Technical Communication Quarterly Jul 2023

Expanding the Scope and Scale of Risk in TPC: Water Access and the Colorado River Basin

Ehren Helmut Pflugfelder Oregon State University ; Timothy R. Amidon Colorado School of Public Health ; Donnie Johnson Sackey The University of Texas at Austin ; Daniel P. Richards Old Dominion University

Abstract

Building from a recent history of how technical and professional communication has addressed risk, we argue that the spatial and temporal frames through which the field has encountered risk must be confronted in working toward climate justice. We offer topoi that can be deployed to trace these interconnections and apply them to The Law of the River in the Colorado River Basin to illustrate how case studies can demonstrate the unequal distribution of climate risk.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
2023-07-03
DOI
10.1080/10572252.2023.2210194
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation context

Cited by in this index (6)

  1. Lauer et al. (2026)
    “Cute” as Environmental Strategy: Anthropomorphizing Nature to Promote Engageme…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Halley et al. (2026)
    Lessons in Security Logics from Cold-War Guatemala
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Kong (2025)
    Visualizing Flint Lead Contamination Risks: Building a Critical Rhetorical Risk…
    Communication Design Quarterly
  4. Bjork (2025)
    Extractive Artificial Intelligence and Its Challenge to Technical Communication
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Reamer (2024)
    Review of "Embodied Environmental Risk in Technical Communication by Samuel Sti…
    Communication Design Quarterly
Show all 6 →
  1. Reamer (2024)
    Review of "Embodied Environmental Risk in Technical Communication by Samuel Sti…
    Communication Design Quarterly

References (87) · 19 in this index

  1. Arizona v. California, 373 U.S. 546. (1963). Retrieved from https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/373/…
  2. Baniya (2022)
    Transnational Assemblages in Disaster Response: Networked Communities, Technolo…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. 10.4135/9781412952552.n244
     ↗
  4. Beck U. (1999)
    World risk society
  5. 10.1086/521568
     ↗
Show all 87 →
  1. Cagle et al. (2015)
    Climate Change Research Across Disciplines: The Value and Uses of Multidiscipli…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Chen C. (2022)
    Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, & Globalization
  3. City of Santa Fe. (1922). Colorado river compact, 1922. Retrieved from https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/uc_r…
  4. Colorado River Indian Tribes. (2022). Colorado River Indian Tribes. Retrieved from https://tentribespartnersh…
  5. Connors (1982)
    The Rise of Technical Writing Instruction in America
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  6. Cortez A. C. L. (2000)
    Natural Resources Journal
  7. 10.2307/1593797
     ↗
  8. 10.1177/2399654419841063
     ↗
  9. 10.1093/ornithapp/duaa064
     ↗
  10. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Ten Tribes Partnership. (2018). Colorado River Basin Ten T…
  11. Ding (2009)
    Rhetorics of Alternative Media in an Emerging Epidemic: SARS, Censorship, and E…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  12. Ding H. (2014)
    Rhetoric of a global epidemic: Transcultural communication about SARS
  13. Dobrin D. N. (1985)
    The Technical Writing Teacher
  14. Dombrowski (2000)
    Ethics and Technical Communication: The Past Quarter Century
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  15. Earle S. C. (1911)
    The theory and practice of technical writing
  16. Ehrenfeld (2020)
    “Sharing a World with Others”: Rhetoric’s Ecological Turn and the Transformatio…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  17. 10.1111/j.1539-6924.1995.tb00308.x
     ↗
  18. Foundation H. (1981)
    Mandate for leadership
  19. Frost (2013)
    Transcultural Risk Communication on Dauphin Island: An Analysis of Ironically L…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  20. 10.1111/1468-2230.00188
     ↗
  21. Gottschalk Druschke C. (2019)
    Enculturation
  22. Grabill et al. (1998)
    Toward a critical rhetoric of risk communication: Producing citizens and the ro…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  23. 10.4324/9781315442044-9
     ↗
  24. 10.1093/019829509X.003.0009
     ↗
  25. Herndl C. (1996)
    JAC
  26. 10.2307/358988
     ↗
  27. Itchuaqiyaq et al. (2022)
    Sex Work and Professional Risk Communication: Keeping Safe on the Streets
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  28. Jones (2021)
    A Counterhistory of Rhetorical Ecologies
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  29. 10.2307/378062
     ↗
  30. Katz S. (1996)
    Green culture: Environmental rhetoric in contemporary America
  31. 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2017.02.012
     ↗
  32. Kimball (2017)
    The Golden Age of Technical Communication
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  33. Kruse K. M. (2019)
    Fault lines: A history of the United States since 1974
  34. 10.2307/j.ctvq4c1gr
     ↗
  35. Kynell T. C. (2000)
    Writing in a milieu of utility: The move to technical communication in American engineeri…
  36. Kynell-Hunt T. (2004)
    Power and legitimacy in technical communication: The historical and contemporary struggle…
  37. 10.1145/3472714.3473640
     ↗
  38. Lee S. (2022)
    Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, & Globalization
  39. 10.1177/0002716296545001009
     ↗
  40. Leiss W. (2004)
    Mad cows and mother’s milk. The perils of poor risk communication
     ↗
  41. 10.1086/688347
     ↗
  42. 10.1073/pnas.2007361117
     ↗
  43. 10.2307/375964
     ↗
  44. Miller C. R. (1989)
    Technical writing: Theory and practice
  45. Mills G. H. (1954)
    Technical writing
  46. Mirel (1994)
    Debating nuclear energy: Theories of risk and purposes of communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  47. Mohun A. P. (2016)
    Historical Social Research
  48. National Archives. (1928). Boulder Canyon project act. Retrieved from https://www.archives.gov/milestone-docu…
  49. National Drought Mitigation Center. (2023). U.S. drought monitor [Website]. Retrieved from https://droughtmon…
  50. Nixon R. (2013)
    Slow Violence and the environmentalism of the poor
  51. 10.4236/ojss.2021.1111027
     ↗
  52. 10.1073/pnas.2006323117
     ↗
  53. 10.1177/23996544211052051
     ↗
  54. 10.2307/j.ctv1gwqrkg.11
     ↗
  55. Pflugfelder (2018)
    Failure Matters: Conflicting Practices in a High-Tech Case
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  56. 10.1006/jare.2001.0843
     ↗
  57. 10.4324/9780203366905
     ↗
  58. 10.1111/jocn.15320
     ↗
  59. Reamer (2015)
    “Risk = Probability × Consequences”: Probability, Uncertainty, and the Nuclear …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  60. Richards (2019)
    An Ethic of Constraint: Citizens, Sea-Level Rise Viewers, and the Limits of Agency
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  61. Rickard T. A. (1908)
    A guide to technical writing
  62. Ross (1994)
    A feminist perspective on technical communicative action: Exploring how alterna…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  63. Russell (2007)
    Rethinking the Articulation Between Business and Technical Communication and Wr…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  64. Sackey (2020)
    One-Size-Fits-None: A Heuristic for Proactive Value Sensitive Environmental Design
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  65. Sauer B. A. (2002)
    The rhetoric of risk: Technical documentation in hazardous environments
  66. Scott J. B. (2006)
    Critical power tools: Technical communication and cultural studies
  67. Simmons W. M. (2007)
    Power and participation: Civic discourse in environmental policy decisions
  68. 10.1145/3328020.3353955
     ↗
  69. Slovic P. (2000)
    The perception of risk
  70. Souther, J. W. (1957). Technical report writing. New York: Wiley.
  71. 10.4324/9781003266549
     ↗
  72. Sullivan D. L. (1990)
    Journal of Advanced Composition
  73. 10.1007/s10745-018-0023-x
     ↗
  74. 10.1002/2016WR019638
     ↗
  75. United States Government Print Office. (1946). Utilization of waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and o…
  76. US Bureau of Reclamation. (2008). The law of the river [Website]. Retrieved from https://www.usbr.gov/lc/regi…
  77. US Bureau of Reclamation. (2022). Lake Mead annual high and low elevations (1935-2022). Retrieved from https:…
  78. USGS. (2022). Water-year summary for site USGS 09380000. Retrieved from https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/wys_r…
  79. 10.4324/9780429198748
     ↗
  80. Warner B. P. (2022)
    Water Alternatives
  81. 10.2307/281885
     ↗
  82. Youngblood (2012)
    Balancing the Rhetorical Tension Between Right to Know and Security in Risk Com…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
CrossRef global citation count: 6 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related articles

  1. Assessing Writing Oct 2026
    PEUMO: An AI-based writing assessment and support tool for engineering report writing in Spanish ↗
    Constanza Cerda-Canales; René Venegas
    assessment professional writing
  2. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Sep 2026
    Gender Differences in Nonverbals of Business Undergraduates: Self-Assessment Insights of Perceived Credibility ↗
    Daisy Tan
    assessment professional writing literacy studies gender and writing
  3. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Jun 2026
    Résumé Redesign: An Experiential Assignment Using AI Applicant Tracking Systems ↗
    Rachel Dolechek; Karen McCullough
    assessment professional writing online writing instruction literacy studies
  4. Journal of Business and Technical Communication Mar 2026
    Intercultural Communication in Technical and Professional Communication Classrooms: UNITE Strategies to Support Instructors’ Implementation of Intercultural Communication Collaborations ↗
    Saveena (Chakrika) Veeramoothoo; Brandi Fuglsby
    collaborative writing professional writing
  5. Written Communication Mar 2026
    Faculty and Administrator Perceptions of Interdisciplinary Collaborative Writing: Practices, Challenges, and Support Structures ↗
    Stephen Carradini; Ed Nagelhout
    collaborative writing professional writing labor and working conditions qualitative research