The Language of Work

by Carol Siri Johnson, Charles Sides

Lukens Steel was an extraordinary business that spanned two centuries of American history. The firm rolled the first boiler plate in 1818 and operated the largest rolling mills in America in 1890, 1903, and 1918, Later it worked on the Manhattan Project and built the steel beams for the base of the World Trade Center. The company stayed in the family for 188 years, and they kept the majority of their business papers."The Language of Work" traces the evolution of written forms of communication at Lukens Steel from 1810 to 1925. As standards for iron and steel emerged and industrial processes became more complex, foremen, mechanics, and managers began to use drawing and writing to solve problems, transfer ideas, and develop new technology. This shift in communication methods - from 'prediscursive' (oral) communication to 'chirographic' (written) communication - occurred as technology became more complex and knowledge had to span space and time.This richly illustrated volume begins with a theoretical overview linking technical communication to literature and describing the historical context. The analysis is separated into four time 1810 to 1870, when little writing was used; 1870-1900, when Lukens Steel began to use record keeping to track product from furnace, through production, to the shipping dock; 1900-1915, when written and drawn communication spread throughout the plant and literacy became more common on the factory floor; and 1915-1925, when stenographer typists took over the majority of the written work. Over time, writing - and literacy - became an essential part of the industrial process.

204 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2008

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this as a required text for a graduate course, I assumed that I'd probably have to force myself through it--at least at some level. To my pleasant surprise, Johnson's study of the coevolution of a steel mill and its technical communication at the turn of the 20th century is not only a compelling scholarly analysis, but a very well-written one at that.

At the same time that she traces out a timeline from prediscursive record-keeping and personal verbal communications to an eventually chirographic technical communication involving reports, drawing, graphs, and writing of all kinds, Johnson relays a very engaging narrative of a small, family-run post-revolutionary war Pennsylvania ironworks that would eventually become one of the leading twentieth-century specialty steelmakers in the world. Most of all, Johnson unwinds the complexity of relationships between manufacturing technology, industry, management, workers, drawing and writing, writing technologies and the technical communicators that created them (from owners and foremen to stenographers, secretaries, and consultants).

This book is a good one--whether you're interested in engineering and the steel industry or interested in a historical view of technical communication. A very good study.