Ronda Wery's List: Johnson

Not many folks in my field (rhetoric, digital communication, technical writing) have examined the relationship between system design and writing. Two notable exceptions are Robert Johnson in his book User-Centered Technology (1998) and Johndan Johnson-Eilola in Nostalgic Angels (1997). If it weren't so disgustingly self serving, I would mention my co-authored book with Patricia Sullivan, Opening Spaces: Writing Technologies and Critical Research Practices (1997).

These works make connections between computer-based writing (or computer-based writing research or computer documentation) and the design of computer interfaces. Bob Johnson's book is particularly relevant to this review, as it provides a counterpoint to Grønbæk & Trigg. Johnson articulates the difference between "system-based design" and "user-centered design" (a more rhetorically alert approach, which a growing body of technical writing researchers, like Johnson, favor).

What is this distinction and why is it important? According to Johnson, system-centered design focuses on "the system's features removed from any context of use" (Johnson 122). In contrast, user-centered design begins with and focuses on "the localized situation within which the user resides" (Johnson 128). A user-centered approach to design does not assume that all users fit the same generic mold. User-centered design views audience diversity as central and significant (not as accidental or as derivative or as too complicated to address). It also views analysis of user context as the first, or at least concurrent, step in the design process. This difference between a user-centered (rhetorical) approach to design and a predominantly system-centered approach such as Grønbæk & Trigg's is significant in terms of our ability to design systems to meet users' (or writers') needs.