Introduction to Business and Technical Communication and COVID-19: Communicating in Times of Crisis

Abstract

Typically, the introduction to special issues of journals starts by explaining the topic being covered. One issue I contributed to included a 400-word description of Pokémon Go; another introduction had an extended definition of content strategy in technical communication. I sat down to write this introduction the same way, but doing so felt wrong. COVID-19 does not need a two-paragraph introduction. We are all aware of what it is and what it has done. As I write this in early June, the pandemic has killed over 400,000 people worldwide and rendered millions of people out of work. All of our lives have been affected in one way or another. The importance of COVID-19 needs no justification. Academic work, like most other work, was quickly altered by the pandemic. Classes moved online; campuses closed. Research slowed in some cases as labs became inaccessible, and researchers—and many people (disproportionately women)—were left with additional responsibilities at home. Research also shifted in some cases as people across disciplines