The Trouble with Networks: Implications for the Practice of Help Documentation

Jason Swarts North Carolina State University

Abstract

This article considers why users of popular software packages choose to find answers to their task problems on user forums rather than in official documentation. The author concludes that traditional documentation is developed around an antiquated notion of “task,” which leads to restrictive ways of thinking about problems that users encounter and the solutions that might be appropriate. The author argues, instead, that tasks and problems arise from networked rhetorical situations and networked contexts for rhetorical action. The influence of networks requires a redefinition of rhetorical situation and context, from which we derive a networked picture of tasks and problems as emergent and uncertain phenomenon, best addressed in the uncertain and sometimes-chaotic setting of user forums. Forum threads are studied using discourse analytic techniques to determine what they can reveal about qualities making tasks and problems uncertain.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2014-07-01
DOI
10.2190/tw.44.3.c
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Communication Design Quarterly

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