Participatory Coalition Building: Creating an Anti-Racist Scholarly Reviewing Practices Heuristic

Abstract

This experience report documents the impetus for, process, and result of a coalition of technical and professional communication (TPC) scholars who crafted an anti-racist scholarly reviewing heuristic for editors, reviewers, and authors. In Summer 2020, a coalition of scholars met to respond to calls from Women of Color leaders in the field of TPC for anti-racist action. The coalition engaged in an extended Futures Workshop, a participatory design activity that guided imaginative brainstorming and problem solving which culminated in the development of the heuristic. The heuristic was reviewed by many scholars and iteratively revised before being shared publicly in Spring 2021 on social media platforms, via national listservs, and by professional organizations. This report recounts the specific participatory design practices and activities the coalition employed to create a living and open document that can guide a variety of actors to examine their own practices, with the ultimate goals of intervening in and interrupting bias in reviewing practices. This report demonstrates how enacting participatory values and working in broad coalitions can further anti-racist efforts and generate more inclusive practices and norms for the field of TPC.