Four Journal Articles that Best Represent the Field of Technical Communication

I was asked to choose a set of four texts that best represent the field of technical communication. Choosing only four (or ten, or 50) is of course extremely reductive, but it allowed me to really focus on the aspects of technical communication that I think are most foundational.

The four texts I chose offer the broadest overview of the discipline while still addressing the specific components that represent the field of technical communication. I identify four primary topics that both build on each other and overlap, to give a representative view of which topics I see as important for technical communicators, in general.

Rhetorical & #TechComm Analysis of AT&T “CPNI” Opt-Out Email

As I have mentioned in previous posts (analysis of hacking responses and Kickstarter PR response), as more PR and marketing communications concern technical issues (either directly regarding a technology or technological information about a product or service) there is a need for writers who can write both technical and rhetorically — that is, knowing not just what to say but how and where.

Rhetorical & #TechComm Analysis of Kickstarter “hacking” response

What happened?

“Important Kickstarter Security Notice”

https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/important-kickstarter-security-notice

What happened in summary?

• Last week on Wednesday (this date is relevant) Kickstarter’s website was hacked and users’ personal data was stolen. Kickstarter released a PR statement regarding the security incident on Saturday (yes, 3 days later, on a holiday weekend) with recommended instructions that users should take.

Why am I writing about this?

• Security breaches are becoming more and more common and with the need for companies to release PR statements informing their users of an incident, invariably technical instructions need to be conveyed as well. For example, see my previous post on this topic: Rhetorical & #TechComm Analysis of Adobe, Avast, Avira, & AVG “hacking” responses.

Rhetorical & #TechComm Analysis of Adobe, Avast, Avira, & AVG “hacking” responses

What happened?

Avira and AVG: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2053380/network-solutions-investigating-dns-hijack.html
Avast: http://grahamcluley.com/2013/10/vigilance-avast-anti-virus-website-pwned/
Adobe: http://rt.com/usa/adobe-hacked-krebs-hold-742/

What happened in summary?

• In the past week, several companies’ websites were “hacked”* including the security companies AVG and Avira, and the same attempt made on Avast. The hack made on Adobe was not the same as the previous three but because it occurred during this same time and was a result of hacking, I have included it in this post. Whatsapp was also hacked but I have not included them in this post.

Article Review: “The Textualizing Functions of Writing for Organizational Change”

Anderson, Donald L. 2004. “The Textualizing Functions of Writing for Organizational Change.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication 18 (2) (April 1): 141–164.

Contents:
Logic, organization, and argumentation strategies
Are the claims logical interpretations of the data?
Significance to the field of technical communication

This research paper combines a literature review with an ethnographic study to examine “how change is accomplished through language” (Anderson 2004, 142).

Anderson introduces his two research questions at the end of the introduction and literature review and immediately preceding the methodology section. The rest of the paper is the presentation of the study results along with concurrent analysis.

The Anderson’s conclusion (and theoretical perspective) is that an idea, or series of ideas—whether it’s from meetings, voicemails, IMs, etc.—can’t effect change unless they are “textualized”, written down or otherwise transformed into an “object”; this object is the agent that allows change to occur.

Article Review: 350-word summary of “A Question of Ethics: Lessons from Technical Communicators on the Job”

Dragga, Sam. 1997. “A Question of Ethics: Lessons from Technical Communicators on the Job.” Technical Communication Quarterly 6 (2): 161–178.

The questions of how useful, desirable, or effective ethics instructions is for professional technical communicators has been visited and revisited for decades. Most of the literature concerning ethics instruction focuses on the analytical perspective rather than on narratives. In this article, Dragga offers a claim based in part on

Article Review: 350-word summary of “Linking Ethics and Language in the Technical Communication Classroom”

Sims, Brenda R. 1993. “Linking Ethics and Language in the Technical Communication Classroom.” Technical Communication Quarterly 2 (3): 285.

This essay combines a literature review with case studies to examine what communication-ethics principles students are learning and to demonstrate how technical communication courses should approach ethics instruction. The author discusses current literature (as of 1993) and suggests that the current pedagogy structures ethics learning around actions, or what I call the industrial approach, instead of by

Using Google Trends in Technical Communication

Google Insights is now officially Google Trends. According to Google, the combined capabilities are Insights into what the world is searching for.

As a technical writer, I have used Google Insights from time to time when choosing between a variation in spellings or choice of term. Not every term choice can be accounted for in a company style guide,

Article Review: 350-word summary of “TPC Program Snapshots: Developing Curricula and Addressing Challenges”

Allen, Nancy, and Steven T. Benninghoff. 2004. “TPC Program Snapshots: Developing Curricula and Addressing Challenges.” Technical Communication Quarterly 13 (2): 157–185.

This article combines quantitative data from the results of surveys of technical and professional communication (TPC) programs along with a literature review of humanities and technology literature. The surveys examined what the core program curricula were for TPC programs—the authors examined the courses using a quantitative scale to rank the frequency and breadth of the courses within a program.

The examination itself (more so than the results) provides a background that helps frame my research on ethics in TPC programs and whether the curricula adequately prepare students for the workplace.

Article Review: 350-word summary of “Why We Chose Rhetoric : Necessity, Ethics, and the (Re)Making of a Professional Writing Program”

Spigelman, Candace, and Laurie Grobman. 2006. “Why We Chose Rhetoric: Necessity, Ethics, and the (Re)Making of a Professional Writing Program.” Journal of Business & Technical Communication 20 (1) (January): 48–64.

 

Spigelman and Grobman’s article is a literature review that analyzes classical rhetoric and philosophy to support the authors’ assertion that their professional communication program requires a strong liberal arts foundation to provide students the skills they need in the business world.

The two primary issues that are at question in this article and relevant to my research on ethics in technical communication are