Headshot of John T SherrillI’m John Sherrill, a maker, technical communicator, and rhetorician. My work includes teaching, research, and administration (and a healthy amount of making/DIY, because praxis matters to research and teaching too).

Teaching
I teach courses in technical writing and business/professional writing, as well as first-year composition courses. My courses emphasize digital media, rhetoric, and automation/AI. At Purdue University, I integrated 3D printing and digital fabrication into First-Year Composition, and makerspaces into teaching technical and professional writing. At Qatar University, in addition to teaching ESL students foundational written literacies, my courses emphasized connections between emerging technologies and configurations of work in relation to Qatar National Vision 2030.

Research
My research focuses on intersections among feminism, technical communication, and DIY/Craft/Hacker/”Maker” communities. My dissertation analyzed how the design of a makerspace and a person’s identity impact that person’s experience within a makerspace as a site of technical communication and post-industrial work, as well as communication practices related to hosting within the spaces. My recent publications investigate how library hiring and training practices shape makerspace communities, the impact of AI and automation on the field of technical communication, and the role of narrative as a method of “hyper-differentiation” in marketplaces built on mass-customization and personalization (e.g., Etsy and related craft platforms).

Administration and Information Technology
My administrative and IT work balances the needs of users, institutions, and technological systems. I have experience as the Purdue’s Professional Writing Program Assistant Director of Technology and as a Web Content Writer for Purdue’s College of Liberal Arts. I have also built and coded multiple research/teaching tools, and was the department Writing Coordinator and Focal Point to the Writing Lab at Qatar University.

If you wish to contact me, please use the contact form on this site.