Concluding thoughts (where'd the time go?!)

"What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about Genre?" Well, according to Henze, tech comms need to be familiar with the company's genre(s) of writing. This will help the tech writer be effective in the job as well as modifying existing genres. To illuminate: Henze gives the example of a tech writer in a cell phone company who had too many steps in an instruction manual, potentially causing customers to think the phone it too difficult to assemble (342). So, it's important for tech writers to review the company's documents to get a feel for the ways a company uses genres. I wonder about genre here: What about audience? Is it more of an issue? It seems like genre is getting thrown around and maybe used incorrectly?

Then there's Blackeslee and Gerald's: "What do Technical Communicators Need to Know about Writing?"

Also thinking about how tech comm need to be flexible enough to adapt to changing workplace environments, but now the focus is on writing. Tech comms need to continually learn about stuff related to the company, expand on writing skills, and learn new technologies (382). I guess what bothers me about this piece is that you could exchange 'writing' with 'genre' and it wouldn't change the meaning of the text all that much. I felt that the collaboration and international environment article were more insightful...

Burnett et al.: "What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about Collaboration?"

Pretty much the same thing as in-class collaboration, only now it's a part of daily life rather than an occasional class activity. This hinges on the other articles because one can use the same idea when it comes to collaboration, that is, one must be flexible, knowing that not all groups will work the same, dealing with "social loafing," conflict and how disagreements can move things forward rather than hinder progression. I think this is super important for folks to realize that the workplaces they enter into could require group work. They will need to know how to do this well, in spite of what they might feel about collaboration vis-a-vis college. 

Amant: "What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about International Environments?"

I kind of liked how Amant made broader cultural awareness as a selling point for tech comm ("...skills than can increase job security today and in the future") (494). This may not be the most noble way of looking at cultural awareness, but it's honest! And I think that even if people go creating more cultural awareness by looking at the monetary aspects, doesn't mean they won't be impacted more ethically in the long run.

This last run of articles has me wondering about the other side of 402: the professional writer and how these articles could be of utility for them as well. Do these articles cross over? If so, which ones and how to make them accessible for the professional writer?