Editing Technical writing (section)

==History==

[[File:C+B-Egypt-Fig8-DraggingDhnthotepStatue.PNG|thumb|alt=Like the technical writing [[Ikea]] provides with their products, ancient Egyptians used visual communication to explain a procedure.|Like the technical writing [[Ikea]] provides with their products, ancient Egyptian technical writers often relied on visual communication to explain a procedure.]] While technical writing has only been recognized as a profession since [[World War II]], its roots can be traced to ancient Egypt, where visual communication was regularly used to explain procedures. In ancient Greek and Roman times, technical writing by the works of writers like [[Aristotle]] and [[Democratus]] are cited as some of the earliest forms of written technical writing. The earliest examples of what would be considered modern procedural technical writing date back to the early [[alchemists]]. These early scientists developed what we now know as "[[recipes]]". Some of the earliest discoveries of written procedural steps in Western Civilization date back to 1100 A.D. However, visual communication was used to describe step procedures in ancient India and China much earlier.

With the invention of the mechanical [[printing press]], the onset of the [[Renaissance]], and the rise of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Age of Reason]], documenting findings became a necessity. Inventors and scientists like [[Isaac Newton]] and [[Leonardo da Vinci]] prepared documents that chronicled their inventions and findings.<ref name="msubillings.edu">{{cite web|author=O'Hara, Fredrick M. Jr.|url=http://www.msubillings.edu/cotfaculty/fullon/_notes/History%20of%20Technical%20Communication%20%282%29.pdf|title=A Brief History of Technical Communication|work=Montana State University Billings|access-date=April 22, 2014}}</ref>{{rp|p=1}} While never called technical documents during their period of publication, these documents played a crucial role in developing modern forms of technical communication and writing.<ref name="msubillings.edu"/>

The field of technical communication grew during the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref name="eprints.port.ac.uk">{{cite web|author=Crabbe, Stephen|url=http://eprints.port.ac.uk/9695/1/trans-kom_05_01_03_Crabbe_Technical_Writing.20120614.pdf|title=Constructing a Contextual History of English Language Technical Writing|work=University of Portsmouth|year=2012|access-date=April 30, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512225758/http://eprints.port.ac.uk/9695/1/trans-kom_05_01_03_Crabbe_Technical_Writing.20120614.pdf|archive-date=May 12, 2014}}</ref>{{rp|p=3}} There was a growing need to provide people with instructions for using the increasingly complex machines that were being invented.<ref name="eprints.port.ac.uk"/>{{rp|p=8}} However, unlike the past, where skills were handed down through oral traditions, no one besides the inventors knew how to use these new devices. [[Writing]] thus became the fastest and most effective way to disseminate information, and writers who could document these devices were desired.<ref name="eprints.port.ac.uk"/>

During the 20th century, the need for technical writing skyrocketed, and the profession became officially recognized. The events of [[World War I]] and [[World War II]] led to advances in medicine, military hardware, computer technology, and aerospace technologies.<ref name="msubillings.edu"/>{{rp|p=2}} This rapid growth, coupled with the urgency of war, created an immediate need for well-designed documentation to support the use of these technologies. Technical writing was in high demand during this time, and "technical writer" became an official job title during World War II.<ref name="msubillings.edu"/>{{rp|p=1}}

Following [[World War II]], technological advances led to an increase in consumer goods and standards of living.<ref name="msubillings.edu"/>{{rp|p=3}} During the post-war boom, public services like libraries and universities, as well as transport systems like buses and highways, saw substantial growth. The need for writers to chronicle these processes increased.<ref name="msubillings.edu"/>{{rp|p=1}} It was also during this period that large business and universities started using computers. Notably, in 1949, Joseph D. Chapline authored the first computational technical document, an instruction manual for the [[BINAC]] computer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.proedit.com/history-of-technical-writing/|title=History of Technical Writing|work=Proedit|date=14 September 2012|access-date=May 9, 2014}}</ref>

The invention of the [[transistor]] in 1947 allowed computers to be produced more cheaply and within the purchasing range of individuals and small businesses.<ref name="msubillings.edu"/>{{rp|p=3}} As the market for these "[[personal computer]]s" grew, so did the need for writers who could explain and provide user documentation for these devices.<ref name="msubillings.edu"/>{{rp|p=3}} The profession of technical writing saw further expansion during the 1970s and 1980s as consumer electronics found their way into the homes of more and more people.<ref name="msubillings.edu"/>

In recent years, the prominence of computers in society has led to many advances in the field of digital communications, leading to changes in the tools technical writers use.<ref name="msubillings.edu"/>{{rp|p=3}} [[Hypertext]], [[word processors]], [[Graphics software|graphics editing programs]], and page laying software have made the creation of technical documents faster and easier, and technical writers of today must be proficient in these programs.<ref name="Mike Markel 2012"/>{{rp|pp=8–9}}