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A picture of a sandwich — not what you were
expecting on a site devoted to technical communications. Well,
permit me to share a story. Recently,
I entered a well-known
fast food store
which makes subs. I ordered both a roast beef
sub and the chicken breast sub. As the clerk behind the counter
was about to put the two subs (both wrapped in paper) into a bag,
she
paused,
and said, “You have to know which is which!” She
then took a marker pen, and labeled one of the subs, “RB” (for
roast beef, of course; that the other was a chicken sub was
left implied).
In my view, that one small moment captures
the essence of technical communications: Technical communication
is the art of stepping into the shoes of the reader, and anticipating
where ambiguities
or incomplete information may leave a reader confused, uncertain,
or otherwise unprepared to take action or make a decision. The
goal, of course, is not only to anticipate points of possible confusion; the
goal is to use that prescience as a basis for anticipating any possible
information which ensures that the reader is fully
equipped to encounter the technology in question.
Of course, real technical communications
is more sophisticated than marking a sandwich. It involves knowing when to use straight
text as exposition, versus numbered lists, bulleted lists, or tables; and
knowing when to a use a flow-chart or other diagram to supplement
standard text (or replace it altogether). Obviously, other
media, such as online help or video, entail additional issues of
structure, organization, and presentation. But at root, the
technical communicator’s craft is to empathize with the audience; that
is, to appreciate that the audience, no matter what their technical
depth, first encounters the technology as something new and hidden,
wrapped, if you will, like a sub in paper. It is the job
of the technical communicator to make sure the user always knows
exactly what kind of sandwich they are about to munch on.
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