Lisa Meloncon

Developing a bidirectional academic-community partnership with an Appalachian-American community for environmental health research and risk communication.

Background: Marietta, Ohio, is an Appalachian-American community whose residents have long struggled with understanding their exposure to airborne manganese (Mn). Although community engagement in research is strongly endorsed by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in particular, little has been documented demonstrating how an academic–community partnership that implements the community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles can be created and mobilized for research. Objectives: We created a bidirectional, academic–community partnership with an Appalachian-American community to a) identify the community’s thoughts and perceptions about local air quality, its effect on health, and the perception of risk communication sources and b) jointly develop and conduct environmental health research. Methods: We formed a community advisory board (CAB), jointly conducted pilot research studies, and used the results to develop a community-driven research agenda. Results: Persons in the community were “very concerned” to “concerned” about local air quality (91%) and perceived the air quality to have a direct impact on their health and on their children’s health (93% and 94%, respectively). The CAB identified the primary research question: “Does Mn affect the cognition and behavior of children?” Although the community members perceived research scientists as the most trusted and knowledgeable regarding risks from industrial emissions, they received very little risk information from research scientists. Conclusions: Engaging a community in environmental health research from its onset enhanced the quality and relevance of the research investigation. The CBPR principles were a useful framework in building a strong academic–community partnership. Because of the current disconnect between communities and research scientists, academic researchers should consider working collaboratively with community-based risk communication sources.

Exploring Electronic Landscapes: Technical Communication, Online Learning, and Instructor Preparedness

Instead of focusing on technologies of online delivery, specific course design, or reporting on the successes or lessons learned of an online or distance education course, in this essay I focus on the readiness of technical communication teachers for teaching in online settings. Using ideas gleaned from cultural geography, specifically the concept of reading and interpreting landscapes, I develop a framework for instructors to determine their willingness, readiness, and preparedness to teach online. The final section of this essay provides an example of using this framework based on my explorations into my readiness to teach online. I find that self-selection for online instruction is a critical step in developing powerful instructional settings and allows technical communication teachers to cross or remove existing boundaries within their own pedagogical practices.

Special issue introduction: Charting an emerging field: the rhetorics of health and medicine and its importance in communication design

The introduction to this special issue on the rhetorics of health and medicine charts the formation of an emerging field and its importance to communication design.

Paying Attention to Accessibility When Designing Online Courses in Technical and Professional Communication

Roughly 1 out of 10 students in our classrooms has some form of disability, and now that a growing number of technical and professional communication (TPC) courses and programs are offered online, scholars need to adequately address accessibility in online course design. Calling on the field to “pay attention” to this issue, the authors report the results of a national survey of online writing instructors and use Selfe’s landmark essay as a way to theoretically frame the results. They conclude by offering strategies for TPC instructors to design more accessible online courses.

Getting an Invitation to the English Table—and Whether or Not to Accept It

In this article, we trace the journey our professional writing program took from marginal area to well-supported specialty in an English department—a journey we made without sacrificing our commitment to prepare students for professional-level employment. In so doing, we explore the grounds of intellectual compatibility between our field and English studies and describe the conditions most conducive to professional writings finding a respected place in English departments.

Intentionally recursive: a participatory model for mentoring

Technical Communication as an academic field is complex and in need of well-mentored faculty. This article reports on an initiative to improve mentoring of faculty and practitioners that has been underway for three years. We have focused on listening to needs expressed by women in Technical Communication (#womeninTC), comparing what they expressed about their experiences and needs to literature on mentoring models, and developing resources that do a more comprehensive job of addressing their experiences and needs. Our goals are to improve mentoring in ways that are sustainable for faculty and working technical communicators at the same time as we grow a sturdier field.

Designing a Successful Group-Report Experience

Lisa Gueldenzoph Snyder, PhD, is an associate professor in the School of Business and Economics at North Carolina AT email: lguelden@ncat.edu.

A Portrait of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty in Technical and Professional Communication: Results of a Pilot Study.

We report the results of a pilot study that offers the field of technical and professional communication its first look at material working conditions of contingent faculty, such as course loads, compensation, and professional support. Findings include that contingent faculty are more enduring with stable full-time, multi-year contracts; they carry a substantial teaching loads; and the majority are satisfied and happy in their present position, but half would prefer to be working on the tenure track.

Addressing the Incommensurable: A Research-Based Perspective for Considering Issues of Power and Legitimacy in the Field

The authors argue that technical and professional communication is currently facing an issue of incommensurability due to the diversity of the field. They call for unifying the field around its research questions to provide a common foundation for the future.

Bridging the Complex Contexts of Care in Medical Usability

Medical usability (i.e., creating materials that convey usable health and medical information to different audiences) requires designing for diverse contexts and audiences while addressing various usability-related factors. The topics covered by this panel investigate medical usability in a range of contexts related to different aspects of the rhetoric of health and medicine in todays society.