Spinuzzi, Hart-Davidson, and Zachry – Chains and Ecologies: Methodological Notes toward a Communicative-Mediational Model of Technologically Mediated Writing
Spinuzzi, Clay, William Hart-Davidson and Mark Zachry. “Chains and Ecologies: Methodological Notes toward a Communicative-Mediational Model of Technologically Mediated Writing. Abstract: Studies of knowledge work tend to take one of two research foci: either on communication (the transactional, intersubjective exchange of information, thoughts, writing, or speech among participants, performed in serial chains) or mediation (the nonsequential,... Read More
Abbott – Methods of Discovery – Chapters 1 & 2
Abbott – Methods of Discovery – Chapter 1 Chapter 1: Explanation A. begins by noting that traditional social science is much like a monologue . . . it is patterned and consistent.1 A. notes that this work is a heuristic. . . a book “of aids to the social scientific imagination” (4). A. also notes that explanation is the purpose of social science (again, Latourian inferences). This perspective on social science method requires... 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
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
Latour – Pursuing the Discussion of Interobjectivity With a Few Friends
Latour, Bruno. “Pursuing the Discussion of Interobjectivity With a Few Friends.” Mind, Culture and Activity 3 4 (1996): 266-269. Print. Latour confesses that his article on interobjectivity and it’s companion paper “On Technical Mediation” are efforts to create a Master Narrative on the common evolution of humans and non-humans (266). In his response, Latour highlights how his theory differs from Engstrom’s (and others) by drawing... Read More
