Toni Ferro

Technical Communication Unbound: Knowledge Work, Social Media, and Emergent Communicative Practices

This article explores the boundaries of technical communication as knowledge work in the emerging era of social media. Analyzing the results of an annual survey offered each year from 2008 until 2011, the study reports on how knowledge workers use publicly available online services to support their work. The study proposes a distinction between sites and services when studying social media in knowledge work and concludes with an exploration of implications for technical communication pedagogy.

Knowledge workers and their use of publicly available online services for day-to-day work

Researchers and organizations have been endeavoring to determine if and how social media can be leveraged to support the day-to-day work of knowledge workers. This study discusses a survey of the use of publicly available online services by knowledge workers that highlights new ways of examining the social media in relation to day-to-day work. Specifically, we examine the use of social media by workers in a variety of contexts as well as analyzing social media at the component level, the level of services, instead of simply at the site level.

Work through the web: a typology of web 2.0 services

To better understand how publicly available online services (PAOSs) are used by knowledge workers on the web, we devised and tested a classification scheme for Web 2.0 services. This classification scheme focuses on genres of services and types of interactions associated with PAOSs. Our experiment, which involved a double-coded assessment of 238 unique sites, demonstrates that our definition of Web 2.0 and our defined genres and associated user interaction types are recognizable. In addition, this study suggests that genres of services can be a valuable instrument in the analysis, discussion, and design of sites used by knowledge workers.

The rat city rollergirls and the potential of social networking sites to support work

Increasingly, researchers and organizations are interested in the potential for social networking sites to support the day-to-day tasks of workers. This study examines the way the Rat City Rollergirls (RCRG), a roller derby team, communicates using social media to support the business of their organization. While the RCRG is a volunteer organization, their use of social media to support their day-to-day business demonstrates the potential of social networking sites to support organizational work in ways beyond marketing and customer communication and exposes design considerations for implementing social networking sites.

The Importance of Publicly Available Social Networking Sites (SNSs) to Entrepreneurs

This study examines the use of social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook and LinkedIn by entrepreneurs. The results contribute to the growing body of research on the uses of SNSs in the workplace. The findings show that entrepreneurs use SNSs in some of the same ways workers at large companies do (e.g. to cultivate business relationships and find job candidates) as well as some unique ways (e.g. to find credible subcontractors and to develop fundamental business relationships). Understanding the potential of SNSs to support work suggests implications for SNS design and theory development.

Using user-centered design to discover motivation and priorities in an established online community

This poster presents our work using a face-to-face user-centered design method to inform the design of a reputation visualization for an established online community. The benefits of conducting an offline group session with online community members included insights into motivation and priorities, an understanding of community norms, and a member check on previous findings.

Understanding how people use publicly available online services for work

How are knowledge workers integrating web-based tools into their work? Where do they spend their time while online at work? Reporting the results of an annual national survey of knowledge workers, this poster offers insight into the current state of distributed knowledge work.