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

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.