Working Paper: Integrating the Web into Education for Technical Communication Majors: A Process-Oriented Approach

Working Paper: Integrating the Web into Education for Technical Communication Majors: A Process-Oriented Approach



In this Article
Introduction
Background: The Emergence of Processes for Developing Content
A Process for Developing Technical Communication Products for the Web
Incorporating a Process-Oriented Approach into the Classroom
Incorporating a Process-Oriented Approach into the Curriculum
Sidebar: A Sample of Web Development and Technical Communication Processes from Industry
References
Introduction

In a conversation, Karen Schriver once observed:

Some things [in technical communication] have stayed the same.One continuing sameness is an interest in writing and editing.People have maintained that from the first time I heard the phrase technical communication.

What has changed is that many people in the field [now] realize that what we do is much larger than writing and editing and that the fields that can help us think about what we're doing are really diverse: cognitive psychology, graphic design, typography, human factors, comprehension, management and planning.I think that more people today have to be a jack of all trades even if they're working in large organizations where there's lots of support.

As the work of professional technical communicators has broadened in scope, so has the challenge of integrating this broader range of concerns into everyday practice.Within the academic world, the response has usually been separate courses. Many undergraduate and master's programs in technical communication sport courses in usability testing, visual communication, project management, and technical writing and editing.

Within the professional world, however, technical communicators and people in related fields who produce technical content have addressed this challenge by integrating the different issues into the single process for developing technical communication products (such as the LUCID process developed by COGNETICS (www.cognetics.com/lucid/), and processes described by Hackos, 1994 and Barnum & Carliner, 1993).