Liza Potts

Recent and Notable Scholarship

Books and Digital Productions

Potts, L. (2016-Present). Sherlockian.net Project. Encompassing Sherlockian.net website, ASHSherlockian.org website, and Watson’s Tin Box cultural heritage database. Managing, redesigning, maintaining, sustaining, curating, and archiving the premiere international cultural heritage website for one of the oldest fan communities in the world. Producing content for and managing multiple social media channels, including a Facebook page, Instagram posts, tumblr page, Discord server, and other community forums. Leading a team of students and mentoring them on appropriate best practices based on academic research and professional application. Conducting research on community needs, usability, and content strategy. Our numbers for 2024 include 1.63 million impressions on Google and over 20,600 clicks with audiences from 155 countries. With over 350 pages of content containing over 3,000 links, this project amounts to a book-length project every year per the College of Arts & Letters: http://sherlockian.net. 

Potts, L. with Beattie, M., Dallaire, E., Grimes, K., Turner, K. (2018). Participatory memory: Fandom experiences across time and space. Digital book project with accompanying text, video, and image archive. Intermezzo at Enculturation digital press. http://intermezzo.enculturation.net/06-potts-et-al.htm. 

Potts, L., Salvo, M. (2017). Rhetoric and experience architecture. Edited collection. South Carolina: Parlor Press. http://www.parlorpress.com/rhetoric_experience_architecture. 

Potts, L. (2014). Social media in disaster response: How experience architects can build for participation. New York, NY: Routledge (Association of Teachers of Technical Writing Series). https://www.routledge.com/Social-Media-in-Disaster-Response-How-Experience-Architects-Can-Build/Potts/p/book/9780415817417.

 

Selected Peer Reviewed Articles 

Hart-Davidson, B., Ristich, M., McArdle, C., & Potts, L. (2024). Revisiting Four Conversations in Technical and Professional Writing Scholarship to Frame Conversations About Artificial Intelligence. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 39:1, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/10506519241280642.

McArdle, C., Potts, L., Tegtmeyer, R. (2024). “Experience Architecture: Developing an Interdisciplinary UX Undergraduate Degree.” Programmatic Perspectives. 14:2, 1-39. https://programmaticperspectives.cptsc.org/index.php/jpp/article/view/54.
2025 CCCC Technical and Scientific Communication Award in the category of Best Original Collection of Essays in Technical or Scientific Communication.

Baniya, S., Potts, L. (2024). “Role of translation in disaster.” Technical Communication and Social Justice. https://techcommsocialjustice.org/index.php/tcsj/article/view/38/28. 

Sonka, K., McArdle, C. Potts, L. (2021). “Finding a Teaching A11y: Designing an Accessibility-Centered Pedagogy.” IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. ​​https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9512374. 

Baniya, S., Potts, L. (2021). “Valuing Expertise During the Pandemic.” Journal of Business and Technical Writing. 35 (1). https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651920958503. 

Meloncon, L., Potts, L. (2020). “Recursive Participatory Mentoring: A New Model for Mentoring Women in the Technical Communication Workplace.” Technical Communication. https://www.stc.org/techcomm/.

Trice, M., Potts, L., Small, R. (2019). “Boycotting the Knowledge Makers: How Reddit Demonstrates the Rise of Media Blacklists and Source Rejection in Online Communities.” IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 62 (4), 351-363. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8894031.

Turner, H., Nguyen, M., Keller, B., Sackey, D.J., Ridolfo, J., Pigg, S., Lauren, B., Potts, L., Hart-Davidson, B., Grabill, J. (2017). “WIDE Research Center as an incubator for graduate student experience.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 47 (2), 130-150. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0047287517692066.

Gonzalez, L., Potts, L., Hart-Davidson, W., McLeod, M. (2016). “Revising a Content-Management Course for a Content Strategy World.” IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. Special issue on Content Management. IEEE. 59 (1). http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7438928/. 

Potts, L. & Jones, D. (2011). “Contextualizing Experience: Tracing the Relationships Between People and Technologies in the Social Web.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication. 25 (2), 338-358. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1050651911400839. 

Potts, L. (2011). “Balancing McLuhan with Williams: A Sociotechnical View of Technological Determinism.” International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development, 3 (2). 

Potts, L. (2010). “Consuming Digital Rights: Mapping the Artifacts of Entertainment.” Technical Communication, 57 (3), 300-318. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/stc/tc/2010/00000057/00000003/art00005. 

Potts, L. (2009). “Using Actor Network Theory to Trace and Improve Multimodal Communication Design.” Technical Communication Quarterly, 18 (3), 281-301. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10572250902941812. 

 

Selected Conference Proceedings

Tetu, I.C., Ristisch, M., McArdle, C., Potts, L. (2025).”Artificial Intelligence and Rhetoric: Investigating Contextual Influence on Technological Design.” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC.

Huang, R., Potts, L. (2025).”Five Phases of Restructuring a Content Inventory.” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC.

Hart-Davidson, W., Ristisch, M., McArdle, C., Potts, L. (2024). “The History of Technical Communication and the Future of Generative AI.” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3641237.3691682. 

Tetu, I.C., Doan, S., McArdle, C., Potts, L. (2024). “Emerging Practices in A11y Communication Design: Building Accessible Programs through Accessible Design.” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3641237.3691671. 

Jones, D., Trice, M., Potts, L., Baniya, S. (2023). “Methodologies for When the Platform is on Fire.” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC. https://doi.acm.org?doi=3615335.3623056. 

Baniya, S., Potts, L. (2022). “Experts, Knowledge Making, and Disaster Across Digital Platforms.” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3513130.3558972. 

Potts, L., Trice, M. (2022). “Digital Community Moderation Values: politics, news, and hot beverages on reddit.” Proceedings of the International Professional Communication Conference. IEEE ProComm. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/ProComm53155.2022.00028. 

Alvarez, A., Gonzales, L., Potts, L. (2021). “Researching Digital Interfaces to Raise Awareness about the Impacts of Gun Violence: A Landscape Analysis Experience Report.” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC. https://doi.org/10.1145/3472714.3473653. 

Potts, L., Hanchek, B. (2019). “Expanding the Boundaries of the Sherlock Holmes Community by Making Space for Inclusive Participation.” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3328020.3353922

Potts, L., Mahnke,S., Small, R. (2018). “Designing an Experience Architecture for the International Fan Scholar Website Sherlockian.net.” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC. https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3233756.3233946

Gonzales, L., Potts. L., Turner, H., Brentnell, L. (2017). “Working with Ladies that UX: Building Academic/Industry Partnerships for User Research Projects.” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3121217 

Potts. L., Ngyeun, M. (2016). “Notation systems for rapid usability testing.” Poster brief. Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2987635.

Turner, H., Ngyeun, M., Potts. L. (2016). “Visualizing workflows in a growing research center.” Poster brief. Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2987639. 

Potts, L., Mapes, K. (2016). “From Mumbai to Paris: Experiencing Disasters Across Social Media.” Proceedings of the HCI International Conference. Springer for HCI International. Toronto, Ontario Canada. 

Sullivan, P., Simmons, M., Moore, K., Meloncon, L., Potts, L. (2015). “Intentionally Recursive: A Participatory Model for Mentoring.” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2814672. 

Ryan, C., Potts, L. (2015). “Leading participant-centered research: an argument for taking a more strategic role as user experience architects.” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2775476. 

Potts, L., Harrison, A. (2013). “Interfaces as Rhetorical Constructions: Reddit and 4chan During the Boston Marathon Bombings.” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM SIGDOC. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2507079. 

Tegtmeyer, R., Potts, L., Hart-Davidson, W. (2012). “Tracing and Responding to Foodborne Illness.” Poster brief. Proceedings of the 30th ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. Seattle, WA: ACM SIGDOC. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2379131. 

Potts, L., Seitzinger, J., Jones, D., Harrison, A. (2011). “Tweeting Disaster: Hashtags Constructions and Collisions.” Proceedings of the 29th ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. Italy: ACM SIGDOC. http://dl.acm.org/ft_gateway.cfm?id=2038522. 

Potts, L & Bartocci, G. (2009). “<Method>Experience Design</Method>.” Proceedings of the 27th ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. Bloomington: ACM SIGDOC. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1621999. 

Potts, L. (2009). “Peering into Disaster: Social Software Use from the Indian Ocean Earthquake to the Mumbai Bombings.” Proceedings of the International Professional Communication Conference. Hawaii: IEEE. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/5438982/. 

Potts, L. (2009). “Experience Design for Participation.” Proceedings of the Sociotech Workshop at Interact ‘09 Conference. Uppsala, Sweden: Sociotech-ID09.

Potts, L. (2008). “Diagramming with Actor Network Theory: A Method for Modeling Holistic Experience.” Proceedings of the International Professional Communication Conference. Montreal: IEEE. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4610231/. 

Potts, L. (2008). “Mapping the Social and Technical in the Wake of Disaster.” Proceedings of the 2008 Sociotech Interaction Design Workshop. London: British Computing Society.

Potts, L. (2006). “Windows User Interfaces and Web User Interfaces: Convergence and Confusion in Online Experience.” Proceedings of the International Professional Communication Conference. Saratoga Springs: IEEE. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4114162/. 

 

Selected Book Chapters

Turner, H., Gonzales, L., Potts, L. (2025). “Working with Ladies that UX: Building Academic/Industry Partnerships for User Research Projects.” In Collaborations and Partnerships in User Experience edited by Ryan Weber and Joy Robinson. https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/books/ux/chapter3.pdf. 

Potts, L., Trice, M. (2023). “Social Media.” In Keywords in Technical Communication edited by Han Yu and Jonathan Buel. WAC ClearingHouse. https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/books/tpc/chapter33.pdf. 

Gosset, K., Potts, L. (2021). “ #DigiDiss: A Project Exploring Digital Dissertation Policies, Practices and Archiving.” In Shaping the Digital Dissertation: Knowledge Production in the Arts and Humanities edited by Virginia Kuhn and Anke Finger. https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/1287.

Mahnke, S., Potts, L. (2020). “Subverting the Platform Flexibility of Twitter to Spread Misinformation.” In Platforms, Protests, and the Challenge of Networked Democracy edited by John Jones and Michael Trice. Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030365240.

Potts, L., Gonzales, L. (2020). “Teaching Content Strategy in Technical Communication.” In Teaching Content Strategy in Technical and Professional Communication edited by Tracy Bridgeford. Routledge: ATTW Series. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429059612/chapters/10.4324/9780429059612-3.

Small, R., Trice, M., Potts, L. (2019). “Values vs. Rules in Social Media Communities: How Platforms Generate Amorality on reddit and Facebook.” In Digital Ethics: Rhetoric and Responsibility in Online Aggression, Hate Speech, and Harassment edited by Jessica Reyman and Erika M. Sparby. Winner of the 2019 Computers and Composition Distinguished Book Award. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429266140

Potts, L. (2018). “We Are the Network: Creating Gravity in the Digital Humanities.” In Networked Humanities edited by Brian McNeely and Jeff Rice. Parlor Press. https://www.parlorpress.com/networked_humanities. 

Potts, L., Dallaire, E., Turner, K. (2018). “Taking Tea at Elephant House: How Potterheads Researched Harry Potter During a Fandom-Focused Study Abroad.” In Transforming Harry: The Adaptation of Harry Potter in the Transmedia Age edited by John Alberti and P. Andrew Miller. Wayne State University Press. http://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/transforming-harry. 

Potts, L. (2017). “Still Flying: Writing as Participatory Activism Circulating Across the Firefly ‘Verse.” In Social Writing/Social Media: Pedagogy, Presentation, and Publics edited by Stephanie Vie and Douglas Walls. WAC Clearinghouse Perspectives on Writing book series, a collaborative publication venture with Parlor Press. https://wac.colostate.edu/books/social/. 

Potts, L., Mapes, K. (2016). “From Mumbai to Paris: Experiencing Disaster Across Social Media.” In HCI in Business, Government, and Organizations: eCommerce and Innovation edited by Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah and Chuan-Hoo Tan. Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 9751. Switzerland: Springer. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-39396-4_7. 

Potts, L. (2015). “Archive Experiences: A Vision for User-Centered Design in the Digital Humanities.” In Rhetoric and the Digital Humanities edited by Bill Hart-Davidson and Jim Ridolfo. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo18991168.html. 

Potts, L., Holden, D., Dobruse, K. (2015). “Fracturing Digital Entertainment by Kindling Rivalries and Blowing Steam.” Cultures of Copyright. Editor Dànielle Nicole DeVoss and Martine Courant Rife. Peter Lang. https://www.peterlang.com/view/9781453913475/9781453913475.00003.xml.