Engineering creativity

Abstract

In response to the steadily increasing adoption of content management strategies such as single sourcing in the practice of technical communication, many critics have noted the absence of adequate theory underlying such implementations. This article surveys the theoretical literature currently informing content management, discusses two traditional ways in which new theories develop, and proposes a third "hybrid" approach to theory creation. This approach is then applied by using a critical analysis of the Bauhaus to inform a possible theory base of content management, relying on the two fields' similar motivations and obstacles, a parallel that is illustrated with an example of reusable learning objects in e-learning.