Documentation: Competitive Edge or Necessary Evil?

Given the number of Norwegian software and other high-tech companies, there should be quite a few technical writers in Norway. Why don't they cooperate and join a (professional) community?

Wigestrand, Henrik. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>TC>Regional>Scandinavia

Field Trip: Urban Typography

Kenn Munk designs wonderfully different fonts and dingbats, some of which are inspired by urban typography. Travel to his neighbourhood, Frederiksbjerg Denmark, for an insightful visit with typography of bygone days.

Munk, Kenn. Design, Typography and Graphics (2004). Design>Typography>Regional>Scandinavia

High-Tech Communication from Finland

Technical communication is still quite a young field in Finland, and only a few people have been in the field for more than a decade. The average age of a Finnish technical communicator is probably around 30, and most of us have four or five years’ experience and an academic background in languages. Estimates of how many technical communicators there are in Finland are hard to come by, but our guesstimate would be anything from 500 to 1000 (and growing). Even though most of us speak Finnish as our native language, English is the main language of technical communication, since most of the products are exported. Localizability is one of the key elements in Finnish technical communication.

Lahti, Maria. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>TC>Regional>Scandinavia

An International Internet Collaboration    

Describes a year-long collaboration over the Internet between a systems analyst from Sweden and a technical communicator from the United States. Describes the progress of the project, the major difficulties encountered, and the authors' conclusions about its success. In addition, suggestions on how to improve on the process are provided.

Tumminello, Joanna L. and Par Carlshamre. Technical Communication Online (1996). Articles>TC>Regional>Scandinavia

Karlstad, Sweden - a Centre of Excellence in Technical Communication

How did Karlstad, a medium-sized town in central Sweden, come to be a 'centre of excellence' in Technical Communication? Well, a lot of it has to do with Ericsson.

Lewis-Sturmhoefel, Jeanne. TC-FORUM (1998). Articles>TC>Regional>Scandinavia

The Representation of Leisure in Corporate Publicity Material: The Case of a Finnish Pine Construction Company      

A common genre of corporate promotional materials in Finland is a video that introduces a company to various audiences, including customers, shareholders, and visitors to the company's offices.  The video uses visuals, sounds, and text to establish the company's identity and credibility as well as informing the audience about company products.  The video appeals to deep-seated cultural values to promote its message.  This study applied theories of both advertising and semiotics to analyze the first minute of a video produced for a Finnish company that manufactures log buildings and wraps its image around a concept of leisure.

Yli-Jokipii, Hilkka M. Technical Communication Quarterly (1998). Articles>Writing>Marketing>Scandinavia

A Short Commentary on Usability in Northern Europe: Still a Long Way to Go

'Usability', 'user-friendliness', 'user experience' and the like are becoming common buzzwords these days. However, seen from Copenhagen, Denmark, there is still a long way to go. Many businesses and consultants here are beginning to use the terms to promote themselves and their products. The problem is just that: it is used for marketing and image purposes rather than the core of the development process.

Bruhns, Jakob. WebWord (2001). Articles>Usability>Regional>Scandinavia

Suomen Tekniset Dokumentoijat ry

Suomen tekniset dokumentoijat ry on kaikkien teknisen dokumentaation ja viestinnän alalla toimivien yhdistys. Näillä sivuilla kerrotaan Suomen tekniset dokumentoijat ry:stä kaikki se, mitä ihmisten yhdistyksestä tulisi tietää.

STD. (Finnish) Organizations>TC>Regional>Scandinavia

Swedish Member Survey 1998

During 1998 a member survey was made by FTI, the Swedish Society for Technical Communication as a follow up to a survey made in 1991. Some 25% answered of the 400+ FTI members. Here follows a selection of the results along with some comments.

Näsström, Johan. TC-FORUM (1999). Careers>TC>Regional>Scandinavia

Technical Communication in Sweden  

Describes what it's like to work as a technical communicator in Sweden, a country where the profession has a long tradition.

Moller, Birgitta. Intercom (2002). Articles>TC>Regional>Scandinavia

Technical Communication in Sweden: Education, Certification and Internationalization

In spite of the limited population, Sweden is a highly industrialised nation with a number of globally well known industries. As the home market for these industries is far too small, they have to rely on the export markets to sell their products. This situation creates a rather special situation for technical communicators in Sweden. We have to translate the manuals into a large number of languages. And, as our own culture really does not have a dominating position in the world, we have to adapt the information to the target cultures on the different markets. Internationalization is a part of our everyday life.

Näsström, Johan. TC-FORUM (1999). Careers>Certification>Localization>Scandinavia

The Writing Process and Writing Technology: A Pre-Study for the Scribani Project  

One of the most common interdisciplinary feature in modern education seems to be an increasing interest in writing. While studies on this topic have already been carried out for a long time, only in the last decades the continuous technological changes have provided the means to develop more and more advanced tools to support writing (word processors are just a small example of such tools). Therefore, many research efforts have been made in order to design and develop computer writing environments.

Rossitto, Chiara. Royal Institute of Technology (2004). Articles>Writing>Technology>Scandinavia

The Aftermath of the ICT Revolution? Media and Communication Technology Preferences in Finland in 1999 and 2004    

It has been predicted that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) will be adopted for increasingly diversified purposes. In general, it has been argued that earlier forms of communication and mass media are being replaced by new ones. Before the early 1990s, however, neither mobile phones nor the internet were widely available to consumers. It is reasonable to ask whether the relatively recent implementation of ICT has shaped our daily practices already as much as many social scientists believe. Is it true that the new forms of technology are considered to be more important than the older ones? What differences can be observed between population groups? This article examines the perceptions of different mass media forms and communication technologies in Finland before and after the turn of the millennium. The data consist of two nationally representative postal surveys conducted in 1999 and 2004.

Räsänen, Pekka. New Media and Society (2008). Articles>Technology>Regional>Scandinavia

Webgrrls

Alle kvinder, der interesserer sig for IT, kan blive medlemmer af Webgrrls. Netværket er både for novicen og nørden, for den unge, den ældre og dem midt imellem.

Webgrrls. (Danish) Organizations>Technology>Regional>Scandinavia

Laatua Verkkoon: Quality Criteria

The quality criteria are intended to act as a tool for developing and assessing public web services. The purpose of the quality criteria is: to act as a tool for developing and assessing public web services; to improve the quality of public web services for both users and producers; to increase the benefits from public web services.

Suomi.fi (2008). Articles>Web Design>Assessment>Scandinavia

Positioned by Reading and Writing: Literacy Practices, Roles, and Genres in Common Occupations    

In the research project Literacy Practices in Working Life, the role played by reading and writing in common nonacademic occupations in Sweden was investigated. The results highlight not only some typical ways of using writing to frame units of work but also differences reflecting the main focus of work (“people” or “things”) and overall organizing principles. This article deals with patterns in the use of writing, which may be related to modern ways of organizing work (efficiency and flexibility, personal responsibility, identification with the company, etc.). Case studies show a range of literacy practices—running from extensive and rather complicated uses of writing connected with individual responsibility to very restricted and dependent uses of reading and writing governed by a top-down organization. Examples illustrate how emerging ways of governing work through written discourse, related to the new, knowledge-based work order, create very different roles for workers.

Karlsson, Anna-Malin. Written Communication (2009). Articles>Business Communication>Ethnographies>Scandinavia