Pedagogies and Social Turn in Technical Communication

The one reading that has been somewhat unclear to me so far is the one about common based pedagogies and the social turn in technical communication. As I was reading the article I was overwhelmed with the amount of information being given to me. I’m still not exactly positive what it had to do with public writing, and the whole concept of “waves” of technical communication went way over my head. I do understand that the article was talking about how to contribute to Wikipedia, and also the benefits of collaborative texts. I’m not sure I would consider contributing to a wiki would be a form of public writing because it isn’t the place to voice opinions or share experiences, it’s about stating facts. I suppose the article just had a lot of information to offer and I got lost while trying to understand everything.

I came across another article that discusses the importance of Wikipedia and writing pedagogy. It was a very helpful article because it was easier to follow and explained the concept clearly. While Wikipedia is not always the most credible source of information it does allow for people to practice collaborative writing in a public space. The article suggests that “any collaborative writing endeavor promises a representative articulation, a compromise of voices and points of view: eventually.” Essentially, it helps to create a more open mind and to be more accepting of other people’s ideas; public writing is all about being open to differing views and experiences. Writers can learn to appreciate others’ point of view, while improving their writing over time by practicing in a public space. I now understand the benefits to using Wikipedia as a practice for writing publicly, even if it isn’t necessarily “public writing.”