Similarities
Clay Spinuzzi and Robert R. Johnson both advocate models where the user is empowered and gains more control of their work environment by re-articulating the relationship of the worker and the information designer that allows the design to take into account the user’s needs.

Both authors articulate views where the worker is seen as the victim. Johnson believes the user is forced to adapt to the designer’s model of use for a product in system-centered design. Spinuzzi argues that the information designer still retains control in both the system-centered and user-centered perspectives.

Johnson and Spinuzzi both draw from rhetorical theory. Johnson very explicitly draws from classical rhetorical theory and frequently references the works of Aristotle. Spinuzzi’s work is also influenced by rhetorical theory, though not explicitly mentioned.

Both authors view the worker’s contextual environment as an integral part of a product’s design. Activity Theory is a way of analyzing the user’s context. Genre tracing is steeped in Activity Theory applies three levels of scope to analyze destabilizations in the worker’s environment. Johnson, while not directly referencing it, also applies Activity Theory in user-centered design.

Our Perspective
We believe that both user-centered and open systems have useful and important tools and perspectives that are valuable and applicable to the field of technical communication in a variety of ways.

We find common the theme of empowering the user within the work environment as a powerful shared goal that has and will continue to have a lasting effect on information design, technical communication and human-computer interaction.

ThoughtMesh
The book reviews, in their entirety, are available in a format called ThoughtMesh. There are two features in ThoughtMesh that we found it a fitting format to present our reviews.

The first is a structure that allows the entire essay to be read in a linear, beginning-to-end manner. If you would like to read the essay from the beginning to the end, use the navigation on the left.

Second, ThoughtMesh connects tagged terms, or lexias, that allow users to conduct simple queries within the essay. You can highlight one or more lexias at a time to include passages that include all the highlighted terms. We found this feature to be a interesting way to connect our reviews to a larger conversation.

View Johnson's Book review in ThoughtMesh.

View Spinuzzi's Book review in ThoughtMesh.