Technical Writing in the Digital Age

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Technical Writing in the Digital Age represents the dynamic and evolving discipline of creating written materials that convey complex information, instructions, and technical concepts in the context of contemporary digital technologies.[1] Its purview encompasses the creation, dissemination, and management of technical documents and content within an expansive digital landscape.

Major considerations within this domain revolve around adapting traditional principles of rhetoric to digital platforms, ensuring effective communication in an era defined by rapid technological advancements. Key factors include integrating multimedia elements, user-centered design principles, and ethical considerations like accessibility and inclusivity[2]. This discipline also extends to collaborative writing processes and version control systems, acknowledging the necessity of teamwork in producing accurate and up-to-date technical documentation. The use of multi-modality and the interfacing of multiple media platforms and sources also plays a role in digital technical writing [3] In essence, technical writing in the digital age encapsulates the art and science of conveying technical information in a manner that is comprehensible and accessible to diverse audiences in our digitally-driven society.

Overview

Types of Technical Communication

Common types of technical communication include instructions, user guides, reports, memos, and procedures. [4]

Historical Context

Technical Writing Profession

The profession of technical writing began to take shape in the 1950s when technical writers began to create formal organizations, including academic programs and conferences. Key writing associations, such as the Association of Technical Writers and Editors, were also formed in the 1950s. Several of these associations eventually merged, forming the Society of Technical Communication in 1960.[5]

Digital Technologies and Technical Writing

With the rise of digital technology, technical writing has had to adapt to the needs of a digital era. However, many aspects of effective technical writing, such as remaining clear, concise, complete, and correct, still need to be applied to technical writing created for digital interfaces. [6]

Rhetorical Strategies in the Digital Age

Rhetoric is a communication strategy whose primary goal is to persuade an audience. Rhetorical analysis involves analyzing the demographics and habits of an intended audience. The information gathered allows writers to craft messages that appeal to the target audience. In the digital age, websites and social media platforms convey rhetorical messages. [7]

Online Documentation and User Experience

Digital Documentation

Digital documentation is the conversion of physical documents into digital files, enabling easier access, retrieval, and sharing of information. It includes features like searchability, version control, and security measures to ensure data integrity and confidentiality.[8]

Characteristics of Digital Documents

Accessibility

Website content should be designed in accordance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure that individuals with disabilities are able to access the same information as those without disabilities.[9] It is a legal requirement to include accessibility features in website design.[10]

Readability

Forms of technical writing must have readability. Readability is a term used to determine whether the content has clarity, conciseness and courtesy.[11]

Scannable

Readers quickly scan the main sections of a page to understand its content. The most effective web content is concise and simple to scan, making it easy for users to find the important information. Breaking up text into interesting, easy-to-read sections helps users quickly find information.[12]

Hyperlinking

Hyperlinking is a quick and efficient method for directing readers to relevant information in digital documents, facilitating seamless navigation between sections, references, and external resources.[2]

Examples of Digital Documents

In technical and professional writing, digital documentation takes various forms. These methods streamline the sharing of technical information, enhance collaboration, and ensure easy accessibility within professional settings, contributing to efficient communication and knowledge dissemination.

Infographics

Infographics, shared as digital documents, typically combine text, graphics, and illustrations to convey complex concepts or data in a concise and visually appealing format. Infographics are often used to simplify information, making it more accessible to a broader audience, and are found in presentations, reports, websites, and educational materials. [13]

Presentations

Presentations created with PowerPoint or Google Slides are vital for professional communication and knowledge sharing. They condense complex information into visually appealing slides for effective presentations by using photos, videos, graphics, charts, and graphs. [14]

Collaboration and Version Control

Collaboration

One form of collaborative technical writing is a wiki, which is a "Web site developed collaboratively by a community of users, allowing any user to add and edit content."[15]

Version Control

Version control is a characteristic of digital documents that allows for the tracking of edits and revisions to digital documents. In collaborative writing, version control helps maintain the document with accountability and transparency.[8]

Ethical Considerations

Technical communicators have ethical standards to which they must abide. The standards are divided into three primary categories. They are the employer, the public, and the environment.[16]

Obligations to one's employer include competence and diligence, honesty and candor, confidentiality, and loyalty.[16] The technical communicator must adhere to these obligations so that he/she does not harm the reputation or operation of the employer.

Organizations are obligated to treat customers fairly. Technical communicators must convey that the products or services an organization sells are safe and effective.[16]

Technical communicators have an obligation to the environment. This obligation includes alerting their supervisors, managers, and executive leadership to products or processes that are detrimental to the environment. Disposal of hazardous waste is far more costly than dumping it. Organizations could be tempted to skirt the legal procedures.[16]

The Society for Technical Communication (STC) is the world's oldest professional association dedicated to advancing the field of technical communication.[17] The STC promotes adherence to a list of ethical principles. They are legality, honesty, confidentiality, quality, fairness, and professionalism.[18]

Disinformation

One major ethical concern in all forms of writing, but especially in digital writing, is the creation and spread of disinformation. Disinformation, often referred to as "fake news," is information that is purposefully spread as false or misleading and is a sub-type of misinformation.[19] Modern communication technologies allow for the spread of information to occur at a fast pace. Social media is one area where the spread of disinformation occurs regularly. Some social media sites, such as Facebook, have begun to flag certain articles posted on the site as being questionable in their representation of facts or occurrences. Despite the widespread understanding and use of disinformation available today, digital writers need to be aware of their intent and the audience's needs and wants from their digital communication.[20] Ethical considerations regarding citing sources, cross-referencing information, and using primary sources are good practices for maintaining ethical standing and credibility as a digital writer.

To help mitigate the problem of disinformation, technical writers should utilize gatekeepers. These individuals verify the accuracy of the information before it is distributed to primary readers. This helps protect the author from any ethical and/or legal issues.[21]

Pedagogical Approaches

Barriers to teaching technical communications include the speed at which digital tools evolve and the complexity of software. [22]

Informal writing, such as some emailing, instant messaging, and texting, has crept into academic writing. In a study conducted by the Pew Internet & America Life Project, almost half of the respondents admitted to omitting proper punctuation and capitalization. Others even used emoticons. Colleges and universities now must focus on educating students on the different forms of written communication and when best to employ them.[23]

Future Trends and Challenges

Challenge

Among others, a prominent barrier to technical writers is the dependency on input information accuracy. Outdated, incorrect, or inconsistent data delays the publication, requires more reparative efforts, and decreases productivity. [24]

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence programs are capable of producing technical writing. One such program is ChatGPT, which uses machine learning to produce texts with human-like style and tone. [25] Another leader in this area, Contentbot, uses a WordPress plugin which gives blog writers ideas to enhance their posts which are shared via email. [26]


References

  1. ↑ Lucas, Gerald (September 19, 2023) "Combining Disciplinary Approach to Technical Writing with Digital Writing: Enhancing Communication in the Digital Age." Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Carroll, Brian, (2010). Writing for Digital Media. New York: Routledge.
  3. ↑ Lucas, Gerald-R. "Multimodal-Approaches-in-Technical-Writing". Gerald-R-Lucas. Unknown parameter |Date= ignored (|date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Access-Date= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  4. ↑ Lannon, John; Gurak, Laura (2022). Technical Communication (15th ed.). Essex, United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited. p. 30. ISBN 1-292-36359-2.
  5. ↑ Edward, Malone (November 2011). "The First Wave (1953–1961) of the Professionalization Movement in Technical Communication" (PDF). Technical Communication. 58 (4): 285–306. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  6. ↑ Carroll, Brian. Writing for Digital Media. Routledge. New York, 2010. p.24.
  7. ↑ Lawrence, Dan (2022). Digital Writing. Peterborough, Ontario, Canada: Broadview Press. p. 6-14. ISBN 9781770488229.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lucas, Gerald (September 1, 2023). “Exploring the Dichotomy: A Comparative Analysis of Digital and Paper Documents.” Retrieved Oct 29, 2023. https://grlucas.net/grl/CompFAQ/Digital_Writing/Documents
  9. ↑ "Introduction to Web Accessibility". Web Accessibility Initiative. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Accessibility and the Web". WCAG. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
  11. ↑ Zeleznik, J. M., Burnett, R. E., & Benson, P. J. (1999). Technical Writing : What It Is and How to Do It. National Book Network. p. 207.
  12. ↑ Barr, Chris (2010). Yahoo! Style Guide. New York: St. Martin's. p8.
  13. ↑ Lannon, John M.; Gurak, Laura J. (2020). Technical Communication Fifteenth Edition. United States: Pearson. pp. 292–293. ISBN 978-0-13-520322-4.
  14. ↑ Parkinson, Mike (2018). A Trainer’s Guide to PowerPoint: Best Practices for Master Presenters. United States: Association for Talent Development. pp. Chapter 4. PowerPoint Tips, Tricks, and Secrets.
  15. ↑ Lucas, Gerald (18 May 2021). "Writing on a Wiki". Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Markel, Mike. Technical Communication. 9th ed., Bedford/St. Martin’s, Boston, 2009. p.22-25.
  17. ↑ “About STC.” Society for Technical Communication, 19 May 2021, www.stc.org/about-stc/ Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  18. ↑ “Ethical Principles.” Society for Technical Communication, 20 May 2021, www.stc.org/about-stc/ethical-principles/ Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  19. ↑ Lawrence, Dan. (2022). Digital Writing: A Guide to Writing for Social Media and the Web. Broadview Press.
  20. ↑ Lucas, Gerald. (September 13, 2023). "Audience-Centric Style in Digital Writing" in From Reading to Writing: A Composition FAQ Textbook. Retrieved October 22, 2023. https://grlucas.net/grl/CompFAQ/Digital_Writing/Style
  21. ↑ Balzotti, Jon (2022). Technical Communication: A Design-Centric Approach. New York. Routledge. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-003-00606-0
  22. ↑ Hovde, Marjorie; Renguette, Corinne (2017). "Technological Literacy: A Framework for Teaching Technical Communication Software Tools". Technical Communication Quarterly. 26: 395–411. doi:10.1080/10572252.2017.1385998.
  23. ↑ Carroll, Brian. Writing for Digital Media. Routledge, New York, 2010. p. 20.
  24. ↑ Common problems in technical writing and how to resolve them (componize.com)
  25. ↑ "Chat GPT: What is it?". University of Central Arkansas. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  26. ↑ Siddiqui, Zafar (January 2022). "Will Best Artificial Intelligence Take Over any Technical Content Writer?" The Writing Cooperative. https://writingcooperative.com/intricacies-of-ai-tools-can-ai-tools-take-over-the-jobs-of-technical-writers-af36836f625c
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