The engineer as technical writer and document designer

Marsh, Clive

doi:10.1145/311147.311159

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…It will, in essence, be part of their branding as competent professionals and represent their ideas, problem-solving abilities, technical creativity, responsiveness, and understanding of the needs of their managers, colleagues and clients. The importance of writing to engineers has been recognized for some time and the contemporary workplace is making it even more critical [22,23,24].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The work of writing: Lessons from literary engineers

Moran

2009

2009 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference

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As engineers and former engineers, eight creative writers -novelists, poets, and short story writers -were asked what they would tell young engineering students about the importance of writing to their futures in engineering. Also, as successful literary writers, the eight were asked what they would tell those same students to help them improve their writing. The results provide writing and engineering educators with several suggestions as to how they might help students see the importance of learning solid writing skills. The responses also offer several approaches that can be used in technical writing and engineering classes to help develop and hone students' writing prowess.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The work of writing: Lessons from literary engineers

Moran

2009

2009 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference

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“…In contrast, Marsh argues that recent trends in corporate downsizing and consolidation will force engineers to become their own technical communicators in the future [17].…”

Section: Past Present and Future Of Technical Communicationmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Other researchers see single sourcing, a method of re-using and structuring information in a modular format for a wide range of audiences, as the future role for technical communicators [14][15][16]. In contrast, Marsh argues that recent trends in corporate downsizing and consolidation will force engineers to become their own technical communicators in the future [17].…”

Section: Past Present and Future Of Technical Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Integrating On-Going Training for Technical Documentation Teams

Catanio

2010

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

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The tools and techniques utilized in the technical communications profession are constantly improving and changing. Information Technology (IT) organizations devote the necessary resources to equip and train engineering, marketing, and sales teams, but often fail to do so for technical documentation teams. Many IT organizations tend to view documentation as an afterthought; however, consumers of IT products frequently base their purchasing decisions on the end user documentation's content, layout, and presentation. Documentation teams play a unique role in IT organizations as they help to build and create a public identity through end user manuals and the corporate website, as well as maintain intellectual knowledge through knowledge sharing and management. The technical communicator "makes sense" of complex engineering specifications by creating user-friendly manuals for the layman. The practitioner who compiles and records this complex information is a valuable resource to any IT organization. Therefore, on-going training for technical documentation teams is essential to stay competitive in the fast-paced technical market. Technical communicators in IT organizations who only write end user manuals are becoming a rarity. Research indicates a marked trend toward technical writers in multiple roles and varied responsibilities that include web design and development, and business systems analysis functions. Although these added roles and responsibilities require training on some of the newer software tools and 77 more complex programming tools, technical communicators are experiencing difficulty keeping pace with these tools. This article discusses technical documentation teams in IT organizations and provides an on-going training assessment to help technical documentation managers identify their team's strengths and weaknesses. In addition, measures and results from a study conducted at eight IT organizations, are provided to show the effect of how the integration of on-going training for documentation teams enhances individual competency and improves team performance.

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“…The setting is the manufacturing area of a company which makes specialized equipment for the engineering and scientific industries. Economic pressures to design and produce new equipment with as few staff members as possible have led not only to engineers having to produce more of their own documentation [10], but also to truncated production schedules, where prototype products must test both functionality and manufacturing procedures at the same time. Although the engineering principles behind these products are sound, the documents which support the process of integrating those principles into tangible "useful objects" are often inadequate.…”

Section: Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

When a Production Worker is Technically a Writer: Using Craft and Rhetorical Knowledge in a Manufacturing Environment

Velez

Hall

2001

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

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Although rhetoricians have studied the discourse practices of engineers, little is known about the production workers who must assemble engineering knowledge into functional products. This case study examines what happens when a production worker tried to improve manufacturing documentation, and how her success depended upon both her craft knowledge and the rhetorical skills she attributes to a Writing Across the Curriculum program she experienced in college. … although the goal of engineering may be to produce useful objects, engineers do not construct such objects themselves. Rather, they aim to generate knowledge that will allow such objects to be built [1, p. 5].

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The engineer as technical writer and document designer

Cited by 6 publications

References 2 publications

The work of writing: Lessons from literary engineers

The work of writing: Lessons from literary engineers

The Effects of Integrating On-Going Training for Technical Documentation Teams

When a Production Worker is Technically a Writer: Using Craft and Rhetorical Knowledge in a Manufacturing Environment

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