Author: Brad Mehlenbacher
Ph.D
Brad Mehlenbacher is an Associate Professor of Distance Learning (Leadership, Policy, Adult & Higher Education), Primary Area Faculty Member with Human Factors & Ergonomics (Psychology), Affiliated Faculty Member with Communication, Rhetoric, & Digital Media (English and Communication), and Affiliated Faculty Member with the Digital Games Research Center (Computer Science) at NC State University. He teaches graduate courses on instruction and learning with technology and Web-based instruction. He earned his BA and MA at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada), where he focused on computer-assisted learning and computational text analysis; and his PhD in rhetoric and document design at Carnegie Mellon University, where he focused on online information design, usability, and human-computer interaction.
Mehlenbacher is author of Instruction and Technology: Designs for Everyday Learning (MIT Press, 2010), co-author of Online Help: Design and Evaluation (Ablex, 1993), and has published numerous articles on online information design and evaluation. He has chapters in Assessment Strategies for the Online Learner (Jossey-Bass), The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook (Lawrence Erlbaum), Innovative Approaches to Teaching Technical Writing (Utah State UP), The Society of Text (MIT Press), The Computer Science and Engineering Handbook (CRC Press), and the 1997 NCTE award-winning Computers and Technical Communication (Ablex Press).
Mehlenbacher is elected Chair of the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on the Design of Communication (ACM SIGDOC). At NC State, he has served as usability consultant for the previous and the new NC State Website. Broadly defined, Mehlenbacher's research interest is in applying empirical research and rhetorical theory to the study of human-computer interfaces and online support systems, usability testing methods, and Web-based instruction.
Over the years, Mehlenbacher has consulted for numerous academic and nonacademic institutions, including the Computer Science Department, Engineering Design Research Center, and Communications Design Center at Carnegie Mellon; the Centre for Professional Writing at the University of Waterloo; the Center for the Study of Writing at the University of California at Berkeley; Apple Computer; Bell-Northern Research; Hewlett Packard; SAS Institute; Digital Equipment Corporation; Ricoh Silicon Valley; the American Cancer Society; UNext.com; IBM-Toronto; and IBM-RTP. He lives in Cary, North Carolina, and has two extraordinary daughters, Eleanor Dare and Frances Elizabeth. He has been using Internet-based communication tools since beginning his undergraduate degree in 1980 at the University of Waterloo.
Publications
Co-authors
Productive Colleagues
- Mark Zachry
- Carlos J. Costa
- David G. Novick
- 16
- 22
- 34
Publications
Mehlenbacher, Brad (2000): Intentionality and Other Nonsignificant Issues in Learning. In ACM SIGDOC *Journal of Computer Documentation, 24 (1) pp. 25-30. https://www.acm.org/pubs/articles/journals/jcd/2000-24-1/p25-mehlenbacher/p25-mehlenbacher.pdf
Mehlenbacher, Brad (1996): Spaces Without Places. In ACM SIGDOC *Journal of Computer Documentation, 20 (3) pp. 18-22.
Mehlenbacher, Brad, Duffy, Thomas M., Palmer, James E. (1989): Finding Information on a Menu: Linking Menu Organization to the User's Goals. In Human-Computer Interaction, 4 (3) pp. 231-251.
Mehlenbacher, Brad, Duffy, Tom, Palmer, Jim, Truschel, Maria, Denchfield, Karen, Aaron, Ann (1988): Help for the Designers on Online Help Systems. In ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, 20 (1) pp. 66-69.
Stamey, John, Novick, David G., Spinuzz, Clay, Mehlenbacher, Brad (2006): Research issues in the design of communication. In: ACM 24th International Conference on Design of Communication , 2006, . pp. 129-130. https://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1166324.1166354
Mehlenbacher, Brad (1992): Navigating Online Information: A Characterization of Extralinguistic Factors that Influenc. In: ACM Tenth International Conference on Systems Documentation , 1992, . pp. 35-46. https://www.acm.org/pubs/articles/proceedings/doc/147001/p35-mehlenbacher/p35-mehlenbacher.pdf
Mehlenbacher, Brad (1993): Software Usability: Choosing Appropriate Methods for Evaluating Online Systems and Documen. In: ACM Eleventh International Conference on Systems Documentation , 1993, . pp. 209-222. https://www.acm.org/pubs/articles/proceedings/doc/166025/p209-mehlenbacher/p209-mehlenbacher.pdf
Mehlenbacher, Brad, Hardin, Beth, Barrett, Chris, Clagett, Jim (1994): Multi-User Domains and Virtual Campuses: Implications for Computer-Mediated Collaboration . In: ACM Twelfth International Conference on Systems Documentation , 1994, . pp. 213-219. https://www.acm.org/pubs/articles/proceedings/doc/192506/p213-mehlenbacher/p213-mehlenbacher.pdf
Hill, Charles A., Mehlenbacher, Brad (1996): Readers\' Expectations and Writers\' Goals in the Late Age of Print. In: ACM 14th International Conference on Systems Documentation , 1996, . pp. 257-266. https://www.acm.org/pubs/articles/proceedings/doc/238215/p257-hill/p257-hill.pdf
Mehlenbacher, Brad (2007): Triangulating communication design: emerging models for theory and practice. In: Proceedings of the 25th annual ACM international conference on Design of communication , 2007, El Paso, Texas, USA. pp. 87-94. https://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1297144.1297164
Pierce, Robert, Protopsaltis, Aristidis, Mehlenbacher, Brad, Zachry, Mark (2007): What is design of communication?. In: Proceedings of the 25th annual ACM international conference on Design of communication , 2007, El Paso, Texas, USA. pp. 181. https://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1297144.1297181
Mehlenbacher, Brad (2008): Communication design and theories of learning. In: DOC08 , 2008, . pp. 139-146. https://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1456536.1456564
Pierce, Robert, Mehlenbacher, Brad, Costa, Carlos J., Albers, Michael J., Protopsaltis, Aristidis (2008): Panel design of communication: new steps. In: DOC08 , 2008, . pp. 183-184. https://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1456536.1456574
Mehlenbacher, Brad, McKone, Sarah, Grant, Christine, Bowles, Tuere, Peretti, Steve, Martin, Pamela (2010): Social media for sustainable engineering communication. In: ACM 28th International Conference on Design of Communication , 2010, . pp. 65-72. https://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1878450.1878462
Mehlenbacher, Brad, Holstein, Krista, Gordon, Brett, Khammar, Khalil (2010): Reviewing the research on distance education and e-learning. In: ACM 28th International Conference on Design of Communication , 2010, . pp. 237-242. https://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1878450.1878490