“For the times they are a-changin’” as Bob Dylan famously sang. Nothing new here as times are always changing. But to Dylan’s point, sometimes the confluence of changes that are unfolding makes this constant process feel a lot more turbulent. For Technical Communicators, we are entering one of those times.
So what are the different changes occurring that will impact communicators and how exactly will the work of technical communication need to change? How quickly are these changes happening? How confident are we that we really know where these changes are headed? What do we need to do in order to prepare and to adapt? There are lots of questions.
This talk will tackle these questions head-on and describe future that is in many ways is already here. By studying a variety of trends, we can in fact get a handle on what is happening. We can also determine, with a pretty high degree of certainty, what will happen to the practice of Technical Communication in this future. The picture of the future that emerges does call for changes in how Technical Communicators work but these changes will not feel alien or threatening even if they represent a challenge. More important than the challenge that the future presents will be the opportunity for Technical Communicators to play an expanded and more important role in the way that the next generation of organizations operate.
This session will really be an invitation to Technical Communicators to explore what they can become both individually and collectively as a community of professionals. This session will also be a call to action as the future we will be considering is already happening all around us. The window of opportunity is currently wide open. The time has come for Technical Communicators to decide what role they will play on the other side – in the Brave New World of Technical Communication.
