By Ramesh Ramamurthy

The growing sector of technical communication in India

Over the past decades, technical communication in India has grown from an unknown profession to an indispensable part of many industries and sectors. A testimony to the maturity and significance of this professional field is the tremendous growth of the so-called TWIN community, representing the Technical Communicators of India.

Technical communication in India started off as a writing job that included the translation of a piece of information into a well-readable text easy to understand for its end users. Even though the role of these writers has existed before, the classification of this field under the name “Technical Communication” only happened recently. The field of technical communication in India was not known until late 1989. In the following years, organizations started to recognize the value of documentation and knowledge resources as key factors for their company’s future growth. Throughout all industries and sectors – especially the software industry – the importance of the role of technical communicators was recognized.

The impact of technical communication

Communication of technical information has taken its new shape and has a very big role to play in today’s documentation industry. It is a process of delivering technical information in the form of speech, document or any other medium to a specific audience. Technical communication reaches out into a great amount of domains. It includes science, technology, nuclear study, hardware, software, aerospace, travel, military, electronic products, process study, team management, etc..

Today technical communication enables the transfer, description and use of knowledge. Organizations have benefited from the documentation of knowledge gathered over a period of time, which has enabled technological advancements and organizational growth.

Technical Writers of India

When it was first conceived about ten years ago, nobody had the faintest clue that Technical Writers of India (TWIN) would grow to its present stature so quickly. Several factors played a role in this evolution, not the least of which is the nearly sudden explosion of awareness about technical communication in India. The TWIN website reflects this evolution as it was one of the pioneers of the profession and continues to remain an important resource for all aspiring Indian technical writers. In a natural metamorphosis TWIN grew from being a mailing list and a static website to an interactive community portal.

The TWIN community is growing rapidly. The community portal has over 4200 registered members and many thousands of guest users. The TWIN mailing list, which has a separate user base, has over 2500 subscribers. TWIN is registered as a public trust with the government of India, and it’s a non-profit community.  Both its portal and mailing list are easy to use and free of charge.
In its present shape, the TWIN portal is an ongoing effort to help the community while growing into an even stronger silo of knowledge. Knowledge shared is knowledge gained. The portal believes in throwing its gates open to anyone interested to take part in its offerings. Among its functions are creating blogs, sharing tips and insights, participating in polls, joining discussion forums, seeing upcoming events and seminars as well as joining the mailing list.

Conclusion

The role of technical communication in today’s industry has been widely recognized, creating further growth opportunities as well career prospects in the current documentation industry. Media including newspapers, video, television, magazines, e-learning CDs and online sources have adopted technical communication and are thus enabling a faster communication approach. TWIN’s exponential growth is a testimony to the maturity and development of the technical writing industry in India.  The organization’s activities are managed by volunteers, so it encourages India-based writers to develop and enhance leadership skills and get recognized in this competitive, growing industry. 

To find out more about TWIN, please contact its owner Gururaj B.S.