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Applied ResearchLiza Pottsactors, the central artifact couldPersonnot exist. Byfinding patterns across these actors, technicalcommunicators can create stencils to communicateassociations. For example, the pattern of groupscan help describe organizations and differentiatethem from individuals of importance within theecosystem. Note that human and nonhumanactors are listed in this diagram, pointing to thesociotechnical network in which these artifactsreside. Such an understanding is critical to mappingout the needs of actors within these systems. Doingso allows us to ask questions such as what ecologiesthese actors can leverage and what groups have astake in these artifacts.The stencils in Figure 5 are not comprehensive;different situations will require the use of differentsorts of stencils. These maps are created to allowus to “begin to understand what sort of structuresmust be in place to allow for the mediation ofinformation across these systems” (Potts, 2009a).Creating a common understanding of thesenetworks is key; ANT maps are meant as a startingpoint for these conversations. For technicalcommunicators, this process is important becauseof our role as user advocates.Showing Noun RelationshipsOnce your nouns are visualized and patternsemerge, another way to extend these diagrams isby visualizing shifts in practice. These shifts can becataloged from a number of different perspectives:strength of ties, length of time, history of use, andso forth.When examining the use of social software,technical communicators can choose to measurethe strength of relationships relative to time (Potts,2008). If actors spend a lot of time exchanginginformation, then the lines connecting the actorswould be thicker. If the relationships seem morecritical due to these information flows, then thoselines would also be thicker. The less time andimportance, the thinner the lines.A valuable use of these lines is to showrelationships between actors across geography(see Figure 6). Tracing these associations makesTechnologyGroupPersonObjectGroupGroupFigure 5. Stencils are created to visually describe the actors.TechnologyGroupPersonPersonPersonObjectEventEventGroupSystemSystemPlaceGroupPlaceFigure 6. Lines are used to describe relationships between theactors and the central artifact.Volume 57, Number 3, August 2010 l Technical Communication 307