1st Edition
Citizenship and Advocacy in Technical Communication Scholarly and Pedagogical Perspectives
In Citizenship and Advocacy in Technical Communication, teachers, researchers, and practitioners will find a variety of theoretical frameworks, empirical studies, and teaching approaches to advocacy and citizenship. Specifically, the collection is organized around three main themes or sections: considerations for understanding and defining advocacy and citizenship locally and globally, engaging with the local and global community, and introducing advocacy in a classroom.
The collection covers an expansive breadth of issues and topics that speak to the complexities of undertaking advocacy work in TPC, including local grant writing activities, cosmopolitanism and global transnational rhetoric, digital citizenship and social media use, strategic and tactical communication, and diversity and social justice. The contributors themselves, representing fifteen academic institutions and occupying various academic ranks, offer nuanced definitions, frameworks, examples, and strategies for students, scholars, practitioners, and educators who want to or are already engaged in a variegated range of advocacy work. More so, they reinforce the inherent humanistic values of our field and discuss effective rhetorical and current technological tools at our disposal. Finally, they show us how, through pedagogical approaches and everyday mundane activities and practices, we (can) advocate either actively or passively.
Author Bios
Foreword: ATTW Series in Technical and Professional Communication
Tharon Howard
Foreword: Of Access, Advocacy, and Citizenship: A Perspective for Technical Communicators
Kirk St.Amant, Louisiana Tech University and University of Limerick
Preface: Advocating for the Good of Humanity: Technical Communication as a Tool for Change
Godwin Agboka and Natalia Matveeva, University of Houston-Downtown
Section I. Defining Core Competencies for Local and Global Advocacy and Citizenship
Chapter 1: Female Practitioners’ Advocacy and Activism: Using Technical Communication for Social Justice Goals
Emily January Petersen, Weber State University
Chapter 2: Expanding Inventional and Solution Spaces: How Asset-Based Inquiry Can Support Advocacy in Technical Communication
Lucia Dura, The University of Texas at El Paso
Chapter 3: Enabling Global Citizenship in Intercultural Collaboration: Cosmopolitan Potential in Online Identity Representation
Zsuzsanna Palmer, Grand Valley State University
Chapter 4: Building the Babel of Transnational Literacies: Preparing Education for World Citizen
Xiaobo Wang, Oxford College of Emory University
Section II. Choosing the Right Approaches to Advocacy and Community Engagement: Working with a Real Client
Chapter 5: Technical Communication Client Projects and Nonprofit Partnerships: The Challenges and Opportunities of Community Engagement
Elisabeth Kramer-Simpson and Steve Simpson, New Mexico Tech
Chapter 6: An Intercultural Analysis of Social Media Advocacy in Disaster Response
Laura A. Ewing, American Red Cross - Kadena Station, and Megan M. McIntyre, Dartmouth College
Chapter 7: Monitoring and Managing Online Comments in Science Journalism
John Gallagher, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Chapter 8: Journaling and Bibliotherapy Participatory Design as a Heuristic for Program Development
Joshua M. Rea, Peter Cannon, Alysia Sawchyn, and Katie Walkup, University of South Florida
Chapter 9: Résumé Design and Career Advocacy in a Goodwill Career Center
Derek G. Ross, Auburn University
Section III. Introducing Advocacy Techniques in a Classroom
Chapter 10: Inclusive Practices in the Technical Communication Classroom
Jessica Edwards, University of Delaware
Chapter 11: Community-Engaged Learning in Online Technical Communication Classes: A Tool for Student Success
Ann Marie Francis, University of North Georgia
Chapter 12: Teaching Proposal Writing: Advocacy and Autonomy in the Technical Communication Classroom
Diane Martinez, Western Carolina University
Chapter 13: Open Source Technical Communication in the Classroom: Digital Citizenship, Communities of Play, and Online Collaboration
Robert M. Rowan, Case Western Reserve University
Chapter 14: Social Media and Advocacy in the TPC Classroom: A Social Justice Pedagogical Approach
Sarah Warren-Riley, Illinois State University
Afterword
Jon A. Leydens, Colorado School of Mines
Biography
Godwin Y. Agboka is an associate professor of technical and professional communication and director of the Master of Science in Technical Communication program at University of Houston-Downton, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses, including intercultural communication, medical writing, and science writing. Agboka’s research interests include intercultural technical communication, social justice and human rights perspectives, research methodologies, and the rhetoric of science and medicine. He is the author of several journal articles and book chapters.
Natalia Matveeva is an associate professor of technical and professional communication and the co-director of the Institute for Plain English Research and Study (IPERS) at University of Houston-Downton. Matveeva teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in intercultural technical communication, grant writing, web writing, research methods, and plain language. She has published a number of articles and book chapters in technical and business communication journals and edited collections.
