Rationale
As Kimberle Crenshaw (1997) once wrote, “treating different things the same can generate as much an inequality as treating the same things differently” (p. 285). Crenshaw was challenging the idea of addressing social inequality the same way. This observation dovetails with Norman’s (2013) statement that “designers can work on anything and scale products globally because people are the same everywhere” (p. 239).
After the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a global pandemic and countries around the globe imposed stay-at-home measures that brought the world to a standstill, new terminologies began to emerge. Revised designation of work and of workers were added to our lexicon. Our trust in authority and in expertise was either eroded or upheld depending on how we perceived the ethos of the expert. We came to recognize that a global pandemic is as much a communication crisis as it is a health crisis.
In the midst of this all, the nationwide social unrest following George Floyd’s killing at the hands of David Chauvin bled into other entrenched social ills including a brutal show of force from the US government against protesters; massive job losses for a large number of Americans; and long-standing systemic health and social inequities that placed many people from racial and ethnic minority groups at increased risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19.
All of this has prompted an outpouring of calls for proposals (in every discipline) to address injustices associated with anti-Blackness and systematic inquiries along with statements of solidarity with Black Lives Matter, including one from SIGDOC. SIGDOC, for example, commits to “learning about racism; revising existing bylaws, policies, and publishing work through the lens of justice and anti-racism; and re-centering work around anti-racist practices.”
These statements of valuation of Black lives also commit to righting wrongs within our spheres of influence. They are an opportunity for us to engage with the social issues of our day. Thus we invite participants to share how these current and emerging issues of pandemic-related communication, anti-racist recentering, and social justice activism have influenced, are influencing, and will influence, your research trajectories.
Pandemic-Related Communication
- Wednesday, October 7, 12-1:30 Central Time (U.S. & Canada)
- Moderated by Josie Walwema, Program Co-Chair
Key Questions
- How has pandemic-related communication influenced your research, and how will it influence your research?
- How might technical & professional communicators and researchers respond to this moment?
- How are we, as a community of practice, responding to this moment?
Initial Respondents
- Manako Yabe, University of Tsukuba
- Chen Chen and Jadden Bergholm, Winthrop University
- Candice Welhausen, Auburn University
- Christin Phelps, NC State University
Antiracist and Social Justice Activism
- Friday, October 9, 12-1:30 Central Time (U.S. & Canada) (date & time changed from initial communications)
- Moderated by Daniel Hocutt, Program Co-Chair
Key Questions
- How have issues of anti-racist recentering and social justice activism influenced your research, and how will they continue to influence your research?
- How might technical & professional communicators and researchers respond to this moment?
- How are we, as a community of practice, responding to this moment?
Initial Respondents
- Gabriel Lorenzo Aguilar, Penn State University
- Temptaous McKoy, Bowie State University
- Douglas Walls, NC State University, and Willamina O’Keefe, Lockheed Martin
- Kimberly Harper, NC A&T University
- Enrique Reynoso, University of Washington – Bothell
- Cana Itchuaquiyaq, Utah State University