Technical Communication Quarterly Jul 2004

Technical Communication and the Role of the Public Intellectual: A Community HIV-Prevention Case Study

Melody Bowdon

Abstract

Abstract This article argues that technical communicators are uniquely poised to function as public intellectuals. To demonstrate this point, the author offers the example of her work on a major AIDS prevention program report. Situating this work within the history of technical communication, the current discussion of rhetorics of risk, and the writing classroom, the author argues that technical writers don't have simply the opportunity to engage in textual activism; in many cases they have no alternative.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
2004-07-01
DOI
10.1207/s15427625tcq1303_6
Open Access
Closed
Topics
qualitative research technical communication multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (24)

  1. Dorpenyo (2024)
    The Fair Fight to Dismantle Voter Suppression: Recognizing Electoral Injustice …
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Moeggenberg et al. (2022)
    Trans Oppression Through Technical Rhetorics: A Queer Phenomenological Analysis…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Banville (2022)
    Book Review: <i>Technical Editing: An Introduction to Editing in the Workplace<…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Agboka et al. (2022)
    Curricular Efforts in Technical Communication After the Social Justice Turn
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Ramler (2021)
    Queer Usability
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 24 →
  1. Frost (2021)
    Ultrasound, Gender, and Consent: An Apparent Feminist Analysis of Medical Imagi…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Bivens et al. (2020)
    The Activist Syllabus as Technical Communication and the Technical Communicator…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Dorpenyo (2019)
    Risky Election, Vulnerable Technology: Localizing Biometric Use in Elections fo…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Edenfield et al. (2019)
    Always Already Geopolitical: Trans Health Care and Global Tactical Technical Co…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Edenfield et al. (2019)
    Queering Tactical Technical Communication: DIY HRT
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  6. Swacha (2018)
    “Bridging the Gap between Food Pantries and the Kitchen Table”: Teaching Embodi…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  7. Reed (2018)
    Building on Bibliography: Toward Useful Categorization of Research in Rhetorics…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  8. Walkup et al. (2018)
    Health Ecologies in Addiction Treatment: Rhetoric of Health and Medicine and Co…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  9. Colton et al. (2018)
    A Social Justice Theory of Active Equality for Technical Communication
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  10. Wilson et al. (2017)
    The Technical Communicator as (Post-Postmodern) Discourse Worker
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  11. Jones (2016)
    The Technical Communicator as Advocate
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  12. Hea et al. (2016)
    Silent Partners: Developing a Critical Understanding of Community Partners in T…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  13. Frost (2016)
    Apparent Feminism as a Methodology for Technical Communication and Rhetoric
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  14. Walton et al. (2015)
    Values and Validity: Navigating Messiness in a Community-Based Research Project…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  15. Bellwoar (2012)
    Everyday Matters: Reception and Use as Productive Design of Health-Related Texts
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  16. Haas (2012)
    Race, Rhetoric, and Technology
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  17. Evia et al. (2012)
    Beyond Compliance
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  18. McKenzie (2009)
    The Public Presentation of a Hybrid Science: Scientific and Technical Communica…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  19. Mara (2006)
    PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES: Using Charettes to Perform Civic Engagement in Technica…
    Technical Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (0)

No references match articles in this index.

Also cites 3 works outside this index ↓
  1. Grabill, Jeffrey T. Community Literacy Programs and the Politics of Change. Albany: State U of New York P, 2001.
     ↗
  2. Patton, Cindy. Fatal Advice: How Safe-Sex Education Went Wrong. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1996.
     ↗
  3. Posner, Richard. Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2001.
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 37 View in citation network →

Related Articles

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Mar 2026
    “It's Hard to Show ROI When You’re Preventing Things from Happening”: How Impact Storytelling Frames Community Health Initiatives for Executive Audiences ↗
    Margaret Hsiao
    qualitative research multimodality technical communication professional writing multilingual writers
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Oct 2024
    Role Play: Conversational Roles as a Framework for Reflexive Practice in AI-Assisted Qualitative Research ↗
    Luke Thominet; Jacqueline Amorim; Kristine Acosta; Vanessa K. Sohan
    qualitative research multimodality artificial intelligence technical communication multilingual writers
  3. Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jul 2024
    Exploring Artificial Intelligence Tool Use in a Nonprofit Workplace ↗
    Andrew Hillen
    qualitative research artificial intelligence technical communication multilingual writers argument
  4. Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jul 2022
    Ethical Dimensions of App Designs: A Case Study of Photo- and Video-Editing Apps ↗
    Xiaobo Wang; Baotong Gu
    qualitative research multimodality technical communication multilingual writers
  5. Journal of Business and Technical Communication Oct 2020
    Legally Minded Technical Communicators: A Case Study of a Legal Writing Course ↗
    Godwin Y. Agboka
    writing across the curriculum qualitative research technical communication professional writing multilingual writers