Content development as multimodal editing in the web 2.0 workplace

In this paper we argue that mobile, design, content, and social media technologies are fundamentally transforming the role of the content developer in the workplace away from the originator of content and toward the more agile and iterative role of multimodal editor. We present observations from over 100 hours of embedded workplace research shadowing nine different professional communicators to show the importance of viewing content development through the lens of multimodal editing as a way of describing the rapidly iterative, detailed, product-oriented kind of work happening within a variety of constraints (time, genre, technology, etc.). We suggest ways teachers and practitioners should consider shifting our assumptions about the writing/content development process and modifying how we prepare our students for this kind of work in the classroom.