Beyond User-centered: Ecological Design for Technical Communication Practitioners and Pedagogues

This dissertation presents a methodological and philosophical approach technical communicators can use to improve relationships within their teams and environments. The approach, called “environmental design,” asks technical communicators to think about themselves as part of an ecosystem, which means updating our thinking about the definition of “technical communication” as well as its prevailing development process: “user-centered design.”

System- and user-centered designs do not alter the designs of systems as a result of the technical communicator's work; these processes alter only documentation. These processes treat design almost as if it happens in that “vacuum” teachers tell students does not exist. Both processes see documentation as capturing knowledge “out there somewhere,” either from experts and systems or users and their needs.

Environmental design seeks to account for the multiple relationships, situations, and temporal contexts and perspectives involved in any project. In environmental design, the center or focus emerges from context and changes as needed; the model does not prescribe it. As situational contexts change, focus and scope change, too.

In environmental design, technical communicators become more than translators; they become designers and rhetors, too. Technical communicators work with experts and users in decision-making: They communicate, discuss, and negotiate along with all stakeholders—considering relevant tools, politics, missions, goals, and other environmental factors—and they criss-cross back and forth between design and rhetoric to facilitate best-fit solutions based on context and time. During the process, they can improve relationships with and secure commitment from experts, users, and others in design and use spaces. They might also shape system designs.

Based on participant observations with design teams at four sites, this dissertation highlights strengths and shortcomings of system- and user-centered design. It uses scenarios of environmental design to show how a broader, more holistic approach benefits technical communicators, and it identifies implications for practitioners and educators.