Abstract:

The field of technical communication (TC) is experiencing a radical transformation that is directly linked to the rapid diffusion of single-source content management (SSCM) in TC work groups. SSCM, a documentation methodology that is revolutionizing the practice of TC, requires technical communicators to adopt new technologies and to reconceptualize the business, communication, and information-development processes on which they have long relied.

To better understand why so many TC work groups struggle to achieve their goals for SSCM transition projects, I conducted as part of my dissertation project an eight-month qualitative study of a TC work group at a Fortune 100 manufacturing company. At the time of my study, the work group was in the process of transitioning from a traditional information-development environment that relied on desktop-publishing tools to one that relied on SSCM technologies. My dissertation draws on adoption and diffusion theory (ADT), cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), and the theory of the social construction of technology (SCOT) to examine the technology transfer process--the process by which the work group attempted to integrate a SSCM system into its work context and the process by which the system developer attempted to diffuse the SSCM system into the work group.

Extensive data analysis revealed that the technology transfer process was characterized by the work group not being able to evaluate the SSCM system apart from the activity system in which they were active participants, to the system developer's information transfer model of technology diffusion, and to the absence of a plan to guide the group's weekly transfer project activities. Rhetorical and sociotechnical factors shaped the technology transfer process at every stage, with the lack of appropriate regulative practices (mediating artifacts) having the most impact.

An increased understanding of how TC work groups attempt to integrate SSCM methodologies and tools into their activity systems helps TC scholars identify new opportunities for rhetorical action in SSCM environments and new knowledge and skill sets that TC practitioners need to ensure that people, not technology, are the end of TC work. I offer "reciprocity" as one way for TC scholars to identify such opportunities and to effect change through research.