Broadening the View: Technical Writers and Digital Technologies in India

This article reports on the technological priorities of technical writing practitioners in India. Findings suggest that swift technological change prompts professionals in India to be fluent in a growing list of technology-based tasks, challenging them to find and afford training opportunities. Based on the specific technological skills reported, Indian practitioners are more likely to learn and use programming languages and architecture design tools, rather than websites, presentations, wikis, social media, or even word processing programs. Practitioners also reported anticipating an increased need to learn interactive and automated technologies. Such findings suggest that technical web technologies will continue to be important to technical communication practice in India and that training opportunities are needed. Further, because automated and interactive technologies (AI) were seen as an integral part of future technical communication practice, more research is needed about AI's role in technical communication and the changes AI might bring to the field.