New Trends - Applying Web 2.0 Technologies to Technical Documentation (Tech Writing 2.0)

26 October, 2006 by Ellis Pratt

Introduction

This article is based on my presentation at the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators' annual conference in October, 2006. You can find out more about this subject through our report on new trends in technical communication.

The three waves of interestingness

Every now and then, there is a change in the value of what technical authors deliver. These are moments when organisations pay attention to technical documentation. This is because they recognise that these changes mean they can create something that will be of real value to the business and to their customers.

In recent years, there have been three "waves of interestingness". The first wave was the introduction of Windows Help (WinHelp). The second major wave was the introduction of the Internet and intranets. This was a time when organisations looked at how they could transfer large amounts of information from paper to online. They were faced with issues such as how users could access and understand all this information easily - issues that technical communicators deal with on a day-to-day basis.

I believe we're just about to approach the new wave, which we have called "Tech Writing 2.0".

What do we mean by Tech Writing 2.0?

Tech Writing 2.0 is an application of Web 2.0 services and technologies to technical communication. Web 2.0 gives us the opportunity to change significantly the quality of what the users receive.

This new wave is not about the introduction of DITA or the introduction of the new Help format in Windows Vista. These two technologies will mainly affect what happens behind the scenes. What the user receives is unlikely to change much from what they receive today.

What do we mean by Web 2.0?

Wikipedia defines Web 2.0 as:

"A second generation of services available on the World Wide Web that lets people collaborate and share information online. In contrast to the first generation, Web 2.0 gives users an experience closer to desktop applications than the traditional static Web pages."

Web 2.0. (2006, July 13). In Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Web_2.0&oldid=63603254.(1997), The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:14, July 14, 2006.

Within Wikipedia's definition, there are two themes:

• Devolving content creation to the users (i.e. the collaboration on content creation and sharing of knowledge)
• Providing a "rich user experience" (i.e. making Web applications feel more like desktop applications)

Another way of answering that question is to look at sites which people have called Web 2.0 sites. These include sites such as Lulu.com, Blogger.com, Flickr.com, Newsgator.com and Technorati.com. Within these we can see three common elements:

• collaboration on content creation
• conversation (wisdom of the crowds)
• aggregation of knowledge

How can we apply Web 2.0 to technical communication?

Let's think about Web 2.0 could mean to technical writers. Not everything that comes under the banner of Web 2.0 impacts on the documentation world. Some of the techniques and technologies, however, can be used by technical authors to improve their documentation and the experience of those using it. It could allow you to:

• Gain a greater understanding of the issues users face. You can involve your customers in development, gather intelligence and sustain a constant dialogue. You can promote conversations between members that build trusted relationships, self-help and support teams, bodies of knowledge, special interest groups to name just a few.
• Provide better support. "The wisdom of the crowd" can emerge - the community members create new ideas and provide practical solutions for other members.
• Sell "value added" support information for a fee.
• Gain greater customer loyalty and trust.

Example - Collaboration

Today, it can be very difficult to incorporate content from third parties. In most situations, writers have to resort to "cut and paste", taking content from one document and pasting it into the master document. Writers find themselves spending considerable time modifying the formatting and structure so that it conforms to the rest of the document. They rarely have the power to dictate the structure and formatting to others. Collaborative publishing means projects where documents are created by many different people working together (collaboratively) rather than individually.

Web 2.0 offers a variety of ways to write collaboratively.

These might:

• be used as the principle authoring environment for documents.
• be integrated into a unified documentation set.
• sit alongside the "official" documentation.

The danger to technical communicators

However, it may be like the early days of the Internet. Companies may decide to implement Web 2.0, and not involve technical communicators in the process. New job titles and roles within businesses may appear to describe people that do this type of work. Indeed, the delivered service may not be seen as online Help or even user documentation.

Tech Writing 2.0 - Special report on new trends in user documentation

This report outlines the developments in what many are calling "Web 2.0" and the impact that these developments may have on technical and user documentation. We've called these trends "Tech Writing 2.0".

Tech Writing 2.0 promises a new means of communication that business can use to promote and support their products and services. This means that the nature of technical communication will change.

This report represents the situation as we move from 2006 into 2007.

See here for more details on Report on Tech Writing 2.0: New trends in user documentation.