Journal of Business and Technical Communication Apr 2010

Recycled Writing: Assembling Actor Networks From Reusable Content

Jason Swarts North Carolina State University

Abstract

Drawing on a study of writers reusing content from one document to another, this study examines the rhetorical purpose of reuse. Writing reuse is predominantly studied through the literature on single sourcing and enacted via technologies built on single-sourcing models. Such theoretical models and derivative technologies cast reusable content as context-less and rhetorically neutral, a perspective that overlooks the underlying rhetorical strategies of reuse. The author argues for a new understanding of reuse as a rhetorical act of creating hybrid utterances that gather their rhetorical strength by assembling ever larger and denser actor networks.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2010-04-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651909353307
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation context

Cited by in this index (36)

  1. Xie (2026)
    Tracing the Migration of Patient-Created Knowledge in Risk Communication of Lon…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Gao et al. (2026)
    Modeling Writing Processes and Predicting Text Quality in Technical Communication
    Written Communication
  3. Hart-Davidson et al. (2025)
    Revisiting Four Conversations in Technical and Professional Writing Scholarship…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Dush (2023)
    The Art of Assembly: Script, Platform, Document
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Frith et al. (2022)
    Introduction: communication and design infrastructures
    Communication Design Quarterly
Show all 36 →
  1. Foltz (2022)
    Antiprogrammatic Action and the Student ID: An ANT 2.0 Analysis
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. McMullin et al. (2021)
    Constructive Distributed Work: An Integrated Approach to Sustainable Collaborat…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Read (2020)
    How to Build a Supercomputer: U.S. Research Infrastructure and the Documents Th…
    Written Communication
  4. Sánchez (2020)
    Examining Methectic Technical Communication in an Urban Planning Comic Book
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Frith (2020)
    Technical Standards and a Theory of Writing as Infrastructure
    Written Communication
  6. Russell (2020)
    Metaphor 2: Crossing: Retreading, Non-ing, and a TPC Rationale for Sub-discipli…
    College English
  7. Gonzales (2020)
    Metaphor 1: Situating: Building Transdisciplinary Connections between Compositi…
    College English
  8. Read (2019)
    The Infrastructural Function: A Relational Theory of Infrastructure for Writing…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  9. Pflugfelder (2019)
    Risk selfies and nonrational environmental communication
    Communication Design Quarterly
  10. Findlay (2019)
    When Writers Aren’t Authors: A Qualitative Study of Unattributed Writers
    College English
  11. Spinuzzi et al. (2018)
    Articulating Problems and Markets: A Translation Analysis of Entrepreneurs’ Eme…
    Written Communication
  12. Kessler et al. (2018)
    Terminal node problems: ANT 2.0 and prescription drug labels
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  13. Wall et al. (2018)
    The art of selling-without-selling: Understanding the genre ecologies of conten…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  14. Pflugfelder (2018)
    Failure Matters: Conflicting Practices in a High-Tech Case
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  15. Gruber (2017)
    Three Forms of Neurorealism: Explaining the Persistence of the “Uncritically Re…
    Written Communication
  16. Pflugfelder (2017)
    Reddit’s “Explain Like I’m Five”: Technical Descriptions in the Wild
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  17. Palermo (2017)
    Transforming Text: Four Valences of a Digital Humanities Informed Writing Analytics
    Journal of Writing Analytics
  18. Swarts (2016)
    Composing Networks: Writing Practices on Mobile Devices
    Written Communication
  19. Read (2016)
    The Net Work Genre Function
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  20. Spinuzzi et al. (2016)
    How Magnets Attract and Repel: Interessement in a Technology Commercialization …
    Written Communication
  21. Walls (2015)
    Access(ing) the Coordination of Writing Networks
    Computers and Composition
  22. Andersen et al. (2015)
    The Current State of Component Content Management: An Integrative Literature Review
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  23. Spinuzzi et al. (2015)
    Remaking the Pitch: Reuse Strategies in Entrepreneurs’ Pitch Decks
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  24. McNely et al. (2015)
    Contemporary Research Methodologies in Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  25. Read et al. (2015)
    Visualizing and Tracing: Research Methodologies for the Study of Networked, Soc…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  26. Frith (2014)
    Social Network Analysis and Professional Practice: Exploring New Methods for Re…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  27. Swarts (2014)
    The Trouble with Networks: Implications for the Practice of Help Documentation
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  28. Swarts (2014)
    The Trouble with Networks: Implications for the Practice of Help Documentation
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  29. Leijten et al. (2013)
    Keystroke Logging in Writing Research: Using Inputlog to Analyze and Visualize …
    Written Communication
  30. Potts et al. (2011)
    Contextualizing Experiences: Tracing the Relationships Between People and Techn…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  31. Spinuzzi (2010)
    Secret Sauce and Snake Oil: Writing Monthly Reports in a Highly Contingent Envi…
    Written Communication

References (53) · 9 in this index

  1. Akrich, M. & Latour, B. ( 1992). A summary of a convenient vocabulary for the semiotics of human and nonhuman…
  2. Albers (2000)
    The technical editor and document databases: What the future may hold
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Albers, M. (2003)
    Technical Communication
  4. Bakhtin, M.M. ( 1994). Discourse in the novel. In M. Holquist (Ed.) & C. Emerson & M. Holquist (Trans.), The …
  5. Bakhtin, M.M. ( 1994). The problem of speech genres. In C. Emerson & M. Holquist (Eds.) & V. W. McGee (Trans.…
Show all 53 →
  1. Bazerman et al. (2003)
    The Production of Information for Genred Activity Spaces: Informational Motives…
    Written Communication
  2. 10.1140/epjb/e2006-00091-3
     ↗
  3. Callon, M. ( 1986). Some elements of a sociology of translation: Domestication of the scallops and the fisher…
     ↗
  4. Castells, M. (1996)
    The rise of the networked society
  5. 10.1007/978-3-322-89613-1
     ↗
  6. Clark, D.
    Proceedings of the 20th Annual International Conference on Computer Documentation
  7. Clark, D.
    Proceedings of the 25th Annual International Conference on Computer Documentation
  8. Clark (2007)
    Content Management and the Separation of Presentation and Content
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  9. Day, D. (2005)
    Introduction to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture
  10. Freadman, A. ( 2002). Uptake. In R. Coe , L. Lingard, & T. Teslenko (Eds.), The rhetoric and ideology of genr…
  11. Halliday, M.A.K. (1976)
    Cohesion in English
  12. Hart-Davidson, B. ( 2005). Shaping texts that transform: Toward a rhetoric of objects, relationships, and vie…
  13. Hart-Davidson et al. (2007)
    Coming to Content Management: Inventing Infrastructure for Organizational Knowl…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  14. 10.7551/mitpress/1881.001.0001
     ↗
  15. Johnson-Eilola, J. (2005)
    Datacloud: Toward a new theory of online work
  16. 10.1023/A:1026520728644
     ↗
  17. Latour, B. (1986)
    Knowledge and Society: Studies in the Sociology of Culture Past and Present
  18. Latour, B. (1987)
    Science in action
  19. Latour, B. ( 1993). Mixing humans and nonhumans together: The sociology of the door-closer. In S. L. Star (Ed…
  20. Latour, B. ( 1999a). Circulating reference: Sampling the soil in the Amazon forest. Pandora’s hope: Essays on…
  21. Latour, B.
    Pandora’s hope: Essays on the reality of science studies
  22. 10.1093/oso/9780199256044.001.0001
     ↗
  23. Latour, B. (1979)
    Laboratory life: The social construction of scientific facts
  24. 10.1007/BF01059830
     ↗
  25. 10.4324/9780203481141
     ↗
  26. Lee, C.P.
    Proceedings of the Computer-Supported Cooperative Work Conference
  27. Manovich, L. (2002)
    Generation flash
  28. 10.1097/00011363-200307000-00007
     ↗
  29. 10.1215/9780822384151
     ↗
  30. 10.1177/030631279402400402
     ↗
  31. Morris, W. (1973)
    American Heritage Dictionary
  32. 10.1023/A:1015241914483
     ↗
  33. Odell, C.L., Goswami, D. & Herrington, A. (1983). The discourse-based interview: A procedure for exploring ta…
  34. Priestly, M.
    Proceedings of the 19th Annual International Conference on Computer Documentation
  35. Rockley, A. (2001)
    Technical Communication
  36. Rockley, A.
    Proceedings of the 20th Annual International Conference on Computer Documentation
  37. Rockley, A. (2002)
    Managing enterprise content: A unified content strategy
  38. Sapienza (2007)
    A Rhetorical Approach to Single-Sourcing Via Intertextuality
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  39. Schön, D. (1987)
    Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design for teaching and learning in t…
  40. Spinuzzi (2007)
    Guest Editor's Introduction: Technical Communication in the Age of Distributed Work
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  41. 10.1177/030631289019003001
     ↗
  42. 10.1287/isre.7.1.111
     ↗
  43. Swarts (2004)
    Technological Mediation of Document Review: The Use of Textual Replay in Two Or…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  44. Weiss (1993)
    Of document databases, SGML, and rhetorical neutrality
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  45. Weiss, E.H. (2002)
    Journal of Computer Documentation
  46. Williams, J.M. (1997)
    Style: Ten lessons in clarity and grace
  47. Winsor (2001)
    Learning to Do Knowledge Work in Systems of Distributed Cognition
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  48. 10.1007/s10606-006-9019-y
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 47 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related articles

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Mar 2026
    Canon to Code: Rhetorical Rulemaking for Generative AI Content Audits and Governance ↗
    Miriam F. Williams
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism assessment technical communication artificial intelligence
  2. Rhetorica Sep 2025
    Herrick, Hoskyns, and the Ars Praedicandi : Sartorial Metaphor in the Rhetorical Tradition ↗
    Brent Nelson
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis
  3. Rhetorica Jun 2024
    Sit sacrilegus— A neglected “topos” of Roman invective in Cicero’s indignationes ↗
    Christoph Schwameis
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism
  4. Rhetoric & Public Affairs Mar 2024
    Disorder in the Court: Morality, Myth, and the Insanity Defense ↗
    Jaclyn Bruner
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism argument
  5. Rhetorica Jan 2024
    Mind the Audience: Forensic Rhetoric, Persuasion, and Identification by Reference to the Social Identity of Athenian dikastai ↗
    Vasileios Adamidis
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism argument