About the Presenter I am Sandeep Kumar M
About the Presenter I am Sandeep Kumar M, with over 6 years of experience in Technical Communications, am currently associated with Broadridge as Consultant. I hold my graduation in English Literature from Bangalore University and Philosophy from De Sales University, Pennsylvania. Began my career in Content Management with Thomson Reuters and am currently pursuing my interests in Technical Communications. 0
05/19/2018 3 Es of Technical Communications Entering, Exploring, and Evolving 2 nd LEARNING SESSION – STC HYDERABAD
Agenda • Introduction • Historical Evolution • Entering – Required Skills – Key Elements – The Growing Demand • Exploring • Evolving – Enroll – Attend – Join 2
Introduction • Technical Communications as defined in WWW. STC. ORG Technical communication is a broad field and includes any form of communication that exhibits one or more of the following characteristics: § Communicating about technical or specialized topics, such as computer applications, medical procedures, or environmental regulations. § Communicating by using technology, such as web pages, help files, or social media sites. § Providing instructions about how to do something, regardless of how technical the task is or even if technology is used to create or distribute that communication. • Technical Communications as defined in Wikipedia. Technical Communications is a means to convey scientific, engineering, and technique or other technical information. - Johnson-Sheehan, Richard (2005). Technical Communication Today 3
Introduction Different professions under Technical Communications • Technical Writers & Editors • Indexers • Information Architects • Instructional Designers • Technical Illustrators • Globalization & Localization Specialists • Usability & Human Factors Professionals • Visual Designers • Web Designers & Developers • Teachers & Researchers of Technical Communication • Trainers and E-Learning Developers 4
Historical Evolution 1908 1911 1940 -46 1946 • A Guide to Technical Writing" by • Samuel Earle's "The Theory and • During the World War II (1940 - • Technical writing experienced a First Textbook Systematic Training Non-existent Rise as a Profession T. A. Richards, the first textbook written about technical writing, was published in 1908 to help engineers specifically. Practice of Technical Writing" was published. Earle was focused on "giving systematic training in technical writing. " To him, technical writing was either narrative, descriptive, expository or directive. 1946) and for a short period afterwards, published documents regarding technical writing were practically nonexistent. boom in growth after the war due to an influx of students and a niche for technical writing. Technical writing became a legitimate profession itself during this time. 5
ENTERING REQUIRED SKILLS • Must be CLEAR & CONCISE • Must have GOOD EYE FOR DETAIL • Must have an EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE of punctuation, syntax and style, grammar KEY ELEMENTS • Identify the AUDIENCE • Understand the PURPOSE • Organize the SUPPORTING MATERIALS and OUTLINE GROWING DEMAND • GROWTH RATE – 15% faster than average for all occupations. • A COLLEGE DEGREE in Technical Subject • Certificate Program in Technical Writing • Budget the TIME to – WRITE – REVISE – EDIT 6
EVOLVING WRITING STYLE & APPROACH RHETORICAL AWARENESS & USER-CENTRIC DESIGN SIMPLIFY THE TERMS INTEGRATE GRAPHICS & VISUAL AIDS ACTIVE VOICE & ACTION VERBS FORMAT AS PER STYLE GUIDE TASK BASED APPROACH REVISIONS & REWRITES 7
EXPLORING ENROLL • Enroll in a course to gain more insights. • Explore the various elements – Audience Awareness – Organization of Information – Use of Visual Aids – Use of Simple language ATTEND • Attend Technical Communication Conferences – Meet other writers in the industry. – Identify a possible Mentor • Networking – Workshops – Seminars – Panel discussions JOIN • Join Professional Associations – Society for Technical Communication (STC) – Forums (eg. STC Group) • Meet other professionals • Keep a track of latest developments in the industry 8
STC Forum • Google Group Multiple STC Google groups - API, DITA, UI, General, Help Authoring Tools, GIF’s, Videos, etc… - API/DITA, Chat Bot vs Doc Bot, Digitization of Technical Documents, clickable hotspots in images, etc. . • Technical Writer Forum – Linked. In - Technical Writing in Nuclear sector Help + Manual From EC Software, Paligo (HAT) HAT or WIKI produces the best results? Alternatives to swagger-codegen Time spent on understanding the product vs documentation • Documentation and Technical Writing Management • Link. Eds & Writers 9
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