Hi all! Hope you're excited for the end of the semester. I feel like the train is going 90 miles an hour with about 50 feet of track left, and I know I'm not the only one who feels like that.
I struggled to connect the two readings. One discusses sci-fi and TC, and the other discusses the value of TC in the information age. Both readings dealt with the goals of TC, and how our goals may need to change to shape the field. Here are some general questions to throw into the air, with possibly no effect.
What are other TC myths and goals? What are other sci-fi myths and goals? How have those ideas shaped the field? How do they inform the works we read?
What is the difference between how technology communicates with a user and the technical artifact itself?
How does considering the broader social purposes and contexts of a user reframe the role of a technical communicator?
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We will be looking through some science fiction and some job postings as opposite ends of the fantasy/reality spectrum of TC.
Job sites:
http://jobs.stc.org/c/search_results.cfm?site_id=360
http://www.techwritingjobs.com/tech-writing-jobs.php
As we look over these jobs, think about them in terms of Johnson-Eilola's classifications of routine service workers, in-person service workers, and symbolic-analytic workers. What kinds of jobs are most common and what does this mean in a larger context?
Finally, we'll talk about a few more sci-fi myths and how they might inform the field. I want to briefly discuss Neuromancer and Little Brother. Feel free to reference any sci-fi work that you're a fan of. This discussion may or may not digress into quoting scenes from Logan's Run. Does Killingsworth's essay about using sci-fi as a testing ground for theory help TC as a field? Does sci-fi relocate the value of TC work?
Thanks and enjoy the last day of classes!
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