ABSTRACT
Teaching technical communication online can bring new pedagogical strategies
and with them different forms of communication, collaboration, and information
distribution. Yet with the potential for easier distribution of information online
come questions of ownership of that information and ethics in its digital transfer.
What happens, for instance, when an image of a bone density scan used as a
figure in a proposal for a new machine includes patient identifying informa-
tion? Or an email list of past donors for a nonprofit fundraising campaign is
accidentally sent to individuals outside the organization? There is a need to
address the limits of textual sharing-legal, ethical, and practical. How have
interpretations or conceptions of intellectual property and privacy changed
with the proliferation of digital texts and online education? How can instructors
of such courses negotiate intellectual property issues while taking advantage
of communication technologies that support effective teaching of technical
writing? What aspects of intellectual property beyond “fair use” or the
educational context need to be considered in light of the types of work done
in technical writing courses? This chapter presents strategies for negotiating
between “keeping it real”—encouraging students to gain technical writing
experience by composing for outside organizations-and addressing intellectual
property and privacy issues in theory and practice within the online technical
communication course.
