A rhetorical reboot: Technical writing ethics in the age of digital media
J. A. Rice · 2014
Theories of technical writing ethics have traditionally emphasized rhetoric's deliberative and formative role in a writer's decision-making process. In contrast to such disciplinary conceptions, this work-in-progress paper examines how new digital writing technologies complicate and revise rhetoric's relationship to technical writing ethics. Following digital writing's influence on industry writing conventions and contexts, this paper first describes how these technologies highlight rhetoric's dynamic and heuristic role in ethical decision making processes. It then examines how rhetoric's new role affects theories, practical applications, and pedagogies of technical writing ethics. The paper concludes by analyzing potential problems facing a dynamic and heuristic theory of technical writing ethics and suggests areas for future research.