So far, so good

Both Wes and Anna have blogged their readings from the Histories section of Central Works. Both are well written blog postings. Wes points to Rutter's argument for a rhetorical basis for the work of technical communication as opposed to a science or engineering foundation. Anna explores the idea that technical communicators need to acknowledge the applicability of TC not just to software documentation, but to all our endeavors in life.

Both of these are interesting arguments and certainly arguments that reasonate with technical communication professionals and academics. I find Rutter's argument persuasive in that the work I did in industry certainly required attention both to the technical side and to the rhetorical side. As for Durack's argument, I find that TC applies to many things I do, from the soccer game cards I create for my record-keeping as a referee, to the documents I create to keep track of tax related items, to my lambing records and documents. Clearly these are both domestic, traditionally the domain of women, and industrial, more traditionally male, in application.

Both Wes and Anna have given us food for thought. We will continue next week with each student choosing an article in Part 2: Rhetorical Perspectives. Please also post comments to the blog posting of the other student/s.