Recent theory views technical communication not as a “transmission” of a message from sender to receiver but as a complex process involving an articulation of meanings, in which the technical communicator serves as a mediator. Ethnographies composed by practicing technical communicators demonstrate ways in which this mediation takes place. As such, the mediation casts the work of technical communicators in new light, allowing us to understand their work as “authorship.” This article draws upon practitioner research to present some of the facets of such authorship.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
SlackJ. D.MillerD. J.DoakJ., The Technical Communicator as Author: Meaning, Power, Authority, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 7:1, pp. 1236, 1993.
2.
FreedmanS. W.DysonA. H.FlowerL.ChafeW., Research in Writing: Past, Present, and Future, Center for the Study of Writing, Berkeley and Pittsburgh, 1987.
3.
SullivanP.SpilkaR., Qualitative Research in Technical Communication: Issues of Value, Identity, and Use, Technical Communication, 39:4, pp. 592606, 1992.
4.
PinelliT. E.BarclayR. O., Research in Technical Communication: Perspectives and Thoughts on the Process, Technical Communication, 39:4, pp. 526532, 1992.
5.
CarlinerS., What You Should Get from a Professionally Oriented Master's Degree in Technical Communication, Technical Communication, 39:2, pp. 189199, 1992.
6.
Doheny-FarinaS.OdellL., Ethnographic Research on Writing: Assumptions and Methodology, in Writing in Nonacademic Settings, OdellL.GoswamieD. (eds.), Guilford Press, New York, pp. 503555, 1985.
7.
HarrisonT., Frameworks for the Study of Writing in Organizational Contexts, Written Communication, 4:1, pp. 323, 1987.
8.
LutzJ., Writers in Organizations and How They Learn the Image: Theory, Research, and Implications, in Worlds of Writing: Teaching and Learning in Discourse Communities of Work, MataleneC. (ed.), Random House, New York, pp. 113135, 1989.
9.
BrownR. L.Jr.HerndlC. G., An Ethnographic Study of Corporate Writing: Job Status as Reflected in Written Texts, in Functional Approaches to Writing: Research Perspectives, CoutureB. (ed.), Frances Pinter, London, pp. 1128, 1986.
10.
CliffordJ., Introduction: Partial Truths, in Writing Culture, CliffordJ.MarcusG. (eds.), University of California at Berkeley Press, Berkeley, pp. 126, 1986.
11.
PrinceG., A Dictionary of Narratology, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1987.
12.
GoodwinD., Emplotting the Reader: Motivation and Technical Documentation, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 21:2, pp. 99115, 1991.
13.
EdeL.LunsfordA., Audience Addressed/Audience Invoked: The Role of Audience in Composition Theory and Pedagogy, College Composition and Communication, 35:2, pp. 155171, 1984.
14.
PrinceG., Introduction to the Study of the Narratee, in Reader-Response Criticism, TomkinsJ. (ed.), Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, pp. 725, 1980.
15.
BarthesR., S/Z, Hill and Wang, New York, 1974.
16.
FoucaultM., What Is An Author? in Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews by Michel Foucault, BouchardD. (ed.), Cornell University Press, Ithaca, pp. 101120, 1977.
17.
FettermanD. M., Ethnography: Step by Step, Sage, Newbury Park, California, 1989.
18.
SmithF. R., The Continuing Importance of Research in Technical Communication, Technical Communication, 39:4, pp. 521523, 1992.
19.
HerndlC. G., Teaching Discourse and Reproducing Culture: A Critique of Research and Pedagogy in Professional and Nonacademic Writing, College Composition and Communication, 44:3, pp. 349363, 1993.
20.
WinsorD. A., The Construction of Knowledge in Organizations: Asking the Right Questions about theChallenger, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 4:2, pp. 720, 1990.
21.
DombrowskiP. M., Challenger and the Social Contingency of Meaning: Two Lessons for the Technical Communication Classroom, Technical Communication Quarterly, 1:3, pp. 7386, 1992.
22.
MooreP., Intimidation and Communication: A Case Study of the Challenger Accident, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 6:4, pp. 403437, 1992.
23.
MillerC. M., Framing Arguments in Technical Controversy: Assumptions about Science and Technology in the Decision to Launch the Space ShuttleChallenger, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 23:2, pp. 99114, 1993.
24.
KatzS. B., The Ethic of Expediency: Classical Rhetoric, Technology, and the Holocaust, College English, 54:1, pp. 255275, 1992.
25.
Society for Technical Communication, 1994–1998 Strategic Plan, Society for Technical Communication, Arlington, Virginia, 1993.
26.
HenryJim, Teaching Technical Authorship, Technical Communication Quarterly, forthcoming, Summer 1995.
27.
HenryJimEvansGeorge, Workplace Ghostwriting, Journal of Business and Technical Communications, forthcoming, Fall 1995.
28.
HenryJim, A Narratological Analysis of WAC Authorship, College English, 56:7, 1994.
29.
BrodkeyLindaHenryJim, Voice Lessons in a Poststructural Key: Notes on Response and Revision, A Rhetoric of Doing: Essays in Honor of James Kinneavy, WitteS.CherryR.NakadateN. (eds.), Southern Illinois University Press, 1992.
30.
HenryJim, Writing Architecture, Journal of Architectural Education, 43:2, 1990.