Computers and Technical Communication in the 21st Century

Carliner, Saul. “Computers and Technical Communication in the 21^st Century.” In Digital Literacy for Technical Communication, edited by Rachel Spilka, 21-50. New York: Routledge, 2010.

In this article, Carliner describes how digital technology affects technical communicators, especially how technology has changed the job titles and roles of technical communicators in organizations. The author also includes a history of technology and how it has changed, starting in the 1970s.

My interest in this reading is the history of technology, especially the author’s discussion of the coming-of-age of the Internet. His discussion will be useful when I address some of the obstacles to early efforts to make public libraries points of access to the Internet. As part of the background information on my topic, I will be looking at how libraries dealt with those obstacles and which ones remain.

In addition, the section of Carliner’s article dealing with the Internet, within the larger context of the history of technology, contains useful information and interesting quotations.