Areas of Focus
I am dedicated to discovering and developing knowledge in the following domains:
- Design thinking approaches
- UX design, usability studies
- Multimodality
- Collaboration and emergent learning
Ongoing Projects
- Open-access collection: Keywords in Design Thinking
- Co-authored books: Collaborative writing (guides for students, instructors, and workplace teams)
- Monograph: Design thinking in technical communication (see description below)
- Journal articles: Radical collaboration in graduate research education; design thinking in writing social change; multimodal advocacy design; creating usable end-user licensing agreements via participatory design thinking
Monograph Description
Design Thinking in Technical Communication: Solving Wicked Problems through Critical Making and Radical Collaboration explicates the relationships between design thinking, critical making, and socially responsive technical communication. It leverages the recent technology-powered DIY culture called “the Maker Movement” to identify how citizen innovation can inform cutting-edge social innovation that advocates for equitable change at a time when social problems are deemed “wicked” and ill-defined. It examines the underlying design thinking principles in maker culture that enable social innovation while offering opportunities to cultivate a sense of critical changemaking in technical communication students and practitioners. The author draws from expert interviews and three case studies of makerspace development, pedagogical deployment of design thinking, and radical collaboration in technical communication. These investigations reveal the values of design thinking methodologies for teaching and practicing socially responsible design. The author argues for a future of technical communication that sees its constituents as leaders in radical innovation to solve wicked social problems. This book provides pedagogical as well as practical frameworks to achieving this goal.
Recent Publications
- Tham, J. (2018). Interactivity in an age of immersive media: Seven dimensions for wearable technology, internet of things, and technical communication. Technical Communication, 65(1), 46-65.
- Tham, J. (2017). Wearable writing: Enriching student peer reviews through point-of-view video feedback using Google Glass. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 47(1), 22-55.
- Tham, J. (2016). Audience, user, producer: MOOCs as activity systems. In E. Monske & K. Blair (Eds.), Handbook of research on writing and composing in the age of MOOCs (pp. 254-277). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
- Tham, J. (2016). Pedagogical and technological ethos in online instruction: A rhetorical review of on-site and online learning statements. Journal of Global Literacies, Technologies, and Emerging Pedagogies, 3(3), 499-515.
- Duin, A.H., Moses, J. McGrath, M., & Tham, J. (2016). Wearable computing, wearable composing: New dimensions in composition pedagogy. Computers and Composition Online. n.p.
- Tham, J., McGrath, M., Moses, J., & Duin, A.H. (2016). Glass in class: Writing with Google Glass. Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy. Assignments Section, n. p.
- Tham, J. (2015). Through Glass: Reframing technical communication practices via Google Glass. Intercom, 62(2), 32-34.
