Tech Comm Lobotomies

Although we look at the past with embarrassment about some of our practices, we often lack the foresight to see the present with the same degree of scrutiny. Years from now, we’ll look back at what we’re currently doing and not only blush, but feel remorse and wish we could get back what we lost.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>TC>Technical Writing>History

Teaching Intercultural Communication in a Basic Technical Writing Course: A Survey of Our Current Practices and Methods    

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

Oral Communication and Technical Writing: A Reconsideration of Writing in a Multicultural Era    

This article investigates the status of orality in the history of technical communication. The article calls for orality as an integral part and driving force of technical writing. The article brings to light the misconceptions that have led to a diminished role of oral communication in technical writing. The article shows the implications of oral skills for improved effectiveness of technical communicators. The article outlines the challenges and promises of teaching oral communication in technical writing.

Cibangu, Sylvain K. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2009). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>History

Introducing Heuristics of Cultural Dimensions into the Service-Level Technical Communication Classroom    

A significant problem for practitioners of technical communication is to gain the skills to compete in a global, multicultural work environment. Instructors of technical communication can provide future practitioners with the tools to compete and excel in this global environment by introducing heuristics of cultural dimensions into the service-level classroom. By practicing how to use these heuristics in "real-world" contexts, instructors can prepare students to function as both information architects and symbolic-analytic operators within this global work environment. In this article, I first examine common cultural heuristics as they pertain to business communication. Next, I articulate how technical communicators can benefit from incorporating these heuristics into the classroom. Finally, I offer a pedagogical approach to introducing heuristics of cultural dimensions into the service-level technical communication classroom.

Schafer, Robert. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2009). Articles>Education>Technical Writing>International

Change is Gonna Come

There's a shift happening in the way in which documentation is produced. We’ve all seen the beginning of it: the growing volume of what’s called (among other things) user generated or crowdsourced documentation. That trend is growing. And while a number of people in our profession are still resistant to the idea, it’s only a matter of time before users are our main partners in creating documentation.

Nesbitt, Scott. DMN Communications (2009). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Social Networking

What’s Wrong with PowerPoint as a Document Authoring Tool?

It is our position that use of PowerPoint for document planning negatively impacts all potential collaborative authoring and review outcomes. Though PowerPoint is commonly used because it is a familiar tool, it is not the most effective tool for managing knowledge either intellectually or financially.

Cuppan, Gregory P. Brainery.net (2009). Articles>Project Management>Technical Writing>Microsoft PowerPoint

Is Technical Writing Boring?

While the content of what I write at work is not all that interesting, and even the paradoxes or other conundrums about technical writing sometimes dull, I really get excited about the technology side of my job. New technologies are emerging each day at a rapid rate. It’s like we’re living in the internet era before the dot.com burst. This is a Web 2.0 land, where even Google threatens to become the next operating system. I am really eager to use a wiki to write my next set of documentation.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2007). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Wikis

The Creative Passion

How exciting is technical writing, really?” Every once in a while, discussions in blogs or at conferences turn to that question. How technical writing is not really a calling or maybe even boring. Technical writing is my creative passion. I don’t have a recipe, but I want to share my excitement. Maybe it resonates with you, and maybe you’ll see technical writing in a different way.

Weber, Kai. DMN Communications (2009). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing

Why Technical Writers Shouldn't Be "Writers"

Technical writers love the written word. Perhaps, we love it a little too much? We need to ask ourselves is the written word the best thing for documentation? Is it the best thing for us as an industry, and is it the best thing for you as a content developer.

Blogspot (2009). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Documentation

School Standards That Support Technical Writing

The value of learning effective nonfiction nonnarrative writing ("technical writing") for middle- and high-school students has been cited repeatedly in official and unofficial academic standards starting in the early 1990s.

Girill, T.R. STC East Bay (2008). Articles>Education>Standards>Technical Writing

Contributing to Wikis: A Useful Activity for Novice Tech Writers?

In this post, technical writer Milan Davidovic that contributing to wikis can help novices build skills and a portfolio. And he offers a simple roadmap for doing that effectively.

Davidovic, Milan. DMN Communications (2009). Articles>TC>Technical Writing>Wikis

Sometimes, Simple is the Way to Go

I’m advocating boiling the documentation down to the essentials. Remove any superfluous material. Tell the user how to do things with a piece of software or a gadget, not what that something can do. You might wind up with documentation that’s just a set of procedures connected together by linking material and cross references. Don’t bog them down with what’s not necessary for them to get things done in a fast and efficient way.

Nesbitt, Scott. Communications from DMN (2009). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Minimalism

The Missing Manual Authors’ Guide  

This Authors’ Guide tells you everything you need to know to write Missing Manual. It starts out by giving you a brief introduction to the Missing Manual way of explaining things and then takes you through the nitty gritty of style guidelines, figure formatting, and so on.

Missing Manuals (2009). Articles>Documentation>Style Guides>Technical Writing

Must-Follow Twitter Feeds for Tech Writers

The purpose of my blog is to provide tech writers with information about changes and how said changes may impact documentation. That is also the purpose of my Twitter feed. I gather up as much information as I can and pass it on. I've found some excellent feeds to follow related to the various topics of which tech writers need to be aware.

2moro Docs (2009). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Social Networking

The First Weeklong Technical Writers' Institute and Its Impact    

Rensselaer’s Technical Writers' Institute, the first program of its kind, had a profound impact on technical communication. It enabled technical communicators without formal education in the field to gain important knowledge, provided a forum for communicators from different industries to meet in order to solve mutual problems, played a key role in defining the field and its needs, encouraged recruitment (including the hiring of more women), promoted professional societies and formal degree programs, and seriously affected industry training programs by enabling them to use institute teaching materials. Knowledge gained through the Technical Writers' Institute enabled Rensselaer to develop many other innovations.

Whitburn, Merrill. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2009). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing

Twenty-Five Clear And Beautiful Comparison Tables

There's no point in having an awesome website and an awesome product if your product comparison table is crap. It will throw people right off, and believe me I have seen some bad tables. Anyway here is a collection of the best product comparison tables handpicked by WebdesignDev. We think we have picked the top 25 comparison tables based on creative design and how clear it is to read and compare.

Johnson, Andy. Web Design Tutorials (2009). Articles>Web Design>Technical Writing

Too Many Inputs Freak Out the Technical Writer

In such a scenario, this article presents some of the practices that have helped me track and address inputs effectively – regardless of their volume and importance.

Machani, Sridhar. Indus (2009). Articles>Project Management>Writing>Technical Writing

Duct Tape Technical Writers

In reality, the user just wants a brief, clear explanation of a concept or task. The user will glance and skim — reading behaviors hardly worthy of the elitist grammarian who argues the finer points of “which” versus “that” in restrictive clauses.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Document Design>Technical Writing>Minimalism

Open-Source Software for Technical Writers

For companies that are struggling in the current times because of the economic slowdown, an option that might not compromise on product quality is to switch to open-source software. In this article, I will talk about open-source publishing tools for the writing community.

Dhodi, Harjot Singh. Indus (2009). Articles>Software>Technical Writing>Open Source

Awful Writer or “Awe”full Writer

If you are reading this article in INDUS, I assume that the majority of you must be technical writers. The peer-review checklist might be firmly etched in your mind. Please make sure this checklist in disabled. If doing so is not possible, just click the X sign at the top-right corner of the screen. Also, if you have no sense of humor, it is mandatory to click the X sign. I make no apologies for the grammatical errors or syntax errors or sentence structure or comma splices or… whew..pant..pant… this ‘or’ is making me breathless. In fact, I am thriving on these errors because my creative skills are running riot. I have expressed my thoughts in an unconventional manner and, believe me, the feeling is exhilarating and invigorating.

Menon, Sangeeta. Indus (2009). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing

Must-Follow Trends for Tech Writers

Changes are so massive, so fast, and coming from so many directions that it is impossible to keep up. Still, it’s important to try. For anything that applies to IT applies to tech writing. Writers must be know something about everything and be ready for it. We’re going to have to specialize and collaborate more than ever before.

2moro Docs (2009). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Technology

Audience Analysis: Power Tools for Technical Writing

Documents fail for many reasons. One common mistake is to adopt a ‘one size fits all’ approach to your audience. This works only when generic material, usually of a non-technical nature.

Walsh, Ivan. I Heart Tech Docs (2009). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Audience Analysis

Seven Steps to Clear Technical Writing

These points are not meant to be all-inclusive. However, if you are new to tech writing, this should put you on the right road.

Walsh, Ivan. I Heart Tech Docs (2009). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Documentation

Change Your Writing Style to Make Documentation More Usable and User-Friendly

When the subjects of usability and user friendliness in relation to documentation are broached, writing isn’t often the first thing that comes to mind. But it should be.

Nesbitt, Scott. DMN Communications (2009). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Usability

Technical Communications as a Profit Center

Those within technical communications have long argued that product documentation provides significant value in terms of a customer satisfaction and downstream savings in customer support and service. In the broader, enterprise perspective, however, documentation is generally viewed as simply one of many requirements for product launch. This perspective is often the result of the lack of visibility that is generally available into the business value contributed by product documentation. Aberdeen investigated and isolated the quantifiable business impact of technical communications makes for 165 participating companies. An analysis of this data indicates that when leveraged effectively, technical communications stands to contribute as much as a 42% increase in customer satisfaction and an associated 45% increase in product revenue. This report provides a quantified framework for understanding the potential impact on technical communications makes for business profitability as well as the best practices to adopt to drive greater value from this organization.

David Houlihan. Aberdeen Group (2009). Articles>Documentation>Workplace>Technical Writing