Technical communication

Technical communication is the process of conveying information through writing,

speech, and other media to a specific audience. Information is usable if the intended
audience can perform an action or make a decision based on it (Johnson-Sheehan 7).
Technical communicators often work collaboratively to create products
(deliverables) for various media, including paper, video, and the Internet.
Deliverables include online help, user manuals, technical manuals, White papers,
specifications, process and procedure manuals, industrial videos, reference cards,
data sheets, journal articles, patents, training, business papers and technical reports.

Technical domains can be of any kind, including the soft and hard sciences,
high technology including computers and software, consumer electronics,
and business processes and practices.

Technical communication jobs include the following:

• Technical writer
• Technical editor
• Technical illustrator
• Information architect
• Usability expert
• User interface designer
• User experience designer
• Technical trainer
• Technical translator
• API Writer

Contents
• 1 History
• 2 Content creation
o 2.1 Determining purpose and
audience
o 2.2 Collecting information
o 2.3 Organizing and outlining information
o 2.4 Writing the first draft
o 2.5 Revising and editing

▪ 2.5.1 Adjusting and reorganizing content

▪ 2.5.2 Editing for style
 ▪ 2.5.3 Editing for grammar
▪ 2.5.4 Edit for context

History

The origin of technical communication has been variously attributed to Ancient

Greece, The Renaissance, and the mid 20th Century. However, a clear trend towards
the professional field can be seen from the First World War on, growing out of the
need for technology-based documentation in the military, manufacturing, electronic
and aerospace industries.

In the United States, two organizations concerned with improving the practice of
technical communication were founded on the East Coast in 1953: the Society of
Technical Writers, and the Association of Technical Writers and Editors. These
organizations merged in 1957 to form the Society of Technical Writers and Editors, a
predecessor of the current Society for Technical Communication (STC).

In the United Kingdom, the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC)
was formed in 1972 by the amalgamation of three existing associations: the
Presentation of Technical Information Group (established in 1948), the Technical
Publications Association (established in 1953, later the Institution of Technical Authors
and Illustrators) and the Institute of Technical Publicity and Publications (established
in 1963).

Content creation

Technical communication is sometimes considered a professional task for which

organizations either hire specialized employees, or outsource their needs to
communication firms. For example, a professional writer may work with a company to
produce a user manual. Other times, technical communication is regarded as a
responsibility that technical professionals employ on a daily basis as they work to
convey technical information to coworkers and clients. For example, a computer
scientist may need to provide software documentation to fellow programmers or
clients.

The process of developing information products in technical communication begins by

ensuring that the nature of the audience and their need for information is clearly
identified. From there the technical communicator researches and structures the
content into a framework that can guide the detailed development. As the
information product is created, the paramount goal is ensuring that the content can
be clearly understood by the intended audience and provides the information that
the audience needs in the most appropriate format. This process, known as the
'Writing Process', has been a central focus of writing theory since the 1970s, and
some contemporary textbook authors have applied it to technical communication.

Technical communication is important to engineers mainly for the purpose of being

professional and accurate. These reports supply specific information in a concise
manner and are very clear in their meaning if done correctly.

The technical writing process can be divided into five steps:

1. Determine purpose and audience
2. Collect information
3. Organize and outline information
4. Write the first draft
5. Revise and edit

Determining purpose and audience

All technical communication is done with a particular end in mind. The purpose is
usually to facilitate the communication of ideas and concepts to the audience, but
may sometimes be used to direct the audience in a particular course of action. The
importance of the audience is in the notion that meaning is derived from the
audience's interpretation of a piece of work. The purpose may be something as simple
as having the audience understand the details of some technological system, or to
take a particular action using that system.

For example, if the workers in a bank were not properly posting deposits to accounts,
someone would write the procedure so these workers might have the correct
procedure. Similarly, a sales manager might wonder which of two sites would be a
more appropriate choice for a new store, so he would ask someone to study the
market and write a report with the recommendations. The sales manager would
distribute the report to all parties involved in making that decision. In each of these
instances, the person who is writing is transferring knowledge from the person who
knows to the person who needs to know. This is the basic definition of technical
communication.

The most commonly used form of technical communication is technical writing.

Examples of technical writing include: project proposals, persuasive memos, technical
manuals, and users' guides. Such materials should typically present an (informal)
argument and be written diplomatically. A user's guide for an electronic device
typically includes diagrams along with detailed textual explanations. The purpose
should serve as a goal that the writer strives toward in writing.

The identification of the audience affects many aspects of communication, from word
selection and graphics usage to style and organization. A non-technical audience might
not understand, or worse, not even read a document that is heavy with jargon, while a
technical audience might crave extra detail because it is critical for their work. Busy
audiences do not have time to read an entire document, so content must be organized
for ease of searching, for example by the frequent inclusion of headers, white space
and other cues that guide attention. Other requirements vary on the needs of the
particular audience.
Examples:
In Government:
Technical communication in the government is very particular and detailed.
Depending on the particular segment of the government (and not to mention the
particular country), the government component must follow distinct specifications. In
the case of the US Army, the MIL-spec (Military specification) is used. It is updated
continuously and technical communications (in the form of Technical Manuals,
Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals, Technical Bulletins, etc.) must be updated as
well.
The Department of Defense utilizes Technical Manuals regularly and is a core part of
the agency's responsibilities. Although detail oriented in their requirements, the DoD
has deficiencies in technical communication. The following paper discusses those
deficiencies and identifies the major contributing factors.

Collecting information

The next step is to collect information needed for accomplishing the stated purpose.
Information may be collected through primary research, where the technical
communicator conducts research first-hand, and secondary research, where work
published by another person is used as an information source. The technical
communicator must acknowledge all sources used to produce his or her work. To
ensure that this is done, the technical communicator should distinguish quotations,
paraphrases, and summaries when taking notes.

Organizing and outlining information

Before writing the initial draft, all the ideas are organized in a way that will make the
document flow nicely. A good way of doing this is to write all random thoughts down
on a paper, and then circle all main sections, connect the main sections to supporting
ideas with lines, and delete all irrelevant material.
Once each idea is organized, the writer can then organize the document as a whole.
This can be accomplished in various ways:

• Chronological: This is used for documents that involve a linear process, such
as a step-by-step guide describing how to accomplish something.

• Parts of an object: Used for documents which describe the parts of an object,
such as a graphic showing the parts of a computer (keyboard, monitor,
mouse, etc.)

• Simple to Complex (or vice versa): Starts with the easy-to-understand ideas,
and gradually goes deeper into complex ideas.

• Specific to General: Starts with many ideas, and then organizes the ideas into
sub- categories.
• General to Specific: Starts with a few categories of ideas, and then goes deeper.

Once the whole document is organized, it's a good idea to create a final outline,
which will show all the ideas in an easy-to-understand document. Creating an outline
makes the entire writing process much easier and will save the author time.

Writing the first draft

After the outline is completed, the next step is to write the first draft. The goal is to
write down ideas from the outline as quickly as possible. Setting aside blocks of one
hour or more, in a place free of distractions, will help the writer maintain a flow.
Also, the writer should wait until the draft is complete to do any revising; stopping
to revise at this stage will break the writer's flow. The writer should start with the
section that is easiest for them, and write the summary only after the body is
drafted.

The ABC (Abstract, Body, and Conclusion) format can be used when writing a first
draft. The Abstract describes the subject to be written about, so that the reader knows
what he or she is going to be told in the document. The Body is the majority of the
paper, in which the topics are covered in depth. Lastly, the Conclusion section restates
the main topics of the paper.

The ABC format can also be applied to individual paragraphs, beginning with a topic
sentence that clearly states the paragraph's topic. This is followed by the topic, and
finally, the paragraph closes with a concluding sentence.
Revising and editing
Once the initial draft is laid out, editing and revising can be done to fine-tune the
draft into a final copy. Four tasks transform the early draft into its final form,
suggested by Pfeiffer and Boogard:

Adjusting and reorganizing content

During this step, the draft is revisited to 1) focus or elaborate on certain topics
which deserve more attention, 2) shorten other sections, and 3) shift around
certain paragraphs, sentences, or entire topics.

Editing for style

Good style makes the writing more interesting, appealing, or readable. In general the
personal writing style of the writer will not be evident in technical writing. Some
changes are made by choice, not for correctness, and may include:

• shortening paragraphs
• rearranging paragraphs
• changing passive-voice sentences to an active voice
• shortening sentences
• defining terminology
• adding headings, lists, graphics

Technical writing is a discipline that usually requires a technical writer to make

particular use of a style guide. These guides may relate to a specific project, product,
company or brand and in general they ensure that technical writing is devoid of a
personal style.

Editing for grammar

At this point, the document can be checked for grammatical errors, such as comma
usage and common word confusions (for example, there/their/they're).

Edit for context

Determining the necessary amount of context is important. There needs to be a
balance between exuberance, which may lead the audience to take unintended
additional meaning from the text, and terseness, which may leave the audience
unable to interpret meaning because of missing words.