A rhetorical reboot: Technical writing ethics in the age of digital media

Theories of technical writing ethics have traditionally emphasized rhetoric´s deliberative and formative role in a writer´s decision-making process. In contrast to such disciplinary conceptions, this work-in-progress paper examines how new digital writing technologies complicate and revise rhetoric´s relationship to technical writing ethics. Following digital writing´s influence on industry writing conventions and contexts, this paper first describes how these technologies highlight rhetoric´s dynamic and heuristic role in ethical decision making processes. It then examines how rhetoric´s new role affects theories, practical applications, and pedagogies of technical writing ethics. The paper concludes by analyzing potential problems facing a dynamic and heuristic theory of technical writing ethics and suggests areas for future research.