1. 978-1-4577-2126-7/12/$26.00 ©2013 IEEE
Technical Communication on Life Support:
Content Strategy and UX are the Reclamation
Chris LaRoche
Northeastern University
c.laroche@neu.edu
Brian Traynor
Mount Royal University
btraynor@mtroyal.ca
Abstract - The continual redefinition and constriction of
the technical communication field has reached epidemic
proportions, so much so that the field as it has existed
the last several decades could soon cease to exist.
However, many emerging fields encompass aspects of
technical communication, with user experience and
content strategy the clearest examples. Discussion of
how the integration of technical communication into
these fields is happening on a practitioner’s level and
how this will potentially change the face of the
profession of technical communication will be
investigated. Additionally, a review of how several
technical communication university programs
responded to this evolution will be discussed.
Index Terms –Content strategy, practitioner, teaching,
technical communication, usability, user experience
INTRODUCTION
User-centered design processes have pushed the role of
the technical communication closer to the front-end of
project development and extended to product evaluation
by end users [1]. Expectations have been set that product
design includes the use of properly developed personas
[2] and rapid iteration of prototypes with appropriate
usability feedback to inform decision making [3]. Ginny
Redish [4] has stated ―Many technical communicators
become usability specialists because they get tired of
writing ancillary documentation… when the product itself
communicates poorly.‖ This trend in recent years has
been extended into the entire user experience with a
product from interaction to value. In this article the
authors take the position that there is less and less demand
for the technical communicator only authoring content,
but increasing demand for a broader and more
strategically influential role in product development that
encompasses both content strategy and user experience.
With the rapid changes in the technical communication
field and the increasingly relevant role of social media,
the concept of content strategy has emerged in the last
few years as a particularly important areawithin the
software and Web-based technology fields, often
positioned within the user experience umbrella. Content
Strategy does not equal content management through
single sourcing. William Hart-Davidson et al [5] identify
how important work process and roles influence content
management. They state―Attending to and fostering
productive change in the writing culture of organizations
requires expertise at the intersection of two strengths of
our field: workplace writing research and usability/
interaction design. In fact, we have high hopes that the set
of difficult problems presented by complex knowledge
work distributed across an organization means that all
organizations that must come to content management
must come to it as a rhetorical problem (though few will
use this language)—and therefore a problem of
organizational identity and strategy—and not precisely as
a problem of technique or technology alone.‖
While some introductory textbooks have integrated
business practices to technical communication, few align
to a product development life-cycle [6,7].Particularly
lacking are textbooks that integrate and combine technical
communication, user experience principles, and content
strategy. Redish‘s ―Letting Go of Words‖ is one
exception as it that deftlybrings together the increasing
interdisciplinary nature of technical communication by
focusing on usability and content strategy. Currently
books such as this arean exception.A more encompassing
view of the role, responsibilities, and methods used and
required of technical communicators needs to be reflected
in course textbooks and materials to better represent the
expectations of the profession, particularly for
practitioners within industry.
DEFINING UCD & UX
User-Centered Design (UCD) is a methodology that
requires that the user of products be thought of and
understood during the entire process of product
conception, development, and implementation [1].
Research establishes the appropriate background of users
and informs design decisions. Usability testing at various
stages of development provides a means to demonstrate
product capability and iterative improvements. While user

2. feedback is sought, it is only one contributor to design
decisions.
Marc Hassenzahl [8] provides a detailed discussion on
User Experience. He describes how we design for
experience and points to a number of successful products
and services such as Apple‘s iPhone. ―Psychologically, an
experience emerges from the integration of perception,
action, motivation, and cognition into an inseparable,
meaningful whole.‖ writes Hassenzahl. This suggests that
a technical communicator must have a thorough
understanding of both product and users. As user
expectations for intuitive interfaces with minimal
information and appropriate validation of processes
continue to rise, then this ‗experience‘ needs to be
designed such that the user recognizes the value in the
interaction. For example, Facebook users recognize that
the experience of the Facebook content management
system makes the value easy to assess.
DEFINING CONTENT STRATGY
The concept of content strategy involves bringing
together organizational business goals with existing
organization content. Using various user experience
methodologies,content strategy audits help streamline
organization content to maintain a focus both on the needs
of users and ‗messaged‘ content in a consistent and clear
way from the organization‘s perspective. Another goal of
implementing an organization-wide content strategy is to
effectively reduce the overall costs of content throughout
the organization. Some interesting results from an STC
survey by Drayton and Hopper [9] on current use of
Content Management (CM) and Single Source Systems
(SSw).Drayton and Hopper‘s 2008 survey (276
participants) indicated that 50% of the respondents used
SS/CM methods and tools. More than half of the total
respondents worked in the high tech industry. SSwCM
made up 20%, SS made up 17% and CM-only was 13%,
Drayton and Hopper reported that respondents using
single sourcing only more strongly indicated that the
speed to develop information products was better than for
CM or SSw&CM. While SSw&CM respondents more
strongly indicated their systems had improved the
usability of information products.
On a high-level, content strategy entails taking,
reviewing, and (if needed) modifying all communication
an organization has and coordinating it so that you have a
consistent and unified theme in how you present your
organization to the outside world. This strategic issue
involves coordinating all communication from marketing
to user assistance. According to Kristina Halvorson[10]:
―Content Strategy plans for the creation, delivery, and
governance of useful, usable content.‖
LOOKING BACK OVER OUR SHOULDER
In an extensive review of technical communicator
leaders, Barbara Giammona‘s 2004 article is highlighted
as an example of excellence in qualitative research in a
collection of articles editedby Conklin and Hayhoe [11].
In this paper, Giammona, reinforces some themes from
her 38 interviewees that suggest the technical
communicator needs to move to delivering strategic value
with user experience design and usability key areas of
expertise. Throughout this paper, there is considerable
emphasis placed on the need to demonstrate the ROI on
the work of technical communication. Figure 1 indicates a
range of influences possible in Technical Communication.
FIGURE 1. VALUE CONTINUUM FOR TECHNICAL
COMMUNICATORS.
Some of the concerns in 2003 dealt with technical
communication being handled off-shore where salaries
were more competitive. At Carnegie Mellon, the
Professional and Technical Writing program was part of
the School of Design. Here the emphasis is on ―writing as
a design process [11]. Content management and single
sourcing were identified as important developments;
however, their proponents were sometimes outside of the
technical communication function. Programs in technical
communication are and will be required to continually
evolve to meet these challenges or face extinction.
The ―next big thing‖ responses identified some
technologies and skills. Besides the tools skills required,
many of these skills listed fall within the user experience
and content strategy realm as it has evolvedover the past
few years.

3. FIGURE 2. TECHNOLOGY AND SKILLS FOR TECHNICAL
COMMUNICATORS IN 2003.
Giammano‘s article concludes with discussion on the
following directions for the future.
Become Part of the Development and Design
Process
Improve our Professional Societies
Become Better Business People and Managers
Repackage Ourselves for the Future
An important issue that has not occurred that
Giammano mentioned was the radical transformation of
professional societies: particularly the Society of
Technical Communication (STC). As Giammano [11]
described the STC stated ―the organization must evolve
to be more competitive moving forward.‖ The perception
of the STC being ‗out of touch‘ with the needs of
practitioners was an issue, but with the rapid changes in
the field the last decade, this has become more acute.
This issue is not specific to the STC, thought it might be
a solidexample.
With the rapid growth of user experience, there is a
diverse numberof professional organizations that also
have not successfully leveraged the profession‘s
explosive growth with new membership: be it the
Usability Professionals‘ Association (UPA/UXPA),
Interaction Design Association (IxDA), Human Factors
& Ergonomic Society (HFES), and various international
and local Computer Human Interaction (SIG-CHI)
chapters. There are also a myriad of other small locally
spawned organizations, such as Meet Ups, that cater to
specific and local needs.
CHANGES IN TECHNICAL COMMUNICATIONS
As experienced educators and practitioners in
communications, there are exciting developments that
provide opportunities in our field. The opportunities are
there for people to get the academic background they
need for exciting career positions. There are many
alternatives for communities of practice. Some of these
are professional societies and some are less formal.
Venues where researchers and industry can meet are
increasingly popular and in desperate need as the field
changes at astronomical speed.
Education
This rapid evolution in the change and expectations of
technical communicators has been reflected in academic
programs as well. At one well-known university, the
traditional technical communication curriculum has been
revamped in the last few years to reflect this new reality.
Writing is still a core component of the program, but not
the only core. For example, within this program, several
advanced writing classes have been eliminated or
revamped considerably to offer courses on usability and
user experience and information architecture. Courses in
content strategy will be offered as electives starting next
year as well [12]. Almost every course in this program
has a goal that each student‘s final project will be a
potential work-portfolio quality piece they could use in a
potential job interview. Several other well-known
universities that teach both undergraduate and graduate
programs in technical communication have shifted their
focus and even their names to a more encompassing title
and less restrictive than solely technical communication.
Jobs
Although the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in their
Occupational Outlook Handbook listed the term
‗Technical Writers‘ as positive for job outlook for 2010-
2020 [13]. How this prediction plays out, specifically
within the IT, software, and Web industries is unknown.
There has been a substantial decrease in the jobs and job
opportunism for technical communicators over the past
decade, with the past five years being particularly
constricted. This change is both part of the restructuring
of the industry that was systematic and happening before
the UX boom and exacerbated by the rapid growth of UX
too – often at the expense of technical communication
positions. Bloch‘s article [14] surveying career paths in
technical communication quoted a student being
interviewed about future jobs in technical communication
that summed up the current employment landscape well:
―Any tech communications interns would need to have
very strong skills in usability, human factors research, or
interaction design.‖
An examination of recent job postings on a variety of
job posting locations shows a broader set of
responsibilities and expectations being given to UX and
Content Strategy positions over those posted for
Technical Communicator. Additionally, many of the
descriptions and responsibilities traditionally associated
with technical communication are now being included
within UX positions, often at the expense of technical

4. communications, as we have understood the profession
the past several decades. Some of the prominent UX
educational programs and degrees for UX have drawn a
significant proportion of potential students from the
technical communication profession.
Increasingly, the job profiles are indicating a broad set
of responsibilities with a strong understanding of business
processes with an emphasis on positive end-user
experience (that is measurable) [15].
Professional Societies and Associations
As mentioned earlier, the change and particular decline
in the numbers of membership numbers within
professional societies and associations has been
significant. It is clear this is due to a number of factors:
some due to overall changes within organizationsand
some due to systemic issues within particular
organizations. Upon discussion with both senior members
of the STC and the UPA/UXPA, some interesting trends
were uncovered.
Upon talking with the STC central office, their
membership peaked in the 1999/200 time frame with
about 22,000 members and the last several years
membership has fallen to about 5,000 members. That
decline has been significant and due to many factors, but
the rapid change in the technical communication
profession no doubt has influenced this reduction. STC
has taken varying steps to both respond to this change and
also create additional revenue streams to compensate for
this loss of membership income as well as creating new
professional and educational opportunities for both
members and persons interested in aspects of technical
communication. [16]
Due to many factors, there is not a single professional
society or organization for UX professionals. The largest
three organizations for practitioners in the field include
the Human Factors & Ergonomic Society (HFES), the
Interaction Design Association (IxDA), and the Usability
Professionals‘ Association (UPA/UXPA). HFES has
traditionally catered to human factors and ergonomics.
IxDA has a focus on UX, but it is more of a design-
focused organization for practitioners. The UPA/UXPA is
an organization whose membership is mostly practitioners
working within industry and encompasses many of the
emerging fields of UX that include usability, information
architecture, user research, design, and content.
Discussions with the UXPA President revealed some
interesting trends regarding membership at the
international level. Membership peaked in 2008, dropped
in 2009 and has been somewhat level since then at about
2300-2500 dues paying members. [17] So membership
has remained stable but ―what HAS grown is the number
of UXPA chapters and their relative size. But we don‘t
have accurate numbers on that because not all chapters
report their membership rosters or numbers to us [17].‖
Several of the UXPA chapters have annual conferences
themselves (outside of the international conference),
particularly Boston and Dallas,and each of those
conferences in 2012 had more attendees than the
international conference, and there were over 500
attendees at each conference. Much of the growth within
the UX profession is happening at the local level. Another
interesting note is that with the UXPA international
conference and some local chapters, the numbers of
presentation proposals has skyrocketed the last two years.
For the UXPA international conference in 2012, they
received 209 submissions and had an acceptance rate of
41%, while in 2013; they received 316 submissions and
had an acceptance rate of 26%. [18] The 26% submission
rate was for all submissions: ―the acceptance rate for
panels and presentations (as a group) was less than 15%.‖
[19] Additionally for the Boston UXPA chapter annual
conference for 2013, the rate of proposals for conference
presentations was relatively stable between 2010 and
2012 and almost doubled for 2013 [20].
Part of the issue with the lack of membership increase
proportional to job increaseswithin UX may be due to the
fact many practitioners have less need for these
organizations as they might have previously, as they
believe they can obtain much of the needed professional
connection through other methods. A generational
component amongst ‗Gen Y/Millennial‘ might well be
part of this issue with reduced numbers in professional
societies and associations. Additionally, as the technical
communication and user experience professions continue
to become more diffused and diverse, these organizations
might be deemed too niche to adequately address
practitioner‘s increasing needs. The UPA/UXPA has
made several attempts at usability and UX certification
and it proved so controversial with the membership
community that it has been abandoned several times the
last few years.
CONCLUSION
Technical communication jobs for practitioners have
fallen tremendously the last decade, oftenreplaced with
UX and content strategy positions if replaced at all. This
restructuring within the industry will continue for the
foreseeable future. The reasons for this are many,
including a ‗commodification‘ of technical
communication, outsourcing of technical communication,
dealing with reduced resources for content, attempts to
improve overall customer satisfaction, and demands for
reduction in delivered content. The increasing use of
wikis, crowdsourcing, and design principles in creating
content based on user feedback, input, and writing are
further responses to these demands. For technical
communicators to continue to be viably employable
within the profession, understanding, using,and

5. implementing the methods discussed here is a
requirement for job continuation over the next few years.
Barbara Giammona [11] was blunt: ―the new role of the
technical communicator is going to be much more closely
linked with that of the product developer-and that if we
did not seek out this relationship, our function may
become extinct.‖ That prediction is even more fortuitousa
decade after the article was originally written.
Hart-Davidson et al [5] state, ―We see writing in
critical times of transition like those narrated in the
casesabove. But for many other organizations, writing
practices are not so obvious andnowhere near the list of
mission-critical activities. This means that our
expertise,too, is off the radar screen. This is why it is
true, we would argue, that while themoment of coming to
content management may well give us an opportunity
toprove ourselves valuable, we also need to be careful to
develop sustainable ways ofcoming to content
management that can make writing work visible and
accountableas part of an organization‘s thinking.‖ A
broader, strategic role is possible for those with
communication and design skills that place emphasis on
user experience and business goals.
Finally, this is also an opportunity for a professional
society or organization to take the lead that will appeal to
technical communicators, user experience professionals,
and content strategistpractitionersthat all fall within the
larger communication profession.Many of the roles of a
technical communicator will continue to be completed,
even if that title is no longer used or is replaced by terms
of UX and/or content strategists.
REFERENCES
[1] C. LaRoche and B. Traynor. ―User-Centered Design
(UCD) and Technical Communication: The Inevitable
Marriage.‖Professional Communication Conference
(IPCC), 2010 IEEE International, 7-9 July 2010.
Conference Publications, pp. 113-116.
[2] J. Redish. Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web
Content that Works.Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.
2007.
[3] B. Buxton. Sketching User Experiences – Getting the
design right and the right design. New York: Morgan
Kaufmann. 2007.
[4] J. Redish, ―Commentary: Technical Communication
and Usability: Intertwined Strands and Mutual
Influences,‖ IEEE Transactions on Professional
Communication, vol. 53, no. 3, pp.191–201, 2010.
[5] W. Hart-Davidson, et al. Coming to Content
Management: Inventing Infrastructure for Organizational
Knowledge Work. Technical Communication Quarterly,
17(1), 10–34. 2008.
[6] J. Lannon and L Gurak. Strategies for Technical
Communication in the Workplace. 2nd
Edition. Boston:
Pearson Education. 2013.
[7] M. Markel. Technical Communication. 9th
Edition.
Boston, Mass: Bedford/St. Martin‘s. 2010.
[8] M. Hassenzahl. ―User Experience and Experience
Design.‖Interaction Design Foundation. [Online]
http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/
user_experience_and_experience_design.html
[9] D. Dayton and K. Hopper. Single Sourcing and
Content Management: A Survey of STC Members.
Volume 57, Number 4, November 2010 ● Technical
Communication 375 – 397. 2010.
[10] K. Halvorson, Content Strategy for the Web. San
Francisco, CA: New Riders/Peachpit Press. 2012.
[11] B. Giammona, ―The Future of Technical
Communication – How Innovation, Technology,
Information Management and Other Forces are Shaping
the Future of the Profession.‖Qualitative Research in
Technical Communication. Ed. J. Conklin, G. Hayhoe,
Routledge, USA. vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 349-366, 2010.
[12] Master of Science in Technical Communication.
Northeastern University CPS Web Site [Online]
http://www.cps.neu.edu/degree-programs/graduate/
masters-degrees/masters-technical-communication.php
[13] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational
Outlook Handbook. Accessed online. 15 February 2013.
[14] J. Block. ―Envisioning Career Paths in Technical
Communication: A Survey of Participants in a Technical
Communication Graduate Program.‖Professional
Communication Conference (IPCC), 2012 IEEE
International, 8-10 October 2012. Conference
Publications, pp. 1-8.
[15] Knowledge and Content Management Specialist
arvato UK & Ireland - Dublin (Ireland) (LinkedIn, 19
March 2013).
[16] Phone conversation with Lloyd Tucker, Deputy
Executive Director of STC Thursday March 28, 2013 10
am (EST)
[17] Facebook Email conversation with Rich Gunther,
President of UXPA March 20, 2013 2:22-2:45 pm (EST)

6. [18] Email conversation with Nicole Tafyoa, UXPA
Administrator, March 26, 2013 12:10 pm (EST).
[19] Email conversation with Danielle Cooley, UXPA
International Co Conference Chair, March 26, 2013 1:09
pm (EST).
[20] Email conversation with Chris Hass, UXPA Boston
President, March 26, 2013 1:09 pm (EST)
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Brian Traynor is an Associate Professor in the
Information Design program in the Faculty of
Communication Studies at Mount Royal University.
Courses taught include: Information Architecture,
Usability, and Project and Content Management. Brian
has research interests in user satisfaction measures and the
attribution of blame by users.
Chris LaRocheworks as a usability consultant at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has
worked in the technology field for eighteen years. Chris is
a Senior Lecturer at the College of Professional Studies
(CPS) at Northeastern University. Chris teaches courses
in Usability&User Experience, Information Architecture,
Prototyping, and modern Irish History.