Nardi – My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft

Nardi, Bonnie A. My Life as a Night Elf Priest : An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press : University of Michigan Library, 2010. Print. Part I: Introduction to World of Warcraft Prologue According to N. the goal of this book is to develop an argument that examines play as an “active aesthetic experience” in World of Warcraft.  To achieve this end N. relies on the activity theoretic framework... Read More

Cooper – Being Linked to the Matrix: Biology, Technology, and Writing

Cooper, Marilyn.  “Being Linked to the Matrix: Biology, Technology, and Writing.”  eds. Selber, Stuart A. Rhetorics and Technologies : New Directions in Writing and Communication. Studies in Rhetoric/Communication; Variation: Studies in Rhetoric/Communication. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2010. 15-32. C. begins by recounting how her early work in 1986 attempted to articulate a view of writing as social action or writing... Read More

Berkenkotter – Analyzing Everyday Texts in Organizational Settings

Berkenkotter, Carol A. “Analyzing Everyday Texts in Organizational Settings.” Research in Technical Communication. Eds. Gurak, Laura J. and Mary M. Lay. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002. 47-66. Print. At its core, this article is about research methods.  Specifically, B. wants to take up qualitative research methods that arise out of an empirical tradition.  Calling this method “textual analysis”, she hopes to sketch how Writing... Read More

Longo – Human+Machine Culture: Where We Work

Longo, Bernadette. “Human+Machine Culture: Where We Work.” Digital Literacy for Technical Communication : 21st Century Theory and Practice. Ed. Spilka, Rachel. New York: Routledge, 2010. 147-68. Print. Early on in this article L. sketches a lovely picture of what constitutes digital community in online spaces.  She notes that though the relationships are (sometimes) virtual, real bodies in physical space lie behind “the screen.” ... Read More

Blyler – Taking a Political Turn: The Critical Perspective and Research in Professional Communication

Blyler, Nancy Roundy. “Taking a Political Turn: The Critical Perspective and Research in Professional Communication.” Central Works in Technical Communication. Eds. Johnson-Eilola, Johndan and Stuart A. Selber. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. 268-80. Print. In this article Blyler wants to bring a new perspective or an alternative perspective to research in professional communication.  Specifically, she wants to bring a perspective focused... Read More