“It’s a strange little business” – issues in technical communication

Authors

• Jenni Virtaluoto University of Oulu

Keywords:

technical communication, technical writing

Abstract

The quality of technical communication products, for example user guides, is often criticized. The structure or the contents may be confusing, or the information presented does not answer the questions we have about the device or software program we are trying to use. Technical communication as a profession is facing issues such as outsourcing and offshoring. In this paper, the field of technical communication is outlined and some of the main problems in the field are analyzed. Ethnographic data and literary sources are used as tools in the analysis.