Tech Flashcards
What is the definition of technical communication?
Technical communication is the exchange of information that helps people interact with technology and solve complex problems.
What are some of the questions a computer can’t answer?
Questions that involve critical thinking, interpretation of meaning, and considerations of social, cultural, and ethical contexts may be challenging for computers to address.
Why is global communication important?
Global communication is important because our electronically linked global community shares social, political, and financial interests. To connect with all readers, technical documents need to reflect global and intercultural diversity. Cultures differ in behaviors related to social interaction, business relationships, contract negotiation, and communication practices.
In what ways is technical communication part of most careers?
Technical communication skills, such as effective writing and speaking, research, teamwork, and persuasion, are considered portable and are essential in various professions. Regardless of job description, professionals are often evaluated, at least in part, on their communication skills.
What are the four main features of technical communication?
Technical communication is:
Reader-centered
Accessible and efficient
Often produced by teams
Delivered in paper and digital versions
What are the three purposes of technical communication?
- To inform: Anticipate and answer your readers’ questions.
- To instruct: Enable your readers to perform certain tasks.
- To persuade: Motivate your readers
What is the main question you must ask when preparing a technical document?
The main question to answer when preparing a technical document is: “How do I prepare the right document for this group of readers and this particular situation?”
What are a workplace communicator’s four basic tasks?
The four basic tasks of an effective workplace communicator are:
Deliver information readers can use
Use persuasive reasoning
Weigh the ethical issues
Practice good teamwork
What is the definition of audience?
An audience refers to the individuals who will read and react to a document. In the context of technical communication, it is crucial to identify and understand the characteristics of the audience to tailor the document effectively.
What is the difference between a primary audience and a secondary audience?
Primary audience: The immediate audience of readers who directly need the information.
Secondary audience: Individuals outside the immediate circle of primary readers who may indirectly use or be affected by the information.
What is the definition of purpose?
Purpose refers to the reason for creating a document. It outlines what the document is intended to achieve and how readers are expected to use the information presented.
What is a document’s primary purpose vs. it’s secondary purpose or purposes?
Primary purpose: The main reason for creating the document.
Secondary purpose or purposes: Additional reasons for creating the document that may include providing background information, supporting details, or addressing the needs of secondary audiences.
What are the three types of audience in terms of their technical background?
Highly technical
Semitechnical
Nontechnical
What do the three types of technical audiences want?
Highly technical: Detailed technical information, data, and in-depth analysis.
Semitechnical: A balance of technical details and explanations suitable for a broader audience.
Nontechnical: Clear, non-technical language, focused on key concepts and practical applications.
What are three areas you need to consider regarding cultural differences?
Varying levels of expertise and familiarity with technical details.
Differences in cultural backgrounds that shape expectations and interpretations.
Preferences for format and medium, tone, and communication styles.
What are the audience’s preferences you should consider when writing a document?
Length and details.
Format and medium.
Tone (formal, semiformal, informal).
Due date and timing.
Budget considerations.
What should you ask yourself about tone?
Formal, semiformal, or informal?
What tone does the audience expect?
Why should you develop an audience and use profile sheet?
Developing an Audience and Use Profile Sheet helps to:
Focus sharply on the audience and purpose.
Consider technical background and preferences.
Plan the document effectively by understanding the audience’s needs and expectations.
What is the definition of persuasion?
Persuasion is the act of trying to influence someone’s actions, opinions, or decisions.
What is the difference between implicit persuasion and explicit persuasion?
Implicit persuasion: Assures readers that the information provided is accurate, and the writer is competent and knowledgeable.
Explicit persuasion: Seeks to win readers over to a particular point of view on a controversial issue.
Why is identifying your persuasive goal important and what are the four types of persuasive goals?
Identifying persuasive goals is crucial to clarify what the document aims to accomplish. Four types of persuasive goals are:
Influence people’s opinions
Enlist people’s support
Submit a proposal
Change people’s behavior
What are three possible reactions to an argument that you should anticipate?
Compliance (acceptance under pressure)
Identification (acceptance for personal reasons)
Internalization (acceptance because the argument makes good sense)
What are the three types of audience acceptance and how do they work?
Compliance: Acceptance under pressure.
Identification: Acceptance for personal reasons.
Internalization: Acceptance because the argument makes good sense.
Ako izleze ovaa make stuff up daj primer nemase context
What are the three types of audience connection and how do they work?
Power connection
Relationship connection
Rational connection
Why is it important to allow for give-and-take?
Give-and-take is crucial for a balanced argument, inviting people to find weak spots, challenge ideas, and improve the case.
What are the five types of constraints on an argument and what do they each mean?
Organizational constraints: Based on company rules.
Legal constraints: Based on the law.
Ethical constraints: Based on honesty and fair play.
Time constraints: Based on the right timing.
Social and psychological constraints: Based on the audience
In what two ways can you support your claims convincingly?
Offer convincing evidence (factual statements, statistics, examples, expert testimony).
Appeal to common goals and values.
What three things can you do to ensure you consider the cultural context in an argument?
Recognize that cultures differ.
Understand the importance of “saving face” in all cultures.
Learn about various business cultures.
What is the definition of ethics?
Ethics refers to the principles of right and wrong that guide behavior. In communication, ethical considerations involve being accurate, honest, and fair.
What are the two major causes of unethical behavior in the workplace?
Yielding to social pressure (looking the other way)
Mistaking groupthink for teamwork (blindly following the group)
What are five types of ethical abuses that are common in the workplace?
Exaggerating credentials or expertise
Downplaying hazards
Writing biased recommendations
Suppressing knowledge
Exploiting cultural differences
What is the best way to make ethical decisions on the job?
Using critical thinking skills and considering reasonable criteria.
What are reasonable criteria and why are they important?
Reasonable criteria are standards that most people consider acceptable. They are important because they provide a basis for making ethical decisions.
What three forms do reasonable criteria take on?
Obligations (responsibilities to everyone involved)
Ideals (values one believes in or stands for)
Consequences (beneficial or harmful results of actions)
What are the six types of obligations to keep in mind in order to make ethical decisions?
Obligations to oneself
Obligations to clients and customers
Obligations to the company
Obligations to coworkers
Obligations to the community
Obligations to society
What is the definition of plagiarism?
Plagiarism is representing the words, ideas, or perspectives of others as one’s own.
What are the two types of plagiarism?
Blatant plagiarism: Intentional and obvious copying without proper attribution.
Unintentional plagiarism: Inadvertently using someone else’s work without proper citation.
What is whistle-blowing?
Whistle-blowing is reporting someone else’s ethical abuses, often in the workplace. It can be tricky and may not always result in legal protection.
Name some technical documents:
-newsletters
-journals
-pamphlets
-catalogs
-brochures
-articles
Main features of a technical document ?
-Reader centered- doesn’t focus on the writers feelings and thoughts
-Accessible and efficient- only needed info, easy to read and understand, effective visuals and page design
-Often produced by teams
-Delivered in paper and digital form- print(hard copy),Web pages, Pdf documents, e-books ,podcasts, tweets, online vids…
Purposes of a technical document ?
-To inform-anticipate and answer questions
-To instruct-to enable people to perform a task or follow a procedure
-To persuade- to influence people’s thinking
Prehearing an effective technical document
The four basic tasks of an effective communicator are:
-Deliver info readers can use- different people in different situations have different information needs
-Good teamwork-docs are produced by a team of collegues from different parts of the organization
-Good at persuading- some people often disagree what the info should mean and what action should be taken
-Weigh the ethical issue-unethical communication lacks credibility and could alienate readers
What is an Audience ?
People who will read and react to the information you give in order to do or learn something
What are the two types of audience ?
-Primary-the immediate reader, main users of the document
-Secondary-people outside of the immediate circle, who will support the project ,who will advise any decision makers or be affected
in some kind of way by the document
Decide whether your doc should be highly technical, semitechnical or nontechnical(depending on your audiences background)
When writing for audiences at different levels follow these suggestions:
-if the document is short, rewrite it at different levels for different backgrounds
-if the document exceeds two pages, address the primary readers then provide appendices, glossaries, hyper links or other easily accessible
information for secondary readers
Who are the Semitechnical(informed persons)
They should be presented with facts and figures explained
Who are the highly technical audience (experts)
They should be presented facts and figures they need without long explanations
Who are the Nontechnical (laypersons)
They should be presented with facts and figures explained in the most simple way
Anticipate your readers preferences ?
-Length and details-keep it short or be comprehensive, are people more interested in recommendations and conclusions or want everything
spelled out
-Format and medium-does your audience expect a memo, an email, short report or a long formal one. Should it be received as a hard copy,
Pdf, Web site with links, social media post or a combination of mediums
-Tone-formal, semiformal or informal
-Due date and timing-is there a deadline and should it be broken down into schedule of milestones, will the info be outdated before you
finished the document
-Budget-does the document have a production budget and how much
(If you find this card please split it in to more if you think its 2 much and PLEASE correct the grammar my OCD is murdering me when i see this card)
What is persuasion
Persuasion means trying to influence someone’s actions, opinions or decisions
Almost all workplace documents have two types of persuasion ?
-Implicit-assures the readers that the info provided is accurate, the facts are correct and the writer is fluent, competent and
knowledgeable
-Explicit-seeks to win readers over to a particular point of view about an issue that is controversial in some way
Types of persuasive goals
-Arguing to influence people’s opinions
-Arguing to enlist people’s support
-Arguing to change people’s behavior
-Submitting a proposal
Peoples reaction to any document
Peoples reaction to any document can differ acording to their temperament,intrests,fears,biases,ambitions or assumptions
There are three ways of connecting with the audience
-power connection(compliance)
-relationship connection(identification)
-rational connection(internalization)
Allow for Give-and-take what does this mean ?
Make a balanced argument with both sides of the issue considerate evenly and fairly: explain your stance, invite people to find weak
spots in your argument and to improve on it, invite people to challenge you ideas ,try to see the issue their way, try to reach an
agreement and compromise
Recognize all constraints
Constraints are limits or restrictions imposed by the situation when you make an argument
-Organizational-constraints based on company rules
-Legal-constraints based on the law
-Ethical-constraints based on honesty and fair play
-Time-constraints based on the right timing
-Social and psychological-constraints based on audience
Support you claims convincingly
The most persuasive document will be the one that presents the strongest case-from the audience’s perspective
-Offer convincing evidence: the evidence has to have quality ,the sources need to be credible and if both of those things are
accomplished the evidence will be considered reasonable
-Appeal to common goals and values-evidence alone might not be enough to change a person’s mind. You have to identify at least one
goal you and your audience have in common
-Consider the cultural context-be attentive to your audience
Common types of evidence are:
-Factual statements-a fact is something that can be demonstrated by observation ,experience , research or measurement
-Statistics-numbers can be highly convincing. Readers focus on the” bottom line”(costs , savings, losses, profits)
-Examples-help people visualize and remember the point
-Expert testimony-expert opinion(if it isn’t biased and people recognize the expert)lands authority and credibility to any claim
What is confirmation bias ?
Confirmation bias is when people selectively seek evidence that is consistent with their prior beliefs and expectations ?
Guidelines for persuasion
-Analyze the situation(assess the political climate ,learn the unspoken rules, decide on a connection, anticipate your audience’s
reaction
-Develop a clear and credible plan(define your goal precisely, do your homework, think your idea through ,consider the cultural context
never make a claim or ask for something that would be rejected outright)
-Prepare your argument(be clear what u want, avoid extreme persona, find point of agreement with your audience, never distort the opponent’s
position, stick to claims you can support, stick to your best material, do not merely criticize)
-Present your argument(ask for a second opinion ,get the timing right, decide on the proper format and appropriate medium, be sure
everyone involved receives a copy, invite responses, know when to back off, do not be defensive about negative reactions)
What is ethical information ?
When providing info make sure your writing is ethical(accurate honest and fair)
Ethical communication should always provide the most useful accurate information
Example and causes of unethical communication in the workplace:
Unethical communication is the result of two factors:
-Yielding to social pressure(looking the other way)
-Mistaking groupthinking for teamwork(blindly following the group)
Types of communication abuse in the workplace:
They are
- Suppressing knowledge the public needs
-Hiding conflicts of interest
-Exaggerating claims about technology
-Falsifying or fabricating data
-Using visual images that conceal the truth
-Stealing or divulging proprietary info
-Withholding info people need for their job
-Exploiting cultural differences
Ethical issues with social and digital media
Reasonable criteria(standards that most people consider acceptable).There are three forms:
-Obligations-the responsibilities you have to everyone involved (yourself, clients, coworkers and customers, company, community and society)
-ideals-the values you believe in or stand for(loyalty,compassion,friendship,dignity,fairness)
-Consequences-the beneficial or harmful results of your actions, which may be immediate or delayed, intentional or unintentional,
obvious or subtle
What are legal guidelines ?
Legal guidelines often don’t go far enough to measure unethical behavior however there are some laws to regulate this at least to a
degree: laws against deception, against libel, laws protecting employee privacy, copyright laws, against stealing or revealing trade
secrets, liability laws, laws against deceptive advertising
What is Plagiarism ?
Plagiarism-representing the ideas ,words or perspectives of others as your own. It can be either blatant or unintentional
What is Whistle-blowing ?
Whistle-blowing is reporting someone else’s ethical abuses but it can backfire on you and you won’t always be legally protected from
the consequences
