higher education
Chan, Cecilia Ka Yuk; Hu, Wenjie. (2023). International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education , Vol. 20 Issue 1, p1-18, 18p. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-023-00411-8
“This study explores university students’ perceptions of generative AI (GenAI) technologies, such as ChatGPT, in higher education, focusing on familiarity, their willingness to engage, potential benefits and challenges, and effective integration. A survey of 399 undergraduate and postgraduate students from various disciplines in Hong Kong revealed a generally positive attitude towards GenAI in teaching and learning. Students recognized the potential for personalized learning support, writing and brainstorming assistance, and research and analysis capabilities. However, concerns about accuracy, privacy, ethical issues, and the impact on personal development, career prospects, and societal values were also expressed. According to John Biggs’ 3P model, student perceptions significantly influence learning approaches and outcomes. By understanding students’ perceptions, educators and policymakers can tailor GenAI technologies to address needs and concerns while promoting effective learning outcomes. Insights from this study can inform policy development around the integration of GenAI technologies into higher education. By understanding students’ perceptions and addressing their concerns, policymakers can create well-informed guidelines and strategies for the responsible and effective implementation of GenAI tools, ultimately enhancing teaching and learning experiences in higher education. Highlights: This study focuses on the integration of generative AI (GenAI) technologies, like ChatGPT, into higher education settings. University students’ perceptions of generative AI technologies in higher education were explored, including familiarity, potential benefits, and challenges. A survey of 399 undergraduate and postgraduate students from various disciplines in Hong Kong revealed a generally positive attitude towards GenAI in teaching and learning. Insights from this study can inform policy development around the integration of GenAI technologies into higher education, helping to create well-informed guidelines and strategies for responsible and effective implementation.”
Yvonne Wade Sanchez
Technology
Humans versus AI: whether and why we prefer human-created compared to AI-created artwork
B Bellaiche, L., Shahi, R., Turpin, M. H., Ragnhildstveit, A., Sprockett, S., Barr, N., … & Seli, P. (2023). Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 8(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-023-00499-6
“In Hungary, 94% of businesses have Internet access and 63% have a website. Moreover, online retail sales will reach HUF 1,203 billion in 2021. In order for companies to achieve the largest possible market share, they can use various digital marketing strategies. They are distinguished according to different methods. One of the most commonly used in practice and in science is inbound (as search engine optimization) and outbound (as advertising). Google Ads, which emerged at the turn of the millennium and defined itself as the world’s first company to use machine learning technology, is a market leader. Their ad system was initially based on keywords, which have since been expanded to include more than 4,800 types of targeting criteria. These targeting options are available for a variety of ad formats. The digital solutions to the billboards of traditional marketing are banner ads, called Display on Google. These ads contain image, video, and text content and aim to interrupt the consumer’s activity and redirect them to the advertiser’s website. Since they are capable of increasing website traffic by up to 300%, this can be interpreted as an opportunity that is also considered favorable by businesses. It is also suitable for testing various content elements, as one of its main indicators, the click-through rate, expresses the relevance of the ad, as several researchers have noted. As the role of artificial intelligence grows, more and more companies are using it as a competitive advantage. Some of their algorithms are capable of generating text, images, videos, or other content. In this study, I leverage the power of display ads and conduct my research in the Google Ads system instead of conducting consumer surveys. I created two ads for the same target audience, with the same budget and settings. The text content for one ad was created by a marketer, the image content was created by a professional photographer, and the content elements for the other ad were provided by Artificial Intelligence. The objective of the article is to study the performance, efficiency, and impact of artificial intelligence-generated content on conversions under real market conditions. The study also includes content created by the players”
Yvonne Wade Sanchez
Publications of biomedical research: Evolving landscape and constant themes
Zhou, Q. (2023). American Medical Writers Association Journal, 38(2), 3-4. [doi: none]
“The field of biomedical research publication has undergone significant changes in the last few years. The COVID-19 pandemic catapulted forward an era of virtual scientific conferences, for which technological tools were quickly developed and established to enable the display of conference presentations and posters on digital platforms. Although conferences have returned to in-person attendance, most still use a hybrid format, enabling virtual participation and on-demand access to digital conference materials. On the front of biomedical publishing by scholarly journals, there is a similar trend toward digital content beyond the traditional 2D format. Many journals have embraced digital enhancements of journal articles to extend their reach to a wider audience. Examples include video or audio abstracts, infographic summaries, plain language summaries, and social media posts, to name a few.”
Walter Orr
Usability studies
Talking about thinking aloud: Perspectives from interactive think-aloud practitioners
O’Brien, L., & Wilson, S. (2023). Journal of User Experience, 18(3), 113–132. [doi: none]
“It is widely reported in the literature that intervening during usability testing sessions affects user behavior and compromises the validity of the test. However, this contrasts with the ongoing popularity of Interactive Think-Aloud (ITA) amongst practitioners. [The authors] report an in-depth qualitative study that explored this tension between theory and practice through nine interviews with ITA practitioners.” The researchers found that practitioners in the study sometimes use ITA “to slow down users as they navigate through a system, to manage external pressures such as recruitment difficulties, and to reframe a session as a kind of interview or participatory study.” Practitioners also reported “unexpected difficulties with ITA, including the risk that it results in overly reflective think-aloud and creates challenges in team working” and may also produce reactivity, which the practitioners attempt to reduce. “However, overall, [the practitioners] did not see the traditional positivist objective of valid problem discovery as a realistic or high-priority goal for usability testing. They believed that ITA data can be useful and valid even if user behavior is not wholly realistic.” The authors “argue against the narrow problem-counting approach often employed in the comparative usability evaluation studies that have sometimes seemed to discredit ITA . . . [and] also make the case for broadening how we think about the validity of usability testing data.” They conclude “that forms of ITA may be appropriate in some situations.”
Lyn Gattis
User experience
UX in e-government services for citizens: A systematic literature review
Aldrees, A., & Gračanin, D. (2023). Journal of User Experience, 18(3), 133–169. [doi: none]
“The importance of user experience for the design, development, and deployment of software products has increased significantly, motivating governments to focus on user experience when designing e-government services. [The authors] evaluated the user experience of e-government services from citizens’ perspectives by focusing on citizens’ characteristics and social aspects, which significantly affect their experience with technology.” The authors conducted “a systematic literature review to investigate user experience in e-government by adopting the Social Progress Index (SPI) as a user metric. [They] followed accepted, scholarly guidelines to form research questions and identify specific inclusion/exclusion criteria to meet research objectives.” Out of “672 articles, published between 2000–2022 from six technology digital libraries, [they] selected 75 state-of-the-art studies. These studies were categorized based on SPI class. {The authors] synthesized a set of factors that significantly impacts user experience in each class [and then] identified six major user experience concerns in e-government. [They] provide an overall analysis of these concerns, including the calculated frequencies that specific concerns appear in published articles, followed by definitions of the theories and models used to evaluate each behavior. [They] conclude with recommendations for how to enhance user experience in e-government services and mitigate the challenges hindering users from obtaining the best experiences.”
Lyn Gattis
Writing
A medical writer’s guide: Working on clinical research manuscripts for submission to peer-reviewed medical journals
Nicosia, M. (2023). American Medical Writers Association Journal, 38(2), 13-21. [doi: none]
“Prompt publication of clinical trial results in peer-reviewed journals is essential to advance clinical practice and improve patient outcomes. The involvement of professional medical writers (PMWs) in the preparation of these clinical research manuscripts can enhance their quality and shorten publication timelines. Research manuscript projects can be daunting, especially for early-career PMWs who could benefit from insights provided by experienced PMWs. In this guide, first [the author] share[s] [their] perspective on how PMWs contribute to such projects and the essential skills and competencies [they] should provide. Then, [the author] describe[s] [their] tactical approaches to initiating these projects, developing the first draft of a detailed outline or manuscript, and avoiding some common pitfalls that can undermine the quality of a manuscript. Finally, [the author] share[s] some tips for working with challenging personalities.”
Walter Orr
