- Sep 2016
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courses.christopherylam.com courses.christopherylam.com
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Writing and rhetorical issues are imponant and mustbe taught in an academic program, but failing to realize thatemployers consider those skills a given and judge prospec-tive employees on a more extensive set of skills handicapsboth the student and the long-term growth of the field.
This statement refers to Schryer's article in which the students didn't have the literacy skills anticipated by the professors at the veterinary school. Students don't practice their writing skills as often as they should and this hurts them in the end without them realizing it. I didn't even realize the importance of writing skills in the medical field and after reading these articles I see that strong literacy skills are important in all fields. Mediocre won't always pass because if people cannot communicate with you effectively, they won't want to work with you.
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The purpose of this special issue is to step back from aclose examination of any particular technology or job descrip-tion, and instead to examine how they will affect the devel-opment of technical communication as a discipline.
Sometimes we need to understand how technology will affect technical communication for the improvement of our society and not just the current situation we are in. These technological improvements are improving the world as a whole.
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What I fear is thattechnology will be dumped on us without our input and thatwe will shoulder the blame when that technology fails toperform as expected. We need to be proactive to preventsuch a situation by considering how the various technologie
We rely on technology too much to where if the internet stopped working, we would not be able to function for awhile. It would take us awhile to recover from the network failure.
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particular
WIll the teaching of the specific softwares help the majority of students with their goals? It could be beneficial to few, but it may not be to the majority.
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Because the tools change so rapidly, the practicality ofteaching specific tools is suspect (K
Often, we don't realize how we switch tools and resources because technology is evolving so fast and not everyone will want to use the same software and it would take too much time to repeatedly go over different softwares.
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In other words, the writing aspects were thesame. In a very real way, the writing isn't different whetheryou are writing double-spaced text to be sent to a typeset-ter, using a desktop publishing system, or writing Webcontent.
This is similar to what we discussed in class. We mentioned that different platforms or genres of writing is still considered writing. Just because the way it was communicated is different doesn't mean it isn't writing.
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his change has thrust increasing numbers of technicalcommunicators and professionals in such diverse fields assoftware engineering, computer science, training, and hu-man factors into the product development mix togethe
Communicators and Professionals have developed due to the advancement of technological. The easiest, tedious work can now be accomplished by computers that way we don't have to worry about it.
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One goal of this specialissue is to help with what Shirk called the "developingawareness of transition from old skills and concepts to newones" by considering both how the field will be affectedbased on the new roles,
The author is trying to promote growth in the field of technology by developing awareness of the changes. If you educate the people, they are more inclined to understand be content or even excited about change.
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examination
The way technology is viewed was how it fit into what was going on in that moment and no one seemed to be concerned about how far advanced technology could bring them. I think we still have these views because we are stuck on how things are supposed to be and change is hard to grasp.
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Many of the problems an organization blames on tech-nology actually stem from social issues related to poor orinadequate communication. We need to define the rela-tionships between the technology, the social aspects, andthe business needs.
Again, this is where rhetoric/dialectic process comes into play. Everyone in the same team should be able to go back and forth with their ideas and inputs in order to generate a consensus that allows the tech to reach a wide variety of audiences. What good does an amazingly written instruction manual do if nobody is actually reading it and putting it to use?
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their
Technology is growing larger and changing more every day. Since technical writing first came out so much has changed, which most likely means that there is not just one way of doing things. It will take sometime before technical writing is concrete.
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hink that we need toreexamine what and how we produce documentation andcommunicate information at a very basic level. If we havesolved the problems, why are so many manuals and helpsystems still unused? Why are so many Web sites still sounusable in terms of navigation and—especially—conte
One main purpose of tech writing is using multimodal communication in order to reach a variety of potential audiences. This can be done using a dialectic process to make information more accessible without oversimplifying it. Perhaps stick to one genre in order to figure out what will work and then by testing and prototyping the tech in multiple scenarios, you can infer what audiences it reaches.
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hatemployers expect—and what graduates need to be com-petitive in the job market—is an expanded set of skills tocomplement their writing ability, skills that depend onvarious aspects of technology. And that technology skill setis simply what's needed to get a first job; technical com-municators need to continue to learn new technologies andtools to remain competitive and employable
When I am searching for potential internships and job openings, one of the first requirements is "must have effective writing skills." A lot of students who chose a technical career have a difficult time honing their writing skills because they were taught to memorize information and simply regurgitate it on an exam. I understand employers are looking for candidates with a variety of technical skill sets, but let's not underestimate the value of a great writer.
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ike programmerswho have been forced to work on teams, many writers stillwork alone or with only one or two other writers, and havethus been able to maintain the craftsman attitude. But thisattitude is, in the end, detrimental to their position within acompany and recognition by coworkers
I can relate to this because everyone's writing styles are different and not everyone on your team has the same prose and you do. This is where the dialectic/dialogic process comes into play where you go back and forth with your teammates, listening to every angle, in order to generate a consensus. Using persuasion to figure out which of the potential "solutions" or "resolutions" are the best and why? This can be difficult when timing constraints and issues are taken into consideration. But the goal in the end is to reach multiple potential audiences without oversimplifying the information.
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What I fear is thattechnology will be dumped on us without our input and thatwe will shoulder the blame when that technology fails toperform as expected.
I completely agree with Albers here. The future of technology is bright, but it also can be quite scary. Some fear that we are growing too dependent on technology. I would agree to an extent, I just don't like it when people (particularly elder generations) make technology out to be this villain. It has created jobs, brought people together in unimaginable ways, and made the world better. However, I fear relying too much on it will cripple us to where we cannot survive without it and the thought of that is really scary.
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"One of the most crucial tasks of the technical commu-nicator is to provide information that users need by carefullyselecting the right mix of content and then developing, ar-ranging, and presenting it effectively for the audience"
Albers quotes Hayhoe here, and I think this is a very good point to put in his argument. This definitely will ties into our class when we address our clients and cater to their needs.
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Weiss (2002) argues that the "artistic impulse" of mostwriters can prove to be the "greatest barrier to productivityand may even compromise the quality of the communica-tion products" (p. 3). Too many writers seem eager to craft"perfect" prose with the writing aspects overriding thecommunication issues inherent in the specific audienceand task.
I can relate this to the Schryer article "Records as Genre". Writing involves unique talent and creativity that does not always communicate information the most productive way possible. Writers can get caught up in crafting the perfect writing that they forget that it's meant to be utilitarian instead. This is a great example of genre's purpose in tech writing. By identifying what type of document it is (memo, essay, instructions manual, etc.), you are able to follow a set of appropriate guidelines and conventions. Following a set of guidelines or conventions when writing allows for your readers to easily identify what type of document it is and it's purpose is no longer hidden behind fancy prose.
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No technology is neutral. People handle technologyand address its problems and solutions with respect to theircurrent knowledge space.
I agree with Albers's point here. Technology, now matter how beautiful, will always be biased.
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We need to define the rela-tionships between the technology, the social aspects, andthe business needs.
As this article is eleven years old, I feel like in this age, we are defining the relationships between technology, social aspects, and business needs via social media. As companies and people are able to use it to tell their stories.
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Twenty years after the introduction of desktop pub-lishing, we are in the midst of a new shift—driven by Webwriting, content management and single sourcing—in howdocuments are perceived, viewed, and created. G
Indeed we are, as the Internet is growing everyday, created greater and deeper access to new information, software, and tools to connect us with one another.
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One goal of this specialissue is to help with what Shirk called the "developingawareness of transition from old skills and concepts to newones" by considering both how the field will be affectedbased on the new roles, and which jobs and skill sets willexpand and which will shrink or be rendered obsolete. I
Tech writing has evolved immensely from generic instruction manuals to now utilizing interdisciplinary skills. It's not just about knowing how to read and write sophisticatedly or eloquently, but you also have to tune and hone your CIS skills as well. Relating this to rhetoric, the key to success here is learning all the sides to tech writing and keeping up to date with all the latest tools in tech in order to be simply good at it.
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I am willing to claim that many of our current writingprocesses using new technologies are not unlike the earlyonline writing days when we clung to the book model andcreated pages that users needed to click through one at atime and that contained navigation cues such as "3 of 5."
I think this relates back to what we discussed in class regarding how the old Nokia phones had user manuals that were as thick as phonebooks, and how no one would read these enormous works of boring text. Now, people look to the Internet to solve their problems, or even better, like to troubleshoot on the device they are attempting to get help for.
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As Pringle and Williams discuss, we need to think oftechnology as the medium for communicating information,not as a set of tools. The contextual issues surroundingaudience needs and effective communication must drivethe choice and use of technology.
The medium is the avenue through which the modes flow through. I agree with this statement because we tend to look at technology for its face value but we never go deeper to learn about its components/tools. For example, we know how to use an iPhone but do we know much about iOS? Relating this to our discussion of rhetoric/dialetic process, it is important to know every component, tool, or side used to make up a technology in order to successfully use to its full potential.
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nfortunately, I believe thateven some teachers confuse tools with technology. Dream-Weaver is a tool, but all the various Web design tools andhow we use them to construct a Web site comprise atechnology. How to use styles in Word is tool use; under-standing why and how to use styles in a generic sense andrealizing that all major word processing and desktop publish-ing packages support them is understanding a technology
I understand that technology is constantly developing and its difficult for teachers to keep up to date with the latest tools or softwares and become an enough of an expert themselves in order to accurately teach a class on it. But if jobs are demanding for college graduates to know how to use these tools in order to get the desired job position, than perhaps a class that particularly keeps up to date with tools and technology should be offered. The whole point of college and investing $1000's of dollars on education is to be well taught and prepared in the career that you have chosen.
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Rather than the more common articles focused on asingle technology, I wanted to feature articles with a moreintegrated view that would address the interconnectionsand skill sets in an explicit manner.
I liked how Albers said that he wanted to find connections between points of communication and how the can be beneficial to one another. This is very important and I think Albers, quite suitably defines what technical communication is right here. It is about finding connections and patterns in writing.
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One issue that needs to be clarified is the differencebetween tools and technology.
A way to see the difference between tools and technology is that tools such as website developing softwares (including Dreamweaver and Adobe Photoshop) are used to put together the technology a.k.a. the website.
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Too many writers seem eager to craft"perfect" prose with the writing aspects overriding thecommunication issues inherent in the specific audienceand task.
I find this passage interesting since it seems to to imply that some writers put themselves ahead of their audience. I would think that technical writing is at it's best when it's useful to the end user, not the one who crafted it. This brings me back to a central theme in the article which is that the role of technical communicators is changing. Writers can no longer crank out a manual and call it a day. The work is a living breathing thing. This type of communication is designed for multiple audiences and with advances in technology, usability testing is now a crucial part of this as well. The work is never quite done. The user needs to always be front and center in the minds of the technical writer when working on any project.
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emem-ber, the user cares nothing about how the manual is automat-ically generated through nifty scripts that assemble XML frag-ments and create a FrameMaker file for final editing. The usercares only that the correct information is provided in thecorrect format at the point when it's needed.
While explaining the effects of technology on the field of technical communication Albers details how the need to write for multiple audiences should not be lost as the field is attacked with more and more software.
He is correct, the end user could care less how the information is made, all they want to do is be able to use it as efficiently as possible when it is done. So even though we are changing how we make certain deliverables, the audience is still just as important. The product is a failure if the audience it is intended for doesn't want to or can't use it. Like we discussed in class, the more audiences we can appeal to the more effective our writing will be.
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this expansion, the fundamental methods of deliveringinformation have changed, primarily though use of singlesourcing, XML, and multiple methods of delivery, all ofwhich have increased the need for both collaboration andproject management.
Tech writing has converted into multimodal technical communication. Modes of writing include: linguistic, gestural, visual, spatial, and aural. Digital media is all of these things at once!
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A possible alternative, he says, is for techni-cal communicators to become the problem solvers anddesigners who will create the content management sys-tems and document databases
This quote by Gregory Williams adds an interesting angle to how the roles are changing. One of the labels for technical writers that I've seen tossed around is that of Information Architect. Williams points out in the above quote that technical communicators need to transform into the problem solvers and designers that create the actual CMS's and databases that even Pullman and Gu discuss in "Rationalizing and Rhetoricizing Content Management". Even in "Records as Genre" by Catherine Schryer, the need for more effective problem solving skills in graduating students is behind the adoption of the POVMR system of record keeping. The ability to be apart of the problem solving process to me will ensure more active participation in future work. We as communicators are here to solve problems and the more ways we find to solve them, the better.
Technical communicators need to have a hand in the creation of these systems or be relegated to lesser roles as Williams suggests. We as the writers have an opportunity to shape our own destinies if we choose to.
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However, inrecent years, technical communicators have beenwidening their scope and expanding into areassuch as interface and interaction design, information archi-tecture, information design, and usability.
This sentence right here already tells me I'm in for something good, as the writer acknowledges the ever growing changes of technical communication merging with technology.
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lish-ing packages support them is understanding a technolog
NOTE: Since I highlighted the sentence before it, I was not able to include it in the annotation. This annotation should start with the word How and end in Publishing.
Albers established a very concrete difference between tools, styles, and the comprehension of technology itself.
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Simply attempt to integrate new technologies into ourcurrent practices. This period of integration is followedby a developing awareness of transition from old skillsand concepts to new ones and by an evolving redefini-tion of the roles of the technical communicator in rela-tion to technology. These events expand the field itself bycreating accepted new roles within it. (quoted in Carter2003, p. 371
In this part, I believe that Shirk is discussing how technology has integrated into society, and how we as a whole change dramatically as a result of incorporating this into our world. I like how she also points out how it has created new opportunities. One of the many upsides to technology is that it has created millions of new jobs that were not even imaginable 20 years ago.
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Traditionally, the focus of technical communica-tors has been on writing documents. However, inrecent years, technical communicators have beenwidening their scope and expanding into areassuch as interface and interaction design, information archi-tecture, information design, and usability. I
As we have discussed in class, tech writing has definitely developed over the past couple of decades and is no longer what it used to be. What once was a field limited to writing instructions and manuscripts has now gone digital and has converted into multimodal communication. Through this, information has been made more user-friendly and accessible to many audiences. Tech writing is certainly no longer limited to just writing itself.
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Without the ability to coherently participate in theconversation occurring around the cross-functional andinterdisciplinary team table, technical communicators riskeither being left off the team because they not assets orbeing relegated to the clerical position of taking notes andcleaning up the team's reports.
I found this passage to be interesting because like much of the article, this passage illustrates how technical communicators need to be more than just writers. The need to learn and even understand the language of technology is more important than ever.
This also hit home for me as I too am learning the language of technology. My wife will be the first tell you that I don't "do" computers very well. I'll admit during our lecture and lesson about basic html in regards to our Wordpress sites, I ran into a bit of a language barrier. So in reading this passage afterwards it all made total sense.
As noted in “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designed Social Futures” by the New London group, they go on to state that, “With new worklife comes a new language. A good deal of this change is the result of new technologies, such as the iconographic, text and screen based modes of interacting with automated machinery; “user-friendly” interfaces operate with more subtle levels of cultural embeddedness than interfaces based on abstract commands.”
After re-reading this passage what Albers is stating above fits right in. We the communicators have to stay current with the language of technical communication which means that we must stay current with technology. If a technical communicator is unfamiliar with the technology used by the teams they work with, they will be left behind. A worse case scenario would be that a writer that does speak the language is hired to take their place.
This brings up a question as well. How are the different modes of communication changing? Do they change? Like genre, do they evolve?
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he panelists at the conferenceagreed that that management and business knowledge are amajor missing piece in the typical technical communicator'stoolbox of soft skills.
A word that pops up this article as well the article by Pullman and Gu, "Rationalizing and Rhetoricizing Content Management", is content manager. Technical writers are not just writing the content but in today's job market they are also managing the content which means a closer relationship with new and different technology. Once the content is on the web, it does not go away and must be monitored and maintained.
The business side will always be looking a for new technology to find a way to streamline the business and make more money. This means that technical communicators will be apart of this process whether crafting communication for internal use or the users the technology may be intended to help.
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he vendors whoprovide tools sell them with a hype-filled message of howtheir products will revolutionize the business and thenprovide training on only the basic operation of the tool.Issues of how the technology applies to the business andhow a tool relates to the other tools and technologies in thecompany are neglected. Or, to parody a textbook, themethods of integration are left for the writer to solve.
While most of this article is explaining how the roles of technical writers are changing, this passage explains how there will also be job security in the future. Like we discussed in class today, if our boss wants an app, we would be told to make the app happen. In this case, a business is buying software, but they are only concerning themselves with the surface level tech requirements. It falls upon the technical communicators to facilitate the integration of that software into the existing systems of that business, which includes integrating humans into the new system as well. After reading "Rationalizing and Rhetoricizing Content Management" by Pullman and Gu,sometimes these failures to foresee the integration doom the roll out of the new tech/software over all.
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. And more thanjust understanding the individual technologies, we need toconsider how they interact and influence each other. Notechnology exists alone, no matter how much we try toisolate it
As Albers concludes the article he makes sure to add one more gem. Technology does not exist alone. Software is built on other software and even code is built on existing code. There is a source. None of these systems exist in a vacuum. While we may be expected to help with the roll out of a new software, we will also be on the front lines trying to figure out how the new software will integrate with the current software. Technology is influenced by other other technology. The more we familiarize our selves with technology the easier it will be for us to keep up.
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Writing is only one element of pro-viding that information; to ignore the other elements is toensure both our long-term obsolescence and lack of powerand respect within the project team and corporation.
This quote explains why the title "technical writer" is morphing in to "content manager" and "information architect". Albers mentions that "writing is only one element of providing information". I think given our readings and discussion of mode this is true. Trying to convey complex ideas in just one mode is a recipe for failure. While we need to find ways of conveying information in as many modes as we can we also need to be aware of how new technologies can help us in this problem as well. While we can add different modes of communication, there could also be an app based software for example, that packages these modes in way that a 10 year old understands better than if we use a written manual.
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Unfortu-nately, although there are six excellent articles in this issue, itis lacking one aspect I had wanted to cover. As Hackos pointsout in her commentary, most of the articles examine the "whatis" of the present rather than "what might be" in the future.
This passage for me, brings to light how the study of technical writing is lacking. While many in the academic world seem to focus on the state of technical writing right now, Albers wants to focus more on "what might be". I think by creating a discourse that is grounded in the future of technical communication we can all become more proactive as the industry continues to evolve.
When speaking about technology, the idea of "what might be" is a powerful one. New technology is created to solve a problem. That means technology can be created to solve existing problems, but also to solve problems that may not exist yet. By at least following the trends of where the next major developments in technology will come from, technical communication will always have a place in the modern business world.
The need to understand where the industry is going, not where it is currently is the most important aspect of this article.
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It's very tough to drain the swamp when you spend allyour time battling alligators. Individuals need to strive to bemore integral, organizations such as STC and ACM SIGDOCneed to provide support for and push an agenda at a higherlevel than individuals can operate, and academic programsalso need to reexamine the core goals that technical com-munication graduates should possess (see the article byRainey, Turner, and Dayton in this issue).
This to me, is one of the central points of not only this article but "Rationalizing and Rhetoricizing Content Management" by Pullman and Gu. We as technical communicators have to take it upon ourselves to evolve with the industry. Nothing is lost through more education, except ignorance. Sitting and waiting for the someone to tell us what we need to know to stay relevant is not going to happen because someone else already knows and they just took your job. In the previous paragraph, my favorite part of the article is Alber's definition of post-mortem planning, "...wondering how the company could outsource documentation to an overseas company and lay off writers who had produced perfectly written, unread manuals". To me this so perfectly lays out what happens when communicators become reactionary in regard to technology and not proactive.
Of course changing how technical communication is taught will be helpful as well. Instead of client facing projects that simulate problem solving in the real world, we could be learning how to write a Nokia cell phone manual like Dr. Wharton mentioned today in class...
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In the past, we have certainly seen a trend towardintegration of technologies into writing. For example,hefore desktop puhlishing, one would not have expectedwriters to know much about font or layout, as they werespecialists in text, grammar, style, rhetoric, information,or any one of a number of fundamental "on the page"skills. After widespread adoption of desktop publishing,which put the means of production into every writer'shands, writers' joh descriptions were likely to include arequirement that they know layout software, under-stand typefaces and white space, and participate in thephysical publication process in ways that were previ-ously unheard of. (Carter 2003, p- 31
Here Albers is quoting L. Carter from "The Implications Single Sourcing for Writers and Writing", who is explaining how technology has been integrated into the writing process of technical communicators. This is interesting since as I read his quote, I was able to recall my first time using MS Word in 1995 on my mother's laptop. To see how much has been added to the software since then is to see what a writer is now expected to understand. We are expected to already understand layouts and fonts as we transform into "information architects". The new requirements for technical writers will not be a mastery of MS Word, but of FrameMaker and other similar software. The more software changes and evolves the more we are expected to already be proficient in said software. As Albers mentions earlier, if we don't keep up we will find ourselves relegated to the sidelines.
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Technologypermeates everything a practicing technical communicatordoes. How we react to changes in that technology on both theindividual and organizational level will have a dramatic im-pact on the development of the profession.
Because we live in a technological age, the job descriptions and how technical communicators do their job HAS to grow with the advancing technology. It's possible that what we talk about in class this semester about what technical communication is won't be the same definition our kids will learn. The idea of technical communications relies heavily on what technology is available. As that grows, so will the job descriptions. The technical communicators of today are demanded to know so much more than those who preceded them. A job in technical communication interests me a lot and the idea of it always changing and growing makes me excited to hopefully pursue it.
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"One of the most crucial tasks of the technical commu-nicator is to provide information that users need by carefullyselecting the right mix of content and then developing, ar-ranging, and presenting it effectively for the audienc
This is very much an simplified definition of technical communication. Collaborations, technologies, and all other variables take a deeper look in the "how" aspect of technical communication. But at the basis of it, this is technical communication and how it differs from all other forms of writing.
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Right now, as a field, our knowl-edge space is too small, and our academic knowledgespace (what we teach) is definitely too small and confining
What about the field of technical writing is confining? Is it the fact that it expands much more slowly compared to other fields or is it that the technical communicators are lacking the knowledge to do so to help its expansion.
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how technicalcommunication will change as jobs require a more variedskill set that no individual can be reasonably expected tomaster. Undeniably, a jack of all trades attitude is not whatwe need.
A balance between "jack of all trades" and "master" is required for technical communicators. But also it helps if you are able to utilize the critical thinking referenced in earlier. Being able to learn new information and then "regurgitate" and utilize it is a valuable tool that you can use to learn the different technological aspects.
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Twenty years after the introduction of desktop pub-lishing,
(http://desktoppub.about.com/od/software/f/software_list.htm)
Here is an explanation of what exactly desktop publishing is.
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In other words, the writing aspects were thesame. In a very real way, the writing isn't different whetheryou are writing double-spaced text to be sent to a typeset-ter, using a desktop publishing system, or writing Webcontent. However, before everyone leaps up and claimsthey are majorly different, note that I said the writing. Thewriting process and the skill sets required to be an effectivetechnical communicator in each of those three writingsituations is radically different. The technology required tobe effective in each of those situations is also different, andan effective writer must be able to handle that technology.
This point is so vital to understanding the complexities of technical communcation, I think. The act of writing and learning to write effectively really never changes. The amount of context given, what the audience needs and/or wants, the process in which a product is made is the real complexity of technical communication in my opinion. Having an arsenal of skills to know that one audience may need a tweet while the other needs a brochure and then how to create good effective versions of those is valuable. Understanding your personal writing process is the start to all of this and also writing on different mediums and seeing how that effects your process.
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One of my annotations failed to show on my stream, so I am reposting it here... https://hyp.is/4gw0nnOhEeaTMCN5eC6xTA/courses.christopherylam.com/5191/readings/albers_2005.pdf
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Missing is our overall examination and synthe-sis of how that research and discipline movement willaffect technical communication as a discipline in both theshort (three to five years) and longer terms.
This quotation seems to have no faith in the future of technical communication. Through the years technical communication has evolved and will continue to do so throughout the years to come as technology advances and writers enhance their tech com skill sets.
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coming a spe-cialist is not required—although senior people probablywill specialize in one area—but all writers must be able tofluently discuss issues pertinent to each area.
I think that a lot of people would find this surprising. How can someone who isn't a expert on a certain subject know how to write about that subject? Well, the answer is critical thinking! The ability to comprehend, analyze, and then synsthesize information is such a valuable tool in learning new information and also being able to write about something you aren't necessarily an "expert" on. Rhetors and technical communicators should be able to do this with any information given to them.
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STC Annual Conference,
The Summit in Technical Communication is a conference for all technical writers to join in DC in the month of may to discuss, unveil, and demonstrate new products and services in the world of Technical Communication. (http://summit.stc.org/)
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claimed that it was very important that it be perfect and thatit must be written in case someone sometime wanted it
This brings me to think of the user manuals in the electronics and other household items the majority of us own in this day in age. It seems as the time goes on less and less individuals are actually paying attention to the written text provided although the writers spend a large amount of time perfecting their work. It makes me think why someone would want to become a credible writer but yet not have their work read as often.
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hnical com-municators need to continue to learn new technologies andtools to remain competitive and employable
This really proves the argument of the article; technical communication is evolving faster than anyone expected and to be effective, one must stay on top of the ever-growing world of technology as well as have the ability to write for it. Complacency doesn't work here.
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One issue that needs to be clarified is the differencebetween tools and technology.
Throughout time I believe that these two words "tools" and "technology" have become interchangeable much like synonyms. Technology is a tool especially for tech writers, of course.
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n tandem withthis expansion, the fundamental methods of
What are these fundamental methods being used?
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fore the mid-199O's, simply being able to write was sufficient to gethired. That text-focused view is no longer common. Whatemployers expect—and what graduates need to be com-petitive in the job market—is an expanded set of skills tocomplement their writing ability, skills that depend onvarious aspects of technology.
A teacher in high school always told us that the number one complaint companies had about new hires was their ability to write effectively was very very low. The knowledge to know how to write effectively plus the knowledge of technologies and how to write with them is the ticket to being a great and valuable employee.
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But the panelists all agreed thattechnical communicators needed to move away from sim-ply writing and into the areas represented by the fourspokes.
Technical communication isn't just for English majors; it's interdisciplinary!
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But many writers still want to clingto variations of the locked door; they want to be left alone andgiven enough time to carefully craft sentences and paragraphsinto beautiful, tight, coherent prose. Unlike programmerswho have been forced to work on teams, many writers stillwork alone or with only one or two other writers, and havethus been able to maintain the craftsman attitude. But thisattitude is, in the end, detrimental to their position within acompany and recognition by coworkers.
The idea of technical communication as a collaborative effort is another thing that is new not only to technical communication, but the profession of writing in general. We don't see many instances of cowriting, but in technical communication, it is almost essential. Going through drafts and ideas and different suggestions and input only makes the product stronger. Collaboration is an important part of being an effective technical communicator.
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Weiss (2002) argues that the "artistic impulse" of mostwriters can prove to be the "greatest barrier to productivityand may even compromise the quality of the communica-tion products" (p. 3). Too many writers seem eager to craft"perfect" prose with the writing aspects overriding thecommunication issues inherent in the specific audienceand task.
When writing for academia, especially in the higher levels, we are told to be eloquent and "perfect" and sound dignified, but when it comes to technical communication, efficiency and concision is key. The word choice and sounded lofty so you can make a word or page count isn't the most important thing: the audience is. Getting the point across is. Audience and task are the central ideas of technical communication, which makes it hard because we have to relearn how to write. That's one of the reasons tech writers are in such high demand; the ability to write concisely and efficiently is not a small task.
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contextual issues surroundingaudience needs and effective communication must drivethe choice and use of technology
This is where a discussion of genre and rhetorical problem solving can be used. Based on the rhetorical situation, a effective technical communicator must consider all things in order to provide the most compelling, engaging, and appropriate response/argument/product. Which kind of technology would be best is an important factor in technical communication in this age.
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Traditionally, the focus of technical communica-tors has been on writing documents. However, inrecent years, technical communicators have beenwidening their scope and expanding into areassuch as interface and interaction design, information archi-tecture, information design, and usability. I
As my classmate says, technical communication is ever-growing and ever-changing. What "technical writing" was 20, even 10 years ago isn't necessarily all that it is now. Technology is growing and evolving, and so does our needs of technical writing. Another thing to note is the change from "technical writing" to "technical communication". Now, it seems that it is more about a dialogue than rules and/or instructions
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The future of the field will be technology laden
Technology is loaded with tons of information. It is needed a lot, and it will keep improving. You can almost find anything with the use of technology. It's used everyday by everybody in the world. I don't think anyone can live without it except maybe old people who are still learning and adjusting to it. It may become a problem or may not with the next generation. It will all depend on how they use it or what they use it for.
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like programmerswho have been forced to work on teams, many writers stillwork alone or with only one or two other writers, and havethus been able to maintain the craftsman attitude. But thisattitude is, in the end, detrimental to their position within acompany and recognition by coworkers.
teamwork makes the dream work. Having worked with a partner before, not always easy
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eople handle technologyand address its problems and solutions with respect to theircurrent knowledge space.
This is what they mean when they say that no technology is neutral. Technology is very biased to the people who use it.
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It influences and is influenced by other technol-ogies and social issues.
Technology is dependent on other technological information. It is never independent. For example, you can get an iPhone that is bigger in size now which is called the iPhone 6 plus. It was probably influenced by Samsung since they have the Samsung Galaxy Note. I am pretty sure that the creators of the iPhone 6 plus wanted people to know that the iPhone's screen can also be very big just like the Samsung's.
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Writing and rhetorical issues are imponant and mustbe taught in an academic program, but failing to realize thatemployers consider those skills a given and judge prospec-tive employees on a more extensive set of skills handicapsboth the student and the long-term growth of the field. A
Writing and rhetorical issues are very important in the course of technical writing.
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Strategic planning in this context is figuring out howtechnologies integrate and what effects they will have.Tactical planning is figuring out how to implement a singlenew technology. Reaction planning is complaining abouthow management, without warning expects the writinggroup to use a new technology that they didn't choosethemselves. Post-mortem planning is wondering how thecompany could outsource documentation to an overseascompany and lay off the writers who had producedperfectly written, unread manuals. W
These are the different types of planning. I think that strategic planning is the most important because; you need to first figure out how technologies blend into each other, and what effect they will have when you use them. The rest of the planning types all depend on the results of strategic planning.
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A significant problem is the lack of empirical researchinto how to handle the technology issues within technicalcommunication.
What do they mean when they say "empirical research?"
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https://msu.edu/~bhatta30/wra/exams/Article.pdf
This link provides more roles or jobs that come out of technical communication.
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What I fear is thattechnology will be dumped on us without our input and thatwe will shoulder the blame when that technology fails toperform as expected.
But, it has already happened. Technology keeps changing and improving, and we as people don't get much opinion on it. We as people don't get much say in what we want to happen to technology. Technology develops and improves when we least expect it. I believe that people will not blame technology, but rather themselves. They are going to blame themselves for not catching up to the latest technology and for being too old-fashioned.
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Now that seat is easier to get but just aseasy to lose if you can't contribute as an equal member ofthe team.
It is easy to retrieve something, but it is also easy to lose that same thing if you don't focus on the goal. If you want something really badly you must be able to focus on it without thinking about anything else. But, if you lose your goal it is okay too because; you can always get right back up and try again and again until you reach it. You must persevere and remember that if you can't put your own effort in what you want to do, you can easily lose the purpose of what you wanted in the first place.
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erhaps part of thereason is that too many writers want to ignore technologyas much as possible; unfortunately, I think the end result isthat they either miss the train or get run over by it. I'veinwardly c
I would probably agree with this comparison if it was back in the days where technology wasn't as efficient as now. But, now that since everyone in the world uses and relies a lot on technology this comparison between writers with technology and missing the train does not match up.
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Dream-Weaver is a tool, but all the various Web design tools andhow we use them to construct a Web site comprise atechnology.
This is an example of a tool and technology. Technology is something that builds a website up to what it is made of while, a tool is the website as whole.
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NEW OR EXPANDED TECHNOLOGIESTECHNICAL COMMUNICATORS NEED
This section reflects upon the development of technical communication; the elements and skills set that comprise the field have increased over time. The job market has started to reflect this change. Generally, we observe higher instances of interdisciplinary elements in the field.
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The purpose of this article is to examine the dynamic field of technical communication and how the demands of the current audience shifts over time. Thus, the technical writer must pay attention to how the modes of rhetoric affect the audience's response. The article proposes a call to action for research to better understand this connection.
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The knowledge required for develop-ing, arranging, and presenting information requires an under-standing of the various technologies and tools available andan understanding of how the audience responds to thosetechnologies and tools. Writing is only one element of pro-viding that information; to ignore the other elements is toensure both our long-term obsolescence and lack of powerand respect within the project team and corporation.
This section is a call to action to address the growing field of technical communication and how people can examine rhetoric in order to better fit the demands of modern communication.
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Undeniably, a jack of all trades attitude is not whatwe need.
Contrary to this statement, we advise younger generations to adopt this attitude for a better chance at success in getting hired.
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e need to con-sciously work on how to address these issues
I expected this document to be more of an expository document, but this persuasive language says otherwise (Call to Action).
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Technical communication from the practitioner's viewhas a heavy focus on the technology side, while oftenignoring the softer social side.
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we havesolved the problems, why are so many manuals and helpsystems still unused? Why are so many Web sites still sounusable in terms of navigation and—especially—content
This is a very basic example of how seemingly minor differences in modes can make the difference between widespread use or becoming obsolete. Rhetoric should always be created with the audience in mind.
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realize thatabout 94% of the people receiving this journal are practi-tioners, and most don't want to read about theory andresearch
This statement defines the primary intended audience, hence the technical jargon. It's heavily implied that the audience is familiar with the field.
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I believe that Figure 1 is especially relevant to thisspecial issue because all of those areas map out the futureexpansion of technical communication and all are highlytechnology dependent using a wide range of technologies.As writers, we need to be conversant in all areas with boththe technology and the communications issues required toproperly communicate information to readers
I feel like Figure 1 is overly generic to display the "wide range of technologies" because I feel it could have included a category along the lines of an "interactive/response" category that relates to sensory and audience response. This is sort of an intersectionality that has a foot in design and another in human factors.
This image shows the relationship between audience and technical writer and how the connection has gotten more important in recent years. It's difficult to capture this in Figure 1, despite the wide scopes of the available categories.
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Considering how various technologies integrate withour current work practices and how they will change thosepractices is a difficult issue to address. The vendors whoprovide tools sell them with a hype-filled message of howtheir products will revolutionize the business and thenprovide training on only the basic operation of the tool.Issues of how the technology applies to the business andhow a tool relates to the other tools and technologies in thecompany are neglected. Or, to parody a textbook, themethods of integration are left for the writer to solve.Coupled with the development shift is a shift to cross-discipline teams that are changing project management(see Fisher and Bennion in this issue for one view of thisshift), changes that are fundamental enough to bring intoquestion what is meant by technical documentation andwhat skill sets a technical communicator must possess.Providing context-based help and moving more informa-tion into the interface shift both how we view audienceneeds and what we write to address those need
In reference to Figure 1, this quote further propels my argument that the diagram is too simiplistic. The field is constantly evolving and "cross-discipline;" there are far too many facets and multi-disciplinary interactions that the graphic fails to capture. Right now, I feel like this image needs to be closer to a spider web-like appearance than a simple x shape. I agree that it is difficult to address.
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Figure 1
What is Information Architecture?
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amely, what technologiesare needed to support the skills set required for the job.Unfortunately, the opposite is more often the norm: defin-ing/selecting a technology and then figuring out theneeded skill sets.
This statement demonstrates one of the prevalent problems in defining technical communication's scope. Because the field is dynamic, people constantly have to redefine the "norms."
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Traditionally, the focus of technical communica-tors has been on writing documents. However, inrecent years, technical communicators have beenwidening their scope and expanding into areassuch as interface and interaction design, information archi-tecture, information design, and usability. In tandem withthis expansion, the fundamental methods of deliveringinformation have changed, primarily though use of singlesourcing, XML, and multiple methods of delivery, all ofwhich have increased the need for both collaboration andproject management.Defining what those new roles might be and clarifyinghow they fit within technical communication has been thetopic of many conference presentations and recent publi-cations, including one of my own (Albers 2003)
We acknowledge that technical writing is a dynamic concept; thus, its definition changes as it evolves and encompasses new modes of communication.
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One goal of this specialissue is to help with what Shirk called the "developingawareness of transition from old skills and concepts to newones" by considering both how the field will be affectedbased on the new roles, and which jobs and skill sets willexpand and which will shrink or be rendered obsolete. I
I assume that this is Albers's primary focus. He intends to examine the various elements of the field for the purpose of examining the scope of how we define technical writing.
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In an editorial, Hayhoe points out "to survive as a profession,technical communicators must be more than packagers ofinformation for the technically uninitiated. We must becomemasters of the domains in which we work" (2002, p. 397).
Evolution into content strategists and mangers.
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