Some Reflections on the Emergence of a Profession
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/604228.604235
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  peer-reviewed

Grice, Roger A.
Journal of Computer Documentation
2002

Abstract:

Producing Quality Technical Information played a major role in the shift from product-oriented information to user-oriented information. It brought to a large community of technical communicators an awareness of the role that technical information should play: not a description of a technical product or process but, rather, a description of what people need to do to use the product or perform the process. This shift in focus -- from product to user -- led to many changes in our profession and in our professional careers. No longer mere documentors of what others had done, we emerged as professionals who added value and usability to the project on which we worked.