In “A Brief History of Technical Communication,” Frederick M. O’Hara, Jr. provides his audience with a broad overview of how technical communication has developed over time. O’hara also provides insight into why technical communication changed by explaining factors such as the development of the printing press, as well as the technicalities of war. He expands on technical communication by providing varied examples like the scientific process, writing manuals, and word-processing on computers. Finally, O’hara describes specialization in the field of technical communication, as well as providing numerical data about employment in the field. In a similar, but less expansive article, the Society for Technical Communication does exactly what the title of the article says, and explains, “What’s the difference between technical communicator and technical writer?” According to their article, a technical writer focuses on providing comprehensible language for directions, such as manuals. In comparison, a technical communicator focuses on the entire user experience, such as social media, rather than just writing. An interesting concept that I learned from O’hara’s article is the relationship between technical communicators and the government when it comes to war. I think that this is an important concept because it highlights the dependence of entities such as the government on technical communicators, as well as displaying the cost of advancement. This affects my life because as an American citizen, I will always have interactions with the government. Particularly as an aspiring technical communicator, I may be involved with the government at some point in my professional career. I am curious as to where communication will go in the future. The internet would never have even been conceived a century ago, so this raises the question, “What unforeseen possibilities lie in the future for technical communication?” I am also curious about what new jobs will develop for technical communicators with technology eliminating specialized jobs.
