It goes by many names: Distributed capitalism, the control society, the informatics of domination, the support economy. Whatever its name, the characteristics are the same: control over organizations is as distributed as ownership is in managerial capitalism; digital technologies play a vital enabling role; consumption is individuated, taking the form of the desire for unique identities and unique experiences; direct relationships between customers and businesses become more important; and customers look for stable beneficial relationships among consumers and producers that support these individual experiences. These needs are supplied not by large, vertically integrated companies but by temporary "federations" of suppliers for each individual transaction. These federations are endlessly recombinant. Work is fragmented temporally, geographically, and disciplinarily.Schedule:
What does distributed work mean to us as technical communicators? How is it changing our field? Should we adapt to it, critique it, or resist it? In this special issue of Technical Communication Quarterly, we will discuss distributed work's implications for technical communication theory, methodology, pedagogy, ethics, and practice.
- 1-2 page proposal for paper: March 15, 2006
- Full paper (if proposal is accepted): June 30, 2006
- Scheduled publication of issue: Summer 2007
Contact information: Send proposals in .DOC, .RTF, or .HTML to
Clay Spinuzzi, clay.spinuzzi[at]mail.utexas.edu
