Journal of Business and Technical Communication Apr 2010

Recycled Writing: Assembling Actor Networks From Reusable Content

Jason Swarts North Carolina State University

Abstract

Drawing on a study of writers reusing content from one document to another, this study examines the rhetorical purpose of reuse. Writing reuse is predominantly studied through the literature on single sourcing and enacted via technologies built on single-sourcing models. Such theoretical models and derivative technologies cast reusable content as context-less and rhetorically neutral, a perspective that overlooks the underlying rhetorical strategies of reuse. The author argues for a new understanding of reuse as a rhetorical act of creating hybrid utterances that gather their rhetorical strength by assembling ever larger and denser actor networks.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2010-04-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651909353307
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (29)

  1. Gao et al. (2026)
    Modeling Writing Processes and Predicting Text Quality in Technical Communication
    Written Communication
  2. Hart-Davidson et al. (2025)
    Revisiting Four Conversations in Technical and Professional Writing Scholarship…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Dush (2023)
    The Art of Assembly: Script, Platform, Document
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Foltz (2022)
    <b>Antiprogrammatic Action and the Student ID: An ANT 2.0 Analysis</b>
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. McMullin et al. (2021)
    Constructive Distributed Work: An Integrated Approach to Sustainable Collaborat…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 29 →
  1. Read (2020)
    How to Build a Supercomputer: U.S. Research Infrastructure and the Documents Th…
    Written Communication
  2. Sánchez (2020)
    Examining Methectic Technical Communication in an Urban Planning Comic Book
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Frith (2020)
    Technical Standards and a Theory of Writing as Infrastructure
    Written Communication
  4. Russell (2020)
    Metaphor 2: Crossing: Retreading, Non-ing, and a TPC Rationale for Sub-discipli…
    College English
  5. Gonzales (2020)
    Metaphor 1: Situating: Building Transdisciplinary Connections between Compositi…
    College English
  6. Read (2019)
    The Infrastructural Function: A Relational Theory of Infrastructure for Writing…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  7. Findlay (2019)
    When Writers Aren’t Authors: A Qualitative Study of Unattributed Writers
    College English
  8. Spinuzzi et al. (2018)
    Articulating Problems and Markets: A Translation Analysis of Entrepreneurs’ Eme…
    Written Communication
  9. Kessler et al. (2018)
    Terminal node problems: ANT 2.0 and prescription drug labels
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  10. Wall et al. (2018)
    The art of selling-without-selling: Understanding the genre ecologies of conten…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  11. Pflugfelder (2018)
    Failure Matters: Conflicting Practices in a High-Tech Case
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  12. Gruber (2017)
    Three Forms of Neurorealism: Explaining the Persistence of the “Uncritically Re…
    Written Communication
  13. Pflugfelder (2017)
    Reddit’s “Explain Like I’m Five”: Technical Descriptions in the Wild
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  14. Swarts (2016)
    Composing Networks
    Written Communication
  15. Read (2016)
    The <i>Net Work</i> Genre Function
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  16. Spinuzzi et al. (2016)
    How Magnets Attract and Repel
    Written Communication
  17. Walls (2015)
    Access(ing) the Coordination of Writing Networks
    Computers and Composition
  18. McNely et al. (2015)
    Contemporary Research Methodologies in Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  19. Read et al. (2015)
    Visualizing and Tracing: Research Methodologies for the Study of Networked, Soc…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  20. Frith (2014)
    Social Network Analysis and Professional Practice: Exploring New Methods for Re…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  21. Swarts (2014)
    The Trouble with Networks: Implications for the Practice of Help Documentation
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  22. Leijten et al. (2013)
    Keystroke Logging in Writing Research
    Written Communication
  23. Potts et al. (2011)
    Contextualizing Experiences: Tracing the Relationships Between People and Techn…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  24. Spinuzzi (2010)
    Secret Sauce and Snake Oil: Writing Monthly Reports in a Highly Contingent Envi…
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (8)

  1. Clark (2007)
    Content Management and the Separation of Presentation and Content
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Hart-Davidson et al. (2007)
    Coming to Content Management: Inventing Infrastructure for Organizational Knowl…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Spinuzzi (2007)
    Guest Editor's Introduction: Technical Communication in the Age of Distributed Work
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Sapienza (2007)
    A Rhetorical Approach to Single-Sourcing Via Intertextuality
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Swarts (2004)
    Technological Mediation of Document Review
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 8 →
  1. Bazerman et al. (2003)
    The Production of Information for Genred Activity Spaces
    Written Communication
  2. Winsor (2001)
    Learning to Do Knowledge Work in Systems of Distributed Cognition
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Albers (2000)
    The technical editor and document databases: What the future may hold
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Also cites 16 works outside this index ↓
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CrossRef global citation count: 47 View in citation network →

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