Trends in the Discipline, Profession, and Performance of Technical Communication

What is it about?

In this article, I describe four overlapping ages of the development of technical communication. I call the most recent the "golden age" not because of our growth as a (relatively small) profession or a (relatively young) discipline, but as an explosion of people performing technical communication in their lives. With the growth of online and mobile communication technologies, people have begun to share expertise and technique on a scale never seen before. I conclude by arguing that we should focus more attention on training every student in basic technical communication skills.

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Why is it important?

Technical communication has always had a problem getting the respect it deserves, in part because we have not adequately expressed how big it is - how integral to people's lives today. By focusing our attention on technical communication as a profession, we have neglected its immensity as a performance that every student needs some guidance in practicing. In short, rather than teaching students how to write innumerable essays in school, we should give them more training in how to write the innumerable genres they will use after they leave school - in particular, proposals, procedures, and reports, the bread and butter of technical communication.