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April, 2005 |
Continuing Education in Technical CommunicationIn the November 1995 issue of Technical Communication, Krestas, Fisher, and Hackos described the "dramatic changes" occurring in business and industry. These changes were shifting the focus of continuing education toward topics of leadership and management. Ten years later, our field is evolving more quickly than ever, focused now not on topics such as those described in 1995, but on the very nature of technical communication itself.
In fact, many writers speak of paradigm shifts when describing today's information management and documentation processes. As information technology evolves, technical communicators need a new mindset and a different view of exactly what the term "technical communicator" means. A measure of this change is the appearance of terms such as "content developer," "information technologist," and "content analyst" that have crept into descriptions of positions once labeled simply "technical writer."
A major force responsible for this shift is the rapid evolution of extensible markup language. Since the late 1990s, XML has become an increasingly important force in software documentation and in technical writing in general. Once a buzzword, XML is now a reality, at least for the present, as companies test the waters trying to find exactly how this new technology fits into their information technology systems and corporate planning.
In like manner, the XML development process is redefining the role of the technical communicator. Although it has many variations and iterations as organizations determine how to incorporate XML into their organizational structure, we already see changes in a variety of tasks that have, in the recent past, been part of the technical communicator's job description. Most notably, programmers and graphic designers now commonly implement information design. This implementation was once a key job description of the technical communicator as desktop publisher and often touted as the creative component of the technical writer.
With the continual urge to downsize, cut costs, and increase efficiency, organizations are turning more and more to automated processes like database management of information and dynamic delivery of content, both of which have become prominent due to the emergence of XML. Most notably, single sourcing is an immediate outcome of this "move toward XML" we often hear about, and technical communicators are in the center of this "chunk-olution." The fact that Technical Communication recently devoted an entire issue to the topic of single sourcing should leave no doubt that change is either in the air or will soon be knocking on the doorstep at companies both large and small.
The redefinition of content as single sourcing modules will probably have even more of an impact upon the job of technical communicator than has XML itself. Thus, technical communicators need to be ready to move into this new arena. Understanding what it means to write in a single-sourcing environment, learning the association between structured writing and databases, and recognizing how information modules become information products in their own right are just some of the challenges technical communicators now face.
As a result, technical communicators need to learn more about these and other changes resulting from advances in information technology that will lead in turn to changes in information management. Not only will this knowledge enable us to be conversant with our SME counterparts, but keeping up with current trends will also help to ensure that technical communicators will not be left behind in the process.
There are many ways to educate oneself in this changing information world.
Many organizations, institutions, and universities announce workshops,
seminars, and training opportunities in topics of interest to technical
communicators. Webinars, now readily available on the Internet, make continuing
education convenient from home or the workplace.
Obtaining additional university credits or working toward an additional degree is still another option. At Boise State, our technical communication program (www.boisestate.edu/techcomm) has a wide variety of courses that may meet your continuing education needs. In particular, our graduate special topics courses, ENGL 516 and ENGL 521, offer a continually changing series of topics of current interest to technical communicators. Recently, for instance, there have been courses covering the XML development process, single sourcing, and advanced cascading style sheet coding. Even though these courses have prerequisites listed, interested professional technical communicators may often obtain permission from the instructor to enroll. In addition, those interested in enhancing their basic skills may find one of our two certificate programs of interest.
Keeping oneself current, whether it be by increasing performance in one's
current skill set or learning new skills, can lead to many forms of advancement,
including higher salaries, promotions, and better positions. Today more
than ever, technical communicators should find continuing education less
a convenience than a necessity.
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Continuing Education? STC Members Speak Out
Continuing Education in Technical Communication
Getting Published
in Magazines
Advances in Education Initiative
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