Techne and Technical Communication: Toward a Dialogue

The classical Greek discourse on techne has much to offer technical communication teachers concerned about the relationship between theory and practice, but this potential has not yet been realized. Plato's and Aristotle's discussions about the relationship between techne and rhetoric, for example, encompass questions about the rhetorical goals of the speakedwriter and about the role of theory in teaching rhetorical art that are of continuing relevance to the modern discourse on technical communication. The aim of this article is to identify several points upon which a fruitful dialogue between ancient and modern discourses can begin. First, I supply some background on how the term techne was used up through the fourth century BCE. Then I discuss how the modern discourse on technical communication (including material from popular textbooks) both converges with and departs from Plato's and Aristotle's statements on the relationship between techne and rhetoric. Finally, I point out areas for further discussion as teachers of technical communication continue to reflect upon and refine their pedagogies.     

Playing with Techne: A Propaedeutic for Technical Communication

Frustrated by textbooks that push technical communication students prematurely into workplace scenarios, as well as theories that condemn techne in order to advance a particular agenda, we offer a perspective on techne that respects the formative-not professional-situation of technical writing students and emphasizes the importance for technical writers to attend to history, artistry, and well-developed social relations in their work. We offer historically grounded, creative meditations on techne that emphasize its manifold nature: it is conversational, ingenious, cunning, full of trickery, and unpredictably artistic. Such meditations can replace overly complex workplace scenarios in technical communication classrooms, particularly when an instructor wishes to emphasize knowledge making rather than the mechanics and politics of document production.     

From Dialog to Praxis: Crossing Cultural Borders in the Business and Technical Communication Classroom

Business and technical communication textbooks take two approaches to intercultural communication: an information-acquisition approach, which provides students with information about practices in other cultures and tips for using this information in communication transactions; and a case-study approach, which encourages students to engage in dialog about problems encountered in intercultural communication. Both models enable students to confront cultural difference, but neither approach provides the means for successfully negotiating this difference. A praxis model provides an alternative strategy which enables students to negotiate cultural borders in actual workplace settings. But this model also exposes students to conflict which inevitably accompanies intercultural communication.     

From Dialog to Praxis: Crossing Cultural Borders in the Business and Technical Communication Classroom

Business and technical communication textbooks take two approaches to intercultural communication: an information-acquisition approach, which provides students with information about practices in other cultures and tips for using this information in communication transactions; and a case-study approach, which encourages students to engage in dialog about problems encountered in intercultural communication. Both models enable students to confront cultural difference, but neither approach provides the means for successfully negotiating this difference. A praxis model provides an alternative strategy which enables students to negotiate cultural borders in actual workplace settings. But this model also exposes students to conflict which inevitably accompanies intercultural communication.     

实践·交往·人的发展

人的社会性决定了人是在交往中存在和发展的。交往的合理性构成了人自由全面发展的前提。理性的分裂和工具理性的膨胀导致交往的异化 ,进而导致人的自由全面发展受到遏制。鉴于此 ,恢复人类理性的整体性 ,尤其是用交往理性来修复工具理性的弊端 ,是实现人类自由全面发展的关键。     

The State of Research in Technical Communication

There have been many attempts to assess the state of research in our field. This article is our attempt to both (1) synthesize recent analyses, opinions, and conclusions concerning the status of technical communication research and (2) propose an action plan aimed at redirecting our field's agenda for its research. We explore these questions: What are the recent research trends in our field? What is and is not promising about our recent approaches to research? Where do we need to go next? What are the critical components for a new agenda for our research?     

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

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.     

Emergent Feminist Technical Communication

The feminist approaches to technical communication that have emerged recently are largely liberal feminist or radical feminist in orientation. Liberal feminism arises out of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and emphasizes equality and rights. It sees that women's opportunities to develop their intellects and talents and participate freely in the world of men have been thwarted by discriminatory practices. Radical feminism, in contrast, emphasizes differences between women and men, the limitations of patriarchal culture, and the characteristics of women's ways of communicating and knowing. The essays included in this issue, while multidimensional, primarily exhibit characteristics of both liberal and radical feminism.     

Emergent Feminist Technical Communication

The feminist approaches to technical communication that have emerged recently are largely liberal feminist or radical feminist in orientation. Liberal feminism arises out of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and emphasizes equality and rights. It sees that women's opportunities to develop their intellects and talents and participate freely in the world of men have been thwarted by discriminatory practices. Radical feminism, in contrast, emphasizes differences between women and men, the limitations of patriarchal culture, and the characteristics of women's ways of communicating and knowing. The essays included in this issue, while multidimensional, primarily exhibit characteristics of both liberal and radical feminism.     

The US Intelligence Community's Mathematical Ideology of Technical Communication

Reading historical intelligence community documents primarily through the lens of Kenneth Burke's essay “Semantic and Poetic Meaning,” this article explores the history and stakes of the intelligence community's ongoing commitment to a problematic model of language use. The essay argues that the intelligence community's pursuit of a “mathematical” ideology of language is an attempt to render language “neutral” and to divorce rhetoric from ethics in ways that Burke anticipated, and with negative consequences for the generation of written intelligence reports and national policy decisions.     

Research and Consulting in Technical Communication

Beginning with the premise that consultants occupy a strategic position for observing how research results are generated, applied, modified, or ignored in technical communication practice, this article reports on a project using interviews with seven successful consultants to gather insights into the creation and circulation of new knowledge in our field. The interviews revealed a surprising degree of uncertainty about the state of research in technical communication and the relationship of formal research to workplace experience.     

Extralocating Faculty in Technical Communication

Tenure-line faculty—teaching onsite or online—are typically perceived as resident scholars and instructors who live local to their institutions. A geographically diversified tenure-line faculty, however, could also serve the education of students by bringing a wider array of influences and opportunities to the online classroom. Programs in technical communication must examine how to incorporate extralocated faculty and how to prepare willing and eligible faculty for extralocated teaching, research, and service.     

The Impact of Student Learning Outcomes Assessment on Technical and Professional Communication Programs

Because of accreditation, budget, and accountability pressures at the institutional and program levels, technical and professional communication faculty are more than ever involved in assessment-based activities. Using assessment to identify a program's strengths and weaknesses allows faculty to work toward continuous improvement based on their articulation of learning and behavioral goals and outcomes for their graduates. This article describes the processes of program assessment based on pedagogical goals, pointing out options and opportunities that will lead to a meaningful and manageable experience for technical communication faculty, and concludes with a view of how the larger academic body of technical communication programs can benefit from such work. As ATTW members take a careful look at the state of the profession from the academic perspective, we can use assessment to further direct our programs to meet professional expectations and, far more importantly, to help us meet the needs of the well-educated technical communicator.