Finding common ground as we cross borders

The practice of technical and professional communication is more challenging every year. Technologies expand exponentially; audiences multiply in numbers, methods of access, and diversity; boundaries collapse around islands of information, methods of knowledge transfer, multiple cultural backgrounds, and demands for immediacy of communication. Practitioners sometimes feel they are swimming against a tsunami of change! As educators preparing professionals for their future, how do we make sense of technical communication now and particularly in the future? Are there some enduring principles, some common grounds for our discipline, even as borders of knowledge expand? Technical and professional communication´s future relies upon both academics and practitioners contributing to knowledge as we prepare ourselves and our students for the future. This work in progress suggests some principles we can rely upon.