COMM11003
Professional & Technical
Communication
Lesson 1
Introduction to communication
concepts in a technical context
Who am I?
• Errol Vieth
• Contact hours are
• Fridays, after this seminar
• anytime by appointment
• Contact details:
• phone 07 4930 9501
• e-mail e.vieth@cqu.edu.au
• office is 33/2.23
Course Housekeeping
• Two assignments
(Ass 1 – Week 6/Ass 2 – Week 12)
• Weekly exercises must be done in
workshops.
• You are expected to read more widely
than the text books.
• Team Debates in Week 12 for internal
students.
Course Housekeeping
• Refer regularly to the course website at
http://webfuse.cqu.edu.au/Courses/2008/T1/
COMM11003/
• You may be grouped with ‘buddies’. You
should work together to solve problems, and
when approaching tutors for advice.
• Contact tutors if you are having difficulties
with your buddies.
Course Housekeeping
• DO NOT PLAGIARISE – for CQU policy, see
http://www.cqu.edu.au/documents/unipol/plagi
arism.htm
• We want to see your best work, not someone
else’s.
• You will fail if you plagiarise.
• Be aware of correct presentation of
assignments and referencing. For guidance,
see: http://www.cqu.edu.au/referencing
What is communication?
• Communication is a complex area, with many
differing theories.
• Put very simply, communication is a
‘transaction’ between two or more individuals.
• Sender (idea) > Message (meaning) >
Receiver (listen, read) > Response (feedback)
• We are dealing with people communicating
about the technical.
What is technical communication?
• Deal with information in a technical context.
• Challenge is to adapt information to the level
of their audience.
• Professions:
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Writers/editors
Multimedia/web developers
Usability engineers and interface designers
Proposal writers
Why is it relevant?
• Good communication means
understanding.
• Technology is managed in business
environments.
• Important in an environment where:
• Ideas are complex
• Misunderstanding is potentially dangerous
Types of communication…
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Oral
Visual
Written
Non-verbal
Interpersonal
We will cover these at an introductory
level in this course.
Communication ‘products’
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Written (report, paper, letter, memo)
Online (web page, e-mail)
Visual (film, photograph, graph, image)
Oral (speech)
A product is part of the communication
process as a whole.
Genre
• Genre is a predictable combination of
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content, structure, style, and relationship with
audience.
Defines how we tell a story.
Genre in film – western, drama, thriller
Genre in literature – poem, novel, play
Genre in business and technical
communication – technical reports, user
manuals, instructions, proposals
Social Literacy
• Understanding of social practice
(‘norms’).
• To be socially literate is to understand
the rules of the society to which you
belong.
• ‘What is acceptable?’
• Individual motivated by desire to be
accepted by a group.
Cultural literacy
• Based around established concepts of what is
important knowledge within a group.
• What you should know in order to function in
a cultural environment.
• Seen in practice by need to ‘prove yourself’ in
order to be accepted.
• Individual is motivated by desire to be
respected by a group.
Why are cultural and social
literacy important?
• Need to have both social and cultural
literacy to communicate effectively
across a broad range of people.
• Be accepted by and be accepting of
different groups.
• Technical communicators need to
understand, not judge, their audience.
Basics of successful
communication
• Successful communication requires:
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Listening
Assertion
Conflict resolution
Collaborative problem solving
Appropriate skill selection
(Bolton, 1987)
• Also
• Organisation
• Awareness of audience
• Review of material
Readings
• Textbook: Business Communication:
Building Critical Skills
• Module 1 – Business Communication,
Management, and Success
• Module 2 (part) – Audience and the
Communication Process p.24 - 25
Exercise 1
This exercise requires you to analyse a user
manual using the PAIBOC principles (in your
textbook).
Your submission should be no longer than half a
page, and should be written using full
sentences.
See your study guide for full details.