BIB_07: Skeen, T. (2009). The rhetoric of human-computer interaction. In S. K. Miller-Cochran & R. L. Rodrigo (Eds.), Rhetorically rethinking usability : theories, practices, and methodologies (pp. 91-104). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

In this chapter, drawing on the Foucauldian postmodern take on rhetoric that centers on power play, Skeen examines the connection between the field of rhetoric studies and HCI research. Specifically, he compares the articulation of the relationship between the designer/developer, the user, and technologies in both fields, and argues that a rhetorical approach to HCI addresses the “complex, recursive interplay” of the tripartite relationship (p. 93). Skeen reviews and compares the literature in rhetoric studies and HCI research on the relationships between the users and interface designers/developers, and argue that their relationship is a manifestation of power in a Foucauldian productive sense. Specifically, Skeen compares two articles that examining IT products of similar content in rhetoric and HCI. He concludes that the two fields overlap in the sense that both concern user empowerment, but diverge in their purposes--rhetoric seeks to critique and subvert at both the developer and the user's site, and HCI aims at persuasion and application at the developer's site.

Skeen's comparison between the two fields, rhetoric and HCI, demonstrates value technical communicators can bring to the understanding of the use of technology from their humanistic rhetorical tradition. The rhetorical approach to usability research has long been articulated by many in technical communication, such as Sullivan and Johnson. Drawing on Foucault, Skeen brings in a somewhat fresh perspective at looking at the overlapping and divergence of the two fields. This chapter is also a nice literature review for students who are interested in research in usability in rhetoric and composition or technical communication.