ccr 760: on spinuzzi

In an introduction to a special issue of TCQ, Spinuzzi lays out a framework in which to consider the challenges facing technical communicators in an age of distributed work.

Much of the introduction brought me back to our earlier reading of Spinuzzi; as author of a text which made him an obvious choice to edit this special issue. In that text, as in his introduction here, Spinuzzi balances these broader discussions about the changing nature of work on a squishy definition of networks -- the networked worker, the socio-economics of networked activities, internetworked communications. This phenomenon of networks changes everything in the workplace -- from work activities to the organizational structures in which that work is performed.

While I think I understand the point being made, I'm still having trouble reconciling why this changes anything for technical communicators. It seems that there are broader implications for workers who are not prepared or "skilled-up" to be effective symbolic analytic workers.

I do see a complication in Spinuzzi's framework for the special issue -- worker activity is not the same as worker connectivity. When I read about the modern worker being segregated by education and segmented by technology (271), I wonder, has that ever not been the case in industrial societies? It just seems like we're stretching things when we introduce all of these socio-economic arguments in discussions about the changing nature of technical communication. I understand it's necessary to understand what's happening on a broader scale, but the challenges, problems, issues facing the technical communicator of 2010 are (I believe) the same as those faced in 1970.

When I strip away what feels like the necessary baggage of a scholarly essay (or introduction in this case), I find what I think is the essential issue facing teachers of writing, writing curriculum designers, technical communication programs, writing programs, Composition, and practicing technical communicators. In the age of distributed work, Spinuzzi says, "Rhetoric becomes an essential area of expertise ... when we are all potentially in contact with each other, across organizational and disciplinary lines, we must persuade more people coming from different domains—not just our superiors and coworkers..." (272).