Purposeful communication - Technical communication fundamentals

Practical models for technical communication - Shannon Kelley 2021

Purposeful communication
Technical communication fundamentals

Now, more than ever, the ways we access and use information change constantly and rapidly. Technical communicators must adapt quickly to the expectations and reading habits of their audiences. For example, when was the last time you read a web page from beginning to end? When you bought your new phone, did you sit down to read the user’s manual? How do you find what you need on an online schedule compared with a printed schedule? Think about those questions for a minute. Consider the implications for the design of those documents.

Using versus Reading Documents

In this textbook, technical documents include any mode of communication, whether online or in print, designed to meet a specific need. This means a video, a web page, or a résumé are all considered documents, and it’s important to think critically about how you use them.

The concept of “using” documents might be a new one for you. You’re likely more familiar with reading them. Why does this distinction matter?

The difference between “using” and “reading” shows how today’s audience interacts with documents. For centuries, print media—books, newspapers, and letters—represented the primary way to give and get information. Now, thanks to Google and social media and celebrity cat memes, we live in an age of information overload. We don’t interact with content simply as readers. Instead, we look for ways to use attractive content quickly and easily.

Designing for Use

Because of this emphasis on using over reading, technical documents don’t focus on text alone, and sometimes not at all. IKEA furniture instructions, for example, present a series of images that show users how to assemble their products. In this way, IKEA communicates a multistep process to their international audience. Customers in Denmark use the same documents as customers in Austria to complete their furniture assembly.

Technical communicators who create documents such as these have power to influence the user’s experience, so the stakes are high. But you’ve got this. Ever since you first learned how to tie your shoes or read, you’ve been sorting out what’s important from what’s not. You make snap judgments about the usefulness of a document without thinking about it. Your eye scans for headings, bold text, menus, images, video play buttons, and so forth. You are an information “user.”

You are a designer of information, too. Think about the directions you gave to your house for your cousin’s graduation party. You explained how to get there turn by turn and included street names. Visitors in the past have complained about being unable to see your house number, so you provided another landmark to guide people to your party. Most arrived as planned and close to on time. Your experience as both a user and designer of information means that you already have significant knowledge about technical communication, although you might not have recognized it as such.