Colton, Holmes, Walwema Awarded 2018 Nell Ann Pickett Award

Congratulations to Jared S. Colton, Steve Holmes, and Josephine Walwema, who were awarded the Nell Ann Pickett Award for their article, “From NoobGuides to #OpKKK: Ethics of Anonymous’ Tactical Technical Communication,” published in Volume 26.1, 2017.  The Award Selection Committee noted that “one thing that makes this article exemplary is that it engages with concepts we thought we knew–de Certeau’s tactics and strategies–and helps us to see them in a new way. It is one of those rare “both/and” pieces that raises concerns about a widely accepted framework without disregarding its value and that identifies shortcomings and proposes strategies for mitigating them. Fitting with this year’s ATTW conference theme, this article engages deeply and carefully with theory, vividly illustrating why theory matters by tracing out precarities and possibilities for ethical interventions in the world.”

Jared S. Colton is an assistant professor at Utah State University. Steve Holmes is an assistant professor at George Mason University. Josephine Walwema is an associate professor at Oakland University.

Josephine Walwema, Steve Holmes, and Jared Colton at the 2018 ATTW 21st Conference Awards Reception in Kansas City, KS on March 13.

Congratulations also to Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher‘s for her article “Crowdfunding Science: Exigencies and Strategies in an Emerging Genre of Science Communication,” which was named honorable mention by the committee. They wrote that  “this article reports on a rigorously designed empirical study of a new genre in science communication. This piece ties into a multitude of relevant considerations of our field– from proposal writing to social media, from building credibility to clearly communicating technical information to lay audiences, from preparing students for ever-changing workplaces to identifying key opportunities for future research.”

Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher is an assistant professor at University of Waterloo.

The Nell Ann Pickett Award is given annually for the best article in ATTW’s journal, Technical Communication Quarterly, for the previous publication year. Judges for the award are previous award winners. It is named for a founding member of the association who initiated the award and originally funded it.

 

Dr. Rebecca Walton Named New ATTW TCQ Editor

The ATTW Executive Committee is pleased to announce that Dr. Rebecca Walton has been appointed the next editor of Technical Communication Quarterly (TCQ) and will begin her term later this summer. Her institution, Utah State University, will be the new institutional home for the journal. We are excited about the future of TCQ under Dr. Walton’s editorial leadership, and we are thrilled to have Dr. Walton join ATTW’s Executive Committee as well.

Dr. Walton’s vision for TCQ is to “maintain its top-notch reputation while growing its readership and the diversity of authors.” She will “focus on retaining a particular set of strengths cultivated by current and past leadership, while prioritizing a set of strategies to further strengthen the journal and, by extension, the field.” These strategies include expanding the pool of journal reviewers to include more scholars who are earlier in their careers. She sees this strategy as an important investment in the field that can increase readership and maintain a pipeline of excellent, more diverse leadership for the journal. Dr. Walton’s qualifications include a significant record of publication; familiarity with journal editing, having guest edited two special issues; experience in copyediting, project management, and supervising (both in industry and in academia); and a strong international network of mutually supportive colleagues.

Thanks to TCQ’s current editorial team—Donna Kain, Brent Henze, and Suzan Flanagan—and to East Carolina University’s Department of English for their work and support of TCQ for the last five years.

Technical Communication Quarterly is published as a print journal four times per year by Taylor & Francis, LLC. TCQ is also published online, and it is now included in the publisher’s iFirst workflow, which means that preprint versions of forthcoming articles are published throughout the year on the journal’s website, changing the traditionally structured concrete deadlines to a more continuous workflow.

Biography
Dr. Rebecca Walton is an associate professor of technical communication and rhetoric at Utah State University. Her research interests include social justice, human rights, and qualitative methods for crosscultural research. Primarily a field researcher, she has collaborated with organizations such as the Red Cross, Mercy Corps, and World Vision to conduct research in countries including Uganda, Kyrgyzstan, and Bolivia. Her co-authored work has won several national awards: CCCC Best Article on Philosophy or Theory of Technical or Scientific Communication in 2018, the Nell Ann Pickett Award in 2016 and in 2017, and the STC Distinguished Article Award in 2017.

About ATTW
The Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW) is an active professional organization of teachers, researchers, and practitioners of technical communication. Formed in 1973 to encourage dialogue among teachers of technical communication and to develop technical communication as an academic discipline, the organization boasts an international and interdisciplinary membership. ATTW produces Technical Communication Quarterly, a leading academic journal, and it collaborates with Taylor & Francis/Routledge to publish the ATTW Book Series in Technical and Professional Communication.

ATTW 2018 Conference Information

ATTW 2018 is one week away! We wanted to round up all the information about conference events in one place as everyone prepares for their travel. Hopefully, this answers your last minute questions, but if not, please feel free to contact us at attworg@gmail.com.

Have a look at the  ATTW 2018 program preview and plan your conference!

All ATTW conference events are held at the Reardon Convention Center 510 Minnesota Ave. Kansas City, KS 66101 Tel: 816.765.4707

The Reardon Convention Center is located right next to Hilton Garden Inn Kansas City/Kansas, 520 Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas, 66101 Tel: 913-342-7900

Registration

If you haven’t registered, please do so by Friday, March 9. While you will be able to register on-site at the conference, the registration costs will be increased. Registering early lets us provide the convention center with a more accurate headcount, and it promotes a more efficient check-in process at the conference. Here’s the registration link:

Register for ATTW 2018 Two-Day Conference

Social media

Plan to tweet using the #attwcon hashtag.

Join us from a distance

We are planning to stream select panels, including the plenary, from Wyandotte Ballroom 2 throughout both days. Look for theafter panel and special event titles. More information to come.

Conference Check-in

The main room for ATTW on Tuesday and Thursday will be Wyandotte Ballroom 2. Check-in and registration will be available outside of this room beginning at 8:00 AM on Tuesday, March 13.

If you preregistered for the conference:

Look for someone with a cellphone or tablet to get you checked in quickly through Eventbrite. Pick up your nametag and program, and have a great conference!

If you registered, but need to pay onsite:

Look for Brian Blackburne & Michelle Eble. They’ll help you finish your registration.

If you missed the online registration window:

Look for Brian Blackburne. He will be handling onsite registrations. Here are the costs for onsite registrations:

Full-time faculty or professionals $170.00
Contingent faculty $100.00
Students $70.00

Poster Presentation Information

The Poster Presentation Session is scheduled for Tuesday, March 13, from 11:15 am-12:30 pm in Wyandotte Ballroom 2. Posters should be 30″ x 40″ or smaller to fit on the foam boards that will be provided.  We will provide foam boards, binder clips, and push pins to mount the posters.

Then the foam boards will be displayed on easels.

Presenter Information

Rooms will have a projector and Internet access. Presenters should bring laptops and connecting dongles for audio visual.

Each session is an hour and fifteen minutes. In general, with a panel of four, each presenter has fifteen minutes, leaving fifteen minutes for questions. The issue of when to take questions is up to the chair and the panel, but taking questions at the end, by which time everyone has had time to present, is a good idea.

Research Methods Workshops

Workshops will take place Tuesday, March 14 from 1:30 pm-5:30 pm in Argentine and Armourdale in the Reardon Convention Center.

Each room will have a projector and screen, but facilitators and participants should bring laptops.

There will be a short break at 3:15.

Women in TC Luncheon

The luncheon is scheduled for Wyandotte Ballroom 1 on Wednesday, March 14, 12:15 pm-1:45 pm. Registration is required for this event. Organizers will check people in at the door using the Eventbrite registration information.

Accessibility

If you have have accessibility concerns for which you need assistance, please contact Michelle Eble at eblem@ecu.edu.

 

 

ATTW 2018 Registration & Program Preview

The  ATTW 2018 Conference is just 10 days away! Check out a preview of the ATTW 2018 Conference program!

If you haven’t registered, please do so by Friday, March 9. While you will be able to register on-site at the conference, the registration costs will be increased. Registering early lets us provide the convention center with a more accurate headcount, and it promotes a more efficient check-in process at the conference. Here’s the registration link:

Register for ATTW 2018 Two-Day Conference