Technical Communication Quarterly (TCQ) Journal Review

Audience, Goals, and History

Technical Communication Quarterly (TCQ) is a peer reviewed journal published four times a
year. The first issue was published in 1992 with the support of The Association of Teachers of
Technical Writing (ATTW). The ATTW was formed in 1973 to encourage dialogue among
teachers of technical communication and to develop technical communication as an academic
discipline (History). TCQ publishes research in varied areas including digital media,
workplace politics, medical communication, law, engineering, pedagogy, visual rhetoric, and
ethics (Association of Teachers of Technical Writing). Guidelines inform prospective authors
that the intended audience for Technical Communication Quarterly includes scholars from
technical communication as well as related fields such as communication studies [and] business
communication (Style Guidelines). In summary, TCQ articles encourage an interdisciplinary
approach that illustrates the diverse and significant role technical communication plays in other
fields such as medicine and law. One article that speaks to TCQs interdisciplinary emphasis is
Tom Lindsleys Legitimizing the Wound, which examines the prominence of rhetoric in
diagnosing invisible wounds in military situations. Lindsely argues [a]n invisible
injurynecessitates that languageessentially argue[s] for its legitimacy and that analyzing
these implications is valuable to rhetorics understanding of languages role in determining
existence [of an invisible wound] (236). Lindsleys article represents TCQs emphasis in
engagement with cross-disciplinary research to reach productive insights; in this case rhetoric
was used to gain a better understanding of medical diagnosis in the military.
Lindselys article demonstrates how scholarship (rhetorical studies) can lead to real world
application (medical diagnosis practices). The emphasis on scholarship as grounds to improve
professional practices is a significant trend we identified throughout TCQ. In our analysis, our
group noted that the journal implicitly tended to favor academic and student audiences over
professional ones, which is supported by the magazines ties to ATTW. The interaction between
scholarship, pedagogy, and professional workplace is illustrated in Melody Bowdons article
Tweeting an Ethos in which she suggests pedagogical techniques using twitter will help
students develop a conscious understanding of ethos that will make them successful and
productive real-world professionals. In her conclusion, Bowden emphasized that [t]echnical
communication scholars need to continue to study Twitterto learnthe objectives of
corporations and to ask our students to be part of this inquiry and to imagine a future in which
their social media presence could do more than offer self-promotion (50). Here scholarly
research is imagined as disseminating into and improving professional work practices though the
education of students. TCQ focuses on how significant scholarly findings can translate into
pedagogical practices that will then instill students with knowledge to improve professional
practices.

Editorial Vision
Two main goals of TCQ we identify in this section examine rhetoric and discuss topics that
seek to improve and expand the practice and pedagogy of technical communications in some
way.
(Goal 1:) Our group saw the necessity in evaluating the goal of how the past can inform
not only the present, but in many ways the future. The 2014 TCQ article, The Coffee Planter of
Saint Domingo: A Technical Manual for the Caribbean Slave Owner adds a new dimension to
the depth of technical writing. The author, John Wilson Ramey, makes it clear that technical
documents like instructions or how-to manuals are rhetorical structures (141).The article makes
reference to highly documented instructions from the past that were constructed to teach
plantation owners how to manage Africans who were enslaved in the area of the West Indies,
and Americas. One of the most outstanding aims of this article noted by Ramey highlights an
18th century instructional manual, but also references the institutionalized systems of power that
manifest themselves in technical writing (149). Explicit details were given in the manual that
reflected the importance between what types of cultures should do sugar cane labor as opposed
to coffee plantation labor. Ramey argues that the past issues of slavery are still with us today in
many different forms. He also notes that our attention in the present sociological, cultural, and
political dimensions of technical communication can inform the future based upon this historical
development of the past (159).
We saw also a similar connection with an article by Amish Dave, Categories as
Rhetorical Barriers and the Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina. Dave references the history
of how specific Federal agencies (DHS, FEMA) have ignored significant needs of improvement,
and in turn are then forced by way of recalcitrance to revised practices, documents, and how
things are categorized in regards to an actual crisis (16).
(Goal 2:) Based on the prevalence of articles discussing the matter, we identified that
another major goal of TCQ is demonstrating how and why utilizing the latest social media
technologies and trends is valuable to the practice of technical writing. Volume 23, Issue 1, 2014
devotes an entire special issue to this subject (Special Issue: Social Media in Technical
Communication). Beginning with a guest editors introduction of the same title, it examines
various applications of social media in the field of technical communications, as well as its
effects. The abstract notes that contributors to this issue consider the imbricated nature of social
media in public life and its significance to our work as researchers and teachers (1), and guest
editor Kimmy Hea places special emphasis on social media in relationship to communities (2).
This special issue devoted entirely to social media indicates the importance of the topic to TCQs
editorial vision, but evidence that furthering the discussion about it is one of the journals main
priorities is evident in other issues as well.
In his article Social Network Analysis and Professional Practice: Exploring New
Methods for Researching Technical Communication Jonathan Frith notes that the profession of
technical writing is remarkably diverse (288), yet common among these positions... is that
they require collaboration. In fact, he says that in many workplaces, technical communicators
serve as the information hubs and become a point of passage that connects multiple audiences
that may otherwise be separate (297).Whether someone is a technical writer, editor, UI expert
or other professional in the field, connections to others are essential says Frith: These
connections may be even more important for technical communicators...because the technical
communicators role is often that of translating information from one audience to another...the

function of technical communication is not usually pictured as the creation of a product, but
rather is seen as creating linkages across a complex, networked organization. Social media and
online social networks make connecting with others easier than ever. The reliance on and
prevalence of social media in the world and our workplaces also demands that we collaborate.
Although Frith says that the study of social networks has a history that long predates the rise of
Internet-based social network sites, (291) his article and others in recent TCQ issues emphasize
that people use new technologies to make and maintain social connections.
These ideas about the importance of social networks in order to make connections are echoed
in other TCQ articles, such as Adapting Service-Learning into the Online Technical
Communication Classroom: A Framework and Model. Here, Tiffany Bourelle applies these
beliefs to online classrooms: it is important to structure a service-eLearning course around an
objective of peer-to-peer interaction, encouraging students to use digital mediums, such as wikis
or blogs, to facilitate communication and write collaboratively (252). Her claims are very
similar to Friths--she too says that the current and future state of technical communication will
rely on adapting to online social tools and spaces: The ability to collaborate across various
mediums is imperative for future technical communicators who will be asked to participate in the
electronically linked workforce, collaborating with peers using new, interactive technology on a
daily basis (253).
Research Methods
We found this journal favors a more qualitative than quantitative approach. The
prevalence of a critical chorus stands at the forefront. TCQ traditionally looks for scholarly work
that can add a fresh, and new perspective on the field of technical communication.
This critical chorus can also have an impact on how the field is developing and providing
innovative ideas to advance the field.
On their website, TCQ describes their articles as hav[ing] a sound basis in theory
(Technical Communication Quarterly). The articles do, in fact, support this claim and theory
functions as a framework through which scholars explore their topics. Clay Spinuzzis article
How Nonemployer Firms Stage-Mangage Ad Hoc Collaboration illustrates the importance of
theory in TCQ articles. Spinuzzi applies fourth generation activity theory (4GAT) to his
investigation of Nonemployer Firms (NEFs) because of the theorys ability to account for the
object(ive)s that are, as in the case with NEFs, multperspectival, polycontextual, and transient
with actors whose collaborations typically involve heavy boundary crossing in what are
often temporary collaborations across networks of interrelated activities (91). 4GAT provides a
way for Spinuzzi to organize the information gathered from his study in such a way as to
produce knowledge about NEFs.
Conclusion
We conclude that this journal can serve as a valuable resource for students interested in
exploring technical communications through a historical lens or examining the role of social
media and online networks and digital tools in the field today.

Work Cited
Association of Teachers of Technical Writing. ATTW. Association of Teachers of Technical
Writing, n.d. Web. 7 Oct 2015.
Bourelle, Tiffany. Adapting Service-Learning into the Online Technical Communication
Classroom. Technical Communication Quarterly 23.4 (2014): 247-264. Taylor &
Francis Online. Web. 7 Oct 2015.
Bowdon, Melody. Tweeting an Ethos. Technical Communication Quarterly 23.1 (2014): 3554. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 7 Oct 2015.
Buehl, Johnathan. Toward an Ethical Rhetoric of the Digital Scientific Image. Technical
Communication Quarterly 23.3 (2014): 184-206. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 7 Oct
2015.

Dave, Anish. Categories as Rhetorical Barriers and the Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina.
Technical Communication Quarterly 24.3 (2015): 258-286. Taylor & Francis Online.
Web. 7 Oct 2015.
Frith, Jordan. Social Network Analysis and Professional Practice. Technical Communication
Quarterly 23.4 (2014): 288-302. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 7 Oct 2015.
Hea, Amy C. Kimme. Social Media in Technical Communications. Technical Communication
Quarterly 23.1 (2014): 1-5. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 7 Oct 2015.
History. ATTW. Association of Teachers of Technical Writing, n.d. Web. 7 Oct 2015.
Kolodziejski, Lauren R. Harms of Hedging in Scientific Discourse. Technical Communication
Quarterly 23.3 (2015): 165-183. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 7 Oct 2015.
Lindsley, Tom. Legitimizing the Wound. Technical Communication Quarterly 24.3 (2015):
235-257. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 7 Oct 2015.
Mcnely, Brian, Clay Spinuzzi and Christa Teston. Contemporary Research Methodologies in
Technical Communications. Technical Communications Quarterly 24.1 (2015): 1-13.
Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 7 Oct 2015.
Ramey, John Wilson. The Coffee Planter of Saint Domingo. Technical Communication
Quarterly 23.2 (2014): 141-159. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 7 Oct 2015.
Spinuzzi, Clay. How Nonemployer Firms Stage-Manage Ad Hoc Collaboration. Technical
Communication Quarterly 23.2 (2014): 88-114. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 7 Oct.
2015.
Style Guidelines. ATTW. Association of Teachers of Technical Writing, n.d. Web 7 Oct 2015.
Technical Communication Quarterly. ATTW. Association of Teachers of Technical Writing,
n.d. Web. 7 Oct 2015.