Help Us Gauge Perceptions of Technical Communicators

Help Us Gauge Perceptions of Technical Communicators

STC is partnering with Concordia University in Montreal to conduct a study of how our clients—that is, the technical and business professionals who pay for the services of technical communicators—perceive technical communication and the professionals who offer that service internally and externally.

That’s where we need your help.

Perhaps you can send the invitation below that invites the clients with whom you work to participate in our survey. Specifically, please forward the invitation to:

Engineers

Programmers

Scientists

Marketing specialists

Legal staff

Managers of these people

And others who provide you with source material and review and approve the technical information?

– – – – – – – – – Please cut and paste in a note to your “clients” – – – – – – – – –

Dear “Client” of Technical Communication:

What are your perceptions of technical communicators—the people who prepare help, user and product documentation, tutorials, large proposals, API documents, and other technical information?

The Society for Technical Communication, in collaboration with Concordia University, wants to know.

Through our anonymous survey, we are seeking the opinions of programmers, engineers, scientists, legal staff, quality assurance, information systems, and marketing specialists, managers of these professionals, and others who provide you with source material and review and approve the technical information on:

Your general experiences of working with technical communicators

The specific value that technical communicators offer to your organization

The qualifications you see as most important for an effective technical communicator

Your general perceptions of the profession

Your experiences of working with technical communicators can primarily be (a) internal (that is, the technical communicators work for the same organization), (b) external (that is, the technical communicators work for another organization or on contract.

The survey takes between 5 and 10 minutes to complete.

The results of this study will be published in Intercom, the magazine of the STC. More in-depth analyses will be published in academic journals and might also be presented at future events sponsored by STC and other organizations.

If you are interested in participating in the study, please visit this link:
https://survey.concordia.ca/limesurvey/index.php/699395?lang=en

The survey will remain open through September 21, 2020.

Thank you for your time. We hope that you will visit the link and participate in this survey.

Best regards,

Liz Pohland – CEO, Society for Technical Communication 

Saul Carliner, PhD, CTDP – Professor, Concordia University (Montreal)