Communication
- An exchange of information getting a message across. 2 or more parties involved
- Has a purpose, a means, extent of task
- Listening, speaking, reading and writing are necessary for good communication
effective communication requires proficiency in all aspects of a language.
Good Communication
- Clarity of thought
- Clear delivery (message)
- Confirm message is correctly understood
- Breaking barriers – first step to good communication
needs good preparation (writing, speaking)
- 3 steps to getting messages across
introducing, conveying and repeating
- 3 steps to successful communication
listen, respond, act
Technical Communication
- Is the literature of science and technology
Information developed by science and technology must be recorded
- Needs to be written in clear, simple language for non specialists in the subject
- Sometimes needs presentation in great detail to subject specialists.
- Information conveyed must be precise, accurate and clear
- May involve projects for various companies and laboratories doing research work
- May contain speeches, news stories, scripts for videos and films or electronic publications
- Explains current research, a new technology, or provides information for others
- Needs clear thinking, logical and accurate presentation as complex technical information needs translation into a useful product.
- Needed wherever there is scientific or engineering work done – laboratory, manufacturing company, assembly plant, software company etc.
- Is specialized (related to Science & Technology)
- Has a special audience, purpose and style
Writing has a format, a situation and content for use
- Is communication for specific task
(educating, setting up apparatus, mending)
- Is situation-oriented, directed to very specific audiences
- Often, has a strong visual component.
- Connects to fields like Psychology and Computer Science.
Need for Tech.
- Communication
Meet team work with no technical expertise
- Engineers need to educate the whole world with their expertise
- Engineering and communication need to be combined
- Scientific knowledge is more specialized and more technical, therefore needs communication with non-experts
- Necessary for collaboration with other fields like funding, markets, recruitment
- Tech. Comm. has become more important with IT. Tech. information needs to be conveyed in a non-technical way
- Communication is between people with widely different backgrounds
- Additional explanation may be necessary due to different background.
- Tech. Comm. covers different areas, writing, information technology, graphic design and more
- Modern engineering needs to communicate results
- Technical communicators need to understand audience, translate and inform
Technical Communicators
Technical Communicators are Writers and Editors,Teachers and Advocates and produce:
- Help files for software
- User Manuals
- Packaging, labelling/instructions
- Proposals for businesses, organisations etc
- Web pages/Online communication
- Graphical presentations
Types of Communication
- User’s Guide, help, references, policies and procedures guides, online wizards etc.
purpose – to explain how to use products , services and policies
- Technical reports, articles and books -
Exchange “basic” scientific information
- Proposals, catalogues, brochures, video tapes, audio tapes and demonstrations –
Market products and services
- Workbooks, tutorials, quick references, video/audio tapes, online coaches, cards etc.
- Train users
- News letters, magazines and e-zines -
Provide for a combination of purposes
Process to Follow
- Varies among organisations
- Generally has four phases
- design
- development
- production
- maintenance
- Design
- 1. refers to:
- planning / designing a communication product
preparing a blueprint (building)
involves choosing content for intended audience and deciding on sequence to present content.
- 2. choosing a strategy for communicating information
- medium (print or online)
- form to take (brief warning message, entire reference
- tone of message
- general appearance of screens
- editing
- Development
- process of turning device into finished communication product
eg. Constructing a building from blueprints
Involves writing and editing information,
preparation of graphics, reviewing information to make sure it is technically accurate, usable and adheres to editorial guidelines
Production
- preparing for duplication
- duplicating and distributing to intended audience
- Maintenance
- variety of activities after beginning to use, using the communication product
- include tracking user satisfaction, usability and updating communication product as technical information changes.
Skills for Technical Writing
- Writing – communication through words and visual images
- Editing – for easy comprehension of a document making sure the writing is grammatically and lexically correct
- Information design – planning a communication product
- Project management – planning and implementing product to meet deadlines and within budget
- Graphic design – preparing page and screen designs and producing graphic images
- used in the design, development and production phases
- Usability – designing products and information to detect trouble spots
- primarily used in design and development phases.
Duties of a Technical Communicator
- Scopes project for an information product
- requirements
- audience needs
- schedule
- Uses media ( paper, Web, product interface) to convey technical information
- how to use the product
- how to install and configure
- how to customize or extend product
To Produce Information
- Gather information
- interviews specialists (engineering, quality assurance, marketing)
- takes advantage of artifacts produced (functional specifications, requirements, white papers, marketing collateral)
- experiments with product or prototype
- Does first draft. Explains product to specialists / non specialists
- concepts (overview material)
- procedures (step by step)
- reference (tables for detail)
- tutorials (teaching concepts through guided procedures)
- Collects feedback from subject specialists who have reviewed the work
- Revises the information product (final draft)
- Does production (makes sure the look is clean and consistent)
- Delivers information product to department that builds the script.
Note:
- Subject specialists – engineers, programmers, marketing specialists
- Non – specialists – managers, users of product
Competencies for Communicator
- Technical knowledge in some domain:
- software, hardware, process
- Communication skills
Knowledge for Tech.Communication
- Journalism
- Public Relations
- Education
- Science
- Engineering
- Computer Science
- Psychology
The Writing Process
Is similar to other writing and follows:
- Understanding reader
- Organising information
- Planning projects
- Forming collaborative groups
- Drafting information verbally and visually
- Producing information.
Producing Information
Is done by:
- designing for print or online
- formatting for multimedia
- considering grammar and style
- editing for consistency, clarity, accuracy
- evaluating for usability
- protecting information through copyrights and professional ethics
