Title

Practicing "Safe" Technical Communication

Abstract

The nuclear power industry is undergoing a renaissance, led by initiatives from the Obama administration and several states. In light of this development and the growing information economy, it is crucial that the public be well-informed, effective, and responsible regarding important technological issues. For this reason, undergraduate education, whether for technical or non-technical majors, must include an awareness of the complexity, ambiguity, and interestedness of the use of technical language and information. This is particularly important in communication involving public discourse and perceptions. I discuss here how I foster such awareness in my juniorlevel technical writing course for non-majors. We focus on the concept "safe" in relation to radiation and nuclear power. This is done in the overall context of making a recommendation for nuclear power as an energy source for the state of Florida for the next two decades, a realistic and urgent technical communication situation. Students see that standards and even the definitions of crucial terms shift depending on context and social circumstances, and that real-world choices involve trade-offs and balances between advantages and disadvantages. © 2011, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.

Publication Date

1-1-2011

Publication Title

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Volume

41

Issue

3

Number of Pages

255-270

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.2190/TW.41.3.c

Socpus ID

79960902597 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/79960902597

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