Technical Communication is a
resource and a product. As a resource, it is open to be tapped by various
practices and practitioners who wish to achieve goals that can only be done
through employing tech Comm. All specialized fields would at some time wish to
share their aspirations, contributions and concerns with the ‘outsiders.’ This
is not possible if they do not employ the Technical communication measures of
excellence guidelines. Therefore, Technical Communication is a resource to
professionals who don’t even think they need communication.
However, it is challenging for
professionals specialized in their given areas to be good technical
communicators. Specialization of labour is increasingly pushing experts in
various fields choose between either remaining subject matter experts or
becoming communicators in their field. Sometimes even pitying them against, ‘having
their cake and eating it.’
In my observation there are two levels in technical
communications, one being expert to expert Tech Comm. An example is in an
engineering firm that manufactures parts which will be shipped to another
company that will assemble the equipment. The technical documentation
accompanying the parts will be written in technical terminology. The second one
is expert to layman Tech Comm. Here, the message from the experts or specialists
must be simplified to the level understood by the general consumer and professional
Technical Communicators are preferred to write the documentation.
As a product, (as shown in the illustration above)Tech Comm produces and
disseminates information that promotes activities of professionals in a wide
range of fields. Legal people will write
contracts, lease and trade agreements; educationists will produce books,
magazines and journals; businesses will generate analysis and statistics;
management and government will create policies, plans and guidelines; while engineering
will bring out installation and assembly manuals.
In some cases, the professional may
have the drafting skills for the product whilst in others, a professional
writer (communicator) may be called to assist. The professional writer does not
pretend to be the originator of the message but an essential translator
Technical Communication as a
resource is important to many professions as an input. It contributes mainly to
their marketing communication efforts and goals. Yet as a product, professional
fields produce outputs that although may not be thought as Tech Comm. they actually
are, either in form, their content; or both.
No comments:
Post a Comment