Authoring content for reuse: A study of methods and strategies, past and present, and current implementation in the technical communication curriculum

The practice of authoring and managing content for reuse or re-assembly pervades industry documentation practices. In an effort to save time, reduce costs, and improve content consistency, particularly in regulated industries, practitioners are adopting methods and implementing technologies to author, label, store, and manage content in order to make the content easily extractable for re-assembly and reuse in more than one context, for a variety of audiences. This dissertation examines the societal and technological forces that precipitated the current workplace practice of authoring content for reuse. It then reviews rhetorical theories that have shaped composing practices from classical times to the present, and the methods and modes of structuring and authoring content for reuse adopted in today’s workplace. This study then addresses the question, if the practices associated with authoring content for reuse are integral to the work of technical communicators in the field, how and in what course context are these practices, methods, rhetorical strategies, and technologies being incorporated into the technical communication curriculum?

Through data collected from a survey of and follow-up communication with academics in the field of technical communication and an analysis of five technical communication textbooks, the study presents as results a description, snapshots, of the practices and strategies associated with authoring content for reuse as implemented in the technical communication curriculum. The objective of the study is to contribute knowledge and benchmark data to the field on the practices, methods, rhetorical strategies, and technologies being implemented; the course context in which they are taught; and whether or not students’ knowledge and application of authoring content for reuse are tied to course and program goals, objectives, and outcomes.