The conversation about the future of technical communications continues… in fact it seems to be accelerating. Many tech comm bloggers and tweeps are spending bandwidth to talk about value, brand, changes in approach, changes in technology, changes in mindset. In fact we’re planning to shine a light on a different perspective of the future of tech comm debate on Monday, when Mark Baker, who writes Every Page is Page One, joins us as guest contributor for TechWhirl’s latest Integrated Technical Communications (ITC) column. Mark proposes a “New Doctrine of Tech Comm” and makes a strong and compelling case for thinking in terms of conversations rather than publications.
Twitter conversations recently show that our hash tags run the gamut from #techwriter and #techcomm, to #contentstrategy, #translation, #usability and #UX, and a plethora of others that indicate just how much our roles are changing. Or are they?
While a large section of the technical communications community moves at lightspeed towards multi-platform publishing, mobile content, video and social engagement, there may be a silent but sizable group out there looking to be the best technical writers they can with limited budgets, scarce resources and employers that want or need documents and only documents. So this week’s technical communications poll asks you whether you are embracing a wider role as a technical communicator. Are most companies going mobile and social with their content, or do most of them follow processes that evolved during the debut of personal computing? Are you constrained from taking your technical content in new directions by your regulations or the maturity of your industry? Take the poll, and continue the conversation with a comment, or a new thread on the email discussion list. Look for our new ITC column by Mark Baker on Monday, and share your thoughts about this crucial time for technical communicators.
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