STC Usability SIG Newsletter
Usability Interface

Reshaping Technical Communication: New Directions and Challenges for the 21st Century
Barbara Mirel and Rachel Spilka, eds.

Review by Jeff Staples

Ever wonder about the relationship between academia and the corporate world? Or, maybe if you are on the corporate side (as I am), have you wondered why academia operates as it does? (And vice versa.) If so, Reshaping technical communication: New directions and challenges for the 21st century offers great insights that might help you gain an understanding of how each world operates, why they operate as they do, and how the two worlds affect and can alter the future of technical communication.

This book offers an enlightening experience as it explores the similarities and disparities that exist between the two environments. However, it was not what I expected based on the title. I thought the book would explore technical communication developments/prognoses in the corporate environment and offer suggestions for ways that technical communicators might align themselves to be in sync with future developments in the field. Even though I found the title to be misleading, exploring the book was a worthwhile experience.

I was pleasantly relieved that though the text was written by academics, only two chapters are written in academic prose. Most chapters are written in a very straightforward, practitioner-focused style and tone.

In the Foreword, Ginny Redish sets the tone of the book with an enticing discussion of communities. We exist in various communities such as home, work, and professional organizations, and the new century will require that we broaden our community interactions. "Isolation breeds sterility. Overlapping and intersecting communities bring new ideas" (x).

The Preface conveys the editors' intent in creating the book and their resource methods for acquiring the various contributions. Basically, the editors hoped to inspire change by having the book focus on a larger scale, grasping "nontraditional ideas for moving the field forward in new directions." In an attempt to achieve this goal, they invited "technical communication specialists from both academia and industry who [they] considered especially creative and innovative in their thinking to contribute new chapters" (p. xv).

Continue on to the Introduction for a brief discussion of the Parts and Chapters in the book. The editors provide a historical recap of technical communication: where we have come from and what lies ahead. They contend that although important progress in the field has been made, it "has not kept pace with either the transformations wrought by the technologies with which we work or the growing demands for effective, valuable, and satisfying interactions with technologies and information systems" (p. 2). The observations are thought-provoking and will pique your excitement for what lies ahead?both in the book and in the technical communication field.
Part I focuses on the relationship between academia and industry. The chapters in this part explore the gap that exists between the two environments. Authors address, for example, questions such as "why are these two worlds traveling in parallel with so few connections, especially when they share the goal of developing a significant voice in the workplace" (p. 3) and differences in the two environments that "have led to false, stereotypical impressions of each other" (p. 8).

Part II branches out into the practitioner's environment, conveying the knowledge and skills that technical communicators bring to their work environments. The text in this part explains the need for technical communicators to expand out of their traditional roles of writers and editors to more "elevated and expanded positions in which they are vital to the strategic workings of their organizations and to the directions and designs of their technological products" (p. 4).

Chapter 1 identifies differences between academics and practitioners. As a nonacademic, I literally inhaled this chapter! It provides outstanding clarity and explanation for actions and processes that I have encountered when dealing with academics as well as why such actions and processes occur as they do. For example, many academics perceive information as something to share while many practitioners view information as a monetary value, an asset to be protected.

As Chapter 1 addresses the differences between academics and practitioners, Chapter 2 addresses the positive ties between the two groups. Deborah S. Bosley discusses commonalities between the two groups such as use of teams and committees, administration and management, and status. To develop a working partnership between practitioners and academics, Bosley recommends that academics focus on the similarities and common strengths that each group can bring. Academics should focus on working relationships with practitioners as an outlet for getting their research efforts accessed, understood, valued, and used in the workplace structure.

After addressing the differences and similarities between academics and practitioners in the two previous chapters, Chapter 3 advocates research to identify the areas where the two fields overlap-the common ground. Ann M. Blakeslee contends that identifying this common ground can help the two fields work more closely together. She proposes methods of research that "will help us understand better the differences and similarities between the two worlds and to develop more productive strategies for communicating across them" (p. 53).

Chapter 4 explores workplace communication and how academics can effect change in the workplace if they respect the social nature of the work environment. Anthony Paré offers information for academics on ways to improve their influence on workplace literacy such as using a participatory approach to let workers indicate what they need and being aware of the impact that an academics intervention can have on a workplace and its workers.

Chapter 5 offers a way to improve the relationship of academia and industry through active-practice, "an approach that involves educators and practitioners working together through project-based activities to achieve more fruitful and fulfilling working partnerships" (p. 82). Stephen A. Bernhardt examines cultural factors that continue to bring a separation in the two groups such as "the alignment of technical communication programs within traditional English departments" (p. 82) (academics) and "the place or value of technical communication research" (p. 85) (industry/practitioners).

Chapter 6 focuses on the need for professionalization of the technical communication field. Spilka advocates that instead of trying to define the field based on a commonality of its representation, we should embrace the diversity that exists and grasp that diversity as a strength for fostering a defined vision and goal. Spilka contends that major reform is needed "for elevating the status of technical communicators and of the field as a whole through professionalization" (pp. 108-109).

In Chapter 7, Karen Schriver questions whether existing research, specifically in the information design field, has been effectively conveyed to practitioners. Why else would practitioners view the research as unresponsive to their needs? She advocates that better conveyance of research findings might lead to more organizational awareness and thus may propel organizations to put more focus and priority on writing and design. Schriver identifies strategies for reaching practitioners and suggests "changing our dissemination practices could benefit the entire field" (p. 113).

Chapter 8 confronts the realm of globalization and the global effects on technical communications on both growing and struggling economies. Brenton Faber and Johndan Johnson-Eilola "urge us to envision ourselves as 'hybrid professionals' who combine product knowledge and strategic design and business knowledge" (p. 95). They advocate that for technical communication to thrive, there must be improved relations between academia and industry and between knowledge product and use. Faber and Johnson-Eilola offer solutions for improving interactions between the two environments, including frequent interchange by technical communicators between the two fields.

Chapter 9 presents several case histories of individuals who began in technical communication in the traditional roles of writers and editors and then expanded their professional scope into other areas such as usability manager and Web content writer. These case histories offer ideas to other practitioners who want to expand their own roles. Lori Anschuetz and Stephanie Rosenbaum offer suggestions on how such transitions can be given support so that the boundaries and roles of technical communicators can be expanded to "ensure the growth and influence that our field deserves" (p. 163).

In Chapter 10, Mirel continues the theme of technical communicators advancing out of traditional roles into roles of influence in software design and production. By assuming leadership roles in design and production, technical communicators will be positioned to build usability into the software at inception. She advocates that technical communicators should "advance new approaches to task analysis and development processes" (p. 96). Mirel contends that it will be through these new approaches that will take the usability field forward rather than "simply [having it] continue to run in place" (p. 186).

Chapter 11 basically recaps the discussions that have come before. Russell Borland advocates that technical communication evolve into interaction design. In effect, technical communicators must be knowledgeable in areas such as how the products and programs are built and must offer useful ideas for solutions. Borland contends that having technical communication focus on interaction design will lead them "to put their efforts into taking users into more beneficial areas of solving problems of the application domain" (p. 193).

Borland implores that the technical communication focus conveyed by academics and employed by practitioners be more in the role of a product author developing documentation rather than the current role of documentation developer interpreting the developers' intent/product functionality. According to Borland, without changes "technical communicators are likely to devolve into obsolete appendages to high technology, consumer devices, and software" (p. 194).

Many thanks to Mirel and Spilka for an enlightening and fascinating look into the future of technical communication. They provide an experience in which both academics and practitioners can find thought-provoking data to help them shape the direction and grasp the challenges that face technical communication in the 21st century.