Research Journal Entry

Objective

Start testing whether Communication Engineering adds a unique boundary.

Actions taken

Mapped five adjacent foundations: information transmission, human-centred design, systems integration, information architecture, and rhetoric.

Observations

Nearly every broad candidate claim is already owned: fidelity by information theory; audience/action/context by rhetoric; findability by IA; user-centred lifecycle by HCI; integration and lifecycle by systems engineering.

Failed assumptions

“Integrative” or “communication that leads to action” is not sufficient novelty.

Highest-value next step

Map technical communication, CSCW/coordination, requirements engineering, and safety-critical communication; then design a comparative test of incremental utility.