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English 302
5th Hour Response
Hagrid Jacobs
10-APR-2007
Chapter 1: Communicating in the Workplace
Johnson-Sheehan, Richard. Technical Communication Today. 2nd Edition. Pearson Education, 2007.
Coming into Introduction to Technical Writing, I had some outdated notions about what technical writing is all about. My impression of the profession is that it was about writing documentation and instruction manuals for technical processes and products. Translating "Geek-to-English" was at the core of what I saw as technical communication in the modern workplace.
After the first class lecture, and reading the first chapter of the textbook, I found my opinions changed somewhat. While much of the profession of technical writing does involve the creation of instructional documents, in the modern technology-driven workplace, but there is so much more to it than that.
For instance, the idea that technical communication is interactive and adaptable came as a surprise. Not only is the technical writer communicating to the reader what would traditionally be dry, rote instructions about a product or technical process, but the reader and the recipient of the technical information is interacting with and shaping the information. In a computer and web-based environment, feedback from end-users of the information is immediate, and technical documentation that was simply written once and distributed is now adjusted on-the-fly, and can be customized to the reader's needs.
Going hand-in-hand with this is the idea that technical writing is reader-centered. Technical communication focuses on what the reader needs to know, in an easy-to-understand format, and action-oriented – that is, providing the reader with courses of action to take on the information presented.
But perhaps the most surprising thing about technical communication is the emphasis on ethical, legal and political dimensions. Where once the technical communicator was focused simply on conveying information, now the emphasis has shifted to providing the information within a framework that is aware of the implications of the information – for instance, are there ethical considerations about the communication that needs to be considered? What are the legal implications of the documents produced? And what are the political ramifications within the organizations involved? All of these are questions that the technical communicator ust consider when producing a document.
It's clear there's a lot I don't know about the field – and a lot I have to learn.
5th Hour Response
Hagrid Jacobs
10-APR-2007
Chapter 1: Communicating in the Workplace
Johnson-Sheehan, Richard. Technical Communication Today. 2nd Edition. Pearson Education, 2007.
Coming into Introduction to Technical Writing, I had some outdated notions about what technical writing is all about. My impression of the profession is that it was about writing documentation and instruction manuals for technical processes and products. Translating "Geek-to-English" was at the core of what I saw as technical communication in the modern workplace.
After the first class lecture, and reading the first chapter of the textbook, I found my opinions changed somewhat. While much of the profession of technical writing does involve the creation of instructional documents, in the modern technology-driven workplace, but there is so much more to it than that.
For instance, the idea that technical communication is interactive and adaptable came as a surprise. Not only is the technical writer communicating to the reader what would traditionally be dry, rote instructions about a product or technical process, but the reader and the recipient of the technical information is interacting with and shaping the information. In a computer and web-based environment, feedback from end-users of the information is immediate, and technical documentation that was simply written once and distributed is now adjusted on-the-fly, and can be customized to the reader's needs.
Going hand-in-hand with this is the idea that technical writing is reader-centered. Technical communication focuses on what the reader needs to know, in an easy-to-understand format, and action-oriented – that is, providing the reader with courses of action to take on the information presented.
But perhaps the most surprising thing about technical communication is the emphasis on ethical, legal and political dimensions. Where once the technical communicator was focused simply on conveying information, now the emphasis has shifted to providing the information within a framework that is aware of the implications of the information – for instance, are there ethical considerations about the communication that needs to be considered? What are the legal implications of the documents produced? And what are the political ramifications within the organizations involved? All of these are questions that the technical communicator ust consider when producing a document.
It's clear there's a lot I don't know about the field – and a lot I have to learn.