Information Design Journal - Volume 12, Issue 1, 2004

GPS-based route-guidance systems are used for various types of transport, such as airplanes, boats, cars and motorbikes. Such systems have also been developed for pedestrians, focusing initially on hikers in rough terrain. Recently, some devices were developed for pedestrians in urban environments. This study focuses on the ways in which route instructions can be presented to urban pedestrians with such GPS-receivers.

This article explores the complex relationship between enterprise and discourse from a sociolinguistic viewpoint. A model of communication is presented which depicts the multilayered framework of texts within organizations. With this model as a background, results from two studies on enterprise discourse are discussed. The first study analyzed communication within banks and structural engineering companies in Sweden, Germany and Great Britain. Interviews were held with staff at different levels, and written documents were analyzed. Though of course the discourse within the studied companies had much in common, differences were found as well, which can be explained by variation in sector, the organizational culture and the national culture. The second study focused on the multilingual production of texts in a Swedish based international company. An analysis of company brochures produced in different European branches showed considerable variation in relation to content, arguments and style. Though the headquarters steered the sales companies by means of a common text base, the various brochures also revealed differences that reflected ideas from the local level. Both studies thus show how the creation of uniqueness and attractiveness on the one hand takes place within the limits set by the sector concerned and on the other is determined by the relevant national culture(s). The company is part of a wider sectoral network that frequently has well-established discourse traditions. Moreover, a company also operates within a national culture, or several cultures, forcing it to adapt to national discourse patterns as well.

The diagrammatic notation developed by the author for a branch of mathematics called interval analysis is reviewed. Some general aspects of applying information design in science, especially mathematics, are briefly discussed. Then the most important interval analysis diagrams are described, with a discussion of certain elements of their design and development process.