Dr. John Lynch on Space Monkeys!

Send us Fan MailDr. John Lynch joins us to discuss his book Space Monkeys! Remembering the Nonhuman Astronauts in US Space Exploration. His book looks at portrayals and memorials of four of the Space Race's most prominent monkeynauts - Able, Baker, Ham, and Enos. His work finds that while portraits often give these subjects an implied personhood, our remembrances of them shift on a spectrum from tool to human, often in ways that justify our own actions. Find a transcript at Buzzsprout. Contact Ryan Weber at [email protected] for more information about the show! 

Send us Fan MailEsteemed information architect Abby Covert talks about her trilogy of books about how to organize messy information systems. We discuss the people and organizational skills necessary for IA, the gift of feedback, and how information architecture may seem super boring but is actually super important. Find a transcript at Buzzsprout. Contact Ryan Weber at [email protected] for more information about the show! 

Send us Fan MailDr. Kate Maddalena and Dr. Jeremy Tirrell are the co-authors of the new book Disgustatory! A Gothic Rhetoric of Consumption, which examines the bizarre, often disgusting discourse around the strange things we put in our bodies in pursuit of fitter, healthier, more beautiful versions of ourselves. Framed through the lens of the Gothic, the grotesque has a certain appeal, and current advances in nutrition and medicine reveal humans as hybrids. From fecal transplants to probiotics to lab-grown meats, the boundaries between human and non-human have become ever blurrier. Use the promo code BAMA to get 30% of the book from the University of Alabama Press website. Find a transcript at Buzzsprout. Contact Ryan Weber at [email protected] for more information about the show! 

Send us Fan MailNeil Thompson, founder of Teach the Geek, reflects on how his own struggles with communication as an engineer gave him insight to help other technical professionals communicate better. Find a transcript at Buzzsprout. Contact Ryan Weber at [email protected] for more information about the show! 

Send us Fan MailErin Lebacqz founded High-Value Writing to help professionals accomplish their goals and build relationships through their writing. She joins the podcast to offer advice about how to write more concisely and effectively. 

Send us Fan MailJosh Dorfman, co-founder of Supercool and Plantd, shares insights from decades of experience communicating about climate. Dorfman brings an optimistic spirit to an often depressing topic and argues that we should focus on creating a better future through currently available solutions, a better future that also solves climate change. Find a transcript at Buzzsprout. Contact Ryan Weber at [email protected] for more information about the show! 

Send us Fan MailScott Abel of The Content Wrangler talks about how technical communicators are uniquely positioned to leverage the capabilities of generative AI to create better content. Find a transcript and more information about 10-Minute Tech Comm at Buzzsprout. Contact Ryan Weber at [email protected] for more information about the show! 

Send us Fan MailDr. Kem-Laurin Lubin joins 10-Minute Tech Comm to explain why AI is rhetorical, how it defines humans, and how we can use ethotic heuristics to create more human-centered AI. This conversation is part of the 2025 The Big Rhetorical Podcast Carnival, built around the theme “(Un)tethering Surveillance: Power Dynamics, Emerging Technologies, Social Control.” Read Dr. Lubin on Medium and check out her most recent book! Find a transcript at Buzzsprout. #tbrpodcastcarnival2025 #untetheringsurveillance

Send us Fan MailJennifer Blatz, Lead UX Researcher at BECU and founder of BlatzChatz, joins the podcast to discuss her newsletter, building community in UX, and whether it's worth getting into the UX field at all! Find a transcript at Buzzsprout. Email [email protected] for more information on the show!

Send us Fan MailDr. Leslie Seawright discusses her new article, co-authored with Amy Hodges and Timothy Ponce, "'Is This Ethical?' New Data on the Ethical Principles and Practices of Document Design." The study updates Sam Dragga's classic 1996 study by asking for participant evaluations of the ethics of hypothetical situations, some taken from the Dragga study and some added for contemporary issues. The results indicate how perspectives on ethics have and have not changed in almost 30 years. Seawright is conducting another follow up study about the ethics of AI. Take the survey if you're interested in participating!Visit Buzzsprout for a transcript of the episode. Email [email protected] for more information on the show!