Applying Technical Communication to the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine
Considering the Affects of Risk Communication, Data Visualization, and Minimalism
The rhetoric of health and medicine has been spotlighted with the recent global COVID-19 pandemic. Articles, journals, visual metaphors, and data have been circulating all sources of media over the last year or so with an emphasis on ‘educating’ the consumer. It is not hard to realize that the validity of much of this content or at least implied conclusions should be questioned. This blog post will focus on how technical communication should be applied to the field of health and medicine, and what technical communicators can do to promote better practices in the future. I will be synthesizing several academic journals with a focus on technical communication and the field of health and medicine. These journals are as follows; “What is on the Traditional Herbal Medicine Label? Technical Communication and Patient Safety in Ghana”, by Godwin Agboka; “Rhetorics of alternative media in an EMERGING Epidemic: SARS, censorship, and Extra-institutional risk communication”, by Huiling Ding; “Toward a critical rhetoric of risk communication: Producing citizens and the role of technical communicators”, by Jeffrey Grabill and Michele Simmons; “Lean data visualization: Considering actionable metrics for technical communication”, by Gustav Verhulsdonck and Vishal Shah; and “Minimalism Heuristics Revisited: Developing a Practical Review Tool”, by Jenni Virtaluoto, Tytti Suojanen, and Suvi Isohella.
Safe Labeling Practices
One of the biggest issues of poor technical communication in the field of health and medicine is an increased risk for individuals consuming the content. In the journal, “Rhetorics of alternative media in an EMERGING Epidemic: SARS, censorship, and Extra-institutional risk communication”, Godwin Agboka warns of inadequate labeling practices. Godwin states, “Effective documentation accompanying medicinal products and patient safety have clear connections to product usability and health” (5). Godwin’s journal researches labels of traditional herbal medicines (THMs) being circulated in the country of Ghana and explains the dangers of inadequate product labeling. He argues that THMs, which are widely used by indigenous cultures in the country, often have misleading labels hinting at the products being safe and having little to no side effects. The article explains that many THMs are used in synthetic drugs and have much higher toxicity ratings than their labels state. Godwin goes on to say, “Documentation is a descriptive extension of a product that can transform a user’s experience in positive or negative ways” (5). When considering something like medication or vaccination it is important that the consumer understands the risks and side effects of the product they are consuming. One of the big problems with poor labeling is the belief that a product is inherently safe because the product label does not indicate negative side effects or health effects.
In the article, “Toward a critical rhetoric of risk communication: Producing citizens and the role of technical communicators”, Jeffrey Grabill and Michele Simmons talk about the production of risks. The authors summarize Paul Slovic stating, “Because psychological theorists of risk see that an individual’s outrage about risk is generated by cognitive reactions to social and ethical interests, they argue that the goal of risk communication must not be to educate citizens in expert ‘facts’ to change their opinions but rather to evoke dialogue through a focus on the sources of a particular audience’s outrages and fears” (418). One of the primary arguments they make is that in order to win the trust of the public, risk officials must work together with the public to define risks and work together towards a solution.
In drawing a connection between the work of Grabill and Michele, and the work of Godwin, we can see a correlation between risk communication and safe labeling practices. The label exists to help the consumer understand risks, so having a detailed label will help the consumer calculate the cost versus reward of consuming the medication or using the product.
Promoting Trustworthy Data Visualization
With the COVID-19 pandemic taking place in the midst of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, it is no surprise that the pandemic was politicized and false or misleading content regarding the pandemic started circling. This increased political mistrust along with a wide mistrust of the public toward public and health officials which of course led to a higher risk of infection. In the article, “Rhetorics of alternative media in an EMERGING Epidemic: SARS, censorship, and Extra-institutional risk communication”, Huiling Ding explains the dangers of “rhetoric of proclamation” during the SARS pandemic. Ding goes on to say, “As the rhetoric of anonymous personal narratives spread, it was quickly adopted, transformed, and in some cases co-opted by various audiences to serve their own purposes… this rhetoric quickly circulated as short, dramatic, anonymous, and often decontextualized proclamations” (338). Although Ding is referring to the SARS pandemic that took place nearly two decades before COVID-19, similar results happened globally as the “rhetoric of proclamation” spread like wildfire throughout social media and even into professional media sources.
One of the primary driving forces behind public policy for the COVID-19 pandemic is data visualizations. In the journal, “Lean data visualization: Considering actionable metrics for technical communication”, Gustav Verhulsdonck and Vishal Shah breakdown data visualization and technical communication. They explain, “Recent technical communication work in data visualization has called for developing a more contextual and dynamic understanding of data for users” (35). They break this down into three categories.
- ‘Lean methodology’ which researches how a process or phenomenon works,
- ‘Actionable metrics’ produce data visualizations to encourage specific actions based on future projections.
- ‘Data dashboards’ allows stakeholders to view different scenarios to help with decision-making.
In the right context, these data visualizations can help leaders make informed decisions. However, as the virus spread and fear started setting in, many visualizations such as the provided example were presented out of context in a way that minimized the dangers of the COVID-19 virus much like in the example Godwin provided of THM labels being used in Ghana.
Combining Minimalism and Risk Communication
With a raging global pandemic, public and health officials required detailed visual research but in a format that would allow them to absorb pertinent data in a short amount of time with the purpose of informing swift appropriate action. In the journal, “Minimalism Heuristics Revisited: Developing a Practical Review Tool”, Jenni Virtaluoto, Tytti Suojanen, and Suvi Isohella explain the benefits of utilizing minimalism in technical communication. The author's state, “[minimalism] is a user-centered, contextual, and action-oriented concept for creating customer documentation… making it well-suited to the general ethos of technical communication… and information-development management” (21). Minimalism is simply the practice of delivering the most vital information necessary to help inform the audience in future action. Technical communicators should keep this in mind when producing data visualizations both for public and private purposes. It is easy for biased parties to misinterpret or misrepresent data visualization to their prospective audience. This is where risk communication comes into play as Technical communicators consider the ways in which their data visualizations could be viewed and/or abused in an effort to maximize informed action but prevent the data from being taken out of context.
Minimalism can be applied to safe labeling practices much in the same way as it can be applied to data visualizations. Technical communicators have a short amount of space where they can truly inform the consumer about a medication or medical product. So it is important that they consider the most pertinent information that will inform the consumer and help them choose the best path forward as they consider the risks of using the product at hand. Technical communicators should strive to help their audience understand the risks appropriately and draw collective conclusions.
Overall, technical communicators are responsible to both their intended and unintended audiences regardless of industry. In the rhetoric of health and medicine, misinforming either audience can lead to grave consequences as persons act on wrongful or misrepresented information. Safe labeling practices and data visualizations must both consider minimalism and risk communication in an effort to present the most pertinent data to inform actionable decision-making. Technical communicators are literally holding people’s lives at stake with regard to the rhetoric of health and medicine.
Works Cited
Agboka, G. Y. (2021). What is on the Traditional Herbal Medicine Label? Technical Communication and Patient Safety in Ghana. Technical Communication, 68(1), 4–19.
Ding, H. (2009). Rhetorics of alternative media in an EMERGING Epidemic: SARS, censorship, and Extra-institutional risk communication. Technical Communication Quarterly, 18(4), 327–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572250903149548
Grabill, J. T., & Simmons, W. M. (1998). Toward a critical rhetoric of risk communication: Producing citizens and the role of technical communicators. Technical Communication Quarterly, 7(4), 415–441. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572259809364640
Verhulsdonck, G., & Shah, V. (2020). Lean data visualization: Considering actionable metrics for technical communication. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 35(1), 57–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651920958500
Virtaluoto, J., Suojanen, T., & Isohella, S. (2021). Minimalism Heuristics Revisited: Developing a Practical Review Tool. Technical Communication, 68(1), 20–36.