Spurious Coin

A History of Science, Management, and Technical Writing

Bernadette Longo

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2000
• ISBN:
  9780791492703
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Technology & Engineering Research & Skills
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Spurious Coin constructs a cultural history of technical writing in the United States and the system of scientific knowledge and power it controls. Embedded in this history are tensions between scientific and liberal arts knowledge-making that render technical writing both the genuine and counterfeit coin of scientific knowledge within our culture. When scientific knowledge is made by scientists and engineers, it can circulate as genuine currency in an economy where communication makes knowledge. When scientific knowledge is made by liberal-arts trained technical writers, however, it circulates as spurious currency and threatens the purity of the knowledge economy. Because the stability of the scientific knowledge economy is at stake, scientists and technical writers often find themselves at odds over the value of scientific knowledge minted by non-scientists. Longo constructs this cultural history around a framework of five intellectual trends: the use of clear, correct English; maximum efficiency of production and operation; the need to contribute to a general fund of scientific knowledge for the betterment of the human condition; the tension between the role of science and art within a culture; and a redemptive urge to purify language and standardize practice. She also explores the role of mechanical engineers in designing management systems which rely on technical writing to control operations and profits.

Table of contents

• Spurious Coin
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction—Transforming Language into Science
• What Is Science? What Is Technology?
• Mint ing the Coin of Scientific Knowledge
• 1. How Credit for Scientific Knowledge Is Appraised
• 2. Technical Writing as the Lingua Franca in a Golden Age of Engineering
• 3. The Rise of Experiential Knowledge and Technical Education
• 4. Contributing to a General Fund of Scientific Knowledge
• 5. Engineering Specialized Social Organizations
• 6. Technical Writing as Management System Control
• 7. Technical Writers Mint Counterfeit Scientific Knowledge: Strained Relations between Technical Writers and Engineers
• 8. Whose Knowledge Is Powerful?
• Notes
• References
• Index