Writing – Contemplating Writing

The editor in Technical Communication

Last week, after learning the basics of how to write a document for translation, I started to think about the next step. We have two editors on our virtual team, both of whom are working in the industry and sound like they know what they are doing, but what actually is the role of an editor in technical communications and what makes a good one?

Rude and Eaton (2010) believe that the editor is a specialist role and they are experts in communication, language and the needs of the audience. They also state that a good editor can evaluate the big picture as well as the finer details. These experts are just what we need on our team as we had five writers from different continents working on the same document. Our finished product needs to have one voice, correct grammar and be useful to our target audience.

The Audience

The editor needs to consider the documents purpose and how the readers are going to use it. The document needs to be structured so that readers can find information quickly. Does the document need a hierarchy to make it easier on the reader to find simple information first? The document also needs to function correctly. Are the steps in the right order? I know when the editors were reviewing our written instructions the functional edit took longer than expected.

Safety notices must always be included and the editor should also be graphically aware, not experts but have an understanding of how the design elements will work with the rest of the document.

Working with the writers

In our project, the editors were involved from the start and collaborated on key decisions to be made regarding the written instructions. They also gave advice and feedback during the writing process which was very beneficial and they drafted style tips for us to follow. They then set up a private channel on Slack for each writer to receive edit feedback on their first draft. This process has worked well even though there were delays with some of the writers. It’s important to be tactful when giving feedback to a writer. I like the praise sandwich. This ensures that plenty of positive feedback is given surrounding the negative information. New writers will make lots of mistakes at the start, the editor needs to recognise this and give them praise where its deserved.

Getting feedback from the editors

I’m sure it’s frustrating for writers who have spent lots of time working on a document to get it back from the editor with loads of notes. Take the time to go through the notes carefully. The notes are not personal, the editor has a duty to make the end product as good as it can be. If you’re unsure about some of the comments, ask for clarification. Work through the changes. You will end up with a better document and you may learn something along the way.

References:

Rude, C. and Eaton, A. (2010) Technical Editing, 5th Ed, Longman

Consequentialism and the ethics of Technical Communication

We had a really interesting discussion this morning in TW5212 around ethics in theory and practice relating to technical communication. We know that there has been a discourse around ethics since Socrate’s philosophy of good and justice almost 2,500 years ago. He believed a sense of community, friendship and being loyal to the truth was important for humankind.

Around that time Mohist consequentialism also emerged. This philosophy evaluates the moral worth of an action, based on how much it contributes to the welfare of a state. This was very advanced for the time. In the 21st century countries around the world are struggling with these ethical decisions.

While watching ‘Africa’ with Ade Adepitan last night on BBC, I was considering the ethics of the decisions these emerging African nations are making. In Ethiopia, he visited an area of magnificent natural beauty with large rivers and millions of trees that the government is planning to tear down to build a dam. Trees, animals and villages will be destroyed and displaced. The benefits will be power and irrigation. The population of Africa is due to grow by one billion by 2050 and 50% of Ethiopians don’t have access to electricity. We know the dam will have positive consequences but will they surpass the negative ones and make the state a better place?

Closer to home, the western world is trying to deal with cyberethics and the ethics around big data. Can we quantify how technology contributes to the state and the globe? Herschel and Miori in their 2017 article on Ethics and Big Data write that we cannot determine what the positive and negative consequences of big data are. How can we measure these consequences if they cannot be defined? Their study concluded that big data had little to recommend itself from an ethical perspective.

Thankfully ethical considerations in technical communication are more black and white. Our ethical standards are based on rules of confidentiality, legality, honest, quality, fairness and professionalism. What strikes me about these principles is that they apply to all aspects of our lives. They are the backbone of society and how we are taught to behave from our parents, our educators and the whole community.

As Socrates declared, we need to be loyal to the truth. In technical communications, this means serving our employers and clients as long as they are consistent with the public good. We also need to ensure that we are serving the public with the information they need e.g. safety documentation to keep them safe when using a product. I’m hoping that my future career will be easy to navigate from an ethical perspective. I’m just going to treat others as I would like to be treated.

References

Africa (2019) BBC2, 17 Feb, 21:00
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002p4d

Ethical principles: Society for Technical Communication (1998) stc.org, available: www.stc.org/about-stc/ethical-principles [accessed 18 Feb 2019].

Herschel, R. and Miori, V. (2017) ‘Ethics & Big Data’. Technology in Society. 49. [online]. Available from: http://search.proquest.com/docview/1952473313/.

Technical Writing for Translation

Our virtual team project has been moving along nicely. Some students are keeping to fringes, however, they are getting the tasks completed on time. We’re getting to know each other a little better also. This week we focused on writing the instructions for how to use Twitter. Nobody had worked on this type of project before, so we were unsure how to approach it. We had 4 writers, so the topics were divided up. We agreed to write in US English and for the desktop version of Twitter.

All the first drafts were so different in words, voice, style and format, how would we even start putting the final document together. Of course, what we should have considered was a style guide or at least some basic tips on writing instructions for translation. Towards the end of the week, our editing team devised a list of tips we should follow when revising our first draft. They make so much sense. Hindsight is a great thing. There is nothing like learning from your mistakes.

My tips for writing instructions for translation:

Write short simple sentences in the active voice. Fewer words also keep your translation costs down.
Use plain English e.g. ‘enter’ instead of ‘input’.
Use terminology consistently.
Use visuals as much as possible.
Leave plenty of white space to allow space for longer translations.
Decide what will stay in English e.g. Twitter, Follow.
Avoid idioms and acronyms.

Seven Reasons Why Students Should Blog

I am a blogger. This is my 3^rd blog. I have started following other bloggers and I know how to do a little more on WordPress. Wow, that’s a lot of progress in two weeks. I have been following Steve Wheeler on http://www.steve-wheeler.co.uk and looking back over his archive I found an interesting post on Seven reasons teachers should blog. He feels that he has learned more from blogging than any other activity and that it’s one of the most beneficial activities for personal development. I started to reflect on the reasons why students should blog.

Digital literacy is a great way for students to make themselves more employable. Through blogging, they will learn how to use different tools and improve their skills in many practical ways by enhancing and customising their blogs.
Students can express themselves. Be creative. Develop their own ideas and share visuals, videos and themes to get their message across.
Blogging helps develop critical thinking skills which are essential as students move through tertiary education and are required to research and evaluate information.
Students should write about what they know. Blogging helps expand knowledge by following other bloggers or doing some research for their own blog posts.
Written communication skills can be improved through blogging. Students must decide how to approach your topic. What is your message? How will you format it? Composing blogs is a great way to practice the other writing skills they have learned in an interesting way.
Students will learn to reflect on what they have learned. In class listening to a lecture or reading an article they start to ponder the topic. It’s interesting, they want to find out more and start to think about past experiences. Giving serious thought to a topic really does improve understanding.
It’s fun! Students will discover lots of interesting information and get to write about it their own way.