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Applied ResearchLiza Pottsinvolved for this article. However, it is a critical issuefor social media users who expect to take their usualexperience with them as they travel.As this case shows, the maps we create can varyin type, size, and distribution. This case was chosento illustrate the variation that ANT diagrammingcan support. No specific stencils were chosen toshow similarities between nations or to show theirdissimilarities in technologies. This move was made toillustrate how users do not necessarily take those issuesinto consideration when their primary goal is to receivecontent as they normally would. Such a diagram canhelp the technical communicator advocate for productimprovements, as well as help those involved in theselegal issues understand the issues from the user’sperspective.ImplementationBy implementing ANT as a way to map theseecosystems, we can “see what users need and wantwithin these current sociotechnical settings” (Potts,2008b, p. 40). As communicators, legal experts, andinternational policy contributors, it is imperative thatwe design for these experiences, rather than overand around them. Looking across these networks,documenting what technologies, organizations,and people are involved, we can create a bettermap of what is or will be affected by any furtherimplementation of law or technology.For everyday users, navigating the thorny cornersof DRM can be confusing and upsetting. ANTdiagrams and their associated stencils are tools bywhich communicators and scholars can make visiblethe people and technologies that participate in theseactivities. In making these communities visible,technical communicators can more readily see the userexperience issues. These diagrams can help influencestakeholders in the creation of more effective andefficient communication systems based on use ratherthan constraints, allowing us to plan for appropriatesolutions to the problems affecting the usability ofDRM experiences.Readers new to these processes might wish to beginapplying these concepts in the following ways. Thebest way to begin ANT maps is by creating them afterthe team has conducted some form of ethnographicfieldwork—whether a site visit, contextual inquiry,or some form of in-context exercise. For either newor current projects, begin by creating simple ANTdiagrams that capture the many people, technologies,organizations, events, and other pertinent actors.Using these as talking points within the productteam, technical communicators can begin to educatetheir peers about the experiences the users will havethroughout a system. As the diagramming modelsmature, using stencils to start showing commonalityamong different actors can aid in clarifying these maps.As the product team discusses issues of experience,understanding can grow around how relationshipsbetween the actors are tenuous, strong, ambivalent,essential, and so forth. Through employing thesemethods to aid in the discovery of user needs andparticipatory contexts, technical communicators canhelp lead these exercises and have greater influence ondesigns. By participating in spaces typically thoughtof as the realm of legal scholars, policy makers, andlawyers, technical communicators can be stronger useradvocates for the participants of these systems.Using ANT can help us imagine ways in whichthe methods and theories we develop in technicalcommunication can transcend our own professionalcommunity and be useful for those in other knowledgemakingareas, such as the study of law in globalcontexts. By making such moves, we can continue ourlong-established tradition as user advocates. As one ofour established scholars has stated, “The best judges ofthe making are not the makers but the users” (Dubinsky,2004, p. 5). Although these areas can be seen as on theborders of our community, these diagramming methodscan reminder us that the work we do, and the way wemake knowledge, might prove very valuable to others,because we can provide new perspectives on existingissues.ReferencesAlbers, M. J. (2005). The future of technicalcommunication. Technical Communication, 52,267–272.Volume 57, Number 3, August 2010 l Technical Communication 315