Technical Communication Quarterly Jul 2004

What's Civic About Technical Communication? Technical Communication and the Rhetoric of "Community"

Cezar M. Ornatowski ; Linn K. Bekins

Abstract

Although the concept of community has been advanced in technical communication as a moral reference point for civic rhetorical action, this concept is typically used in romantic, redemptive, and essentializing ways. This article argues for a radical and symbolic/rhetorical view of community, regarding it a discursive construct purposefully invoked by technical writers for strategic reasons.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
2004-07-01
DOI
10.1207/s15427625tcq1303_2
Open Access
Closed
Topics
technical communication

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (14)

  1. Littlefield (2025)
    Social Mediations: Writing for Digital Public Spheres
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Littlefield (2025)
    Stochastic Publics: The Emergence and Ethics of AI-Generated Publics in Technic…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Lee (2023)
    Disrupting Textual Regimes of Climate Disaster Recovery Governance Through Tran…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Phelps (2021)
    The Transformative Paradigm: Equipping Technical Communication Researchers for …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Swarts (2020)
    Technical Communication is a Social Medium
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 14 →
  1. Jones et al. (2016)
    Disrupting the Past to Disrupt the Future: An Antenarrative of Technical Commun…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Jones (2016)
    The Technical Communicator as Advocate
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Cheng et al. (2016)
    The 1909<i>Plan of Chicago</i>as Representative Anecdote: Constituting New Citi…
    Rhetoric Review
  4. Walton et al. (2015)
    Values and Validity: Navigating Messiness in a Community-Based Research Project…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Wickman (2014)
    Wicked Problems in Technical Communication
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  6. McKenzie (2009)
    The Public Presentation of a Hybrid Science: Scientific and Technical Communica…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  7. Mara (2006)
    PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES: Using Charettes to Perform Civic Engagement in Technica…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  8. Kimball (2006)
    Cars, Culture, and Tactical Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  9. Graham et al. (2005)
    The Rhetoric and Politics of Science in the Case of the Missouri River System
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Cites in this index (0)

No references match articles in this index.

Also cites 3 works outside this index ↓
  1. Clifford, James. The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. Cambridge, M…
     ↗
  2. Clifford, James, and George E. Marcus, eds. Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Berkele…
     ↗
  3. Warner Michael (2002)
    10.1080/00335630209384388
    Quarterly Journal of Speech 88.4 (  ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 25 View in citation network →

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