Climate Change Research Across Disciplines: The Value and Uses of Multidisciplinary Research Reviews for Technical Communication

Abstract

The authors performed an interdisciplinary literature review of research on communication and climate change. The authors reviewed STEM, social science, and risk analysis journals to synthesize recent publications on climate change communication which could support research in technical communication. Several applications are proposed for technical communication research, including using this review to contextualize local qualitative work, to spur interdisciplinary projects and address gaps in multidisciplinary literature, and reconsider a role for advocacy in technical communication.

keywords:

• climate change
• communication research
• environmental communication
• interdisciplinarity
• public engagement
• risk communication

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lauren E. Cagle

Lauren E. Cagle is a doctoral candidate at the University of South Florida, where she teaches courses in new media, technical communication, and communication about sustainability. She has published in Kairos and the Journal of Business and Technical Communication. Her current research uses a case study of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact to center feminist ethics in the scholarship on citizen participation and climate change communication.

Denise Tillery

Denise Tillery is an associate professor at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas, where she teaches courses in rhetoric and professional writing. She has published on environmental rhetoric in Technical Communication Quarterly, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, and the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. Her edited collection with Ed Nagelhout, The New Normal: Pressures on Technical Communication Programs in Times of Austerity, will be published by Baywood in 2015. Her current study focuses on commonplaces and scientific evidence in environmental discourses.