Writing and Pedagogy Feb 2023

Entwining interactive fiction with technical writing to develop structured authoring competencies

Robert Terry

Abstract

Concerns about teaching structured authoring, which is the use of software in technical writing to allow automatic textual reuse and reassembly, have been woven into the debate about what role technologies should play in preparing technical writing students for ‘real world’ needs since the late 1990s (see Brumberger & Laurer, 2015; Carnegie & Crane, 2019; Kimball, 2015; Rainey et al., 2018). Vee (2017) and others have argued that fundamental aspects of writing software code, many of which parallel structured authoring, are now required literacies. Indeed, as Gentle (2017) demonstrates, the difference between those writing code and those writing structured authoring continues to shrink. Helping to develop technical writers to understand this overlap remains a significant challenge. This article suggests that this challenge might be met by using an open-source interactive fiction authoring platform called Twine, which provides many of the building blocks of structured authoring while teaching fundamental aspects of coding. However, this approach is not without its perils. Through analyzing the findings of a two-year study, this article identifies potential avenues for success as well as potential pitfalls to be mindfully considered.

Journal
Writing and Pedagogy
Published
2023-02-13
DOI
10.1558/wap.21547
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
teacher development argument technical communication literacy studies
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (11)

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    Evolving skill sets and job pathways of technical communicators
    Communication Design Quarterly
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    The Technical Communicator as Advocate
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 11 →
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    Professional and Technical Communication in a Web 2.0 World
    Technical Communication Quarterly
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Also cites 4 works outside this index ↓
  1. Carliner, S. (2020). Content management: Preparing technical communication students for the realities of the …
     ↗
  2. Honicke, T. & Broadbent, J. (2016). The influence of academic self-efficacy on academic performance: A system…
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