In spite of a critical turn in technical communication research, discussions of software documentation continue to forward a singularly instrumental understanding of how these types of texts are composed and consumed. Using work on multiliteracies, I illustrate how analysis of the competing evangelisms of software that occur in programming culture unveils the ways in which documentation, like code, is ideologically encoded. Attention to the evangelisms of software facilitates critical literacy and, consequently, a richer rhetorical literacy. Such literacies are necessary for composing effective software documentation and identifying how the ideologies of software and its documentation intersect with the nationally-situated cultural values in which these technologies and texts are developed and used. To illustrate this complexity, I offer examples of the intersections between free and open source software evangelisms and the national-as-local contexts of the United States, Brazil, and China.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Johnson-EilolaJ., Open Source Basics: Definitions, Models, and Questions, in Proceedings of the 20th Annual International Conference on Computer Documentation, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, pp. 79–83, 2002.
2.
St. AmantK. and CunninghamR., Examining Open Source Software in Offshoring Contexts: A Perspective on Adding Value in an Age of Globalization, Technical Communication, 56, pp. 361–369, 2009.
3.
TruscelloM., The Rhetorical Ecology of the Technical Effect, Technical Communication Quarterly, 14, pp. 345–351, 2005.
4.
SmithB., The State of OSS Documentation, OSnews, November 19, 2003. Retrieved May 18, 2010, from http://www.osnews.com/story/5180
5.
ZientaraM., Documentation's Sorry State, InfoWorld, 23, pp. 23–23, July 16, 1984.
6.
Houghton-AlicoD., Side-by-Side: A Model for Simultaneous Documentation and System Development, in Perspectives on Software Documentation: Inquiries and Innovations, BarkerT. T. (ed.), Baywood, Amityville, New York, pp. 159–174, 1991.
7.
SelberS. A., Multiliteracies for a Digital Age, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, Illinois, 2004.
8.
BurkeK., Permanence and Change, University of California Press, Berkeley, California, 1954.
GatesB., Direct Testimony in State of New York v. Microsoft Corporation, United States Department of Justice, 2000. Retrieved October 15, 2010, from http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f2000/2027.wpd
HimanenP., The Hacker Ethic and the Spirit of the Information Age, Random House, New York, 2002.
14.
LevyS., Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, Penguin Books, New York, 2001.
15.
StallmanR., The GNU Operating System and the Free Software Movement, in Open Source: Voices from the Open Source Revolution, DiBonaC.OckmanS., and StoneM. (eds.), O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Sebastopol, California, pp. 53–70, 1999.
16.
RaymondS. E., The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Sebastopol, California, 2001.
17.
RaymondS. E., The New Hacker's Dictionary (3rd Edition), MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1996.
KeltyC. M., Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software, Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina, 2008.
25.
ChouliarakiL. and FaircloughN., Discourse in Late Modernity: Rethinking Critical Discourse Analysis, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 2000.
26.
BarkerT. T., Writing Software Documentation: A Task-Oriented Approach (2nd Edition), Longman, New York, 2002.
27.
ChewJ., Software Documentation and Human-Factors Design, in Perspectives on Software Documentation: Inquiries and Innovations, BarkerT. T. (ed.), Baywood, Amityville, New York, pp. 91–102, 1991.
28.
CohenN. E., Problems of Form in Software Documentation, in Perspectives on Software Documentation: Inquiries and Innovations, BarkerT. T. (ed.), Baywood, Amityville, New York, pp. 123–138, 1991.
29.
FarkasD. K., Explicit Structure in Print and On-Screen Documents, Technical Communication Quarterly, 14, pp. 9–30, 2005.
30.
SempleM. C., Writing and Editing Online Information, in Perspectives on Software Documentation: Inquiries and Innovations, BarkerT. T. (ed.), Baywood, Amityville, New York, pp. 229–242, 1991.
31.
PetrauskasB., Online Reference System Design and Development, in Perspectives on Software Documentation: Inquiries and Innovations, BarkerT. T. (ed.), Baywood, Amityville, New York, pp. 243–272, 1991.
32.
SelberS. A.Johnson-EilolaJ., and MehlenbacherB., Online Support Systems, ACM Computing Surveys, 28, pp. 197–200, 1996.
33.
MirelB. and OlsenL. A., Social and Cognitive Effects of Professional Communication on Software Usability, Technical Communication Quarterly, 7, pp. 197–221, 1998.
34.
GuillemetteR. A., Usability in Computer Documentation Design: Conceptual and Methodological Considerations. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 32, pp. 217–229, 1989.
35.
VelteC. E., (1989). Document Usability Through Objectives, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 32, pp. 279–282, 1989.
36.
RobertsL. E., Using an Access-Centered Design to Improve Accessibility: A Primer for Technical Communicators, Technical Communication, 53, pp. 14–22, 2006.
37.
van Der GeestT., Conducting Usability Studies with Users Who are Elderly or Have Disabilities, Technical Communication, 53, pp. 23–31, 2006.
38.
WaltersN. J. and BeckC. E., A Discourse Analysis of Software Documentation: Implications for the Profession, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 35, pp. 156–167, 1992.
39.
SpilkaR., The Issue of Quality in Professional Documentation: How Can Academia Make More of a Difference?Technical Communication Quarterly, 6, pp. 207–220, 2000.
40.
HaggeJ., Ethics, Words, and the World in Moore's and Miller's Accounts of Scientific and Technical Discourse, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 10, pp. 461–475, 2006.
41.
MooreP., Instrumental Discourse is a Humanistic as Rhetoric, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 10, pp. 100–118, 1996.
42.
KrethM., Comment on “Instrumental Discourse is as Humanistic as Rhetoric,”Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 10, pp. 476–482, 1996.
43.
ScottJ. B.LongoB., and WillsK. V., Why Cultural Studies? Expanding Technical Communication's Critical Toolbox, in Critical Power Tools, ScottJ. B.LongoB., and WillsK. V. (eds.), State University of New York Press, Albany, New York, pp. 1–19, 2006.
44.
FeenbergA., Technology and the Politics of Knowledge, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 1995.
45.
RohanL., Reveal Codes: A New Lens for Examining and Historicizing the Work of Secretaries, Computers and Composition, 20, pp. 237–253, 2003.
46.
SelfeC. and SelfeR. J., The Politics of the Interface: Power and its Exercise in Electronic Contact Zones, College Composition and Communication, 45, pp. 480–504, 1994.
47.
BarkerT. T., Research Sources in Software Documentation, in Perspectives on Software Documentation: Inquiries and Innovations, BarkerT. T. (ed.), Baywood, Amityville, New York, pp. 7–21, 1991.
48.
Linux Documentation Project, The Linux Documentation Project Manifesto, 2008. Retrieved January 15, 2011, from http://www.tldp.org/manifesto.html
van ReijswoudV. and MuloE., Evaluating the Potential of Free and Open Source Software in the Developing World, in Handbook of Research on Open Source Software, St. AmantK. and StillB. (eds.), Information Science Reference, Hershey, Pennsylvania, pp. 79–92, 2007.
53.
GiddensA., Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping our Lives, Routledge, New York, 2003.
54.
AppaduraiA., Grassroots Globalization and the Research Imagination, in Globalization, AppaduraiA. (ed.), Duke University Press, Durham, North Carlina, pp. 1–21, 2001.
55.
GrayC. S., Strategic Culture as Context: The First Generation of Theory Strikes Back, Review of International Studies, 25, pp. 49–69, 1999.
56.
LongoB., Spurious Coin: A History of Science, Management, and Technical Writing, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York, 2000.
57.
Starke-MeyerringD., Meeting the Challenges of Globalization: A Framework for Global Literacies in Professional Communication Programs, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 19, pp. 468–499, 2005.
58.
CarmelE., American Hegemony in the Packaged Software Trade and the “Culture of Software,”The Information Society, 13, pp. 124–142, 1997.
59.
TurnerF., From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 2006.
TraubJ., The Freedom Agenda: Why America Must Spread Democracy (Just Not the Way George Bush Did), Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York, 2008.
65.
HerndlC. G. and BauerD. A., Speaking Matters: Liberation Theology, Rhetorical Performance, and Social Action, College Composition and Communication, 54, pp. 558–585, 2003.
66.
von SinnerR., The Church's Contribution to Citizenship in Brazil, Journal of International Affairs, 61, pp. 171–184, 2007.
LeonardD. C., Electronic Evolution: From Technical Communication to Knowledge Management, Professional Communication Conference Proceedings, 2, pp. 9–20, 1998.
84.
MooreP. and KrethM., From Wordsmith to Communication Strategist: Heresthetic and Political Maneuvering in Technical Communication, Technical Communication, 52, pp. 302–322, 2005.
85.
AmareN., The Culture(s) of the Technical Communicator, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 45, pp. 128–132, 2002.
86.
JohnsonR. R., Complicating Technology: Interdisciplinary Method, the Burden of Comprehension, and the Ethical Space of the Technical Communicator, Technical Communication Quarterly, 7, pp. 75–99, 1998.
87.
SlackJ. D.MillerD. J., and DoakJ., The Technical Communicator as Author: Meaning, Power, Authority, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 7, pp. 12–36, 1993.
88.
SlackJ. D., The Technical Communicator as Author? A Critical Postscript, in Power and Legitimacy in Technical Communication, Volume I: The Historical and Contemporary Struggle for Professional Status, Kynell-HuntT. and SavageG. J. (eds.), Baywood, Amityville, New York, pp. 193–207, 2003.
89.
Johnson-EilolaJ., Relocating the Value of Work: Technical Communication in a Post-Industrial Age, Technical Communication Quarterly, 5, pp. 245–270, 1996.
90.
WilsonG., Technical Communication and Late Capitalism: Considering a Postmodern Pedagogy, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 15, pp. 72–99, 2001.
91.
BekinsL. K. and WilliamsS. D., Positioning Technical Communication for the Creative Economy, Technical Communication, 53, pp. 287–295, 2006.
92.
ParettiM. C.McNairL. D., and Holloway-AttawayL., Teaching Technical Communication in an Era of Distributed Work: A Case Study of Collaboration between U.S. and Swedish Students, Technical Communication Quarterly, 16, pp. 332–352, 2007.
