Cooper – Exploding the Myth of Transparent Communication of Information
Cooper, Marilyn M. “Exploding the Myth of Transparent Communication of Information.” Resources in Technical Communication: Outcomes and Approaches. Ed. Selfe, Cynthia. Amityville, N.Y.: Baywood, 2007. 309-30. Print. In this article Cooper hopes to demonstrate that the “clear communication of information” in a document is a contextual issue; in other words, successful communication depends on audience awareness, rhetorical/contextual... 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
Logie – Parsing Codes: IP, TC, and the WWW
Logie, John. “Parsing Codes: Intellectual Property, Technical Communication, and the World Wide Web.” Technical Communication and the World Wide Web. Eds. Lipson, Carol and Michael Day. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005. 223-42. Print. L. begins by highlighting how the web and other digital networks have made work in technical communication fraught with the perils and possibilities of intellectual property. Because of their digitality... Read More
Johnson-Eilola – Wild Technologies: Computer Use and Social Possiblity
Johnson-Eilola, Johndan. “Wild Technologies: Computer Use and Social Possibility.” Computers and Technical Communication: Pedagogical and Programmatic Perspectives. Ed. Selber, Stuart A. Greenwich, CT: Ablex, 1997. 75-96. Print. JE begins by acknowledging an apparent contradiction in TC work: good technical communication means rendering the technology and the communication invisible (97). He also acknowledges that the ways that... Read More
