Liminality and Othering

Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 2004

Joseph Jeyaraj Baylor University

Abstract

Subject matter experts, under the influence of modernist notions of authorship, often view technical writers as mere grammar and punctuation specialists and marginalize them as their ignorant “other. ” Technical writers, on the other hand, as rhetoricians occupying a liminal space between different disciplines, can understand different disciplinary rhetorics. If subject matter experts, instead of marginalizing technical writers, would view them as liminal subjects who are knowledgeable in different disciplinary rhetorics, then technical writers, through liminal practice, may be able to use their knowledge of audience and rhetoric to improve the quality of documentation.

Journal: Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published: 2004-01-01
DOI: 10.1177/1050651903257958
Open Access: Closed
Topics: threshold concepts multimodality

Citation Context

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Cites in this index (6)

Cooper (1996)

The Postmodern Space of Operator's Manuals

Technical Communication Quarterly
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Persuasiveness and Audience Focus in a Nonacademic R&D …

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WINSOR (1994)

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Written Communication
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SLACK et al. (1993)

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Also cites 3 works outside this index ↓

10.1080/1015549032000128243

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10.2307/357405

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Simons, H. W. (1990). Introduction: The rhetoric of inquiry as an intellectual movement. In H. W. Simons (Ed.…

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CrossRef global citation count: 15 View in citation network →