ABSTRACT
A recent survey of technical communication practitioners in the United States reported that “certainly, the top global concern for technical communicators in the United States is the notion of sending technical communication work offshore” (Giammona, 2004). That concern is the main reason for this book’s existence, and chapters in this collection address from different perspectives the “threat” that offshore outsourcing might represent to the profession of technical communication in the United States. Offshore outsourcing of industry processes is not a new trend, but some authors have identified a second wave of outsourcing (Bardhan & Kroll, 2003) that moves beyond manufacturing jobs and has started using foreign workers for telecommutable white-collar jobs. As part of that wave, high-tech companies have started outsourcing writing projects, with downsizing and job-market shrinkage as the consequences for professionals in the United States. Some authors talk about thousands of jobs in technical documentation lost to outsourced workers (Rainey, Turner, & Dayton, 2005).
