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IT Tech 2007. 1. 5. 15:54

Technical writer

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Technical writers create technical documentation and user guides for a professional field or consumer technology. Their responsibilities are to communicate a message of a technical nature effectively, with more emphasis on understanding technology and less emphasis on aesthetics than graphic designers or copywriters. Technical writers are responsible for creating documentation that is helpful, accurate, comprehensible, and accessible to the intended audience. Many technical writers are also responsible for creating content for other modes of communication (e.g., writing scripts for industrial film or video).

Technical writers often have a certification or degree in English, in technical writing, in the technical field for which they are writing, or some combination of these.

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Qualifications

It is important that the writer has enough expertise to understand the audience's background and needs. It is also important that writers have the ability to assimilate highly technical material even if from outside the fields or specialities in which they have trained or previously worked in order to rapidly become productive in communicating new information. Writers with enough command of their technical subject to write for technical audiences are in special demand. For example, writers who develop documentation for software APIs, microcontroller operation, and other technical subjects are often paid more than those who write user guides for a nontechnical audience (for example, how to use email), since it is more difficult to find good writers with advanced technical knowledge or the ability to move quickly between advanced technical subjects.

While some technical writers specialize in technical areas, many experienced technical writers have knowledge related to specific methods of authoring and delivering information, such as printing processes, HTML, Javascript, PHP, Database Administration, Graphic Design, and Multimedia. Such extra experience may enable a documentation department to create and deliver complete and finished documents to a very large audience. Without this knowledge, the documentation department is more dependent on others to deliver the final product.

The technical writer has a self-interest in making the extra effort: looking credible is as important as being credible and getting results in business. Respect and credibility of the writer/speaker are integral to effective communications. Readers will not trust the information from an author if they do not believe that author is a valuable source of information or the purveyor of worthwhile ideas. Furthermore, being respected is essential to being persuasive, a key ingredient in business.

Technical writers are known in the United Kingdom and some other countries as technical authors. Technical writers are also known as information designers, information developers, and information architects.

Methodology

Before writing any text it is essential for a technical writer to clarify the purpose of the writing. Some context needs to associated to the project. Ask the question, Are we writing to inform or are we writing to persuade? Once this constraint has been identified, the technical writer must identify the main audience of the work, as this will have the primary impact on the level of technical detail and need for definition of technical terms that the writer uses.

For example, a writer might be creating a paper-based document about how to use a VCR for a non-technical person of average literacy, who needs to know how to set the time and record television shows. Or the document may be for a technician who must diagnose, repair, or replace internal components in the same device. A writer may even be called upon to create the storyboard for a training film/video for a procedure. The result in each case will be very different.

Quite often, technical documents have more than one audience (such as a primary, secondary, and even tertiary audience), and will thus need to serve more than one level of technical expertise. Although documents can never equally serve all intended audiences, the technical writer may create a wider range of usefulness in any document by including brief general introductory phrases, even in highly technical material.

Once a basic general orientation is established, the writer may build to more specific and in-depth terminology slowly or relatively quickly, as the need dictates. As a negative example where this is not done, a poorly-written document on how to assemble or use a complicated device may simply start with detailed instructions, and completely lack any introductory overview material which puts the instructions into perspective. Readers who have struggled with such sets of poorly-written instructions often appreciate the different approach of well-crafted technical writing.

Technical writers often work as part of a writing team. In most cases, after the documentation is written using a desktop publishing tool or a help authoring tool, it is normally reviewed for accuracy by one or more "Subject Matter Experts" (SMEs). Technical writing is an iterative process and needs the involvement of many to ensure high quality.

Associations

See also

External links

Technical writers
Technical writing

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