“The graphic designerís role is largely one of giving form to content. Often ñ perhaps even nearly always ñ this process is a cosmetic exercise. Only rarely does the form of a message become a signal of meaning in and of itself. Last week, at Princeton Universityís Firestone Library, I saw an example of the power that form can give content: George F. Kennanís legendary ‘Telegraphic Message from Moscow of February 22, 1946,’ or, as it is better known to students of twentieth century foreign policy, ‘The Long Telegram.’”

“Morse code is entering the 21st century — or at least the late 20th. The 160-year-old communication system now has a new character to denote the @ symbol used in e-mail addresses. In December, the International Telecommunications Union, which oversees the entire frequency spectrum, from amateur radio to satellites, voted to add the new character. The new sign, which will be known as a ‘commat,’ consists of the signals for ‘A’ (dot-dash) and ‘C’ (dash-dot-dash-dot), with no space between them. The new sign is the first in at least several decades, and possibly much longer. Among ITU officials and Morse code aficionados, no one could remember any other addition.”

“I’ve noticed a lot of talk about Powerpoint lately. About how it’s so terrible and how it enables awful presentations. But the problem isn’t Powerpoint, of course. The problem is bad content delivered poorly. I speak for a living, and hear lots and lots of presentations at the conferences I attend. Here are some notes I wrote up for someone who is about to give his first ever public presentation.”

“The HourWorld interactive world clock is a Macintosh product for timing international phone calls, finding sun and moon information, lighting, shadows, and much more. Attractive and functional, PSE products provide a wealth of information in well-integrated, interactive graphical presentations. See the time and lighting conditions anywhere in the world at a glance.”

This looks like a useful forum site with over 77,000 members and more than two million posts. Features reviews and discussions on mobile phone manufacturers, models, and carriers. Also has a buy/sell area.

This applet allows you to progressively type in a Zip Code and see the area narrow down as the code gets more specific. Pretty neat.

“The phonetics we use in flying aircraft today are the phonetics recommended by the International Telecommunication Union, or ITU. The origins of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) trace back to the invention of the telegraph in the 19th century. [Here is] a complete list of the phonetics with their appropriate pronounciations…”

“The authors of this article, both principals for Method Integrated Marketing, a branding and communications firm, begin with the observation that ‘the number-one complaint we hear with respect to major branding initiatives is their inability to effect real cultural change.’ Part of the solution, they feel, lies with internal communication. Indeed, a recent study cited by Faust and Bethge found a significant link between the transparency and visibility of internal communication and employees’ overall feelings about the company.”

“Every evolving field has its milestones, none of which exists in a vacuum. The timeline on this page shows a few significant events in science and technology that have shaped the field of technical communication. The timeline also indicates concurrent markers in the development of technical communication in general and the Society for Technical Communication in particular.” (Note: Uses frames, click the ‘Timeline’ link).

“Somebody, I think it was Adam Bosworth of BEA, once said that every layer of abstraction costs you 50% of your audience. Or words to that effect…”

“Everyone’s mental switchboard is on overload. People everywhere talk about being distracted, being unable to finish projects, even being unable to sit still. Anxiety and concentration can’t co-exist. Being nervous — being jittery — means being unfocused. In an increasingly complex world, we’re all yearning for simplicity.”

“the internet, the differences in communication between community and audience was largely enforced by media — telephones were good for one-to-one conversations but bad for reaching large numbers quickly, while TV had the inverse set of characteristics. The internet bridged that divide, by providing a single medium that could be used to address either communities or audiences.”

“Paper enables a certain kind of thinking. Picture, for instance, the top of your desk. Chances are that you have a keyboard and a computer screen off to one side, and a clear space roughly eighteen inches square in front of your chair. What covers the rest of the desktop is probably piles — piles of papers, journals, magazines, binders, postcards, videotapes, and all the other artifacts of the knowledge economy. The piles look like a mess, but they aren’t.”

“Often the expression of joy or affection, illustrated letters represent an irrepressible urge to picture language. They are evidence of the writer’s use of words and images to amplify the form and effect of a message. Archives of American Art Manuscript Curator Liza Kirwin has selected forty artists’ illustrated letters, drawn entirely from the collections of the Archives of American Art, encompassing exuberant thank you notes, winsome love letters, lively reports of current events, graphic instructions and other personalized communiqués from the early nineteenth century through the 1980s, in each sender’s distinctive style.”

“The Center for Nonverbal Studies (CNS) is a private, nonprofit research center located in Spokane, Washington and La Jolla, California. Underway since October 1, 1997, the Center’s mission is to advance the study of human communication in all its forms apart from language. The Center’s goal is to promote the scientific study of nonverbal communication, which includes body movement, gesture, facial expression, adornment and fashion, architecture, mass media, and consumer-product design.” Includes the The NONVERBAL DICTIONARY.