Re: questionnaire

[Damien Braniff <Damien_Braniff -at- PAC -dot- CO -dot- UK>]

Regarding the questions raised I have a few general comments which may or
may not be helpful.  I am a member of the (UK) Instute of Scientific and
Technical Communicators (ISTC) and have just returned from the annual
conference where these issues were raised - in varying degrees.  Conference
topic - Beyond the Technical Manual

The ISTC, in varying forms, has been on the go for almost 50 years now with
delegates ranging from early members to quite recent additions to the
profession.  It has changed a lot over this period from when pencil and
paper were the main tools to modern day when we all have PCs, DTP and so
on.  The general opinion seemed to be that, although the profession had
changed, a lot of the basic skills remain the same - task/audience
analysis, clarity in writing, editing skills etc.  What has changed most
over the years is HOW we deliver the information.  The information itself
has also changed with each new, high tech product developed but this was
ever the case from the beginning.

Where are we going from here? Are the paperless document systems about to
take over at last? The answer to this seemed to be a mixture of both Yes
and No.  More and more technical literature is being produced on-line but a
lot of people out there still LIKE their paper manuals - hence the Print
option provided on all on-line lit!  However (as CDs vs Vinyl) we WILL be
forced down the route of on-line documentation.  How does this affect us as
writers?  The basic "tools" remain the same - we still need to analyse the
audience etc; all that has changed is how we deliver the information. This
means that we must modify our writing style to suit the medium we are using
- write in "chunks" etc.

One strand of discussion at the conference was the spread of Intranets and
the rise of Knowledge Management.  Basically this states that information
is the lifeblood of any organisation and how information is managed and how
quickly/well it is distributed is a fair indication as to how "healthy" the
company is.  Intranets make the spread of information (in theory) easy but
they are often perceived as the domain of the IT department. WRONG!!  They
are responsible for the the "hardware" but should not be responsible for
what information is distributed or how (suggestions for them are, of
course, welcome!).  Who then should be responsible for managing this
information?  One suggestion was technical writers.  Why? Well, we already
have the basic skills requied to get the information (it's part of our
job), we're familiar with layout etc, generally knowledgeable without being
technos, and we can, generally, cut out the crap and write plain english
that people can understand.   Just a thought.

Finally, re values etc, I don't know enough about how things are run in US
re STC work, education and so on. However I can give a brief overview of
how it works here.  Until recently there were very few qualifications
available in tech writing. Authors were generally engineers/programmers who
could write good english (!) who moved into the profession.  After this
there came the London City and Guilds organisation.  This body set up a
course of study for Technical Authorship (among many other things) which
lead to a certificate in technical writing.  For a long time this was the
ONLY recognised qualification available to technical authors.  Recently,
within the last 5 years or so, different universities have started doing
degree courses (BSc/MA/MSc).  Almost invariably the postgraduate courses
have been aimed at working authors; the BSc was aimed at people new to the
job and included a "placement" where the student gained practical work
experience.  Two other recent developments have been instigated/promoted by
the Institute:

   City and Guilds Licentiate Award.  This was aimed specifically at
   authors without technical writing qualifications but who had shown, over
   the years, that they can "do the job".  This award is based on several
   things - assessment of work (portfolio type examples), other degrees,
   and so on.  It is equivalent to the European "Master Craftsman" award.

   National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs). This is again relatively new
   and provides an alternative route into the profession. I suppose one way
   of describing it would be an "apprenticeship" route.  Based on measuring
   specific "competencies" required for the job. The Institute is currently
   putting the final touches to the procedures so that they can be tested,
   hopefully, in the new year.  The aim is for the Institute to become an
   awarding body for these awards.

The aim in all this is to raise the profile of the profession and gain
recognition for those who work in it.  Once professional standards have
been set perhaps we will be able to say to employers - we are professionals
so pay accordingly!!



Damien Braniff
Technical Author
PAC International

PS  The European TC Forum are proposing Certified Technical Authors.  Some
friends of mine say we should be all certified anyway>

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