I received this from Laura Gurak this morning, who requested its wide circulation:

Special Issue Call for Papers for
Technical Communication Quarterly



The State of Rhetoric of Science and Technology



Technical Communication Quarterly is soliciting articles for a special
issue that discusses "The State of Rhetoric of Science and Technology"
at the beginning of the 21st century. In the view of the issue
co-editors, Laura Gurak and Alan Gross, work in the eighties and early
nineties was characterized by increasingly bold forays into territory
previously occupied by those in other areas of science studies. At this
point, rhetoricians of science and technology became more reflective
about the goals and methods of their chosen sub-discipline. As a
consequence, there was a new, more self-conscious generation of books by
Ceccarelli, Condit, Fahnestock, Gross, Harmon, and Reidy among others.
These are characterized by greater methodological clarity and more
focused goals. With the ubiquity of the Internet and digital
technology, work in rhetoric of technology has followed a similarly
important path, changing not only the sites of rhetorical discourse and
inquiry but also the methods by which such analyses are performed. Books
that connect rhetorical theory to the Internet (Gurak, Welch, Warnick)
and works that do not come from the rhetorical tradition but nonetheless
bring important concepts to bear on the rhetoric of this technology
(Turkle, Jones) have paved the way for more refined and insightful
studies of online communication.



In this issue, the editors are hoping to create not another collection
of articles on rhetoric of science and technology, but a reflective
moment, a discursive pause in the on-rush of critical activity. We are
looking for thoughtful statements of about 2,500 words from those who
have published articles and books on the rhetoric of science and
technology, statements that address the following topic germane to the
future of the sub-discipline (the list is not meant to be exhaustive):


The Relation of Rhetoric of Science to Science Studies


Methods and Theories Appropriate to the Study of Scientific Rhetoric


Applications of Rhetoric to Internet and Digital Communication


Changes in Rhetorical Theories Due to Internet and Digital
Communication


Methods and Theories Appropriate to the Study of Internet and Digital
Communication


Significant Books and Articles in Rhetoric of Science and Technology


Course Development in Rhetoric of Science and Technology


Possible Thesis and Dissertation Topics in Rhetoric of Science and
Technology





We are soliciting a number of papers, which will comprise approximately
2/3 of the final journal issue. We also invite submissions from others
not included in our original invitation. It is our intent to put
accepted papers on the web, so that each contributor can revise his or
her paper before publication, based on a scrutiny of all others.



Please send a brief (300 word) abstract by January 5, 2004 to both
editors:


grossalang@aol.com; gurakL@umn.edu



Schedule:


Abstracts due January 5, 2004


Editors return abstracts with comments End of January, 2004


First drafts due to editors June 30, 2004


Drafts returned to authors August 1, 2004


Final drafts due to editors September 30, 2004