In Sarah Hallenbeck’s (2012) article “User Agency, Technical Communication, and the 19th-Century Woman Bicyclist,” she argued “that technical communicators, in their teaching and research, should consider the role that extraorganizational technical communication plays in generating vital and lasting cultural changes” (p. 290). Hallenbeck assessed three texts and how they portrayed female users of the bicycle, gender and technology, the agency of the bicycle user, the different types of riders, and the transformative powers of the activity for women. Hallenbeck’s purpose was to establish the “need to undertake additional robust studies of user cultures, attending not only to innovative technological practices but also to user innovation and expertise as communicated through writing for purposes of promoting lasting cultural change” (p. 305). Hallenbeck’s intended audience was historical scholars studying the innovations of past technologies and professors seeking to broaden their teachings of cultural transformations. Hallenbeck did an excellent job of comparing three different bicycle manufacturing manuals and using their distinctions to support her argument.
Author: maryatteberry
Lay, M. M. (1991). Feminist theory and the redefinition of technical communication. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 5(4), (pp. 348–370). https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651991005004002
In Mary M. Lay’s (1991) article “Feminist Theory and the Redefinition of Technical Communication,” she explored “how current views of scientific objectivism and the adoption of ethnographic studies-particularly those of collaborative writing-necessitate a new and, perhaps, revolutionary affiliation for technical communication and feminist theory” (p. 349). Lay analyzed six common characteristics of feminist theory, three issues that divide feminists, the collaboration aspect of feminist theory in technical communication, standpoint feminists, the awareness of both audience and subject, and ethnographic studies. Lay’s purpose was to demonstrate how the “interdisciplinary nature of technical communication will lead the field in the direction of feminist theory,” which necessitates a redefining of the definition (p. 365). Lay’s intended audience was skeptical technical communicators and scholars in search of broadening the field even further. Lay articulated a convincing argument and expanded how technical communication is understood, but she still has unanswered questions that should be answered to support her claims.
Charney, D. (1996). Empiricism is not a four-letter word. In J. Johnson-Eilola & S. A. Selber (Eds.) (2004), Central Works in Technical Communication (pp. 281-299). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
In Davida Charney’s (1996) article “Empiricism Is Not a Four-Letter Word,” she argued that “critics of science often conflate methods and ideologies in simplistic ways that have been challenged by others sharing their political commitments” (p. 283). Charney examined the possibility of incorporating empirical methods, the power of technical communication, derived authority, radical mischaracterizations of science, implicating science in injustice, how sexist methods serve the oppressive power structure, the process of communal critique to create knowledge, and collective objectivity. Charney’s purpose was to propose that the “only way to progress as a discipline is to undertake the hard task of interconnecting our work, by building up provisional confidence in our methods and our knowledge base” (p. 297). Charney’s intended audience was scholars in search of a new research method that would avoid the oppression of the other methods. Charney’s claims seemed far-reaching, but the underlying idea of communal knowledge building was sensible.
Blyler, N. (1998). Taking a political turn: The critical perspective and research in professional communication. Technical Communication Quarterly, 7(1), 33. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572259809364616
In Nancy Blyler’s (1998) article “Taking a Political Turn: The Critical Perspective and Research in Professional Communication.,” she promoted that “research in professional communication ought to take an increasingly political turn” (p. 1). Blyler investigated the resistance of political communication in a pedagogy setting along with the possibilities, the sources of power, the ethical benefits, the goal of research, the necessary relationship between knowledge and politics, self-conscious recognition, empowerment and emancipation, the relationship between researcher and participant, free and open communication, ideology and subjectivity, disciplines, theoretical perspectives, and methodology. Blyler’s purpose was to demonstrate the realization that “the same benefits in our research that accrue to us from our political turn in our pedagogy: the benefits of empowerment, emancipation, and social action” (p. 12). Blyler’s intended audience was scholars involved in professional communication who may have been weary of incorporating political features. Blyler’s innovative perspective appeared possible in the article, but it would be interesting to see how the funding issues and political logistics evolve.
Boettger, R. (2017). An overview of research methods in technical communication journals (2012–2016). Professional Communication Conference (ProComm), 2017 IEEE International, (pp. 1-4).
In Ryan Boettger’s (2017) article “An Overview of Research Methods in Technical Communication Journals (2012-2016),” he reported “an empirical content analysis of research methods utilized by technical communication researchers over the past five years” (p. 1). Boettger studied 117 articles for three content variables using a highly effective system of coding, broke down the results into three tables and one figure, noticed patterns, and the high percentage of articles that couldn’t be verified but were driven by a rhetorical analysis method. Boettger’s purpose was to highlight “future opportunities to bolster specific topics that might benefit from a more balanced distribution of research methods and approaches” (p. 4). Boettger’s intended audience was researchers curious about the mathematical breakdown of topics within technical communication articles and whether those articles were reputable. Boettger’s research was very thorough and systematic, but it seems like more research is required to substantiate the emerging patterns.
Rude, C. D. (2009). Mapping the research questions in Technical Communication. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 23(2), (pp. 174-215). https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651908329562
In Carolyn D. Rude’s (2009) article “Mapping the Research Questions in Technical Communication,” she proposed “a central research question and four areas of related questions for technical communication” (p. 175). Rude inspected the four directions of research, the mapping metaphor, analyzed the field, asked the central question and broke it down, how the prefix re functions, the role of power, the evolution of the job title, pedagogy questions, conceptual questions, and political questions. Rude’s purpose was to “suggest the coherence of the field’s research and its promise for the future as well as its connections to other areas of inquiry and to other communication specializations, including rhetoric and composition” (pp. 175-176). Rude’s intended audience was professors and scholars of technical communication seeking a metaphor to better understand and map out the field of study. Rude’s analysis of technical communication was thought-provoking, but she asked more questions than the amount of answers she provided.
Kimball, M. A. (2017). The golden age of technical communication. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 47(3), (pp. 1-38). https://doi.org/10.1177/0047281616641927
In Miles A. Kimball’s (2017) article “The Golden Age of Technical Communication,” he utilized “a historical perspective to describe the development of the profession of technical communication through three ages: Brass, Beige, and Glass” (p. 330). Kimball examined the state of the technical communication profession, the historical trends and the creation of the technical ages, the accommodation of users and technology, the democratization of technical communication, invisible vs visible, user centered vs user created, anonymous vs authored, controlled vs authentic, the broadening of the definition, and a slightly radical suggestion to make technical courses available for all college students. Kimball’s purpose was to indicate “that we should broaden the scope of technical communication and spread it as a set of skills valuable for everyone to learn” (p. 330). Kimball’s intended audience was technical communication scholars and professors seeking new ways to incorporate technical writing into their courses. Kimball’s exploration of the historical perspective through the ages was an interesting evaluation of the time periods, but his conclusion involving the curriculum seems out of place.
Kimball, M. A. (2017). Tactical technical communication. Technical Communication Quarterly, 26(1), (pp. 1–7). https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2017.1259428
In Miles A. Kimball’s (2017) article “Tactical Technical Communication,” he indicated that “technical communication existed long before the organizational assumption, but it has grown tremendously with the opportunities afforded by the Internet for people to share technical information for their own purposes, rather than on behalf of institutions” (p. 1). Kimball displayed how users become “temporary, limited-scope experts” by sharing a personal story about fixing a washing machine, the freedom of the user to share how something actually works rather than how it should work, the power of using the internet for radical sharing, examining the holes within de Certeau’s theory that seems to unethically promote deviance, and not shying away from the negative aspects of radical sharing (p. 2). Kimball’s purpose was to illustrate why society doesn’t need to shy away from the ugly parts of technical communication, but rather recognize that it “is a deeper river than most people think. We need to understand it from its surface to its depths” (p. 6). Kimball’s intended audience was individuals with the perception that technical communication relates only to institutions and searching for insight about the communal abilities of the internet. Kimball summarized other theories and his previously written article “Cars, Culture, and Tactical Technical Communication,” but he didn’t really present any new concepts just new ways of looking at the consumer’s use technology.
Kimball, M. A. (2006). Cars, culture, and tactical technical communication. Technical Communication Quarterly, 15(1), (pp. 67–86). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15427625tcq1501pass:[_]6
In Miles A. Kimball’s (2006) article “Cars, Culture, and Tactical Technical Communication,” he examined, “two cases of extra-institutional technical communication: the documentary cultures surrounding Muir’s (1969) How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive! A Manual of Step by Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot and Champion’s (2000) Build Your Own Sports Car for as Little as £250 (p. 67). Kimball inspected the centering of the user in the design process, distinguishing the difference between strategy and tactic, the two tactics available being bricolage and la perruque, the emergence of Muir’s automotive manual and how it humanized the technology by showing not just the ideal but how to keep the car alive, the Champion’s automotive manual allowed insights on how the user could become the producer, and the contradiction of the resistance of the strategic power by using the culturally created narratives. Kimball’s purpose was to demonstrate “the growing importance of technical communication in everyday life as a matter of production as well as consumption” (p. 84). Kimball’s intended audience was individuals with a limited understanding of technical communication in need of having their perspectives broadened. Kimball had a unique and compelling angle into how technical communication can be shaped by the user to fit their own needs, but calling it “tactical resistance against authoritarian control” seems out of the scope for the context provided (p. 81).
Durack, K. T. (1997). Gender, technology, and the history of technical communication. Technical Communication Quarterly, 6(3), (pp. 249-260). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15427625tcq0603pass:[_]2
In Katherine T. Durack’s (1997) article “Gender, Technology, and the History of Technical Communication,” she assessed the common agreement that “scientific inquiry and technological innovation have been primarily the work of men, the contributions of women have consequently been subsumed, lost, or overlooked” (p. 250). Durack traced the history of technical writing by examining the association of technology and the workplace with men, the separation of the public and private spheres, how women were at a disadvantage, how writing in the household wasn’t recognized as workplace writing, and the goal of social action. Durack’s purpose was to challenge and enlighten “why we deem certain artifacts technology, their attendant activities work, their place of conduct the workplace, and therefore find reason to include associated writings within the corpus history of technical writing” (p. 258). Durack’s intended audience was feminist historians and scholars researching the history of women inventors in technical settings. Durack emphasized the apparent omission of women within the history of technical communication with thought-provoking evidence and researched support, but the bias tone of the essay seemed to aim more towards blaming the “historians who wrote them” rather than searching for a resolution for the greater good of the academic subject (p. 250).
ENG 591 Tech. Comm. 