My focus is on people. People acting with technologies.
I research professional writing in digital environments. Mostly.
I'm an Assistant Professor of English—Rhetoric and Writing Studies—at Ball State University, and a Fellow with the Emerging Media Initiative.
Academic Research
In studying professional writing in digital environments, I'm really trying to understand how people work and interact.
Tracing the writing that people do—in all its forms—helps me trace how they get things done, how they make meaning from the work they do, and how they share that meaning with others.
Since writing is a technology, and since so much contemporary writing work is carried out in emerging media environments, I also study how people act with technologies, following Kaptelinin and Nardi (2006).
Current Projects
In 2011 and 2012, I am pursuing two different studies of immersive learning, Ball State's signature method of experiential instruction.
I am also leading a team of researchers exploring the role of networked writing technologies in graduate student professionalization, as well as conducting a case study exploring writing processes using open source toolchains.
I've recently completed three different qualitative studies, and continue to work on a longitudinal, multi-sited ethnography of embodied interactions in a recurring religious practice.
Consulting
I offer consulting services in three broad areas: training, organizational communication, and curricula.
With 9 years of experience in the financial services industry—including 7 years in compliance and oversight—I understand how business communication works.
I can also help you design curricula that balances theory and practice while privileging student inquiry—at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Recent Publications
If you'd like to read something that I've written, but can't find it on the web or in your library, just drop me an email. I'd be happy to send it over.
11 / 2011
McNely, B. (2011). Informal communication, sustainability, and the public writing work of organizations. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference. New York: IEEE.
8 / 2011
McNely, B. (2011). Sociotechnical notemaking: Short-form to long-form writing practices. Present Tense 2(1).
10 / 2010
McNely, B. (2010). Locus Communis: Twitter as digital commonplace. Journal of the International Digital Media and Arts Association 7(1), 34–43.
10 / 2010
McNely, B., Teston, C., Cox, G., Olorunda, B. & Dunker, N. (2010). Digital publics and participatory education. Digital Culture and Education 2(2), 152–171.
09 / 2010
McNely, B. (2010). Exploring a sustainable and public information ecology. In SIGDOC ‘10: Proceedings of the 28th annual conference on Design of communication. New York: ACM Press.