Electronic Editing in Technical Communication: A Model of User-centered Technology Adoption
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/stc/tc/2004/00000051/00000002/art00004
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Dayton, David
Technical Communication Online
2004

Abstract:

This article connects the research into electronic editing reported by the author in two previous articles to a well-established theory of innovation adoption and diffusion. Everett M. Rogers's theory is first summarized, with emphasis on the perceived characteristics of innovations central to the innovation-decision process. The three most important of these categories for organizing personal judgments about an innovation are used to develop a model of the innovation-decision process with regard to electronic editing in technical communication. The central role of reinvention in the gradual, erratic diffusion of diverse e-editing practices in technical communication is discussed. The author explains and advocates a user-centered ethic of technology adoption, a perspective that values the agency of workplace communities in selectively adopting and reinventing innovations to support the work they do while preserving or enhancing their quality of life on the job.