IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Dec 2025

How Documentation Saved Lives: An Actor-Network Analysis of Digital Volunteering in China’s Rainstorm Disasters

Lin Dong University of International Business and Economics ; Chen Chen Utah State University ; Yeqing Kong Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract

<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><b>Background:</b></i> During two major rainstorm disasters in Henan and Shanxi provinces in 2021, digital volunteer groups in China used cloud-based technologies to facilitate rescue and relief efforts. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><b>Literature review:</b></i> In technical and professional communication (TPC), crisis and disaster communication has been studied extensively in contexts such as public health emergencies, terrorist attacks and war, and natural disasters. However, less attention has been given to grassroots, digitally mediated volunteer networks, particularly through the lens of Actor-Network Theory (ANT). <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><b>Research question:</b></i> How did volunteer groups mobilize information through an expanded process of translation for disaster relief during the Henan and Shanxi rainstorm calamities? <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><b>Research methodology:</b></i> We conducted virtual, multisited ethnography by joining volunteer social media groups during the disasters. We also interviewed documentation creators and analyzed media coverage to understand the practices and infrastructures that supported their work. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><b>Results:</b></i> We introduce a five-phase model of disaster communication: Problematization, Initiation, Launch, Optimization, and Transfer (PILOT). This ANT-informed model theorizes how distributed digital volunteer groups mobilized, stabilized, and transferred actor networks during crisis response, offering a more granular account of their emergent, decentralized, affective work than previous TPC scholarship. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><b>Conclusions:</b></i> TPC professionals can (re)design adaptive communication infrastructures that support rapid response in digital environments, particularly in terms of organizational coordination, knowledge flow, and technological integration.

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published
2025-12-01
DOI
10.1109/tpc.2025.3609295
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Closed
Topics
professional writing qualitative research social media
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (6)

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    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Creating Scripts for Crisis Communication: COVID-19 and Beyond
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    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    From NoobGuides to #OpKKK: Ethics of Anonymous’ Tactical Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Transcultural Risk Communication and Viral Discourses: Grassroots Movements to …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
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  1. Potts et al. (2011)
    Contextualizing Experiences: Tracing the Relationships Between People and Techn…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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