Do we Need a Technical Communication Body of Knowledge?

October 2015

A Body of Knowledge (BoK) is the set of concepts, terms and activities that broadly define a profession. The BoK is often compiled by the relevant professional society. In this article, Steve Moss explains the origins and purpose of our TCBoK.

In May and June 2012, members of TWIA and TechCommNZ held brainstorming sessions in Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Melbourne to come up with the first draft of a body of knowledge for technical communication (TCBoK) in Australasia.

This is now available for anyone to view at tcbok.info. Since the initial launch, we've added two new, and especially valuable, areas (Ethical perspective and Typical personal attributes). The Australasian TCBoK is still under development and you are welcome to review it and contribute additional material.

The rationale for creating the TCBoK is described in more detail in the Southern Communicator (Moss and Woolley, 2012), but in summary, it was to provide practitioners with:

  • An understanding of the scope of the field, as well as some understanding of the general depth of knowledge expected in each area. This is especially valuable to new practitioners, who are coming to terms with the kinds of things they will need to learn about – although not all at once!
  • A way to confirm the scope and accuracy of their knowledge, and identify new competencies worth gaining.

The TCBoK also provides:

  • A way to differentiate between other professions such as business analysts, instructional designers or journalists.
  • A description of the TC skill set to inform employment agencies or potential employers.

The TCBoK may not be the definitive word on every aspect of the knowledge and skills relating to technical communication, but it's certainly a good place to start finding out what they are. If you are looking at embarking on a course in technical communication, you might also use it as a checklist to compare the course curriculum against topics that have been identified in the body of knowledge.

In the recent survey we conducted about professionalism, a survey respondent mentioned that they are unconvinced of the relevance or application of the TCBoK to the technical communication profession.

I gather that [it] is an analogue of the PMBOK that project managers go on about. But from my understanding, the PMBOK is an artificial construct of an independent company which is aggressively trying to position itself as a gatekeeper to qualification in the profession of project management. Also there isn't a perceived need from the rest of society to regulate our profession (e.g. like certified engineers, or doctors, or lawyers) so we will possibly remain forever as a semi-formal grouping of like-minded individuals. Which may be for the best. There was a good article I read a while ago about this - the sliding scale from 'informal club of hobbyists' through to 'formal professional society' (and I think we sit firmly in the middle though others may disagree). (TechCommNZ Professionalism Survey, June 2015)

This viewpoint seems to underestimate the potential value of the TCBoK and the possibility of technical communication developing into a recognised profession. To be clear, in our case there is certainly no independent company involved – two not-for-profit organisations (TWIA and TechCommNZ) created the TCBoK for a number of reasons, but not for regulation or to control entry into the profession. They sought merely to help practitioners and others to recognise the value and scope of work performed by technical communicators. In combination with other initiatives, such as continued professional development, formal education, moves towards a more professional outlook (Carliner, 2013, 2014) and certification, it is a step on the way to helping technical communicators achieve the recognition and status they - we - deserve.

References

Moss, S. and Woolley, S. (2012) Technical Communication Body of Knowledge (TCBoK). Southern Communicator, 27 (October 2012), pp20-22.

TechCommNZ Professionalism Survey, June 2015. See a summary of the survey results at http://www.tcanz.org.nz/Story?Action=View&Story_id=86

Carliner, S. The Three Approaches to Professionalization in Technical Communication. Southern Communicator, 30, 31, 32 (October 2013, February and July 2014)