Download Can Technical Writers add value to KM - 28 08 2013

TECHNICAL WRITERS
CAN WE HELP WITH KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT?
Neil Woolley
Treasurer and Webmaster, Australian Society
for Technical Communication (Vic)
28th August 2013
Brief History of Technical Writing
• Early 1900s - The first technical writing books
began to appear
• Strongly linked to the engineering discipline and military
(aircraft manuals, weapons…)
• Post WW II – war-time technologies translated into
peace-time use
• 1950s – technical writing courses offered in
universities
• 1980s – computer era generated a lot of work for
technical writers
• 2013 – Many people doing technical writing who
are not calling themselves technical writers.
Historically we were very technical, now we are
more of a generalist profession
What do you think
technical writers do?
Information
design
Visua
Documentation
standards
For the
audience
Writing
ge
uired
In req e
styl
To
XML
n al
Project management
io
nisat
skills
Social media,
wikis, forums
Orga
Print
publishing
Scoping
Documentation development
process
Management
and organisation
Comp
ute
skills r
ols
Other skills
Output
formats
Output and
publishing
s
guide
n
For d
outpu ifferent
t form
ats
Style
HTML / CSS
Presentations
s
Need
sis
y
l
a
an
ngua
Intell
ect
prope ual
rty
isatio
Local
analy
sis
O
pu nline
blis
hin
g
T as k
Plain
La
g,
llin r,
Spe ma ,
m
ion
Gra tuat ry
la
nc
Pu cabu
Vo
Research
and analysis
cise,
, con
Clear complete
ate,
accur
nce
Audie is
s
analy
Requ
irem
analy ents
sis
Information gathering
Editing
and quality
control
g
editin
hic
Grap
n
desig
Co p y
Using
graph
ics
gn
l desi
Design,
structure,
layout
Struc
tur
editin al
g
y
ilit
ab ting
s
U tes
d
an
/ DIT
A
fic
Speci n
i
m
do a ge
led
know
We call ourselves
technical
communicators
(but no-one else does)!
We do so much more than just “write”
Where do we fit in the spectrum of
communications professions?
But we don’t just write
we also do:
• Research and analysis:
• research
• information gathering
• requirements analysis
• audience analysis
• interviewing
But we don’t just write
we also do:
• Design, structure and layout of information
• content design
• visual design (look and feel)
• graphic design (illustrations, photographs)
But we don’t just write
we also do:
• Editing and quality control
• usability design and testing
• editing (technical, structural and copy-editing)
• proof reading
• developing writing and editing style guides
• peer reviews
But we don’t just write
we also do:
• Output and publishing to a variety of formats to suit
the audience
• paper
• PDF
• online help
• wikis
• web and intranet content
• content management systems
We can also advise on using single-sourcing tools
for reusing content and publishing to a variety of
output formats.
But we don’t just write
we also do:
• Management and organisation
• scoping of content development projects
• project management
But we don’t just write
we may also be:
• Subject matter experts in tools such as:
• MS Word (advanced features such as styles, templates,
•
•
•
•
•
•
macros)
MS PowerPoint
Adobe Acrobat
Help authoring tools (Author-it, Flare, RoboHelp,
Framemaker)
HTML / CSS programming
Video creation tools (Captivate, Articulate)
Proofreading (PerfectIT)
How long does it take to understand this?
(From Yarra Council website)
All reasonable precautions should be taken to
avoid damage to Council assets. If damage occurs
as a result of a skip bin being placed on, or
removed from, the site or whilst there as a result of
its use, the permit holder will be held responsible
for the cost of repairs and/or reinstatement. All
repairs will be carried out by Council. The permit
holder must advise Council immediately of any
such damage.
How long does it take to understand this?
(Alternative suggestion)
When using a hired skip, you must take care not to
damage any Council property. If any damage does
occur:
• inform the Council immediately
• the Council will organise to repair the damage
• you will pay the cost of repairs.
How long does it take to understand this?
(From an unnamed company)
“The option to temporarily relocate out of the
building while building works are undertaken will
result in significant expenditure, more than the bid
for the relocation as a temporary site will need to
be established before the move, then the old site
will have to be refurbished for the move back. This
would result in a new purchase of equipment plus
additions to move back to the old site and two fit
outs, albeit one temporary.”
How long does it take to understand this?
(Alternative suggestion)
“If we move out of the building temporarily while
the building works are being done, it will cost more
than relocating permanently because:
– a temporary site will have to be fitted out
– the old site will have to be refurbished
– new equipment will have to be purchased
– there will be two moves instead of one.”
What did that illustrate?
• How much time can be saved in an organisation if the
words are written well
• Good writing is so clear it is invisible
Technical writing and knowledge
management (1)
One definition of knowledge management (Duhon, 1998):
• "Knowledge management is a discipline that promotes an
integrated approach to identifying, capturing, evaluating,
retrieving, and sharing all of an enterprise's information
assets. These assets may include databases, documents,
policies, procedures, and previously un-captured
expertise and experience in individual workers."
Technical writing and knowledge
management (2)
Technical writers can perform many of these tasks:
• Identify information
• Capture information
• Evaluate, retrieve, share information assets
• Write policies, procedures
• Extract knowledge, expertise and experience from
individual workers and convert it into meaningful
information for the audience
• Design information so that people can easily find the
piece of information they want when they need it
Discussion
What are the similarities and
differences between knowledge
management professionals and
technical writing professionals?