Sunday, April 11, 2010

The Worrisome (dis)Advantage of Technology

CCR 760
4/11/10

I find myself consistently concerned with access, specifically in terms of technology. I find that this is a fair concern given the implications of both Jones and Slattery’s articles. Both authors seem concerned with how technology has changed the “technical communicators” work. Both authors also agree the work has changed dramatically.

Jones looks at the role of collaboration in the work place and states, “I define collaboration as interaction by an author or authors with people, documents, and organizational rules in the process of creating documents” (450). Although I appreciate Jones’ definition, having worked in a “corporate” climate and in the non-profit sector it’s hard to imagine any other kind of writing. Yet, I understand the need for such clarification and it does help set up the relevance of his study. Despite the importance of collaboration I find myself most interested in the changing focus of workplace writers. Specifically, Jones claims, “In short, I found that the writing process had changed and that the writers focused less on producing text and more on developing, coordinating, and structuring the newly adopted corporate intranet” (456). I understand this to mean that the production of text itself is becoming less of a priority than developing a usable platform. This focus then will require a large degree of comfortability with technology itself. I see this need to echoed in Slattery.

According to Slattery he, “examines discussions of core competencies of technical communication while foregrounding the role of mediating artifacts, the myriad of (primarily electronic) texts and the tools used to manipulate them” (354). Additionally, he explains, “…the article describes how writers experience their trade through the various information technologies they use and reports their understanding of the role of technology in technical communication to identify the relationship between technological skill and higher-order competencies as these writers experienced them (354). Slattery finds that technological skill is imperative for higher-order competencies to develop. Again, what this implies is that a proficiency in the technology being used is required before more complex interactions can be achieved. Although Slattery concedes that there is not a need to literally know how to use every program there is a “intuitive” element to understanding new software. Slattery shares, “One participant in my study described being able to use an image editing program he had never seen before because, having used several others, he knew what it ought to be able to do. Figuring out how to do the task in that particular program was just a matter of locating the function within the program's menus” (357). In other words, having a working understanding of program conventions is useful when learning a new software. Although this may seem only logical it becomes problematic when considering the populations that are typically unable to access to technology (or limited access).

It leads me to two questions. First, do composition rhetoric teachers have an obligation to not only teach writing in traditional mediums but also in “new media?” Second, if we do teach in new media how do we ensure that students already comfortable using technology are not at an unfair advantage in our courses?

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