Importance of technical communication

Answer 1

Importance of Technical communication

Term - Technical communication:

Technical communication is the process of communicating our audience by providing informations about technical processes and products through media. The informations we provide will be purely technical. It will be relevant to the audience targeted. Technical communication is the responsibility of a professional to provide informations for coworkers and clients. This is possible only when he is well trained technically. This sometimes turns to be a professional task. Thereby, professionals will be hired for works to be done. They are technical writers. They do professional writing focusing certain group of audience. This type of writing which yields beneficial informations is referred as technical writing.

Technical writing:

Technical writing does not involve creativity greatly, since they are the factual details of products. Technical writers should be updated and be aware of the contemporary trend. This writing mainly relies on identifying our audience properly and understanding their requirements. If this is done correctly, half of the writer's job will be over. The accuracy level in this writing should be very high. Because audience will be tend to believe and make use of the informations in the long way of reading it. This is the most commonly used form of technical communication. Writers follow diplomatic style of writing.

"Technical writing is the presentation of information that helps the reader solves a particular problem. Technical communicators write, design, and edit proposals, manuals, web pages, lab reports, newsletters, and many other kinds of professional documents.

Characteristics of Technical communication:

Technical communication is different from that of general communication. It is purely concerned with well defined business activities. This is a perception of multi-cultural people. Technology which exists in Tamil Nadu will prevail as well as in Karnataka, Kerala etc.., People who live in Tamil Nadu use the same technology which is being used elsewhere. Only the methodology of implementing the technology will differ from one to other. It is the matter of freedom to express one's view. One who is confident and proficient in his subject can express and share his knowledge. It is also committed to principles that should not be over-ruled. Certain other characteristics are unambiguous, concise, courteous, and objective.

Importance of Technical communication:

Technical communication is essential in an organization, because it serves as a medium to share the informations. People who are working in a company should have a mutual understanding which can be attained by sharing their knowledge. This technical communication turns to be effective when researches are made and they are conveyed to each other. Students of today are given practice to apply the basic science and mathematics principles notably. They are being trained well in the theoretical and practically oriented aspects. Where goes the technical application?

Technical communication is very significant for the practical application of sciences, for learning the mechanics in technology, for the promotion of technological research and for training the technical professionals. As the world is now confronting serious quandary due to the vibrant knowledge of technology, these kind of unrecognized jobs are being explored.

Significance in engineering field:

Engineering is a field, where students are being trained with practical and technical applications. Today, IT (Information Technology) companies are in need of these students but the cause of the need has changed. They wanted these people few years before for practical oriented jobs. Instead, now, they hire these students for technical tasks. The significance of these technical jobs is being increasing day-by-day. Predominantly, the training and the interest of engineering students lies in technical parts. Engineering students pursue their technical tasks, without getting necessary writing practices.

Once they finish their studies, they go out and work as trained engineers in companies and industries, doing all the technical jobs. It might seem that they are doing a good job which is true in the technical aspect, but they actually lack in their writing and communication abilities. Unless they prove themselves among the co-workers, their technical skills will go unrecognized. If technical people cannot interact with others, about what they are doing, what exactly is it about; there is no use in being a technologist.

Today in many companies and industries, many internal units are being established which were not in practice few years back. These internal units comprises of at least a marketing unit, a manufacturing unit, a design unit, a management unit and an engineering unit. As all these internal units focus towards the same end, engineers have the responsibility to out win the others. It is also their duty to transmit their works both verbally and in writing. For presenting their job effectively, influentially and understandably, they need good communication skill.

When a survey is conducted to determine which academic skills are important for engineering careers, communication skills ranked the top comprising technical writing in the second place. When technical jobs are concerned, communication tasks like writing, public speaking, listening play a very major role. People in technical fields must be well trained to execute their knowledge in a very brief manner for the specialists and in the expanded form for the non-specialists. They should make understand even the non-technical people by their simple and neat work. The writers must be aware of what they are presenting, familiar with their technical terms, if they are, they can make people understand easily.

The full meaning of a term can be expressed simply by 'unwinding' it from right to left and inserting the appropriate prepositions. For example, the term "wall stresses" could be expanded as "stresses on a wall," "stresses inside a wall," "stresses produced by a wall," etc. Only, the civil engineer can be sure that "stresses inside a wall" is correct. The interpretation is in the hands of the reader's knowledge on the subject being handled whereas the non-technical people get the intended meaning if the writer has done a good job. Thus, the significance of technical communication in the engineering field is noteworthy.

Versatility of Technical communication:

This communication is very essential in all the fields now-a-days, since everything is computerized today. Even though, all are striving to get that computer knowledge to their best, few cannot attain still. If the above said statement is true, it turns to be the responsibility of the people who have that knowledge, to train the others. This can be possible only through technical communication. Technical communication is important in any field of work where tasks are being done technically. If people have no technical knowledge, they cannot communicate with their co-workers. If they cannot communicate, they cannot exhibit their works done, which results in the technical errors and exploitation of their talents. When the versatility is concerned, technical writing stands out of the box significantly. It is a major part in many of the industries, though the necessity of technical writers is not appreciated. It is only now, those people are being recognized. No product would ever be successful, if the technical writing department does not exist.

It is very useful even in the marketing department. The marketing people's job got over when their product got sold out. But after that, the information provided by the technical writing departments is useful in the installation, application, and daily use of that product. Even though, these technical writers work together with others, their thinking will be unique from them. Technical domains can be of any kind, including the soft and hard sciences, high technology including computers and software, consumer electronics, and business processes and practices.

Technical communication jobs include the follow:

· Technical writer

· Technical editor

· Technical illustrator

· Information architect

· Usability expert

· User interface designer

· User experience designer

· Technical trainer

· Technical translator

· API writer

Likewise, careers in technical communication are wide-spread.

Careers:

Careers in technical communication include writer, editor, web designer, indexer, production expert, graphic designer, reporter, usability expert, and many more job titles. Whatever your expertise and interest, you can find interesting work in the field. Also, most professional positions require excellent technical-writing skills. At some point in our careers, sometimes every day, we are all technical writers!

Technical writing works involve the following,

Installation Manuals, Maintenance Manuals, User Manuals, Quick Reference Guides, Glossaries, Indices / Indexes, Computer-based Training, Online Help, Release Notes, Desktop Publishing, Proofreading, Document Conversion.

Conclusion:

Communication skills comprises many, in which, this technical communication has a vivacious role to play irrespective of the fields. Hence, we realize its significance and pursue it in our career.