One of the recommended readings for this week was an article
by Madelyn Flammia titled The Challenge of Getting Technical Experts to Talk:
Why Interviewing Skills Are Crucial to the Technical Communication Curriculum.
Reading this paper gave me many insights into this area.
Firstly, I was struck by how the points Flammia made
throughout the piece started to tie what we've been learning in various modules
of the MA programme together. While this reading was part of a class with a
specific interviewing assignment as one of its' components, it was also highly
relevant to the work we were required to do for our project proposals in terms
of interviewing subject matter experts.
The emphasis the work places on developing the skill of
being able to ask the right questions can also be related to our learning
artefact assignment. In this project, we've will be working on a complex topic
which few, if any, of the class have prior knowledge. We are required to
produce an e-learning resource which can clearly explain this topic. An expert
in the area is on hand to provide answers to any questions we have on the
material, and so it will be essential for us to be able to formulate the right
questions so that we can increase our understanding of the subject before
creating the deliverable.
Another facet of the article which I found particularly
intriguing was the author's thoughts on how Technical Communicators can
demonstrate their value to an organisation. Coming from a programming
background as I do, I must admit that, prior to my research into technical
writing, I held similar prejudices against writers to those cited in the piece
- specifically that they weren't as important as the developers in a company.
However, this article highlights the benefits of having Technical Communicators
work alongside colleagues in other roles in the company. From the example of a
writer whose interview helped programmers find bugs in their programs, to
suggesting Technical Communicators help reduce Customer Support calls by making
manuals more understandable, I felt this work could change others' perspectives
on writers.
Aside from this reading, on the forum, the class have been
posting examples of good and bad interviewing techniques. I have found it
fascinating to see the wide variety of examples provided. Things that
consistently seem to come up as an example of poor interviewing is not giving
the interviewee time to answer the question asked, or an interviewer clearing
leading their guest with questions laced with bias. It's truly staggering to
see the number of professional interviewers who engage in this sort of
behaviour. In my opinion, serves to highlight how diligent we as Technical
Communicators must be in avoiding these pitfalls.
Indeed, as a closing example from my own experience, I'll
admit to being guilty of some of those faux-pas during my time hosting a
college radio show. For instance, in this interview, I allowed my personal
opinion of RTE influence the direction of one of my questions. I began to
suggest that RTE were unsupportive of the Irish comedy scene. This was, in
retrospect, highly unprofessional. No doubt studying interviewing techniques as
part of the MA will help to improve my skills in this area.
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