This document discusses the advantages and limitations of using computer technologies for technical communication and report writing. It outlines how computers can help with planning, collecting, analyzing, organizing, and writing technical documents through the use of software like brainstorming, outlining, project management, calendars, search engines, spreadsheets, mind maps, and word processors. While computers provide benefits like speed, professional formatting, and editing tools, there are also limitations such as information overload, system failures, fatigue from overuse, and blurring of personal and professional boundaries online.

1. Communication Skills & Technical Report Writing

2.  Impact of technology
◦ Rapid advances in computer technologies for
communication provide us with plenty of tools to enhance
this ability
 Use of computer packages for technical
communication has its advantages as well as
limitations
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3.  Advantages
◦ Speed and efficiency
◦ Professional appearance and flavor
◦ Vividness and greater appeal
◦ Plenty of resources for data
◦ Lot of facilities for revising, editing and formatting
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4.  Limitations
 Information overload or difficulty in effective information
selection
 System failures
 Fatigue and frustration encountered
 Requirement of a certain level of technical literacy
 Blurring of official and personal lines in lives
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5.  Software For Creating Messages
 Creating a message for technical communication
involves
 planning,
 collecting,
 analyzing,
 organizing and
 writing information.
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6.  Planning the content
 Computers can help you plan the contents of your technical
documents whether they are short letters or long reports.
 Brainstorming and outlining software are useful in this
regard.
 It is not a substitute for human thinking but a tool that
develops and enhances the style and direction of your
thinking.
 Apart from these, there are other software including project
management software, and electronic calendar software for
planning your projects.
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7.  Collection of Data
◦ Collecting facts or data is one of the most important jobs
of writer to write a report because the report always need
facts & on the basis of these facts someone can figure
out a report.
◦ You can combine manual search for facts with electronic
searches.
◦ Online catalogues, search engine can help to gather
data.
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8.  Analyzing and Organizing
 There are many types of software that enable you to
organize your thoughts initially.
 Examples are mind mapping, outlining etc.
 Statistics, graphics, and spreadsheet tools help you in
analyzing and organizing your data too.
 Example is Microsoft Excel.
 Graphics software reveal trends and relationships in
data that are often hard to picture.
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9.  Word processing software is a predominate
writing tool.
 Word processors are becoming more and more
document oriented.
 There are electronic thesauruses, spelling,
grammar, and style checkers, electronic
references, graphic packages, and other tools for
writing.
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10.  Styles and templates
 Styles refers to any formatting that you are doing in a
document while template refers to a collection of styles that
you apply to all documents of the same type,
 for example a letter template.
 Revising and Editing
 Word processing gives you time and effective tools for
revising, editing and other document polishing efforts.
 E.g., insert, delete, move, and copy, cut and paste, search
and replace.
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11.  After completing revising and editing, you need to
decide how to present the document.
 Desktop publication software enables to present
professional documents.
 You can generate files in Hypertext markup
language (HTML) or Portable document file (pdf
format).
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12.  In addition, you can have graphics, design
elements, links and sound elements.
 You may also present your documents to an
audience sitting in front of you in a conference
hall.
 Power Point basics
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13. Next Lecture
Active Listening
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