Embodied Environmental Risk In Technical Communication

This collection calls for improved technical communication for the public through an embodied, situated understanding of environmental risk that promotes social justice. In addition to providing a series of chapters about recent issues on risk communication, this volume offers a diverse look at methodological practices for students, researchers, and practitioners looking to address embodied aspects of crisis and risk that incorporate UX, storytelling, and dynamic text. It includes chapters that bring embodiment to the forefront of risk communication, highlighting the cycle of content creation, dissemination, public response and decision making, continuing iterations of educational efforts, and recovery, toward increasing adaptive capacity as a whole. In addition, this work directs necessary attention to overcoming perceptual difficulties, memory lapses, definitional differences, access issues, and pedagogical problems in the communication of risks to diverse publics. This collection is essential reading for scholars and can be used as a supplemental text or casebook for courses in technical communication, environmental communication, risk and crisis communication, science communication, and public health.

A fully updated edition of the preeminent book on risk communication For more than a decade, Risk Communication: A Handbook for Communicating Environmental, Safety, and Health Risks has been a trusted compendium of strategies and guidance for effectively conveying risk information. Managers, scientists, engineers, students, communication specialists, healthcare professionals, agency representatives, and consultants in more than twenty countries have benefited from its contemporary, practical advice on what to do and what to avoid for successful risk communication. Now in its Fourth Edition, the handbook has been updated with expanded coverage of laws, approaches, messages, and technology-based applications such as social media, as well as all-new information on international risk communication. The handbook guides readers on: Understanding Risk Communication—Approaches to communicating risk; laws that mandate risk communication; constraints to effective risk communication; ethical issues; and principles of risk communication Planning the Risk Communication Effort—Determine purpose and objectives; analyze your audience; develop your message; determine appropriate methods; set a schedule; and develop a communication plan Putting Risk Communication into Action—Information materials; visual representation of risks; face-to-face communication; working with the media; stakeholder participation; and technology-assisted communication Evaluating Risk Communication Efforts—Why it's important to evaluate risk communication efforts; types of evaluation; and conducting the evaluation Special Cases in Risk Communication—Emergency risk communication and international risk communication Combining in-depth scientific underpinnings and the greatest breadth of information available, this book makes the topic of risk communication accessible to those who need it most. It is intended as an introduction to the field as well as a refresher and reference book for those communicating environmental, safety, and health risks in government, industry, and academia.

This practical manual is written in a clear, concise manner and addresses many unanswered questions about communication and the community. The book is special in that it focuses on the "hows" rather than the "whys." It reveals how to be a better communicator, how to explain technical information in lay terms, and how to find ways to reach out to the community. Industry Risk Communication Manual provides you ready access to current thinking and practice on environmental risk communication. This manual will allow you to think through risk communication problems and plan risk communication strategies. It also will provide you with examples and instant experience from over 30 experts who have found themselves in similar situations. Developed by one of the leading programs on risk communication, this book provides easy-to-follow guidelines, checklists, and examples for plant managers, public information specialists, technical staff, executives, and managers who need to deal with the public regarding how their company's business relates to environmental risk issues.

Modern industry faces many communication challenges, including social media. The second edition of this book is thoroughly updated, expanded, and reorganized to help industry communicators remain effective in addressing these challenges. At the core of this book are foundational building blocks that address the human factors responsible for driving success or failure when communicating about environmental risk. Features Provides principled guidance for building relationships and engaging in constructive dialogue with stakeholders. Offers straight talk and practical, easy-to-follow guidance on effective risk communication for various situations, stakeholders, and modes of communication. Gives lessons learned from environmental permitting and crisis situations involving risk communication in various industries, including chemical manufacturing, waste management, and the energy sector. Addresses nuanced, recent concerns regarding issues like fake news and social media bullying. Examines the dos and don’ts of communicating effectively during tough conditions like environmental emergencies. Environmental Risk Communication: Principles and Practices for Industry is intended to be both a grounding in enduring principles and a continued resource for best approaches and techniques. Coupled with tools and best practices from decades of experience, this insider’s guide provides CEOs, plant managers, environmental compliance professionals, health and safety officers, and others with the direction and the confidence needed to prepare for difficult dialogue and high-pressure encounters.

When it comes to risk communication there is little margin for error. Not only is it critically important that the communication be clear and easy-to-understand, it must reach all those affected. Risk Communication, by Regina Lundgren, is a handbook designed to help scientists, engineers and writers communicate risk more effectively. With practical advice on planning the campaign, designing messages for a variety of audiences, and evaluating the message, this book can help you avoid the serious problems that result from inadequate communication of health, safety and environmental risks.

Academic writing on environmental communication proliferated in the 1990's. A few of us had been calling for such work and making initial investigations throughout the 1980's, but the momentum in the field built slowly. Spurred by coverage in the mass media, academic publishers finally caught the wave of interest. In this exciting new volume, the editors demonstrate more fully than ever before how environmental rhetoric and technical communication go hand in hand. The key link that they and their distinguished group of contributors have discovered is the ancient concern of communication scholars with public deliberation. Environmental issues present technical communicators with some of their greatest challenges, above all, how to make the highly specialized and inscrutably difficult technical information generated by environmental scientists and engineers usable in public decision making. The editors encourage us to accept the challenge of contributing to environmentally conscious decision making by integrating technical knowledge and human values. For technical communicators who accept the challenge of working toward solutions by opening access to crucial information and by engaging in critical thinking on ecological issues, the research and theory offered in this volume provide a strong foundation for future practice.

Effective communication can help prevent or minimize damage from environmental disasters. In Risk Communication and Miscommunication, Carolyn Boiarsky teaches students, technical writers, public affairs officers, engineers, scientists, and governmental officials the writing and communication skills necessary for dealing with environmental and technological problems that could lead to major crises. Drawing from research in rhetoric, linguistics, technical communication, educational psychology, and web design, Boiarsky provides a new way to look at risk communication. She shows how failing to consider the readers’ needs and the rhetorical context in which a document is read can be catastrophic and how anticipating those needs can enhance effectiveness and prevent disaster. She examines the communications and miscommunications of original e-mails, memos, and presentations about various environmental disasters, including the Columbia space shuttle breakup and the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, and successes, such as the Enbridge pipeline expansion and the opening of the Mississippi Spillway, offering recommendations for effective communication. Taking into account the growing need to communicate complex and often controversial issues across vast geographic and cultural spaces with an ever-expanding array of electronic media, Risk Communication and Miscommunication provides strategies for clear communication of data, ideas, and procedures to varied audiences to prevent or minimize damage from environmental incidents.

This book enables readers to interrogate the technical, rhetorical, theoretical, and socio-ethical challenges and opportunities involved in the development and adoption of augmentation technologies and artificial intelligence. The core of our human experience and identity is forever affected by the rise of augmentation technologies that enhance human capability or productivity. These technologies can add cognitive, physical, sensory, and emotional enhancements to the body or environment. This book demonstrates the benefits, risks, and relevance of emerging augmentation technologies such as brain–computer interaction devices for cognitive enhancement; robots marketed to improve human social interaction; wearables that extend human senses, augment creative abilities, or overcome physical limitations; implantables that amplify intelligence or memory; and devices, AI generators, or algorithms for emotional augmentation. It allows scholars and professionals to understand the impact of these technologies, improve digital and AI literacy, and practice new methods for their design and adoption. This book will be vital reading for students, scholars, and professionals in fields including technical communication, UX design, computer science, human factors, information technology, sociology of technology, and ethics. Artifacts and supplemental resources for research and teaching can be found at https://fabricofdigitallife.com and www.routledge.com/9781032263755.