User Agency, Technical Communication, and the 19th-Century Woman Bicyclist

Sarah Hallenbeck University of North Carolina Wilmington

Abstract

This article considers how users employ extraorganizational technical communication to reshape technologies, both materially and symbolically, even after these technologies enter into common use. Specifically, I analyze how women bicyclists of the 1890s authored instructional materials to complicate gendered and classed assumptions about users implicit in manufacturer-produced texts. I argue that technical communicators, in their teaching and research, should consider the role that extraorganizational technical communication plays in generating vital and lasting cultural changes.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
2012-10-01
DOI
10.1080/10572252.2012.686846
Open Access
Closed
Topics

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (21)

  1. Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 21 →
  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Technical Communication Quarterly
  6. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  7. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  8. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  9. Technical Communication Quarterly
  10. Technical Communication Quarterly
  11. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  12. Technical Communication Quarterly
  13. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  14. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  15. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  16. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Cites in this index (2)

  1. Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Also cites 3 works outside this index ↓
  1. How users matter: The co-construction of users and technologies
  2. The mangle of practice: Time, agency, and science
  3. Tracing genres through organizations: A sociocultural approach to information design
CrossRef global citation count: 26 View in citation network →