Tebeaux, E. (2008). “Technical Writing in English Renaissance Shipwrightery: Breaching the Shoals of Orality.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 38(1), 3-25.
Annotation by Erin Trauth
In her article, Tebeaux explores the rising development of the first English shipbuilding texts in the middle of the 17th century. Though the English shipbuilding industry ruled supreme during the English Renaissance, Tebeaux asserts there remained an absence of shipbuilding texts until the 17th century because the community thrived in its “closed discourse which shared knowledge via oral transmission.” Once navigational technologies improved in the 17th century, however, design principles became mathematically-based, the commercial shipping industry exploded, and shipbuilders were finally forced to generate technical writing for shipbuilding. Further, Tebeaux suggests increasing literacy led to more written texts on information that was previously transmitted solely through experience and apprenticeship. Tebeaux then shares several examples of the first shipbuilding texts focused on design, positing that “understanding the halting emergence of English shipwrightery texts during the Renaissance and then the seventeenth century adds a reinforcing segment to the story of the rise of English technical writing.” She then illuminates the following four observations to be taken from this research: pragmatic technical writing existed before printing was ever an option, emergence of technical writing almost always mirrors a growth in a community’s literacy, technical writing took place before rhetoric truly influenced discourse, and the presence of technical writing is often analogous to the emergence of “text in general.”
This article is helpful for those who wish to explore or provide an example of a specific industry’s transfer from orality to technical writing. Tebeaux asserts that the English shipbuilding industry provides a wealth of material for understanding the evolution of a community’s discourse, literacy, and technical writing (especially writing which includes graphics, tables, images, etc.). In essence, this article provides a valuable case study in the context of technical writing history.
Hi Erin,
ReplyDeleteI too was able to look at a case study showing the history of TC. I find the use of historical artifacts for such a purpose to not only demonstrate the role of TC, but also act as cultural histories of human invention. A theme I see in both of our annotations is the importance of audience in our field. The readers must be able to understand the information if these inventions or tools are to be used properly and effectively. Thus, in my article and in your's too I am assuming, audience helped to shape the evolving documents produced. I am quite fascinated by the study of these documents and apprecaite the detail Tebeaux and Johnson give to their analysis. I guess it is the humanist in me, but I think the "normal" or "every day" documents tell us most about our history and society.
This sounds like a really interesting article! There seems to be a theme of oral communication transforming into written communication when a particular field expands. Historically, written text was always the fastest way to reach the largest audience. As technology continues to evolve, other media reaches audiences just as fast if not faster than writing. As tech comm professionals, I think we're on the cusp of another revolution. But what will subsume print? Written technical communication won't go away, just like oral technical communication hasn't, but what will change? Without knowing the future, it's difficult to answer that question absolutely, but I think it's valuable to pause and reflect on the possibilities.
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