Technical Communication

Lesson 1:  Technical Communication

Technical communication

·         is a means to document or convey scientific, engineering, or other technical information

·         defines the field as any form of communication that focuses on technical or specialized topics, communicates specifically by using technology or provides instructions on how to do something

·         a factual communication, usually about products and services

·         as a field within business communications encompasses a range of disciplines that work together to communicate complex information to those who need it to accomplish a defined task or goal

*Whatever the definition of technical communication, the overarching goal of the practice is to create easily accessible information for a specific audience.

*As modern society relies increasingly on technology for every aspect of life’s activities, technical communications will remain a viable, lively and varied profession and continue to grow in strategic importance

Technical communicator

Individuals in a variety of contexts and with varied professional credentials engage in technical communication.  Some individuals are designated as technical communicators. These individuals use a set of methods to research and document technical processes or products. Technical communicators may put the information they capture into paper documents, web pages, digitally stored text, audio, video, and other media.

Technical communicators generally tailor information to a specific audience, which may be subject matter experts, consumers, end users, etc. Technical communicators often work collaboratively to create deliverables.

*Deliverables include:

·   online help- topic-oriented, procedural or reference information delivered through computer software. It is a form of user assistance

·        user manuals- is a technical communication document intended to give assistance to people using a particular system

·        white papers- is an authoritative report or guide helping readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. White papers are used in two main spheres: government and business-to-business marketing

·         specifications- (often abbreviated as spec) may refer to an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service

·        industrial videos- is a video that targets “industry” as its primary audience. An industrial video is a type of sponsored film (such as an educational film) which prioritizes pragmatism over artistic value

·         reference cards- is a concise bundling of condensed notes about a specific topic, such as math formulas to calculate area/volume, or common syntactic rules and idioms of a particular computer platform, application program, or formal language. It serves as an ad hoc memory aid for an experienced user

·   data sheets- is a document that summarizes the performance and other technical characteristics of a product, machine, component (e.g., an electronic component), material, a subsystem (e.g., a power supply) or software in sufficient detail to be used by a design engineer to integrate the component into a system

·        journal articles- is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating the news, research results, academic analysis or debate.

·   patents- is a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for detailed public disclosure of an invention

·         forms and documents- is one of the things that technical communicators do as part of creating deliverables for their companies or clients. Document design is “the field of theory and practice aimed at creating comprehensible, persuasive and usable functional documents.” These forms and documents can have many different purposes (i.e. collecting information, providing information, etc).

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