The Impact of Social Media on Technical Communication

In this podcast, I talk with Bill Albing, founder of KeyContent.org, about the impact of social media on technical communication. Bill talks about different ways social media helps audiences interconnect and interact. Good social media technologies enable professionals to collaborate easily, without being encumbered by complicated technology or even burdened by managing and filtering feeds. Bill explains that the web is more than just a venue for publication -- it's a medium that allows people to interconnect and work/collaborate with information. This is the direction we're moving towards, and technical communicators are starting to integrate social media, such as user forums, directly into their help.

Albing, Bill and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>TC>Community Building>Online

The Impact of the Internet and Digital Technologies on Teaching and Research in Technical Communication    

Technical communication practices have been changed dramatically by the increasingly ubiquitous nature of digital technologies. Yet, while those who work in the profession have been living through this dramatic change, our academic discipline has been moving at a slower pace, at times appearing quite unsure about how to proceed. This article focuses on the following three areas of opportunity for change in our discipline in relation to digital technologies: access and expectations, scholarship and community building, and accountability and partnering.

Gurak, Laura J. and Ann Hill Duin. Technical Communication Quarterly (2004). Articles>TC>Multimedia>Online

The Implied Author in Technical Discourse  

The task of conveying technical information is usually taken to be the responsibility of the writer-researcher, aided possibly by editorial and supervisory reviews. And the test of success is usually understood to be a technically objective and accurate text, effectively presented to the intended reader. The subject of this paper is an inquiry into the existence of a fictitious personage, created by the writer-researcher, deliberately or not, to mediate between the author and the reader on the one side, and the author and the text on the other. If such a personage exists, the next question is whether this presence, often referred to as an implied author or 'second self' in literary studies, is an appropriate rhetorical device for technical discourse; whether it enhances or distorts the information transfer from writer to text to reader. Such questioning can, I believe, lead to a more refined understanding of the nature of technical discourse and its relation to the reality it addresses.

Coney, Mary B. JAC (1988). Articles>Rhetoric>TC

Improving Technical Reviews

Improving technical reviews, when subject matter experts, or SMEs, review content for technical accuracy, is a challenge every technical communicator faces sometime during their career. Every year, journal articles are published, presentations are made, and discussions are initiated on this very topic. Most of them conclude that SMEs are difficult. It's your job to bribe, cajole, or coerce a better review out of your SME. I don't agree.

Idoura, Alexia. Carolina Communique (2004). Articles>TC>Collaboration>SMEs

Improving Your Interpersonal Skills

To succeed in the corporate world, then, technical types have to learn to live with -- even serve -- nontechies. This article gives tips to help you get along with -- and maybe even learn to like -- people, whether the same as us or different.

Bly, Robert W. Bly.com. Articles>Collaboration>TC

In the Year 2054...  

Speculates about what the future will hold for technical communicators.

Martin, Maurice. Intercom (2004). Articles>TC>History

In World Cup Soccer and in Overcoming Disabilities, "Impossible" is Just Another Word for "Work Harder"  

Several stories of Lone Star and Rocky Mountain Chapter STC members who have achieved victories over disabilities.

Voss, Daniel W. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>TC>Accessibility

Increase Your Impact on Proposal Preparation  

To succeed in the 1990s, technical communicators must become more financially precise and increase their impact on procedures. These capabilities are especially critical during preparation of new business proposals. This workshop focuses on techniques and tasks that can increase the technical communicator’s ability to contribute while they reduce preparation time and cost. The techniques presented in this workshop have been successful in producing both commercial and government proposals.

Allen, Lori A. and William C. Wiese. STC Proceedings (1994). Careers>TC>Proposals

Increasing Visibility: Building Demand for Technical Communication Services

Good technical communication is critical to the success of products and ultimately to the success of companies. But even the most perfect manuals may go unread, and the most elegant help systems may go unnoticed unless you take the time to promote the quality and necessity of your work. You need to showcase your talents and to encourage people throughout your company--and the community--to value and understand the work that you do. This will ideally lead to more respect, better pay, and more interesting work.

Huettner, Brenda P. TECHWR-L (2005). Articles>TC>Marketing

Independent Consulting in Technical Communication

The number of technical communicators working as independent consultants has increased remarkably over the past decade - may you call this a trend?

TC-FORUM (1998). Careers>Consulting>TC

The Independent Perspective

The Independent Perspective is published (online only) four times a year and is the official newsletter for the International Consulting and Independent Contractor Special Interest Group (CIC SIG) within the Society for Technical Communication.

STC Consulting SIG. Journals>TC>Consulting

Independents' Success Depends on Business Skills  

I went independent in 1990 as a technical writer/instructional designer, and I now teach technical writing in corporations. My business has grown steadily, albeit slowly, in these thirteen years. I learned quickly that independents are businesses first and technical communicators second. Our work may feed our souls and pay the bills today, but if we ignore business matters, our practices will ultimately fail. It is not enough to be 'technically' smart— independents must be savvy in business to succeed in any economy.

Frick, Elizabeth G. 'Bette'. Intercom (2003). Careers>Consulting>TC

Industrial-Strength Technical Communication  

In the nineties, if an employer took one glance at your résumé and started to fall in love with you, it probably had a lot to do with your long list of software tool skills. Nowadays, most employers couldn't care less about tools. It's all about industry experience.

Davis, Douglas W. STC (2007). Careers>Resumes>TC

The Influence of Text Factors on Readers  

The objectives of the research study presented here are to increase the discipline's knowledge about reader performance with technical documents, help writers and editors better allocate their efforts, and explore multivariate studies of text variables. For this study, subjects read and recalled one of two technical texts. Their recall protocols were analyzed for syntactic and semantic characteristics. Preliminary results suggest that information has a greater chance of being recalled if it is in clauses, independent clauses, more important idea units, or the first paragraph of the document. Additional results will be discussed at the conference.

Spyridakis, Jan H. and Carol S. Isakson. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>TC>Editing

Information and Communication Technologies and the Global Digital Divide  

This article examines the global digital divide-and discusses conditions and circumstances that have contributed to its creation. An important issue this article explores is whether there is a convergence, absolute convergence, divergence, or relative divergence in the application and diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) between developed countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and if so, which of these conditions will continue.

Rice, Mitchell F. Johns Hopkins University (2003). Articles>TC>International

Information as Commodity: The State of Technical Communication in the New Millenium  

With the information revolution, technical communicators need to problematize the definition of information, re-evaluate our role in the information food chain as both information producers and consumers, and re-examine how and why we produce information.

Chu, Steve W. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>TC>Information Design

Information Design and Becoming a Business Partner  

The information age provides great opportunity--and threat--to technical communicators. By understanding more about the general domain--specifically the relationship between communication and information design--we have the opportunity to become valued business partners to our employers and clients.

Knemeyer, Dirk. STC Proceedings (2004). Careers>Information Design>TC

Information Development at Rockwell Software – Part 1: Organizational Issues and Work Process  

Establishing and maintaining good relationships with internal customers is essential for technical writers. In our case, engineers are our internal customers and managing professional relationships with them can be challenging. At Rockwell Software, writers are matrixed into engineering organizations. This diffuses technical writing’s presence, but it gives us access to information we might not have if we were in a separate department. Given this organization, we have found that establishing personal relationships with engineers before focusing on work helps ensure our success. Finally, usability testing serves as a place where engineers and writers can focus on the success of their product as a whole.

Butler, Scott A., Eric J. Grabowski and Myron M. Shawala III. STC Proceedings (1998). Careers>TC>Collaboration

Information Development at Rockwell Software – Part 2: Standards and Tools and Technology   

Rockwell Software is a $60-million company specializing in plant automation software. Our offices in West Allis, Wisconsin, and Mayfield Village, Ohio, provide technical communicators with the opportunity to work closely with development teams to design, test, and release usable, consistent software and information products. While Rockwell Software's information development process is a multi-faceted endeavor, this paper focuses on the following four steps we implement to create our information products: interviewing customers to establish information guidelines, writing Getting Results guides, selecting tools, and programming for technical communicators.

Giordano, Jennifer L., Michael R. Huber, Kimberly B. Ness and Beth A. Williams. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>TC>Case Studies>Ohio

Information Development in a Flat World    

The flat world has had a clear impact on information development and will continue to increase competitive pressure on the profession in the foreseeable future. By adapting to the realities of global organizations and global audiences and instituting a disciplined work environment that thrives on standards and best practices, technical communicators can remain competitive.

Hackos, JoAnn T. Intercom (2008). Articles>TC>International

Information on the Assembly Line: A Review of Information Design As It Relates to Technical Communication

As we begin the twenty-first century, the assembly line model is once again being put into practice in the global industry. This time, however, the materials that companies are working with are more intangible; information and development processes are now being analyzed and broken down to their most basic components, as companies try to streamline production processes and reuse content as much as they can.

Nichols, Jason. University of Central Florida (2002). Books>Information Design>TC

Information Product Development Process Quality: Vision, Process, and Implementation  

Two members of the management team from LSI Logic Storage Systems' Technical Publications Department review how their team developed a vision statement and an information product development process based on that vision statement. The workshop provides participants opportunities to learn about the value of vision statements and production processes as well as to begin developing these materials for their own organizations. Participants will also share ideas on how to maintain process integrity through customer focus, team feedback on product and process quality, and strategic continuous improvement. Participants will receive materials that enable them to draft their own vision statements, information product development processes, and continuous improvement team operating practices.

Burroughs, Dia H. and Randy Clark. STC Proceedings (2004). Careers>Management>TC