Writings

Looking at courses I've taught, groups I've belonged to or projects I've worked on can give you a sense of who I am. But I've also written a few publishable papers in my time, and I suspect these reveal better who I am than anything else. Some of the works are available online; here are a few of them, for your perusing pleasure.

Rendezvous with KnowGenesis: Geoffrey Sauer
An interview between Saurabh Kudesia and Geoffrey Sauer, published in the International Journal for Technical Communication.
journals.syne.org/pub/index.php?journal=IJTC&page=article&op=view&path[]=63 - International Journal for Technical Communication - June 2007

Theorizing the Borders of Academic Technical Communication
As technical communication programs come to accept our field's (emergent) status as a profession, we need to discuss more carefully how to judge the boundaries of technical communication as an academic field. I would suggest that there are numerous practical and theoretical issues still remaining to resolve in how the field delimits and judges the diverse forms of work we perform.
tc.eserver.org/20360.html - CPTSC Proceedings - October 2003

Expanding the Scope of Technical Communication: Examples from the Department of Technical Communication at the University of Washington
In 2003, I co-authored an article on nontraditional aspects of technical communication being explored in academic programs with Mark P. Haselkorn, Jennifer Turns, Deborah L. illman, Michio Tsutsui, Carolyn Plumb, Tom Williams, Beth Kolko and Jan Spyrdiakis.
tc.eserver.org/19509.html - Technical Communication - May 2003

The Need for Architect/Construction Worker Dichotomies in Information Architecture as a Profession
Suggests that before we adopt the 'information architect' model and concede the construction worker (role of 'other') to many in our field to negotiate management positions for a few, that we look to other professions to see how they have resisted this dichotomy.
tc.eserver.org/13889.html - CPTSC Proceedings - October 2002

Aligning Inner and Outer Visions of Technical Communication: Reflections Beyond Traditional Technical Writing
with Mark P. Haselkorn and Jennifer Turns
Describe academic assumptions and research activities that range far beyond traditional areas from technical writing and expand the boundaries of the field of technical communication, spanning domains (including medicine, corporate, and public service), methods (including contextual inquiry, content analysis, case studies, and log file analysis), and solution types (including content management, user driven content, computer mediated communication, and strategic management of systems).
ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/8118/22469/01049099.pdf - IEEE PCS Proceedings - September 2002

Analysis of Web-Based WSDOT Traveler Information: Testing Users' Information Retrieval Strategies
In 2001 and 2002, I directed a research grant which studied the usability of the Washington State Department of Transportation's web presence. The resulting 124-page report (co-authored with Emma Rose, Beth Kolko and Mark Haselkorn) resembles a short book, more than an article.
www.wsdot.wa.gov/ppsc/research/CompleteReports/WARD552_1WebBasedTraveler.pdf - WSDOT - September 2002

Community, Courseware and Intellectual Property Law
In 2001, I published a chapter on academic online courseware and intellectual property law in an anthology titled Online Communities: Commerce, Community Action, and the Virtual University.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130323829 - Hewlett-Packard - December 2000

コミュニティ、コースウェア、
In 2002, my chapter from Online Communities was translated into Japanese as "コミュニティ、コースウェア、", and published in the anthology オンライン・コミュニティ: ｅコマース、教育オンライン、 非営利オンライン 活動の最先端レポート. You can buy a copy; it's only 3,600 yen.
www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4894715112 - Pearson Education Japan - April 2002

We Neurotic Amateurs: A Commentary on Edmond H. Weiss's "Egoless Writing: Improving Quality by Replacing Artistic Impulse with Engineering Discipline"
Arguments for regimentation and systematization of documentation writing are not calls to professionalize a currently-immature field, but rather attempts to emulate the hierarchy we have seen implemented in microprocessor engineering in the 1970s, software development in the 1980s, and content management in the 1990s.
portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=584731.584736 - ACM Journal of Computer Documentation - January 2002

Intellectual Improprieties
An editorial introduction to an issue of Bad Subjects about the alienation of the intellectual. With Joel Schalit.
eserver.org/bs/52/editors.html - Bad Subjects - November 2000

Using Web-Based Portfolios to Assist Technical Communication Program Development
By encouraging students to create online portfolios even after graduation, one can remove one of the obstacles to experimentation by enthusiastic students, and offered options to integrate such work into their studies of genre,audience and accessibility.
tc.eserver.org/13717.html - CPTSC Proceedings - October 2000

Wireless Eavesdropper
An essay from 2000 about community broadcasting and the interpenetrations of modern consumer electronics.
eserver.org/bs/48/sauer.html - Bad Subjects - March 2000

Publishing Futures Within (or Without) the Humanities
Humanities disciplines have attributed enormous importance to scholarly publishing, but have not yet sufficiently examined the changes of circumstance which have re-formed the nature and interests of the publishing industry in recent decades.
tc.eserver.org/13729.html - Society for Critical Exchange - December 1999

Media Subjects
An editorial introduction to an issue of Bad Subjects about how the mainstream media constructs our lives, and how we can take responsibility for our communities by engaging in critical media analysis and practice. With Annalee Newitz.
eserver.org/bs/37/editors.html - Bad Subjects - March 1998

Hackers, Order and Control
An essay from 1996 about the need to understand computer hackers better than labelling them as 'other.'
eserver.org/bs/24/sauer.html - Bad Subjects - February 1996

Critique of Rimm Article on Online Pornography
An collaboration from 1995 with Lisa Sigel, discussing Martin Rimm's then-controversial paper about Internet pornography.
elab.vanderbilt.edu/research/topics/cyberporn/sigel.sauer.critique.htm - Vanderbilt eLab - May 1995

Foucault's Pendulum
An book review from 1990, discussing Umberto Eco's lengthy novel of postmodern semiotics.
Humanitas - October 1989