The Commerce of Content
Industry Report:
Overview of the Technical Communication Industry (Part 3 of 6)

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1940s

With the introduction of sophisticated equipment in World War II came an equally sophisticated need to communicate how to use and repair this equipment in a simple way. Thus, with the defense industry, rose the beginnings of technical communication. With the growth of the defense industry following World War II and the increased requirement that information meet military specifications came similar growth in the need for technical communicators. We wrote about aircraft, tanks, submarines, and the early computers.

1950s

By 1953, people practicing this type of work formed the first two professional organizations in the field. In 1957, these organizations merged and formed the Society for Technical Writers and Editors (VERIFY THE CORRECT NAME). By 1958, the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) established the first degree program in the field.

1960s and 1970s

Two unrelated trends helped fuel growth of the profession in the 1960s and 1970s. The first was the growth in the computer industry. These complex machines, which were almost exclusively used by trained technical professionals, were unusually arcane and complex to use and required extensive documentation to use. The second was the growth in plain language laws. Because of the growth of government, the increasing specificity of regulations and other legal documents, the people who had to follow these documents could not understand them. The problem was most acute in the insurance industry, where few policy holders could determine what their policies did and did not cover , merely by reading the policy. Consumers began revolting and clamored for plain language laws, requiring that policies and similar documents be written in plain language.

The movement was a global one. In the United States, then-president Carter set in motion a requirement that all government policies be in plain English, and that, in turn, fueled the growth of the Document Design Center at the American Institutes for Research. Researchers from the Document Design Center, in collaboration with researchers from Carnegie Mellon University conducted watershed research that resulted in a new view of writing as a problem-solving activity and with the identification of a series of clear principles for designing and developing documents.

1980s

By the early 1980s, computers had reached a stage in their development at which they were ready to be commercially sold to the average consumer. But, as manufacturers soon learned, unless the software and systems are user friendly¾ that is, easy and intuitive to use¾ consumers would not buy them. Technical communicators were charged with the responsibility of providing that "user friendly" face to computers. Employment doubled in a few years as manufacturers quickly hired people who could provide clear, easy to read, easy to comprehend user manuals, on-screen prompts, and other niceties. As demand for our services grew, so did training opportunities. As mentioned, the number of academic programs in the field more than tripled between the 1980s and the time this book was published.

The growth of computers immediately affected not only our employment prospects, but changed the nature of our job. Through the growth of word processing and desktop publishing software, the computer could effectively handle some or all of several jobs that had been once performed by several skilled craftspeople, including typesetters, press operators, production personnel, layout artists and, to some extent, copyediting. Not only did the demand for usable information mushroom in the 1980s, but so did the ability to produce the information in large quantities and at affordable prices.

1990s and Beyond:

Employment continues to grow in the 1990s as the computer revolution starts to affect the nature and complexity of other types of products and services¾ including consumer electronics, telecommunications equipment, and healthcare¾ and also significantly increases the demand for usable technical information in all endeavors. And computers continue to change the way we publish information. As computers revolutionized publishing in the 1980s, they continue to do so in the 1990s, as firms begin to increasingly deliver information to users online. At first, the only information provided pertained to the application program, called help. But soon afterwards, organizations began providing policies and procedures online (and combining them with online forms), communicated with their employees online, and have begun marketing online.

In this Industry Overview
1. Beginning of the Overview
2. (previous) An Introduction to the Work of Technical Communicators
3. A Brief History of the Field
4 (next) Networking and Professional Development Opportunities
5. Common Beliefs and Practices
6. Assess Your Knowledge about Technical Communication