Help Shape Research On The Future Of Professional Development In Technical Communication
For years we've talked about the future of professional community — now researchers are documenting what comes next
If you’ve been following The Content Wrangler for any length of time, you know I’ve been thinking about what happens to professional communities when the old models stop working. The collapse of Society for Technical Communication (STC) in 2025 put that question front and center for a lot of us.
A researcher at University of North Carolina Wilmington is studying exactly this — how technical communication professionals are finding knowledge and community now, what creator-driven platforms like this one actually provide, and where they fall short. The study takes a hard look at the creator economy as a model for professional development and asks what we’ve lost with Society for Technical Communication gone and what might replace it.
They’re looking for responses from practitioners at all career stages — whether you were a longtime STC member, a longtime subscriber of The Content Wrangler, or someone who never joined a formal association at all.
The survey takes about 10 minutes and is completely anonymous.
If you’ve ever had thoughts about where this field is headed and who’s responsible for keeping it together, this is a good place to put them on record.