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Buggy whips, anyone?
Thursday, May 17, 2007 — posted by Sarah
Jared Spool thinks that the technical writing profession is toast:
It’s no surprise that the two most popular topics at the [STC] annual conference are user experience and interaction design. Both are growing areas, while the art of writing manuals is going the way of blacksmiths and radio operators.
Technical writing won’t be gone until the last writer dies, but it will be curious to see what happens with the field as we move into a world where intuitive design implies a manual-less existence.
I don't think I agree with that last sentence. Most products have a LONG way to go before they get to intuitive. And furthermore, I don't think that technical writers are only producing manuals.
In the Trends panel at the conference, we touched on a related issue -- the rise of collaborative authoring such as wikis and user forums. Technical writers can and should play a role in the use of these tools to communicate with users. I also believe that animation and simulation will become more important. Although the upfront development costs are higher, localization costs are reduced (less text to translate!), and so these approaches are appealing for companies who deliver products in multiple locales. Another factor to consider is that visual communication does not require literacy.
Labels: technical writing
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