Integrating Distributed Cognition, Memory, and Writing into the Unpredictable Workplace
Elizabeth L. Angeli · 2018
Like invention, intuition, and the senses, memory stabilizes communication and decision-making because it is a consistent tool available to communicators as their environment changes. This chapter examines the writing and memory practices of emergency medical services (EMS) professionals to better understand how memory functions as rhetorical work, a process by which participants respond to exigencies and changing rhetorical situations. It utilizes the theoretical frameworks of memory and distributed cognition that scholars have used to understand how reader complete writing tasks and interact with their environment. The chapter illustrates how three types of rhetorical memory—individual, collaborative, and professional—facilitate communication in an unpredictable workplace. EMS professionals communicate complex medical information in changing locations, and they document their treatment and patient information while treating patients. The chapter examines two processes involved in these writing practices—memory and distributed cognition—and argues that memory is part of the rhetorical work in unpredictable work environments.