I am pleased to announce that the Proceedings of the inaugural Teaching Tech Com and AI Symposium 2024 are now accessible on TechneForge.com, a dynamic academic platform committed to exploring innovative applications of Generative AI and modern communication technologies in Technical and Professional communication.
Organized by Eugene Crane, Associate Professor of English at Utah Valley University, this micro-conference served as a vibrant forum for scholars, educators, researchers, and practitioners to delve into the intersection of teaching technical communication and the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence.
The symposium aimed to foster ongoing dialogues surrounding large language model artificial intelligence and its potential implications for the teaching and practice of technical communication. Key highlights from the proceedings include:
Keynote Address: Stuart Selber, in his keynote speech, presenting "An AI Manifesto for Technical Communication Programs," and articulating five fundamental tenets to guide the integration of AI into technical communication pedagogy.
Innovative Practices: Mercer University faculty Pam Brewer, Bremen Vance, and Hannah Nabi share their experiences integrating AI into technical communication education, offering valuable insights and strategies for educators, researchers, and practitioners.
Exploring Authorship and Ethics: From Yunus Doğan Telliel and Kevin Lewis, John Sherrill and Michael Salvo, and Manushri Pandya and Arthur Berger, these presenters address authorship, student experiences with AI projects, and the ethical considerations of AI implementation that provide nuanced perspectives and research findings.
Autonomy and Ethics: Michael J. Klein and Philip L. Frana provide a framework for understanding autonomy in technical communication, and then Paul Hunter and A. Deptula conduct an examination of the ethical implications of AI-generated content authenticity for use following genre conventions and grammatical correctness.
Rhetorical Prompt Engineering: A case study by Bryan Kopp, Chris McCracken, Lindsay Steiner, and Louise Zamparutti explores AI’s role in complex risk communication scenarios and offers practical applications for integrating AI into technical writing curricula.
Empathy and Interfaces: Emma Kostopolus discussed the use of AI-generated personas to enhance empathy in technical writing and editing; then, Eric York offers a visual rhetorical analysis of ChatGPT that provides critical insights into usability and user experience considerations.
Global Perspectives: Patrick Corbett’s keynote offers a humanistic lens on AI adoption, bridging perspectives from the Global North and South to deepen our understanding of AI’s global impact.
These contributions represent a diverse array of perspectives and approaches that enrich our understanding of the complex relationship between AI and technical communication.
We invite you to explore the full proceedings on TechneForge.com where you can watch the presentations and engage in further discussion on this vital topic by contributing your work to the platform.
Visit https://techneforge.com/#cfp for more information!
Cheers,
Dr. Phil Gallagher
Dr. Philip B. Gallagher | He, Him, His
Assistant Professor
Department of Technical Communication
Mercer University School of Engineering
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