Workstation technology and technical communication: new power and new responsibility

The experiences of technical communicators with workstations and electronic publishing methods are reviewed with reference to the areas of technical illustration, writing, and editing and production. It is concluded that, for technical communicators, the synergistic combination of workstations and electronic publishing methods brings substantial change to the traditional methods of presenting technical information. These tools substantially reduce or eliminate many of the low-level tasks that consumed the communicators' time. It is further concluded that the sheer power of these technologies gives opportunities for developing entirely new kinds of information products, and for adding greater value to existing products.<>