writing this preface kept me

In his widely cited essay “What’s technical about technical writing?” Dobrin (1983), drawing on the language theories of Wittgenstein and Searle, extends the definition of technical writing beyond the simple transfer of technical information to encompass all “writing that accommodates technology to the user” (p. 54). As Dobrin suggests, this redefinition should broaden the scope of research in technical writing from the immediate workplace context to the wider context “of groups the writer is writing to, writing for, and writing from” (p. 58).