Technical Communication and Social Justice

Introduction to Special Issue on Digital Activism, Pedagogy, and Advocacy

Fri, 02 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This special issue on Digital Activism, Pedagogy, and Advocacy showcases scholarship that builds on the strong connections that exist between composition studies and technical and professional communication to illustrate how socially just pedagogical approaches exist in relationship with digital activisms. The intersectional and transdisciplinary work collected here provides us with pedagogical frameworks for identifying, analyzing, and enacting activism pedagogies around digital activism in writing and technical communication classrooms.

Looking “Under the Hood” of SEO Conversion

Katherine Mavridou-Hernandez, Anna Minks — Fri, 02 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Digital rhetoricians, such as technical writers, SEO specialists, and social media marketers, are increasingly asked to balance ethical considerations in writing for both humans and algorithms. The need to rank highly on search engine results pages drives how search engine optimization (SEO) operates. An understanding of this often unseen, but ever-present appeal to a non-human audience, or what Michelle Gibbons calls “persona 4.0,” is crucial for professionals, instructors, and students alike. A reliance on search engines without awareness of their practices can perpetuate injustices against marginalized groups who are overlooked in the design of certain technologies. In this article, we discuss the implications of SEO and provide pedagogical approaches to improve students’ understanding of search engines.

Interest-Driven Public Networks and Writing Pedagogy

Eva Jin — Fri, 02 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Addressing the pedagogical challenges of teaching activism in both technical/professional communication (TPC) and composition (first year composition in particular) studies, this article introduces "interest-driven public networks" (IDPN) as a theoretical framework examining how shared passions intersect with strategic interests in digital spaces to cultivate civic participation. Building on this foundation, it develops an interest-driven public writing pedagogy model that harnesses digital spaces as activism playgrounds in writing classrooms. This work expands traditional conceptions of civic engagement, provides structured approaches for teaching social justice through everyday digital experiences, and bridges TPC and FYC studies in their shared commitment to social justice education.

A Digital-Decolonial Approach to Writing Pedagogy

Shelby Ramsey — Fri, 02 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Decolonizing pedagogy is an important mission that takes purposeful action and effort. Here, I demonstrate why decolonizing pedagogies are difficult to implement in writing classes, especially in digital spaces. Even so, I argue in this article that a digital-decolonial pedagogy requires an active focus on digital rhetorics and pedagogy, intersectionality, and decoloniality, and this approach works toward social justice as it is more inclusive for students who have historically been underrepresented in the classroom and curricula. Through the systematic review of decolonization and digital rhetoric scholarship, the findings discuss applications of this digital-decolonial approach to technical writing pedagogy.

Transcending Binaries of Course Delivery

Theresa Evans — Fri, 02 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jenkins’s (2006) transmedia storytelling is a starting point for re-envisioning the writing course as a transmodal, translingual–and transmedia–ecological system. Blurring course modalities suggest the need to shift to a transmedia mindset for course delivery, regardless of official designation. Transmedia resistance aligns with four forms of translingual and trans-modal resistance described by Horner et al. (2015): the myth of perfect fluency, rejection of technologies, celebration of technologies, and lack of material resources. As transmedia experiences evolve into trans-reality worldbuilding across physical and virtual realities, standardized frameworks should evolve into a network of interactions grounded in pedagogy.