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Technical Writing in the Digital Age: Difference between revisions
Technical Writing in the Digital Age (view source)
Revision as of 07:57, 24 November 2023
, 11 months agoMoved and reformatted the "Digital Technologies and Technical Writing" section to encompass a list of digital tools.
Debbiebwolfe (talk | contribs) (Moved and reformatted the "Digital Technologies and Technical Writing" section to encompass a list of digital tools.) |
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==== Audience-specific ==== | ==== Audience-specific ==== | ||
Where possible, technical communication should be customized to align with the knowledge and needs of its audience. Communication style and tone should be tailored to match the audience's level of expertise and should take into consideration such factors as the the users' technical background, familiarity with the subject, and specific requirements. {{sfn|Viral Nation|2019}} | Where possible, technical communication should be customized to align with the knowledge and needs of its audience. Communication style and tone should be tailored to match the audience's level of expertise and should take into consideration such factors as the the users' technical background, familiarity with the subject, and specific requirements. {{sfn|Viral Nation|2019}} | ||
== Digital Technologies Tools== | |||
With the rise of digital technology, technical writing has had to adapt to the needs of a digital era. The predominant impact of such a revolution was that it made technical communication more accessible by increasing the breadth of its viewers. The world-wide web is public, and thus, it can be accessed by anyone with access to the internet. Such a phenomenon can be exploited to increase the audience of a virtual document. | |||
Technical writers can use a variety of tools to author and present their documents. | |||
==== Online word processors ==== | |||
[https://www.google.com/docs/about/ Google Docs] and [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/sharepoint/collaboration SharePoint] allow documents to be readily disseminated. Comment capability allows audience members to interact about a document with one another as well as with the document author. Relationships created by such online interaction fosters an environment whereby online authors might choose to link the works of various others to their own personal websites. In all, technical documentation posted online can grow a considerable audience over time. However, many aspects of effective technical writing, such as clarity, conciseness, completeness, and correctness, still need to be applied to technical writing created for digital interfaces. {{sfn|Carroll|2010|p=24}} | |||
==Historical Context== | ==Historical Context== | ||
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The projects of today's technical writers can be as varied as writing instructions to assemble a living room chair to creating websites. {{sfn|Grimstead|1999}} And the titles of today's technical writers may vary as well. They may be referred to by names as diverse as information architects to documentation specialists. {{sfn|Grimstead|1999}} | The projects of today's technical writers can be as varied as writing instructions to assemble a living room chair to creating websites. {{sfn|Grimstead|1999}} And the titles of today's technical writers may vary as well. They may be referred to by names as diverse as information architects to documentation specialists. {{sfn|Grimstead|1999}} | ||
==Personas in Digital Writing== | ==Personas in Digital Writing== | ||