Guest editor's column

In spite of contributions in various arenas, such as the environment, gender, disaster analysis, and intellectual property, the engagement of technical communication with public policy seems fragmented and incidental and more on the level of analysis and critique than on influence. Catherine Smith describes an ambitious course for students anticipat, ing public service careers and shows how she introduces them not just to the documents used in legislative hearings but also to the personnel, procedures, and strategies that contribute to public policy. Technical communication has specialized knowledge that applies to these problems: knowledge of discourse in organizations, of the complexities of author and audience, of ways to engage users in designing products and systems, of alternatives to detached fact seeking.