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Social Problems and Racial Agendas: Analyzing the Structural Racism of Historical Urban Planning Documents Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-08-26 Joshua M. Rea
I argue that historical urban planning documents are important technical communication documents because of the ways they have shaped the lived world in ways harmful to marginalized communities. I ...
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Professional Writers’ Emotions, Beliefs, and Decisions Regarding Their English Major Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-08-17 Fernando Sánchez
Through qualitative interviews with seven professional and technical writers (PTWs) who majored in literature or creative writing, this study examines how students’ emotions and beliefs about Engli...
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Beyond Digital Literacy: Investigating Threshold Concepts to Foster Engagement with Digital Life in Technical Communication Pedagogy Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-08-06 Danielle Mollie Stambler, Nupoor Ranade, Daniel L. Hocutt, Stephen Fonash, Jessica Lynn Campbell, Ann Hill Duin, Isabel Pedersen, Jason Tham, Saveena (Chakrika) Veeramoothoo, Gustav Verhulsdonck
As digital technologies rapidly evolve, updating and enhancing models of digital literacy pedagogy in technical and professional communication (TPC) becomes more urgent. In this article, we use “di...
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‘Flatten the curve’: rhetorical data visualizations of a global pandemic Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-07-09 Molly Hartzog
Actionable metrics within data dashboards can encourage actions to mitigate spread of COVID-19 by tying the actions to holistic data visualizations, showing a connection between an individual’s beh...
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Automating Media Accessibility: An Approach for Analyzing Audio Description Across Generative Artificial Intelligence Algorithms Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-07-06 Daniel Bergin, Brett Oppegaard
A surge in public availability of emerging GenAI-AD has brought back the promises of automated accessibility for people who cannot see or see well. This article tests those promises through a doubl...
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Covid and … How to Do Rhetoric in a Pandemic Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-07-05 Brittany Smart
Published in Technical Communication Quarterly (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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Building Translator Repertoire Across a Humanitarian Translation App: Translingual Practice and Tarjimly Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-06-29 Gabriel Lorenzo Aguilar
This article creates a crowdsourced database for Tarjimly, a humanitarian translation app, based on recent technical communication and translingual research. The humanitarian translation app is a u...
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Misinformation As Genre Function: Insights on the Infodemic from a Genre-Theoretical Perspective Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-06-18 Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher, Brad Mehlenbacher
Misinformation has generated much discussion in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and attendant “Infodemic,” as the World Health Organization (WHO) dubbed the challenge of disordered informati...
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Pandemic Communications Beyond Risk and Crisis: A Change of Course for Law Enforcement During COVID-19 Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-06-03 Sarah Young
COVID-19 contributed to what we know about pandemic communications, typically framed through risk and crisis. Risk and crisis as frameworks are limited, however, and this article argues that there ...
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Works Like a Charm: Incentive Rhetoric and the Economization of Everyday Life Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-05-30 Oren Abeles
Published in Technical Communication Quarterly (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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A Memetic Pandemic: COVID-19 Memes As Tactical Risk Communication Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-05-22 Derek M. Sparby
Tactical risk memes operated outside institutions like the World Health Organization (WHO) and CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) to tactically sharing important risk and crisis commun...
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A Black Fetus? Examining Social Justice in Medical Illustrations in Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) Pedagogical Materials Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-05-13 G. Edzordzi Agbozo, Isidore K. Dorpenyo, Godwin Y. Agboka
Although the field of illustration is a major topic in technical and professional communication (TPC), social justice regarding medical illustrations is yet to be investigated. Drawing from an anal...
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Considering the Factory Floor Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-05-07 Elena G. Garcia, Lupe Garcia
This article focuses on a professional space that technical and professional communication with which students might not be familiar: a factory. In unionized factory workplaces, particularly, the i...
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Emerging Perspectives in Medical Case Report Writing: How Guidelines Support Inclusion of Patient-Reported Outcomes Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-04-19 Chad Wickman
This article examines the patient perspective as an emerging feature of medical case report writing, and through analysis of technical reporting guidelines and a corpus of published reports, shows ...
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The Exclusionary Potential of “Professionalism” in Hiring Situations Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-04-19 Chalice Randazzo
Using data from 88 students, 20 advisers, and 24 hirers, this article examines the rhetorical persona of the “Professional” in résumés and cover letters. Participants often explained professionalis...
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Temptaous Mckoy’s Response and Guide to (Re)Defining Professional and Technical Communication Special Issue Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-04-18 Temptaous Mckoy
Published in Technical Communication Quarterly (Vol. 33, No. 3, 2024)
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(Re)defining “Professional” in Technical & Professional Communication Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-04-17 Bridget Gelms, Cynthia Johnson
This special issue questions current notions and practices of “professionalism” in TPC. Professionalism – whether an identity, a status, or a set of behaviors or conventions – continues to be const...
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Black Professional Ethos: Exploring Black Mentorship Through Narrative Ethnography in Technical Communication Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-04-12 Christopher J. Morris, Laura L. Allen
Black mentorship is key to the professional development of Black scholars in technical and professional communication (TPC) and writing studies. Blending narrative ethnography and grounded theory, ...
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(Dis)ability Deconditioning: Challenging Ableist Articulations of Professionalism in University Career Centers Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-04-12 Kristin C. Bennett
When drawing from dominant norms, university career centers can promote ideas of professionalism that systematically train marginalized identities to suppress embodied knowledge. I analyze five car...
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(Re)situating Professionalism: Using Course Documents As Tactical Tools in the Professional Writing Classroom Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-04-11 Alicia K. Hatcher, Lerie M. Gabriel
Through an auto-ethnographic critical reflection methodology, this article describes our attempts to use course documents as tactical tools of resistance within undergraduate professional writing c...
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Professional Critical Consciousness: Bridging Classroom Theory with Workplace Practice Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-04-10 Margaret Hsiao
In this Methodologies and Approaches piece, I introduce the concept of professional critical consciousness (PCC). PCC combines professional consciousness and critical consciousness to form a workpl...
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Thinking with Keywords: Investigating the Role and Nature of Professionalism Keywords in TPC Enculturation Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-04-10 Mark A. Hannah, Courtney Caputo, Lily Deen, Amber Hedquist, Catherine Salgado, Seher Shah, Laura Cruser, Chris Fluty, Tom Lane, Tristan Rebe, Dwi Budidarma Sutrisno
This article examines the role of TPC professionalism keywords on early career scholars’ disciplinary enculturation. The article reports on a collaboration between the article’s authors that explor...
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Mas Marunong Kang Mag-English (You’re Better at English-Ing): Professional Ventriloquy and the Ideologies of “Professionalism” Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-04-09 Juval V. Racelis
This article unpacks the ideologies of “professionalism” by examining how international and multilingual identities are negotiated through the enactment of workplace genres. Relying on autoethnogra...
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Nestwork: New Material Rhetorics for Precarious Species Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-01-29 Alexandra Gunnells
Published in Technical Communication Quarterly (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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A Stasis Network Methodology to Reckon with the Rhetorical Process of Data: How a Data Team Qualified Meaning and Practices Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2024-01-16 Chris A. Lindgren
Prior scholarship argues that facts derived from data are not separate from their contexts and values. In this study of a data journalism team, I define and apply a sociotechnical network approach ...
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Please Provide the Following Information: Enthymemes and the Logics of Individual Responsibility in the Patient Medical History Form Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-12-29 Kelly A. Whitney
Despite the overwhelming evidence that health and risk are multifactorial, medical texts that interface with publics continue to circulate logics of individual responsibility of health. This articl...
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Vaccine Rhetorics Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-12-26 Raj K. Baral
Published in Technical Communication Quarterly (Vol. 33, No. 1, 2024)
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Decolonizing mHealth Technology for User Empowerment and Persuasion in the Global South Healthcare Context: A Case Study Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-12-22 Keshab Raj Acharya
This article explores the extent to which Global North mHealth apps are designed for user empowerment and persuasion in the Global South healthcare context. Findings from a case study underscore th...
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Processes: Writing Across Academic Careers Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-12-12 Caylie Cox
Published in Technical Communication Quarterly (Vol. 33, No. 2, 2024)
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The Paradigm Shift to UX and the Durability of Usability in TPC Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-10-29 Emma J. Rose, Heather N. Turner
The past two decades have experienced a paradigm shift from a narrow conception of usability to a broader process of user experience. We argue that durable connections to usability remain in TPC. I...
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The Profession and Practice of Technical Communication Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-09-13 Christopher Maggio
Published in Technical Communication Quarterly (Vol. 33, No. 1, 2024)
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’F---- Shark Tank:’ Rethinking the Centrality of the Business Pitch in Microenterprise Entrepreneurship Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-08-21 Mason T. Pellegrini
ABSTRACT This project investigates how the goals of microenterprise entrepreneurs affect their use of communication genres. Although slide-based business pitches are key for traditional entrepreneurs, microenterprise entrepreneurs have little interest in investment. Therefore, acquiring customers through short elevator pitches takes this central position. This article also explores the social justice
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“I Feel Like I’m in a Box”: Contrasting Virtual Reality “Imaginaries” in the Context of Academic Innovation Labs Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-08-10 Brent Lucia, Matthew A. Vetter, David A. Solberg
ABSTRACT As immersive technology grows in popularity, universities are developing academic innovation labs (AIL) that often introduce students to virtual reality (VR) and other emerging cross reality applications. Although these labs help educate students on emerging technology, a more critical eye is needed to examine user experience (UX). This article reports on a qualitative, multimethod study that
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Social Justice and “Harmful Tech”: Dis-Orienting Militarized Research Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-08-08 Calvin Pollak, Sanvi Bhardwaj
ABSTRACT This study examines technological research in higher education as a social justice issue. Focusing on technologies developed for war, surveillance, and policing at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), we compare institutional and activist discourses about these projects, uncovering significant differences in accommodation strategies and values-based arguments. We conclude that locally situated
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A Role for Community-Engaged Technical Communicators in Interpretive Planning Processes Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-07-27 Lauren E. Cagle
ABSTRACT Non-formal learning institutions use interpretive plans to create effective interpretation (mission-based communications) for their visitors. This article argues that interpretive planning offers professional and technical communicators great potential for engaging with communities. Following an introduction to the field of interpretation and interpretive planning, I explain how interpretive
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Editors’ Use of Comprehensive Style Guides: The Case of Singular They Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-07-26 Jo Mackiewicz, Shaya Kraut, Allison Durazzi
ABSTRACT We asked 15 editors about their perceptions of five sentences using singular they in different contexts and about the style guides that inform their work. Editors appreciated the inclusivity of indefinite and definite singular they and recognized APA for its leading-edge stance. Our findings indicate the need for editors to develop a heuristic for determining when to deviate from style guide
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A Dangerous, Costly Neighborhood: A Critique of Blight and Obsolescence Claims in Local Media Coverage of a Planning Project Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-07-16 Timothy J. Elliott
This article examines how local newspaper stories in a college town created a dominant cultural narrative about an urban redevelopment project using tropes of physical blight and financial obsolesc...
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Cannabis Risk Communication: A Scoping Review with a Research Agenda Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-06-29 Michael J. Madson
Government leaders have called for messaging and prevention programs that target cannabis, which, in recent years, has been viewed more favorably in the public eye. In these efforts, technical comm...
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Navigating Genres in Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Doctoral Programs Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-06-27 Sara Doody
This article explores how doctoral writers in interdisciplinary life sciences programs navigate genre-ing activities across multiple disciplines. In interdisciplinary environments, approaches to do...
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The CCCC Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication, 2004–2022: Doctoral Research Topics, Methods, and Implications for the Field Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-06-24 Jason Tham
This study extends the retrospective analysis of entries for the CCCC Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication (1999–2003) by Stuart Selber in 2004, focusing on the subsequent two ...
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“Dainty, Sparkling, Delicious”: Jell-O Constructions of White Femininity Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-06-02 Abby M. Dubisar
Joining the growing scholarly conversation on food rhetorics and technical and professional communication (TPC), this rhetorical analysis addresses two themes that arise in a Jell-O booklet (circa ...
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Toward Rhetorically Infused Methods for Relational Network Modeling: The Visualization of Agency in Seismic Risk Visuals Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-05-27 Danielle DeVasto
This article presents a pilot study in agentive modeling, a mixed-methods approach for visualizing networked models of agency. The study assesses technical and public seismic risk visuals from the ...
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Critical Approaches to Climate Justice, Technology, and Technical Communication Special Issue Introduction Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-05-17 Sarah Beth Hopton, Prashant Rajan
ABSTRACT This special issue amplifies the contributions of technical communicators working on climate justice initiatives across the Majority World. By Majority World, we refer not to a specific geography but to the conditions in which most of humanity lives: lacking economic, social, and/or political agency, and absent adequate institutional access to critical infrastructures. The articles in this
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Expanding the Scope and Scale of Risk in TPC: Water Access and the Colorado River Basin Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-05-12 Ehren Helmut Pflugfelder, Timothy R. Amidon, Donnie Johnson Sackey, Daniel P. Richards
ABSTRACT Building from a recent history of how technical and professional communication has addressed risk, we argue that the spatial and temporal frames through which the field has encountered risk must be confronted in working toward climate justice. We offer topoi that can be deployed to trace these interconnections and apply them to The Law of the River in the Colorado River Basin to illustrate
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Infrastructural Storytelling: A Methodological Approach for Narrating Environmental (In)justice in Technical and Professional Communication Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-05-10 Dustin W. Edwards, Bridget Gelms, Rich Shivener
ABSTRACT This article offers infrastructural storytelling as a methodological approach attuned to the emplaced dynamics of digital infrastructure. Countering the clean progress narratives of sustainability reports in the technology sector, this approach follows digital infrastructure to two locations: San Francisco, California (Google) and Toronto, Ontario (Digital Realty). Infrastructural storytelling
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A Communicational Disconnect: Establishing Superordinate Identities in Climate Communication Through Transgenerational Responsibility Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-05-09 Julia Aylin Lehnert, Sara Doody, Justin Steinburg, Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher
ABSTRACT This paper explores opportunities for intergenerational communication to foster collective climate action and justice. While climate change communication can be framed as a site of intergenerational conflict and blame, we consider how the concept of superordinate identities offers rhetorical possibilities for generational coalition building to ultimately facilitate joint climate action.
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Geoengineering, Persuasion, and the Climate Crisis: A Geologic Rhetoric Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-05-09 Alexandra Rowe
Published in Technical Communication Quarterly (Vol. 32, No. 3, 2023)
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Disrupting Textual Regimes of Climate Disaster Recovery Governance Through Translation Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-05-07 Soyeon Lee
ABSTRACT Using data sets from ethnographic research, this article examines how language minorities navigate textual regimes in disaster recovery procedures governed by bureaucratic recovery technologies. To discuss the impacts of Western climate governance regimes and alternative disaster recovery communication, this article traces rhetorical practices of transnational multilingual communities of color
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POWHR to the People: Fighting for Climate Justice and Opposing the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Appalachia Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-05-07 Savannah Paige Murray
ABSTRACT This case study explores the rhetorical tactics and strategies of grassroots environmental efforts to oppose the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in Appalachia. I emphasize the use of epideictic rhetoric by POWHR in their advocacy for climate justice
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The Use and Misuse of Indigenous Science Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-05-05 Ehren Helmut Pflugfelder, Olivia Goodfriend, Carlee Baker
ABSTRACT Knowledge about the use of the term “Indigenous science” (IS) is valuable to technical and scientific communication in the larger goal of exposing colonial, appropriative legacies. Using rhetorical content analysis, we analyze 61 instances of IS in US-based news articles and find that IS is often represented as an ongoing activity, connected to food production, and related to higher education
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(Re)locating the Decision Makers in Ecotourism: Emphasizing “Place” and “Grace” in a Global Industry’s DEI Efforts Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-04-20 Wesley Mathis
ABSTRACT This article examines the role that reformed hiring practices and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the global industry of ecotourism may (or may not) play in bringing multiply marginalized or underrepresented (MMU) voices to the forefront of environmental risk communication and sustainability efforts worldwide. Ultimately, the article argues that ecotourism companies
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Lessons of experience: Labor habits of a long-time, contingent online technical communication instructor Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-04-07 Patrick Love
The COVID-19 pandemic made nearly every teacher and student online teachers and students in some capacity. This article presents a case study of an experienced, contingent technical and professiona...
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Reddit and Engaged Science Communication Online: An Examination of Reddit’s R/Science Ask-Me-Anythings and Science Discussion Series Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-03-30 Devon Moriarty, Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher
Studies of emergent online science communication genres continuously seek to understand novel forms of popularizations aimed at facilitating expert-with-public engagement. To understand how scienti...
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Tying Creative Problem-Solving to Social Justice Work in Technical and Professional Communication Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-03-24 Krista Speicher Sarraf
Problem-solving is central to technical and professional communication (TPC), but problem-solving’s economic roots may not align with social justice. This article introduces socially just creativit...
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Perspectives on Usability Testing with IoT Devices in Technical Communication Courses Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-03-22 David Wright
This article offers perspectives on adopting smart home technology into usability testing for technical and professional communication (TPC) courses. Usability is a valued skill for technical commu...
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Editors’ Perceptions of Singular They Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-03-13 Jo Mackiewicz, Allison Durazzi
We surveyed 80 editors about their perceptions of singular they in five sentences. We asked editors to choose among three responses: maintain, query, or edit. We also examined whether editors’ resp...
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The Ethics of Inclusion, Exclusion, and Protection in The Green Book Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2023-03-01 Josephine Walwema, Jared S. Colton, Steve Holmes
This article explores the ethical complexity of inclusion, exclusion, and protection in TPC, drawing upon a historical technical document, The Green Book, which helped Black American travelers in t...
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Agentive assemblages in online patient spaces Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2022-12-28 Shanna Cameron
ABSTRACT This article engages with TPC scholarship that calls for increased attention to agency as distributed and interdependent. This study analyzes 320 postings in one online health forum to better understand how patients come together to collaborate with one another, distribute information, and make health decisions. I argue that viewing crowdsourced forums as agentive assemblages may help researchers
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The Art of Assembly: Script, Platform, Document Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2022-12-28 Lisa Dush
ABSTRACT Drawing on fieldwork conducted with the designers of and participants in a new fellowship program to connect globally distributed grassroots leaders, this article defines a core set of communication-design practices that support emerging collectives and projects. The three practices detailed – creating a script, building a platform, and inventing protocols to document activity – can be understood
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Deciphering Nested Literacies: A Case Study of Allosaurus Fragilis at the Smithsonian’s Deep Time Exhibit Technical Communication Quarterly (IF 2.0) Pub Date : 2022-11-23 Lisa M. DeTora
ABSTRACT The author proposes a model for reading material characterized by “nested” literacies to decipher complex information where literacy operates in enmeshed and unpredictable ways. A case study of a nesting Allosaurus fragilis illustrates how deciphering multiple interacting literacies can identify areas needing technical communication intervention. In this context, multiple literacies include