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The Commerce of Content
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How much do you know about the complete range of communication products that technical communicators publish, the process used to prepare information for publication, and the types of jobs and working situations of people in this field? Test your knowledge against that in this section. Note that I use the generic term communication products to refer to the various types of information that technical communicators publish.
Although no single technical definition of the term technical communication exists, here are some working definitions. Technical communicators are people who work in the broader field of business communication. Our specialty is designing and developing communication products that transfer information from the experts who know it to others who need it.
According to surveys of STC members, the type of information most commonly exchanged tells people how to use software and similar high technology products. This information might be printed as user guides, or available online as "help" and, increasingly, through home pages.
Although many technical communicators produce user’s guides and online help, these only represent two of the many types of products produced by technical communicators. We design and develop a broad range of information and produce a variety of communication products. These include the following:
| Purpose of Information | Examples of Communication Products |
| Explain how to use products, services, and policies | User’s guides, help, references, policies and procedures guides, online wizards, and online cue cards. |
| Exchange "basic" scientific information | Technical reports, articles, and books |
| Market products and services | Proposals, catalogs, brochures, videotapes, audio tapes, and demonstrations |
| Train users | Workbooks, tutorials, quick references, video tapes, audio tapes, online cue cards, and online coaches |
| Combination of purposes | Newsletters, magazines, and e-zines |
Although the exact process used to develop technical communication products varies among organizations, it generally has these four phases:
| 1. Design | Refers to the process of planning a
communication product, rather solely to the graphic design. Designing a communication
product is like preparing a blueprint of a building. It involves choosing appropriate
content for the intended audience and determining the sequence in which to present the
content. Designing also involves choosing a strategy for communicating the information. It involves choosing the medium for communicating a message (such as print or online), the form it should take (such as a brief warning message or an entire reference), and the general tone of the message. The strategy also identifies the general appearance of screens or pages, and set the editorial standards that guide the information. |
| 2. Development | Refers to the process of turning the design into a finished communication product. Development of a communication product is like constructing a building from blueprints. It involves writing and editing the information, preparing all of the graphics, and reviewing the information to make sure that it is technically accurate, usable, and adheres to editorial guidelines |
| 3. Production | Refers to the process of preparing it for duplication, duplicating it, and distributing it to the intended audience. |
| 4. Maintenance | Refers to a variety of activities that occur after people begin using the communication product. These activities include tracking user satisfaction, tracking usability, and updating the communication product as the technical information changes. |
We employ a variety of skills in publishing technical communication products. Although few technical communicators master all of the skills needed to publish communication products, most master several of these skills. technical communicators specialize bring a variety of skills to a job. needed during one or two phases of the process, and two or three key skills. These skills include the following:
The job titles used in our jobs vary, and may or may not reflect these specific skills. STC counts over 500 that encompass the jobs of writing and editing, including:
Some technical communicators also work as consultants, advising organizations on communications issues, and educators, people who prepare people to work in the field.
Variety is the single word to describe where technical communicators work. Most commonly, we work in the software industry, where we design and develop communication products for programmers, end users, technical support staffs, and potential customers. But we also work industries such as:
Technical communicators also work for hotels, restaurant chains, food manufacturers¾ any industry in which technical information must be transferred from those that know it to those who need it.
Within these organizations, we work for a variety of departments. In some organizations, technical communicators work as part of a department or group that produces communication products, such as the Publications, Documentation, and Technical Communication departments. Some of these departments are part of a technical organization, such as product development, others are part of a marketing organization, such as marketing communications.
Such departments have a variety of responsibilities, too. Some technical communication departments only produce communication products that explain products, services, and policies and that transfer basic scientific information. Others also product communication products used in marketing and training.
In other organizations, a technical communicator might be the only person in a department work with this job skill, such as a technical communicator working on a software development team to develop the training that tells people how to use a computer system.
Technical communicators work in a variety of employment situations, too. According to recent surveys of technical communicators by the STC, three-quarters of us work as regular employees of corporations. The other quarter work as "independents." Independents work in a variety of ways:
Technical communicators enter the field with a variety of backgrounds.
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(c) Copyright. 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002. Saul Carliner. All rights reserved.
