#26966
Технический писатель— род занятий, профессия. Технический писатель документирует некоторый объект или процесс; его задача — в том чтобы написать текст — техническую документацию — который был бы полезен для целевой аудитории, точен, читаем и доступен.
#32084
Trends for Tech Writing: Notes from the AODC
I spent the last three days at the AODC. Lots to think about, which I may cover in other blogs, but here are some general impressions. Of course, these are my own impressions, and it may be just who I talked to on the day.
#32085
Sometimes It's Nice to be Reminded There’s a Whole Community of Technical Writers Out There
The Content Wrangler’s 10 DITA lessons learned from Tech Writers in the Trenches really nails down some vital things you should know if you want to implement DITA. More than that though, you can apply the lessons learned here to almost any project, not just technical writing and not just implementing new software.
Technical Writer (2006). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Community
#32092
A Curmudgeon's Guide to Computer Documentation
Is documentation a bad word? It is if you’re the Curmudgeon, a character I invented, who some say bears an amazing resemblance to … me.
West, Mike. MBWest.com. Articles>Documentation>Technology>Technical Writing
#32093
A very brief review of the first edition of Edmond H. Weiss’s How to Write a Usable User Manual.
West, Mike. MBWest.com (2006). Articles>Reviews>Documentation>Technical Writing
#32100
There seems to be a pervasive view that there are two types of writing: 'Noble' (or 'pure') and 'Non-Noble' (or 'technical'). The main problem with that myopic view is that status is immediately connoted. Nobody wants to classify themselves as residing on the non-noble side of the writing world.
monkeyPi (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
#32135
Learning to Think Critically through Technical Writing
Although any writing, when taught correctly, will improve a student’s ability to think critically, comparatively speaking, technical writing is a 'fast track' to acquiring these skills.
Schwarcz, Mati. Art of Technical Communication, The (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
#32136
Zen and the Art of Technical Writing
The Technical Writer is normally in a position that requires communicating technical information to a wide audience of developers, implementers, or end users. On the surface of things, writers must satisfy two masters.
Schwarcz, Mati. Art of Technical Communication, The (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
#32137
Technical communication must ultimately serve the reader - there must be something that the writer can do to clarify the information and make reading part of the process that makes the product usable.
Schwarcz, Mati. Art of Technical Communication, The (2008). Articles>TC>Writing>Technical Writing
#32142
Finding the Technical Writing Community in Utah
In Utah, technical writers abound but are hidden. Utah probably has at least 500 technical writers spread out across companies all over the state (most in Northern Utah), but communication among the technical writers is sparse. The community is a little disconnected.
Johnson, Tom H. List Apart, A (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Utah
#32145
By partly adopting the process suggested by Daniel Brolund we, the technical writing team, can be involved right up front and the documentation can be one of the methods used to validate the software as it is being built.
McLean, Gordon. One Man Writes (2008). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing
#32161
Collaborative Walkthrough Video
Collaborative walkthroughs are a technique that my team used while rewriting our Help and adopting DITA. We believe that we were able to improve the user experience by improving the collaborative experience.
Bennett, Miranda. On Writing (2008). Articles>Documentation>Collaboration>Technical Writing
#32179
Paradigm Shifts are Never Pretty: Advice on Making the Move to XML Authoring
The move toward XML-based authoring in technical publications is a classic paradigm shift. It requires content creators to change their writing process and learn new concepts.
O'Keefe, Sarah S. TechCom Manager (2008). Articles>Writing>XML>Technical Writing
#32188
Potential Position Descriptions for Information Engineering Professionals
This article defines the tasks and responsibilities for up to seven levels of information engineers, plus two levels of management.
Capri, Steve. TechCom Manager (2007). Articles>Management>Information Design>Technical Writing
#32216
How to Justify Hiring Technical Writers During Hard Economic Times
With our economy still on the down slope, it is difficult for technical managers to justify keeping an excessive amount of technical writers on their staffs, let alone hiring new ones. In many cases, managers feel they don’t even need writers, arguing that everyone has writing ability. Of course, today’s technical writers not only write, they also perform many other tasks: programming, web development, training, and so on. Add to that the fact that many are also highly trained and certified in other areas besides writing.
Datta, Aparna. TechCom Manager (2005). Articles>Management>Writing>Technical Writing
#32328
The typical structure of a scientific report involves highly standardized sections. The key concept of a scientific report is the reproducibility of results. Because not only clarity but also conciseness is a tool for the advancement of science, a new format using nested tables is proposed with the aim of improving the design of short reports in scientific journals, namely short communications, short technical reports, case reports, etc. This format is based on the ergonomic philosophy of visual encyclopaedias (one topic, one page) and on the quality system of the Deming's cycle (plan--do--check--act) for continuous improvement. This new editing tool has several advantages over existing forms, because it provides quick and ergonomic, reader-friendly research reports that, at the same time, would render a saving in terms of available space and publishing costs of the printed version of scientific journals.
Hortol, Policarp. Journal of Information Science (2008). Articles>Scientific Communication>Research>Technical Writing
#32346
Fourteen Widespread Myths about Technical Writing
In addition to common myths about technical writing as a sellout and fallback career, I can think of at least ten other commonly held myths surrounding the field of technical communication.
Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
#32383
Ten Tips for Effective Technical Writing
As a designated technical writer, your main goal is to make information not just understandable, but also usable. The end result is that your target audience can perform a desired action or make an educated decision based on what it is you just wrote about. Remember that technical writing falls in the realm of so many industries, not just hardcore sciences and technology.
Baluyut, Renzie. Renzie Baluyut (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
#32384
Technical writers write with authority. That’s the job: to present the subject with authority, so the reader will feel confident about the accuracy of the information or confident about using the software. There’s no place for hedging. You write, ‘Press the OK button’. You don’t write, ‘Press the OK button – I think.'
Bristow, Gemma. Inkjuice (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Documentation
#32385
Is technical writing detrimental to the creative kind, for those of us technical writers with ambitions as creative writers?
Bristow, Gemma. Inkjuice (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
#32489
Sustaining the Readers' Interest
Sometimes, we come across articles on technical subjects that are hard to put down. They even make us ruminate over their content, and talk about them. Though these articles are just for our information, they end up staying in our heart by chance or by design. It is not possible to get so far a reach through the technical coverage alone. The authors have presented them so nicely that we even resist any demand to stop in the middle while reading them. We find such articles mostly in news papers and magazines. As an editor, I have my own reasons for that 'Coup de grâce'! We, the technical writers, can surely pick up some of the clues from our brethren - the journalists.
Shankar, Kiruba. Indus (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Rhetoric
#32590
Use Cases for User Assistance Writers
It’s hard to find anyone who disparages use cases, but those who use them are still a minority. In a previous life as a UX designer, I used use cases and developed a great respect for them. But it wasn’t until recently that I began using them to design user assistance. Why did it take me so long to get back to these reliable work horses of user-centered design?
Hughes, Michael A. UXmatters (2008). Articles>User Centered Design>Writing>Technical Writing
#32618
This research article reports the results of an online survey distributed among technical writing instructors in 2006. The survey aimed to examine how we teach intercultural communication in basic technical writing courses: our current practices and methods. The article discusses three major challenges that instructors may face when teaching about intercultural communication. These challenges concern teacher preparation, time and proposed goals and objectives, and teaching materials and methods. This article provides some suggestions for addressing the challenges and enriching a technical writing curriculum.
Matveeva, Natalia. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2008). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing
#32750
Web Content Writing Is Not Technical Writing
We’re all taught that online writing has to be hard hitting and quick because readers scan, and will not invest time in reading a meandering piece. My brain so efficiently crunches data and spits it out in list format, complete with headings and summarized with concise sentence structure, that I have a hard time writing anything else.
Designing User Experience (2008). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Technical Writing
#32763
The Secrets of Effective Technical Authors
In early 2007, Cherryleaf carried out a survey to find out the challenges technical authors face. We looked at satisfaction levels, the status of authors and what was holding them back, if anything.
Cherryleaf (2007). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
