User Advocacy [1] blog has a series on technical writing and its adaptation to the future.

Among technical writers, the state of the profession is a form of contention in itself. Many argue that assuming change is afoot is to knuckle under to the steady stream of buzzwords and fads that make a few venture capitalists rich while everyone else hits the job boards again. A growing faction of otherwise sceptical writers are thinking instead that transition is upon us, and will reward those who adapt.

To understand this change, we need to track the development of technical writing.

Originally a bizarre hybrid between psychologist, journalist, and instructor, the technical writer compiled scattered notes written by engineers and converted them into manuals that normal people could read and understand. This allowed the product-buying public to use technology with which they had no familiarity.

Technical writing through the 1950s and 1960s followed this pattern. Users were expected to have a high school education including some math and science, so much of the job involved explaining specifics in terms of the general skills with which users were more familiar. Gadgets varied widely and so the writer served an essential role, translating engineer complexity into end-user clarity.

The original article [2] has five sections, one of which will be posted each week through the holidays to give you busy technical writers something to read.

For those interested in technical communications [3], this blog offers quite a bit to chew on. It details the past of technical writing, how its role has changed, and offers up a plausible future.