Society for Technical Communication—Israel Chapter

by Saul Carliner

With none much more than 50 years old, the disciplines of interactive communication, instructional design, and technical communication are professions entering adolescence. 

Like most adolescents, each is developing a stronger awareness of its environment and, in response, is redefining itself.  These new definitions show striking similarity to one another. 

Taking the path towards adolescence

Instructional design developed as a profession in the United States during World War II.  At the time, the military needed to more efficiently design and deliver training on the new military technologies that were introduced in that conflict.  They turned to the American Institutes for Research, which developed an efficient methodology for preparing training courses--called instructional systems design--and principles for designing courses so that learners could learn the material more efficiently and retain it more effectively. 

Technical communication developed next, experiencing huge growth in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  In the late 1970s, consumers--fed up with unclear language in legal documents, such as insurance policies--rallied for laws requiring that their authors use plain language.  Movements evolved on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the U.K., research at places like the University of Birmingham inspired improved practice.  In the United States, researchers at the American Institute for Research and Carnegie Mellon University published a series of guidelines for designing documents so that readers could more easily find and understand information.  The PC revolution followed soon afterwards, providing additional demand for cogent technical information.

Although interactive communication has existed as a discipline as long as technical communication, it experienced its major growth spurt during the Microsoft Windows explosion in the early and mid 1990s, and the related explosion of multimedia and the Internet that followed. 

Moving beyond the basics

As each profession has grown and developed, so has the understanding of its potential and limitations as disciplines.  For example, instructional designers came to learn that an effective training program alone would not improve the performance of learners if other issues, such as resources and motivation, were not addressed. 

Leading instructional designers suggested broadening the scope of that field from developing training courses to designing interventions that promote the effective human performance.  To suggest appropriate interventions and develop them, however, instructional designers would need to become involved earlier in a situation, and receive permission to suggest a broader range of solutions. 

Similarly, technical communicators realized that good information can help people effectively use products but can only go so far in covering up poor product design.  If technical communicators could become involved earlier in the development of software and other products, they could help design products that are more intuitive for users and, ultimately, need less information.

Meanwhile, developers of interactive communication programs quickly realized how time consuming developing these programs can be and how little of the work can be re-used. With more intelligent design and more comprehensive development tools (software), and new copyright agreements, elements of interactive communication programs can be used again, reducing development time and cost to clients. 

Moving into new names

As a result of more broadly focusing efforts, interactive communicators, instructional designers, and technical communicators have found that some of the old "tricks of the trade" hinder the progress of the field. 

For example, "old" measures of productivity no longer work.  Typically, training organizations (the organizations where instructional designers typically work) would measure their productivity in student-days--that is, the number of students taught multiplied by the number of days of training each received in the classroom. 

When instruction is offered online and training organizations offer a variety of interventions to promote performance (most outside the classroom), student days is, at best, a partial measure of productivity and, at most, a misleading measure.  However, no similar measure has yet replaced it.

As instructional designers grapple with the measurement of student-days, technical communicators grapple with the measurement of page and screen counts, which assess the productivity of technical communicators as the number of pages and screens published in a given time period. 

When technical communicators have had a positive impact on product design, however, they do not need to write as much because the products they describe require less explanation. 

As choosing appropriate productivity metrics baffles the two disciplines, so  does choosing a name.  Traditional names like instructional design and technical communication no longer adequately position disciplines for the work they seek. 

For example, instructional designers are increasingly changing their job titles to performance technologists (or similar) to more clearly state their focus on performance. 

Similarly, technical communicators are increasingly calling themselves information developers, designers, and architects, to identify that they have a broader range of skill than merely writing, and that they have the skills to become an integral part of the software team. 

Marching into one another's territory

Changing names, too, is also intended to distance professionals in these fields from the connotations of the older job titles and position professionals for a different a broader range of assignments.  For example, many instructional designers and technical communicators seek opportunities to develop interactive communication programs. 

In contrast to the challenges faced by instructional designers and technical communicators, interactive communication specialists have a different problem.  When few people were preparing interactive communication, a specialized community was needed for people in any communication disciplines (including marketing, training, and technical) who specialized in interactive communication. 

But as interactive communications experiences a wild growth spurt, it moves into the mainstream of more traditional communications disciplines. 

As it does so, interactive technology has also led to new forms of communication, forms that blur the traditional boundaries among traditional disciplines, such as training and documentation.  One of those new forms is a wizard, which is software that performs most of a task for a user online, such as calculating a mortgage or choosing a flight. 

Because wizards reduce the amount of learning needed to perform a task, instructional designers have embraced them as one of many tools in an electronic system that can support a user's performance 

Technical communicators have embraced wizards, too, because they eliminate work for users.  They call wizards and similar electronic types of communication user assistance or embedded help (because this information is helpful information that is embedded in the product). 

The lines have similarly blurred around marketing materials, because materials that were merely informative in print, can now serve instructional purposes when developed as interactive, online demonstrations. 

As the lines that traditionally delineated technical and marketing communications, and instructional design blur, they increasingly compete for the same work.  Similarly, as the work of the three disciplines merges, people more easily move jobs in the three fields. 

Merging territories

Outside forces, too, are encouraging mergers among the disciplines.  Many organizations that separately create training and documentation see the separate efforts as duplication of effort. 

Similarly, as organizations increasingly focus on knowledge management and on realizing the largest gains on the knowledge that has been captured and stored within the organization, they seek to centralize or, at least coordinate, the development and storage of that knowledge so it can be most efficiently and effectively disseminated. 

So corporations as diverse as Lawson Software, Marquette Medical Systems, and Xerox Corporation have merged their training and documentation groups. 

Although the mergers seem like natural ones, the cultures of the occupational disciplines are somewhat different, creating some initial challenges for managers.  For example, one manager noted that the instructional systems design process is especially strong in the analysis, design phases, and evaluation phases but weak in the development phases. 

In contrast, technical communication offers a strong process in the development phases, but is weak in analysis, design phases, and evaluation.

After clearing the initial hurdles, organizations realize many benefits.  Because they work together, instructional designers and communicators can offer their organizations the efficiency and financial benefits from developing content once, with the intention of re-using it. 

Both communicators and instructional designers have broader opportunities, because their organizations now offer a broader range of assignments.  In addition to developing a broader range of communication products, the challenges of coordinating design among performance interventions and information design results in broader design and project management responsibilities. 

In the academic world, collaboration is more prevalent than mergers.  Individual professors in disciplines encourage their students to take courses in the related disciplines.  For example, many professors of  communication suggest that their students take courses in educational (cognitive) psychology and instructional design.  Similarly, many professors of instructional design suggest that their students take courses in document design and authoring tools. 

But more formal mergers may be in the offing.  The University of Minnesota has proposed merging two of its communication faculties: mass communications and speech communications. 

Saul Carliner is an assistant professor in the information design program at Bentley College in Waltham, MA. He is author of An Overview of Online Learning (Lakewood Publications/HRD Press, 1999), co-editor of Techniques for Technical Communicators (Allyn & Bacon, 1993), and an associate fellow and past international president of the STC. 

How much do we know about one another--test your knowledge of training and documentation

By Saul Carliner

Questions

1. According to surveys, people who write technical manuals, help, and similar communication products would prefer to be called:

a. Information designers and developers
b. Professional communicators
c. Technical communicators 
d. Technical writers

2. HPT refers to

a. Harvard presentation technologies
b. Henderson power transfer
c. High power technology
d. Human performance technology

3. Which of the following disciplines make up interactive communication (check all that apply):

a. Graphic design
b. Instructional design
c. Programming
d. Systems analysis
e. Writing

4. The best time for technical communicators to become involved in a software documentation project is:

a. At the very beginning, before specifications are written.
b. After specifications are written and before design begins
c. After design begins but before programming begins
d. After programming begins

5. The best time for instructional designers to become involved in a sales training project is

a. At the very beginning, before the marketing plan has been developed
b. After the marketing plan has been developed but before the sales and communications   plans have been established
c. After the sales and communications plans have been established but before product announcement 
d. Immediately after product announcement

6. The difference between effectively designed embedded help and an electronic  performance support system is:

a. The two are so different that they cannot be compared
b. Embedded help is more comprehensive than an electronic performance support system
c. An electronic performance support system is more comprehensive than embedded help
d. The two are nearly identical; they're just different names given by different disciplines to essentially the same things

7. Effective training of communicators addresses the following (check all that apply)

a. Authoring tools
b. Document design
c. Educational (cognitive) psychology
d. Evaluation methodologies (such as usability and course testing)
e. Interface design
f. Linguistics
g. Project scheduling and budgeting
h. Visual communication

8. Effective training of instructional designers addresses the following (check all that apply)

a. Authoring tools
b. Document design
c. Educational (cognitive) psychology
d. Evaluation methodologies (such as usability and course testing)
e. Interface design
f. Linguistics
g. Project scheduling and budgeting
h. Visual communication

9. Assume that you work for a major corporation.  You need to hire an outside firm to design and develop the information that brings new users of customer service software "up to speed."  What type(s) of firms would you invite to bid on the project (check all whom you would invite to submit a bid):

a. Interactive communication
b. Technical communication
c. Training development (instructional design)
d. None of the above

10. Of the following disciplines, which one believes it receives the most support in the business community:

a. Interactive communication
b. Technical communication
c. Training development (instructional design)
d. There is no tangible evidence to indicate that one field receives more support than another

Answers

1. a-10  b-0 c-0 d- 0 (source:  1998 perception study, Society for Technical Communication)

2. a-0 b0 c-0 d-10 (source:  International Society for Performance Improvement)

3. a-2 b-2 c-2d-0 e-2 (source:  A Primer of Online Learning (Lakewood Publications/HRD Press,1999) +2 point bonus if you correctly identified all of the correct answers

4. a-4 b-10 c-0 d-0 (source:  Managing Your Documentation Projects, John Wiley & Sons)

5. a-4 b-10 c-0 d-0 (source: Handbook of Performance Technology, Jossey-Bass)

6. a- b-0 c-0 d-10 

7. a-1 b-1 c-1 d-1 e-1 f-1 g-1 h-1 +2 point bonus if you correctly identified all of the correct answers

8. a-1 b-1 c-1 d-1 e-1 f-1 g-1 h-1 +2 point bonus for answering all of the above 

9. a-3 b-3 c-3 d-0 +1 point bonus if you answered a, b, and c

10. a-0 b-0 c-0 d-10

Score

90 or above:  In the Thick of Things--you have a strong understanding of the relationship among the 3 fields and how it might affect you in the long run

75-89: Near the Thick of Things--you have a good understanding of the relationship among the 3 fields and some idea of how developments in each might affect you

Less than 75: Outside the Thick of Things--you are not as aware of the other disciplines as might benefit your  long term career growth