Discussions About the Technical Communication Profession: Perspectives from the Blogosphere

Purpose: To examine how blogs reflect practitioner views of professionalization topics (such as education, professional societies, and value and status).

Method: Content analysis of 10 practitioner blogs, focusing on professional topics of status, education, professional societies, and the effects of technology.

Results: Although the bloggers under study appear to function as an effective community of practice, they are not currently directing their actions or attention toward the traditional goals of professionalization, such as licensing and accreditation.

Conclusions: The latent themes that emerge show that many of the goals of professionalizing (such as standardizing routes into the field and increasing respect for the work) are also concerns of practitioners.