Technical Communication as Business Strategy: How Changes in Discursive Patterns Affect the Value of Technical Communication in Cross-Functional Team Settings
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/stc/tc/2000/00000047/00000001/art00007
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  peer-reviewed

Norton, David W.
Technical Communication Online
2000

Abstract:

Business seldom views technical communicators' contributions as offering strategic thinking and services. Companies tend to view technical communicators as tactical and technical, rather than strategic and creative. Consequently, often in cross-functional development settings the ideas and recommendations of technical communicators are not valued in the same way that ideas from business strategists, marketing, or other fields are. This paper details a case study in which the role of an information architect, a title that more and more technical communicators use to describe themselves, becomes valued by a design firm's client and by the firm itself as strategic business advantage. I explain why the role of the information architect increased in value and how the increased value changed the job description. I look at how blending knowledge occurs through shifts in terminology, imitation of another field, and selling new concepts.