The novice user enters the discourse community: Implications for technical writers

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

10-16-1988

Abstract

© 1990 ACM. The purpose of this paper is threefold: to critique existing definitions of computer literacy and the approaches to computer literacy instruction that such definitions engender, to suggest an enriched approach to computer literacy based on the sociolinguistic notion of the discourse community, and to outline some of the technical communications issues that arise when computer literacy and sociolinguistics are considered in tandem. The main conclusion that is reached in the paper is that, as communications professionals working in computing environments, technical writers and trainers need to pay increased attention to the contexts in which computing takes place, the linguistic conventions of language used in computing contexts, and the specific needs of computer users, in order to act effectively as a "bridge" between computing community "insiders" and "outsiders," or expert and novice members.

Publication Title

Proceedings of the 6th Annual International Conference on Systems Documentation, SIGDOC 1988

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