Career Opportunities for Teachers of Technical Writing: A Survey of Programs in Technical Communication

1978 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul V. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Technical Communication ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Mail Survey ◽  
Experienced Teachers ◽  
Promotion And Tenure ◽  
Formal Study ◽  
Career Opportunities ◽  
Technical Writers ◽  
Technical Writer

In response to a mail survey of the career opportunities they offer teachers of technical writing, twenty-four programs that prepare students for careers as technical writers and editors indicated that their technical writing faculty enjoy about the same teaching loads, salaries, and chances for promotion and tenure as do equally qualified and experienced teachers of literature at their schools. The programs also indicated that they have a growing number of openings on their faculties for teachers of technical writing. Finally, the programs ranked and rated seventeen qualifications that might be offered by applicants for those positions; the most significant conclusion drawn from the rankings and ratings is that the programs look more favorably upon experience — both in teaching and in working as a technical writer or editor — than they do upon formal study of technical writing or the teaching of it.

Feedforward (ff) en Metaforische Transfer (mt) -Dimensies Van Technical Writers'

1984 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 116-124
Author(s):  
J.W. Broer
Keyword(s):  
Professional Identity ◽  
Technical Communication ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Visual Elements ◽  
Communication Problems ◽  
Writing Problems ◽  
Technical Writers ◽  
The World ◽  
Technical Writer ◽  
Use Of Knowledge

A map of the world of 'technical' communication shows the (a, ß)-universe, flat country filled with language experts and scientists, including engineers. In the centre Technical Writing is situated, a territory in turmoil, on the border of α-land and ß-land. In the U.S.A. the territory is developing fast as the professional core of a new skill. As emigrants, many people of an α-type or ß-type nature end up in the territory. Having a problem of professional identity they possess a hy-brid personality. The attention paid to this problem causes them to lose sight of the two 'natural' forces of an emigrating individual, that is to say feedforward — an anticipative composition principle — and metaphoric transfer — 'as-if use of knowledge from the individual's professional past, to solve the communication problems met at present. Feedforward (Ivor A. Richards, 1893-1979) is a principle of creative action, proceeding from more generic to less (a top-down hier-archy); a number of 'formators' (Charles W. Morris and Bess Sondel), the tools for making text according to the feedforward scheme, are discussed. Nowadays visual elements as formators receive more emphasis. Text is seen as a distribution of three types of elements ('knowing', 'feeling', 'acting') glued into a unit, the communicative 'whole', by the formators. The textual whole should match the type of readers as originally anticipated by the technical writer (27 types, a classification based upon estimating three levels of knowing, feeling, acting; examples are included). Some prescriptions for solving Technical Writing problems found by metaphoric transfer are discussed. To illustrate the traffic of ideas arising from metaphoric transfer, a detailed map of the border area science/ technical writing is shown.

Fictional Techniques in Technical Writing

1974 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-98
Author(s):  
Richard S. Ruch ◽  
Jan C. Robbins
Keyword(s):  
Technical Communication ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Intended Audience ◽  
Technical Writer

Technical papers should be constructed as coherent wholes, using those organizational, stylistic, and informational devices necessary to communicate their intended message to the intended audience. Since messages and audience vary tremendously, so also must techniques of technical writing. The technical writer will find that techniques normally associated with the writing of fiction, including creation of hypothetical situations, composite characters, invented dialogue, and dramatic story lines, aid greatly in achieving improved technical communication.

scholarly journals Han Yu (2015). The Other Kind of Funnies: Comics in Technical Communication. New York, NY: Baywood Publishing Company.

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 25-27
Author(s):  
Suzanne Rintoul
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Technical Communication ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
The Other ◽  
Graduate Courses ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Visual Elements ◽  
Technical Writers ◽  
Communication Challenges

Han Yu’s "The Other Kind of Funnies: Comics in Technical Communication" challenges the notion that technical writing is too “rational” or “serious” to accommodate the conventions of comics-style communication. She does this by illustrating comics’ unique ability to distill and reinforce information in ways entirely appropriate not just for complementing the purposes of many technical writers, but also for fulfilling the needs of their diverse audiences. The book’s major strength lies in Yu’s capacity to locate the productive nexus between two ostensibly dissimilar modes so that by the final chapter those connections seem not only probable, but natural. This text will be especially useful to scholars of rhetoric (particularly those invested in visual culture and/or technical writing) and practitioners of technical writing eager to embrace new (or in some cases re-embrace older) ways of seeing the relationship between textual and visual elements. The clarity with which Yu distils complex theoretical concepts makes this book appropriate reading for undergraduate or graduate courses as well as for non-scholarly audiences.

Portrait of a Technical Writer: An Annotated Bibliography

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-303
Author(s):  
Heather E. Keeler
Keyword(s):  
Technical Communication ◽  
Annotated Bibliography ◽  
Technical Writers ◽  
Technical Writer ◽  
The Subject

This annotated bibliography identifies and summarizes sixteen current articles portraying the technical writer. Despite the abundance of literature on the subject of technical communication, there is scant literature that describes and humanizes the technical writers—the skills they value, products they produce, roles they play, or industries they serve. The sixteen articles listed here, all published since 1980, paint a picture which may be of use to practitioners, students, educators, authors, and researchers.

Does Clio Have a Place in Technical Writing? Considering Patents in a History of Technical Communication

1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. John Brockmann
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Technical Communication ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Science Writing ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Technical Writers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Writing Standards

Technical writers need a historical perspective in order to distinguish between enduring and transitory writing standards, to understand the variety of past styles in building future styles, and to give the profession a better sense of self-identity. To overcome the problems in developing a historical perspective, such as a dearth of artifacts to examine and the peculiarities in rhetorical time and place which undercut attempts to generalize on historical information, the 200 year-old federal collection of patents is offered as a solution. This collection of patents is also very often the only remaining written work of the ordinary mechanic of the nineteenth century, and this collection truly reflects technical not legal, business, or science writing.

The Relativity of Communication: Albert Einstein as Technical Writer

1980 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Baresich
Keyword(s):  
Technical Communication ◽  
Albert Einstein ◽  
Special Theory ◽  
Theory Of Relativity ◽  
Special Theory Of Relativity ◽  
Audience Analysis ◽  
Technical Writers ◽  
Technical Writer ◽  
Efficient Information ◽  
Relative Differences

Efficient information flow in technical communication depends upon accurate audience analysis. The presentation of information must be adjusted relative to the knowledge and interests of the writer's audience. Problems arise when the relative differences in audiences are slight, but nonetheless important. Albert Einstein's writing can be used as an example of skillful adaptation of material for audiences with subtle differences. A prime example is his special theory of relativity, which he published in three versions for technical, semitechnical, and nontechnical audiences. Students, teachers, and technical writers can learn much from the way Einstein uses tone, personal address, varying levels of diction, definitions, and concrete examples of each of the three expositions of his special theory of relativity.

Bibliography of Articles on the History of Technical Writing

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. John Brockmann
Keyword(s):  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Technical Communication ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Central Problem ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Technical Writers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Slow Evolution

This collection of thirty-six articles exposes the problem and the promise of historical research in technical writing. The central problem is that historical research in technical writing has too often been focused only on celebrated authors or scientists as technical writers. The central promise contained in some very recent essays is that historical research in technical communications is beginning to consider the slow evolution of technical communication taking place across a broad spectrum of both celebrated and uncelebrated writers. This historical approach, though more difficult to carry out, is immensely more accurate and meaningful.

Irish Identification as Exigence

2012 ◽  
pp. 173-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Mara ◽  
Miriam Mara
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Adventure Travel ◽  
Technical Writers ◽  
Technical Writer ◽  
Do It Yourself ◽  
User Motivation ◽  
Tour Operator

To address some of the technical writing pressures concomitant with globalization, this chapter investigates documentation solutions implemented by an Irish Do-It-Yourself tour operator. The same identity-dependent approaches that these DIY tourism companies use to fulfill tourist expectations can provide technical writers with additional tools for analyzing user motivation. This chapter first analyzes how an Irish DIY Adventure travel company harnesses user motivations, then applies Appadurai’s (1996) globalism theories (especially his use of ethnoscapes, technoscapes, and mediascapes) to a particular use of this travel company’s documents, and finally demonstrates how user motivation intrinsic to identity formation can help the technical writer create documentation that effectively assists users in overcoming breakdowns through identity affordances.

Technical Writing: Effective Communication

1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-43
Author(s):  
Keith A. Wilkins
Keyword(s):  
Technical Communication ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Effective Communication ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Technical Writer ◽  
Good Report

Technical writing involves more than simply the “nuts and bolts” of preparing a good report. Good technical writing must be an effective communication, and in order for the writer (source) to obtain the desired response from the reader (receiver), he must have a clear conceptualization of the communication process. He must realize that the source, the message, the channel, and the receiver are important variables that influence the success of technical communication. The technical writer must be aware of the “filter” stages the receiver moves through before ultimately making a response to the message. The technical writer who creates a proper meld of the basics of good technical writing with an understanding of the communication process can produce an effective technical communication.

Technical Writing's Roots in Computer Science: The Evolution from Technician to Technical Writer

1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrietta Nickels Shirk
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Software Industry ◽  
Computer Software ◽  
Technical Writers ◽  
Computer Scientists ◽  
Technical Writer ◽  
History Of ◽  
Assimilation Process ◽  
The Impact

The history of Technical Writing closely parallels trends in the discipline of Computer Science. The early technical writers in the computer software industry were its own technicians (programmers and analysts), who used a variety of diagramming techniques to document computer systems. As a result of the widespread availability of computers and software which began in the 1970s, professional communicators joined the software industry and reinterpreted these diagramming techniques from technical source documents into user documentation. The impact of this assimilation process has influenced graphic representations in Technical Writing, as well as created the conceptual metaphors of the “user” and the “module” (which are emerging archetypes). In the past, Technical Writing's historical roots have been the result of reactions to Computer Science. However, the increasing presence of online documentation is now creating opportunities for technical writers to shape their own future by joining with computer scientists as influential equals.

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