effect

Hands on labs

Technical Writing: from uninformed JDs to AI frenzy

Melania Duma - Senior Technical Writer @ RWS

Sonia Pavlenko - Technical Writer @ Ascom Mobile Solutions

Room 32

8th November, 11:00-11:30

Technical Writers (TWs) act as knowledge brokers, bridging the gap between technical data and user needs. TWs crowdsource information across departments, streamline logic, and spot inconsistencies. In other words, TWs bring value to development teams because they do more than writing. Job descriptions (JDs) tend to miss the borders between the TW and other software development roles, and either fail to capture the mediator role of TWs, or aim at transforming TWs in low-class developers or testers. The latest AI frenzy brings even more confusion to the mix, with many suggesting that TWs can be replaced by over-the-top LLMs and algorithms. Our presentation aims at showing how TWs can act as the missing link in the tech-to-business chain and as the chaperones of accuracy in the land of AI hallucinations.

Melania Duma

RWS

Technical Writer at RWS, PhD in Linguistics and British Council examiner. She is interested in helping development teams get their message across users and stakeholders in a clear, simplified manner. For the past 11 years, she has been working with CMS systems, XML editors, DITA. She holds the tekom Expert Technical Writing certificate.

Sonia Pavlenko

Ascom Mobile Solutions

Technical Writer, teacher and British Council examiner with over 7 years of experience in the field. She is interested in continuously developing her skills & knowledge in the field of technical writing.