We Explain Things
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Transcript of We Explain Things
A FEAR STALKS OUR PROFESSION
Fear that the profession is dying. Fear that documentation is going away. Fear that users see less and less need
for documentation in any form. Not True!
WHAT DRIVES THIS PERCEPTION?
Documentation gets smaller as common features become universally known. Example: “How to Use a Mouse.”
Drives to improve user interface to make systems “more intuitive.”
Continued perception that docs are of no value.
IS THIS A NEW PHENOMENON?
J.M. Barrie and Ronald Moore both had it right:
“All of this has happened before, and it will happen again.”
EVERYTHING COMES IN CYCLES
Jerzy Kosinski: “Being There” Things run in cycles Cycles by definition mean return But cycles have highs and lows
OUR PROFESSION IS NOT NEW
Joseph Champline was not the first technical writer, and we didn’t start with the “high technology” era
We’ve seen several “ages” in the evolution of technical communication
Let’s first look backwards…
IS IT HAPPENING NOW?
Mother of All Demos was December 1968
DARPANET first deployed October 1969 Sea change in technology began in the
1970s but did not peak until years later
SO WHAT’S NEXT?
Mobile: Technical communicators overlap into development with quick and easy applications
Video: Make it visual, but do it right. 1 minute of video = 1 hour of production = 1 page of script
FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS
Commercial space picking up speed High vacuum and low gravity combine
to new precision in devices and tools New tools mean new products…new
products require new documentation
NEW METHODOLOGY
Google Glass Epson Moverio BT-200 Microsoft HoloLens Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Docs Are Already a
Reality
WE ARE ON THE BLEEDING EDGE
We explain things, but it is only the new that requires explanation.
This puts us on the bleeding edge of technology at all times.
But if you’re on the edge, it’s too easy to focus on the abyss beyond.