Exploring different genres of Technical Writing and its allied fields Presentation by: 1.Rahul Prabhakar (Technical Writer, Oracle India Private Limited)

Exploring different genres of Technical Writing and its allied fields

Presentation by:

1. Rahul Prabhakar (Technical Writer, Oracle India Private Limited)

2. Saravanan Manoharan (Technical Documentation Engineer, think3 Designs)

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Objectives

After completing this presentation, you should be able to do the following:

• Analyze the role of Technical Writers in varied domains, organizations, and sectors

• Understand the relevance of each role to a Technical Writer

• Develop some of the strategies for obtaining the position

• Determine the factors/ questions disturbing our community

• Identify the job outlook for Technical Communication

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OJ Simpson Trial

Fact Files

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OJ Simpson Trial

• During police testimony, it was discovered that the evidence-gathering manual produced by Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) hadn’t always been followed by officers in the chain of evidence.

• Tainted evidence became one of the defense team’s major concerns.

• LAPD revised the evidence-gathering material and updated the training class.

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Persian Gulf War

Fact Files

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Persian Gulf War

• TWs prepared a surrender leaflet that wasdropped into enemy lines. It was revised based on information from captured prisoners.

Highlights

• Removed color red (sign of danger in Iraq)

• Inserted picture of a bearded soldier in place of clean-shaven Allied soldier (a bearded man in Iraq is more trusted)

• Added Bananas to the bowl of fruit picture (delicacy in Iraq)

• Almost 87,000 enemy soldiers defected without firing a shot

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Education - Academic Background

2002 Survey of STC members showed the seven academic backgrounds most common among technical communicators:

• English: 32%

• Technical Communication: 22%

• Business Administration: 10%

• Computer Science: 9%

• Science: 9%

• Engineering: 8%

• Journalism: 7%

• Others: 28%

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Questions disturbing our community

• Where are we going?

• Will we disappear?

• Should we re-invent ourselves to face requirements?

• What do we need to do differently?

• What we need to be thinking about to survive?

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The Bottom Line

• The TC change is a fact of life

• The products evolve

• The documents that we work on changes constantly or so it seems

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Genres of Technical Writing

• Computer Software

• Engineering and Manufacturing

• Marketing Writing

• Technical Marketing Literature

• Medical Writing

• Courseware or Training materials

• Government and Military Writing

• Education

• Science

• Journalism

• Computer Hardware

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What are the prerequisites?

• College degree in any field that promotes analytical thinking and clear communication

• Strong problem-solving, writing, and communication skills

• Basic computer skills, especially word processing at the intermediate level

• Ability to conduct research and learn technical information quickly

• Dedication to providing quality documentation to customers

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What are the prerequisites?

• Willingness to be proactive in seeking information

• Ability to learn and use sophisticated publishing tools

• Ability to plan milestones and meet deadlines

• Ability to work as part of a team and independently

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Computer Software

• Development documents, which include business requirements or specifications, usability features, process flows, high-level and low-level design documents, API manuals, and programmers guide.

• User documents (to help the users understand and use the software), which include user manuals, quick reference guides, and training guides.

• Online help, online user support tools, such as wizards for troubleshooting.

• Software documentation (books), online and hard copy.

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Engineering/ Manufacturing

• Process flows

• Work instructions

• Maintenance procedures

• Non-computer equipment guides

• Technical reports

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Marketing Writing

• Ad copy and layout (design)

• Presentations

• Sales force materials

• Packaging design

• Promotional materials

• Information materials

• Annual reports

• Trade or news articles

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Technical Marketing Literature

• White papers

• Technical proposals

• Online demonstrations



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Medical Writing

• Newspapers

• Magazines

• Public relations (press releases)

• Scientific writing within organizations

• Professional journals

• Pharmaceutical writing

• Reference material


• Annual reports

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Courseware or Training Materials

• Online tutorials and training (Instructor Led Training and eClass material)

• Quick reference guides


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Government and Military Writing

• Internal policies and procedures

• Internal engineering documents


• Organizational material

• Annual reports



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Education

• Textbooks, online, and hard copy

• Scholarly journals

• Online tutorials and training


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Science

• Scholarly journals

• Professional journals

• Magazines

• Proposals




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Journalism

• Newspapers

• Magazines

• Promotional materials


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Computer Hardware

• Maintenance and service guides, which involve procedures, graphics, and some software documentation

• User support tools, such as help panels on printers

• Books, online, and hard copy


• Quick reference guides

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Strategies for obtaining the position

• Determine what fields interest you

• Take a class in a related topic

• Become familiar with publishing software

• Join a professional body like the Society for Technical Communication (STC)

• Prepare for interviews– Research the company– Anticipate questions and come up with answers

before the interview– Put together a portfolio

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How the job outlook is

Did you know that

• The average monthly salary for technical writers is 25,833 Rupees (STC India’s 2003 technical communicator salary survey).

• In the last ten months, more than 1,000 jobs have been advertised on the Technical Writers of India mailing list.

• This is just 10 per cent of the actual demand; there are opportunities for at least 10,000 technical writers today (Hindu – April 19th 2004).

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Driving Factors

• Global competition and translation requirements

• Customized products and niche marketing

• Convergence of software and documentation

• Shrinking cycle time and budgets

• Value-added documentation to assist the end users in decision making support

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Where can I go from here

• Trainer

• Customer Service Engineer

• Consultant/Contractor

• Product Manager

• Product Marketing Analyst

• Publications Analyst

• Publications Department Supervisor

• Marketing Communication Engineer

• Owner of a publications shop managing several consultants

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Where can I go from here (Contd.)

• Project Manager

• Systems Engineer

• QA Engineer

• Technology Analyst

• Programmer

• Systems Analyst

• Information Architect

• Project Leader

• Usability Specialist

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What every writer has to know

• The types of work that you do well

• Which of that work makes you feel the best

• How those map into what needs to be done in the business world

Remember:

Your background is nowhere near as important as

your skills.

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Transition to Technical Writing from other professions

• From Journalism

• From Teaching

• From Academia

• From Marketing

• From Law

• From Software Development

• From Quality Assurance

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Sources

• Technical Communication - Journal of the society for Technical Communication August 2004, Volume 51, Number 3

• Solitary Scrivener - Newslet-ter of the Lone Writer SIG,Volume 3, No. 1

• http://www.inwords.co.za

• http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Simpson/Simpsonaccount.htm

• http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos089.htm

• http://www.writing-world.com/tech/tech1.shtml

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Sources (Contd.)

• http://listserv.okstate.edu/CGI/WA.EXE?A2=ind9901C&L=techwr-l&P=R4672





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Sources (Contd.)

• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/technical_writers_india/

• http://www.computerbits.com/archive/1996/0100/techwrit.html

• http://www.stc.org/interestedTC.asp

• http://tc.eserver.org/14138.html

• http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/pdfs/gettingstartedadvice.pdf

• http://www.klariti.com/business-writing/Career-Outlook-Technical-Writer.shtml

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Summary

In this presentation, you should have learned how to:

• Analyze the role of Technical Writers in varied domains, organizations, and sectors

• Understand the relevance of each role to a Technical Writer

• Develop some of the strategies for obtaining the position

• Determine the factors/ questions disturbing our community

• Identify the job outlook for Technical Communication in India

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Q&A Session

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Thanks

Rahul Prabhakar: [email protected]

Saravanan Manoharan: [email protected]

Documents

Exploring different genres of Technical Writing and its allied fields Presentation by: 1.Rahul Prabhakar (Technical Writer, Oracle India Private Limited)