English 1023 (Advanced Technical Communication)

AY 2020-2021
 
Lesson 1: Introduction to Technical Communication
Topic: Definition and Characteristics of Technical Communication
 Learning Outcomes: At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:

1. Define technical writing;

2. Compare different categories of writing communication;
3. Accomplish worksheet on the importance of technical communication
LEARNING CONTENT
Introduction:
            Technical communication is written for and about business and industry,
focusing on products and services: how to manufacture them, market them, manage
them, deliver them, and use them. Technical writing is written: in the work environment
or for supervisors, colleagues, subordinates, vendors, and customers.  Technical
writing, which must be understood easily and quickly, includes: memos and e-mail
letters, reports, instructions, brochures and newsletters, the job search, web pages,
fliers, PowerPoint presentations, and graphics. Technical writing/Technical
Communication is the resume that helps get a job and the web page that promotes a
company. In each case, the technical document must be quantifiable, precise, and
easily understood.
Why would you study technical communication? Is your learning not enough
without adding one more assignment or series of assignments? What’s the point?
You often do not believe that you will have to write at work. Do not assume that
once your education is completed, writing will be a distant memory because you are
wrong!  Once you are employed, you will have to write on the job. One reason for
studying teaching technical communication is so you will know the types of documents
you will write on your future job.
So, let’s prepare ourselves for an enjoyable technical writing experiences!
Lesson Proper:
What Is Technical Communication?
 
Technical information is frequently communicated through documents such as
proposals, emails, reports, podcasts, computer help files, blogs, and wikis. Although
these documents are a key component of technical communication, so too is
the process: writing and reading tweets and text messages, for example, or
participating in webinar or videoconference exchanges with colleagues. Technical
communication encompasses a set of activities that people do to discover, shape, and
transmit information.
 
When you produce technical communication, you use the four basic
communication modes — listening, speaking, reading, and writing — to analyze a
problem, find and evaluate evidence, and draw conclusions. These are the same skills
and processes you use when you write in college, and the principles you have studied in
your earlier writing courses apply to technical communication. The biggest difference
between technical communication and the other kinds of writing you have done is that
technical communication has a somewhat different focus on purpose and audience.

Difference of Technical Writing to other types of Written

Communication
Difference of Technical writing to other types of written communication
Technical Writing is different from other types of written communication. But it does not
mean you have to relearn all the skills you have already learned to accommodate this
new communication beast. Many of the writing skills you’ve come across are applicable
to technical writing.
College lasts only four to five years. Thus, you should continue to prepare yourselves by
studying essays. In addition, you also need to prepare for what comes next—your jobs.
After you graduate, you will go to work where you will write memos, letters, and
reports. This is the importance of understanding the difference of technical writing to
other types of written communication.  

Technical Writing versus Academic Writing

Academic and technical writing are two forms of writing between which a key difference
can be identified. Most people assume that a technical writer is, in fact, an academic
writer as well. This, however, is a false assumption. Although both academic writing
and technical writing require excellent writing skills, the key differences between these
two types of writing are the audience and purpose of writing. Academic Writing is a
form of writing that is used in academic disciplines. On the other hand, technical writing
is a form of writing that is mostly used in technical disciplines. As you can see, the
context of the two forms of writing differ from one another. Also, the target audience
for academic writing is mostly scholars, but not in the case of technical writing. Even a
lay person can be the target audience.
Technical Writing versus Creative Writing
Technical writing and creative writing are two styles of writing, which may very well be
distinguished just by having a look at their traits. The principal between every of them
is that, creative writing is written to enthrall, entertain and arouse a certain feeling in a
reader, whereas technical writing is to show the viewers with the factual knowledge and
is launched in a logical technique.
 
Below is a poem about a tennis shoe as well as technical specifications for
manufacturing the same shoe. These two writing samples further illustrate the
difference between technical writing and other types of writing.
 
 
UNDERSTANDING PURPOSE
 
Technical communication begins with identifying a problem and thinking about how to
solve it. Because of the variety of problems and solutions in the working world, people
communicate technical information for a number of purposes, many of which fall into
one of two categories:
Communication that helps others learn about a subject, carry out a task, or make a decision. For
instance, administrators with the Department of Health might hire a media production company
to make a video that explains to citizens how to use a website to manage their Medicare
benefits. The president of a manufacturing company might write an article in the company
newsletter to explain to employees why management decided to phase out production of one of
 the company’s products. The board of directors of a community-service organization might
produce a grant proposal to submit to a philanthropic organization in hopes of being awarded a
grant. Figure 1.1 shows a screen capture from an online video that explains how to create a
facebook web page.
 

FIGURE 1.1 A Communication That Helps Others Carry Out a Task

The purpose of this online video is to help viewers carry out the task on how to
create their own web page. 
 Communication that reinforces or changes attitudes and motivates readers to take
action. A wind energy company might create a website with videos and text intended to
show that building wind turbines off the coast of a tourist destination would have many
benefits and few risks. A property owners’ association might create a website to make
the opposite argument: that the wind turbines would have few benefits but many risks.
In each of these two cases, the purpose of communicating the information is to
persuade people to accept a point of view and encourage them to act — perhaps to
contact their elected representatives and present their views about this public-policy
issue. Figure 1.2 shows an excerpt from a website that promotes the building of wind
turbines off the coast of Massachusetts.
 FIGURE 1.2 A Communication That Aims to Change Attitudes
The purpose of this website, created by an energy development company, is
to generate public support for an offshore wind park.
UNDERSTANDING AUDIENCE
When you communicate in the workplace, you have not only a clear purpose — what
you want to achieve — but also a clearly defined audience — one or more people who
are going to read the document, attend the oral presentation, visit the website, or view
the video you produce. Sometimes audience members share the same purpose, but not
always. It’s possible, even likely, that a piece of technical communication will have
multiple audiences with different purposes.
In most of your previous academic writing, your audience has been your instructor, and
your purpose has been to show your instructor that you have mastered some body of
information or skill. Typically, you have not tried to create new knowledge or motivate
the reader to take a particular action — except to give you a “95” for that assignment.
 By contrast, in technical communication, your audience will likely include peers and
supervisors in your company, as well as people outside your company. For example,
suppose you are a public-health scientist working for a federal agency. You and your
colleagues just completed a study showing that, for most adults, moderate exercise
provides as much health benefit as strenuous exercise. After participating in numerous
meetings with your colleagues and after drafting, critiquing, and revising many drafts,
you produce four different documents:
 a journal article for other scientists
 a press release to distribute to popular print and online publications
 an infographic for use in doctors’ offices
 an animated blog post for your agency to share on social media

In each of these documents, you present the key information in a different way to meet
the needs of particular audience.

The Challenges of Producing Technical Communication

The Challenges of Producing Technical Communication
One of the most challenging activities you will engage in as a professional is
communicating your ideas to audiences. Why? Because communication is a higher-
order skill that involves many complex factors.
The good news is that there are ways to think about these complex factors, to
think through them, that will help you communicate better. No matter what document
you produce or contribute to, you need to begin by considering five sets of factors.
AUDIENCE-RELATED FACTORS
What problem or problems is your audience trying to solve? Does your audience know
enough about your subject to understand a detailed discussion, or do you need to limit
the scope, the amount of technical detail, or the type of graphics you use? Does your
audience already have certain attitudes or expectations about your subject that you
wish to reinforce or change? Does your audience speak English well, or should you
present the information in more than one language? Does your audience share your
cultural assumptions about such matters as how to organize and interpret documents,
or do you need to adjust your writing approach to match a different set of
assumptions? Does your audience include people with disabilities (of vision, hearing,
movement, or cognitive ability) who have requirements you need to meet?
PURPOSE-RELATED FACTORS
Before you can write, you need to determine your purpose: what do you want your
audience to know or believe or do after having read your document? Do you have
multiple purposes? If so, is one more important than the others? Although much
technical communication is intended to help people perform tasks, such as configuring
privacy settings in a social-media environment, many organizations large and small
devote significant communication resources to the increasingly vital purpose of
branding: creating an image that helps customers distinguish the company from
competitors. Most companies now employ community specialists as technical
communicators to coordinate the organization’s day-to-day online presence and its
social-media campaigns. These specialists publicize new products and initiatives and
respond to questions and new developments. They also manage all of the
organization’s documents — from tweets to blog posts to Facebook fan pages and
company-sponsored discussion forums.
SETTING-RELATED FACTORS
What is the situation surrounding the problem you are trying to solve? Is there a lot at
stake in the situation, such as the budget for a project, or is your document a more
routine communication, such as technical notes for a software update? What is the
context in which your audience will use your document? Will the ways in which they use
it — or the physical or digital environment in which they use it — affect how you write?
Will the document be used in a socially or politically charged setting? Does the setting
include established norms of ethical behavior? Is the setting formal or informal?
Settings can have a great deal of influence over how audiences think about and use
technical communication.
DOCUMENT-RELATED FACTORS
What type of content will the document include? How will the content aid problem
solving? Does your subject dictate what kind of document (such as a report or a blog
post) you choose to write? Does your subject dictate what medium (print or digital) you
choose for your document? Do you need to provide audiences with content in more
than one medium? If you’re using a document template, how should you modify it for
your audiences and purposes? Does the application call for a particular writing style or
level of formality? (For the sake of convenience, we will use the word document
throughout this book to refer to all forms of technical communication, from written
documents to oral presentations and online forms, such as podcasts and wikis.)
PROCESS-RELATED FACTORS
What process will you use to produce the document? Is there an established process to
support the work, or do you need to create a new one? Do you have sufficient time for
planning tasks, such as analyzing your audience and purpose, choosing writing tools,
and researching and reading background information? Does your budget limit the
number of people you can enlist to help you or limit the size or shape of the document?
Does your schedule limit how much information you can include in the document? Does
your schedule limit the type or amount of document testing you can do? Will the
document require updating or maintenance?
Because all these factors interact in complicated ways, every technical document you
create involves a compromise. If you are writing a set of instructions for installing a
water heater and you want those instructions to be easily understood by people who
speak only Spanish, you will need more time and a bigger budget to have the document
translated, and it will be longer and thus a little bit harder to use, for both English and
Spanish speakers. You might need to save money by using smaller type, smaller pages,
and cheaper paper, and you might not be able to afford to print it in full color. In
technical communication, you do the best you can with your resources of time,
information, and money. The more carefully you think through your options, the better
able you will be to use your resources wisely and make a document that will get the job
done.