ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the need for negotiators who help set conditions for the interpretation of controversial technology. It discuses the issue by telling the story of Monsanto’s attempt to release transgenic wheat in the upper midwest of the United States. When the agency paying the salary is an agency that develops scientific and technological innovations, “making science accessible in an objective manner” has strong public-relations and marketing overtones. The technical communicator as translator of knowledge may work as a producer of routine documents, as an in-service worker, or even as a “symbolic-analytic worker.”. However, merely working as a symbolic-analyst who translates knowledge and integrates communication into a wide range of contexts is not sufficient when the technology being transferred is controversial, as is the case with transgenic crops. Early in 2004, Monsanto announced plans to release transgenic—Roundup Ready—hard red spring wheat for farmers to plant in the spring.
