This is a presentation I gave at the Write The Docs Berlin meetup on the 19th of August 2019, on my behalf. During this presentation I talked about how to use language and design to create a technical documentation that is inclusive of all its users.

1. How to write
inclusive tech documentation
Lucie Le Naour

2. Agenda
• What is inclusive documentation?
• Why should documentation be inclusive?
• Some best practices
• Q&A (or debate?)
How to write inclusive tech documention - Lucie Le Naour Write the Docs Meetup - August 2019

3. Inclusivity
Inclusive documentation is a documentation that takes into
account all of its users, regardless of their gender, culture,
abilities, etc.
How to write inclusive tech documention - Lucie Le Naour Write the Docs Meetup - August 2019
What is inclusive
documentation?
„The quality of trying to include many different types
of people and treat them all fairly and equally.“ - Cambridge
Dictionary
Inclusive documentation

4. Because you are writing for your user!
How to write inclusive tech documention - Lucie Le Naour Write the Docs Meetup - August 2019
Why should documentation
be inclusive?
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THE USERYOU

5. How to write inclusive tech documention - Lucie Le Naour Write the Docs Meetup - August 2019
Some best practices
Educate yourself…
… by exchanging with the people in your life
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6. How to write inclusive tech documention - Lucie Le Naour Write the Docs Meetup - August 2019
Some best practices
Educate yourself…
… by paying attention to the news
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7. How to write inclusive tech documentation - Lucie Le Naour Write the Docs Meetup - August 2019
Some best practices
Use language as a tool!
• Language shapes the way humans think: listen cognitive
scientist Lera Boroditsky talk about it here.
• The words you choose matter: latest studies show for example
that the use of gender-neutral pronouns boosts positive
feelings towards women and LGBT people, read about it here
and here.
• The words you choose definitely matter: AI using language
corpora has been shown to reproduce human biases, read
about it here and here.

8. How to write inclusive tech documentation - Lucie Le Naour Write the Docs Meetup - August 2019
Some best practices
Use language as a tool!
© Lucie Le Naour

9. How to write inclusive tech documentation - Lucie Le Naour Write the Docs Meetup - August 2019
Some best practices
Use design as a tool!
• Design your documentation for guidance: use multiple formats
and place the information where different users need it,
Microsoft explains it better here.
• Steal from your UI/UX colleagues: start using inclusive visuals
in your docs, read about it here.

10. How to write inclusive tech documentation - Lucie Le Naour Write the Docs Meetup - August 2019
Q&A
Shoot!