Evolution of Technical Writing: From Ancient Cultures to the Computer Age

1. TECHNICAL WRITING As a CURRICULUM

2. HISTORY A. ANCIENT CULTURES:(no curricula, but…) • Technological Artifacts & Documents • Operational Information • Aztecs, Chinese, Egyptians • Babylonians, Greeks, Romans • Procedures & Statutes • religious works, such as the Torah, Talmud • Scientific Information • Renaissance documents

3. HISTORY B. 19th CENTURY: • PRE-Civil War: • “Classical” education • Latin & Greek • 7 Liberal Arts: • Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric • Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, Astronomy

4. HISTORY B. 19th CENTURY: • POST-Civil War: • “Land-Grant Schools” • Morrill Acts (1862-1890) • 30,000 acres per congressman • To educate the “industrial classes”

5. HISTORY B. 19th CENTURY: • POST-Civil War: (cont’d) • “Land-Grant Schools” • Agriculture and Mechanical schools • agriculture, military skills, • engineering/mechanical arts • (technologies)

6. HISTORY B. 19th CENTURY: • POST-Civil War: (cont’d) • specialization • what are now “liberal arts”: math, literatures • technical schools • w/o “liberal arts” classes — • “vocationalism”

7. HISTORY C. 20th CENTURY: • PRE-World War II: • technical writing/communication • burgeoning field • teaching engineers to write

8. HISTORY C. 20th CENTURY: • PRE-World War II: (cont’d) • mostly taught at engineering institutions • mixed in “liberal arts” • lessened vocationalism • rarely taught at traditional colleges • teach literature vs. teach writing • teaching writing = “inferior”

9. HISTORY D. 20th CENTURY: 1940s • World War II: • Introduction of sophisticated equipment during the war  the need for clear, easy-to-understand user & repair manuals • “Thus, with the defense industry, rose the beginnings of technical communication” (Carliner).

10. HISTORY E. 20th CENTURY: 1940s & 1950s • POST-World War II: • training writers to write for engineers • opposed to the prior practice of training engineers to write

11. HISTORY E. 20th CENTURY: 1950s • POST-World War II: (cont’d) • post-war defense industry boom • Cold War • 1958 = 1st degree program at Carnegie Institute of Technology (CMU)

12. HISTORY F. 20th CENTURY: 1960s & 1970s • Computer Age: • Growth in computer industry • Growth in “plain language” laws • Jimmy Carter • Document Design Center at American Institutes for Research

13. HISTORY D. 20th CENTURY: 1980s • Computer Age: • accepted by academe: • classes and degrees offered at traditional schools • growing professional and academic organizations • more places at conventions • improved research into the field • changes in technology, especially computers

14. HISTORY F. 20th CENTURY: 1980s and Beyond • Computer Age: • Demand for “user-friendly” manuals • Demand for services = demand for training • TRAINING = EDUCATION

15. HISTORY F. 20th CENTURY: 1980s and Beyond • Computer Age: (cont’d) • Computers change how we publish • typesetters, press operators, production personnel, layout artists, copy editors • Computers change what we publish • formats, forms