Technical communications as knowledge management: evolution of a profession

ABSTRACT

The tasks, talents, and technical capabilities of systems communications professionals have evolved over the past 30 years as the industry itself has grown and transformed the world we live in through several generations of systems. The next generation of systems will be focused on supporting the knowledge worker more effectively and efficiently by focusing on knowledge-enabling business processes. The skills, practices, and understanding of the community of systems documentation professionals are well positioned to contribute and participate in this next evolution.

REFERENCES

• 1: ACM Special Interests Group 1999 Guide. (1999) {Online}. Available: http:lfwww.acm.or~sias/auidc98.html
• 2: Barclay, Rebecca O., Been there. Done that. Got the f-shirt. KM Metazine, Issue #2, November 1997.
• 3: Davenport, Thomas H., with Laurence FYusak, Informzion Ecology, Oxford University Press 1997.
• 4: Sue Conger , Karen D. Loch, Ethics and computer use, Communications of the ACM, v.38 n.12, p.30-32, Dec. 1995 [doi>10.1145/219663.219676]
• 5: Gartner Group, The Knowledge Management Scenario: Trends and Directions for 1998-2003, Strategic Analysis Report 18 March 1999: K. Harris, M. Fleming, R. Hunter, B. Rosser, A. Cushman
• 6: Goldfarb, Charles, The Roots of SGML - A Personal Recollection, SGML '96, . {Online}. Available: http://www.s~source.com/Goldfarb/historv/rc&s.htm,
• 7: Hakkarainen, Karl, private conversation 4-June 1999.
• 8: Handy, Charles, Age of Unreason, Harvard Business School Press, 1991
• 9: Holtzblatt, Karen, and S. Jones, "Contextual Inquiry: A Participatory Technique for System Design," Participatory Design: Principles and Practice. Aki Namioka and Doug Schuler (Eds.), Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Pub. 1993.
• 10: IEEE Std. 2001-1999 Recommended Practice for Internet Practices --Web Page Engineering -- IntranetfExtranet Applications. {Online}. Available: httv:l/www.tellink.net/-isaakf2OOllindex.html
• 11: Wendy E. Mackay, Ethics, lies and videotape…, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, p.138-145, May 07-11, 1995, Denver, Colorado, United States [doi>10.1145/223904.223922]
• 12: Schwartz, M., and Task Force on Bias-Free Language. Guidelines for Bias-Free Writing. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN, 1995.
• 13: Society for Technical Communication. (1999) {Online}. Available: http://www.stc-va.o&careers.html {1999. June 101
• 14: Nina Wishbow, Home sweet home: where do technical communication departments belong?, Proceedings of the 16th annual international conference on Computer documentation, p.200-205, September 24-26, 1998, Quebec, Quebec, Canada [doi>10.1145/296336.296380]
• 15: Wnrman, Richard Saul, Information Architects, Graphis Press Corp. 1996

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.2 DATABASE MANAGEMENT

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.7 Distribution, Maintenance, and Enhancement
          Subjects: Documentation

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.7 THE COMPUTING PROFESSION

General Terms:
Design, Documentation, Human Factors, Management, Performance, Theory

Keywords:
knowledge management, technical communications