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As I near the end of this course, I realize the significant influence of AI tools on my approach to grade work in this course and the impact of the course materials on my career goals.

After reflecting on my experience in this course, I would advise new students taking this course that it is important to make sure they become comfortable discussing linguistic variation using appropriate terminology early in the course and to avoid under-editing to succeed.

Influence of a Generative AI Tool

My use of ChatGPT-4 heavily influenced my approach to the Tone of Voice Versions & Peer Reviews with genAI and the genAI Tone Analysis Report.

In the Tone of Voice Versions & Peer Reviews with genAI assignment, I used ChatGPT-4 to generate feedback on the effectiveness of my peer’s revisions to a text to create funny, casual, and formal tones. ChatGPT-4’s approach to offering feedback felt quite different from the approach I typically use. I usually try to home in on the most important changes to make, whereas ChatGPT-4 seems to focus on the areas that it is most suited to providing feedback on.

In the genAI Tone Analysis Report, I used ChatGPT-4 to revise a text into a casual and a formal version. This approach felt very different from the approach I would have taken without generative AI. My use of generative AI led me to a trial-and-error approach where I regenerated outputs repeatedly with slightly different prompts to get a satisfactory result.

Influence of an AI Tool For Revision

My use of ProWritingAid in every graded assignment where the use of AI tools for revision wasn’t prohibited significantly influenced my approach to revision. In general, this was a positive change. I revise my texts much more extensively when I use ProWritingAid because it makes this process much easier and faster.

AI tools such as ProWritingAid expedite the revision process by automatically identifying grammar, spelling, and punctuation issues that would otherwise take time and effort to spot. This reduction in time and effort let me focus more on revising for style and tone.

Using an AI tool for revision changed the focus of my revision process from identifying and fixing incorrect grammar, spelling, and punctuation to ensure my texts look professional to more complex and subjective goals.

Impact of Considering Four Dimensions of Tone of Voice

Kate Moran’s article “The Four Dimensions of Tone of Voice” had a large impact on my career goals. This article introduced me to the idea of considering tone of voice as four spectrums: formal to casual, serious to funny, respectful to irreverent, and matter-of-fact to enthusiastic.

Before reading this article, my understanding of tone focused almost only on formality; learning about the idea of four dimensions of voice expanded my understanding of tone. By considering four dimensions of tone of voice, I can discuss it with much more specificity.

This increased specificity is particularly useful when working with generative AI because ChatGPT-4 tends to exaggerate the tone of the generated text when the prompter provides simple instructions for the tone, such as “use a formal tone.”

The ability to describe tone specifically has a large impact on my career goals by enabling me to make precise adjustments to tone to suit specific audiences and purposes. This ability was important for many graded assignments throughout this course, and I expect it to continue to be an important skill going forward in my career.

Impact of Prompt Engineering

Ryan Boettger’s article “From Technical Communicator to AI Whisperer: The Rise of Prompt Engineering” also had a significant impact on my career goals. The article discusses how prompt engineering is an emerging profession that technical communicators are well-suited for. Boettger’s article also provides advice for honing your prompt engineering skills.

This article is significant to my career goals because I agree with Boettger’s assessment that “Experience working with AI… is likely to become a standard expectation soon.” I expect AI related skills to become even more important as my career goes on. Gaining AI skills is a central focus in my career development, and I found the advice in this article to be highly useful.

Why it’s Important to be Comfortable Using Linguistic Terminology in this Course

The most important thing to do to succeed in this course is to get comfortable using linguistic terminology to describe levels, sources, and patterns of linguistic variation. It is important to get comfortable using accurate and precise terminology for linguistic concepts in this course both to establish professionalism and to make it easier to interact with colleagues and AI.

Not being able to use linguistic terminology accurately will make it impossible to succeed in this course. If you are uncomfortable with using linguistic terminology, it will make most of the assignments in this course much harder and severely limit your ability to use generative AI effectively. This ability is vital to succeeding in this course, and I feel it will continue to be vital throughout a technical communication career.

Why it’s Important to Avoid Under-Editing in this Course

The most important thing to avoid doing in this course is trying too hard to keep text revisions close to the original in terms of phrasing, vocabulary, or information. It is nearly impossible to create significantly distinct tones if you try to keep too many aspects of the original text. Reducing text to the essentials makes it more casual. On the other hand, using complex vocabulary and sentences can enhance text formality.

I encountered significant difficulties working on the Revise for Plain Language assignment because I was too hesitant to change the exact vocabulary used and to remove information that is not relevant to the reader.

It’s important to avoid under-editing in this course because it isn’t possible to create highly distinct tones (as assignments often expect in this course) while leaving the original phrasing, vocabulary, and information presented the same.

As I read and watched the instructional materials for modules 3 and 4, I encountered several things that surprised and delighted me.

These materials influenced my approach to graded work in this course, and I expect they will continue to influence how I work as I move forward into my career in technical communication.

Plain Language as Text Elements

The concise breakdown of the text elements associated with plain language in Leslie O’Flahavan’s LinkedIn course, “Writing in Plain Language,” surprised and delighted me. O’Flahavan’s explanation of the key text elements of plain language surprised me and delighted me by distilling the key elements of plain language into ten rules.

The impact of such a short list of changes on the readability of a text surprised me. My understanding of plain language before this course was much more subjective and holistic. While this list is not exhaustive, it’s very nice to have a sort of checklist for individual elements of plain language adherence.

Influence on Graded Work

O’Flahavan’s explanation of plain language heavily influenced my approach to creating plain language versions of technical content about Freedom of Information Access requests produced by three US agencies. My revisions to implement plain language in these documents were directly based on O’Flahavan’s explanations of the word and sentence level elements associated with plain language.

Meaning to Career Goals

I expect the ability to explain and implement the text elements of plain language to be one of the single most important skills in my career in technical communication. Plain language is a near universal goal in technical communication; a more objective framework for implementing plain language feels invaluable.

Four Dimensions of Tone of Voice

Kate Moran’s article “The Four Dimensions of Tone of Voice” for the Nielsen Norman Group also surprised and delighted me, for similar reasons. Before reading this article, I only consciously considered the formal vs casual dimension as a spectrum; I thought of serious vs funny, respectful vs irreverent, and matter-of-fact vs enthusiastic as binaries if I considered them at all.

This article broadened my understanding of tone of voice by introducing me to the idea of considering these dimensions with the same focus and nuance as the formal vs casual dimension. The ability to analyze these dimensions of tone of voice more objectively delights me. Including these additional dimensions allows me to analyze and discuss tone of voice much more precisely.

Influence on Graded Work

Understanding the four dimensions of tone of voice, and especially how they can interact, had a significant influence on my approach to creating three tone of voice versions of a company’s introductory content.

When I was creating my formal, casual, and funny versions of this content, I repeatedly consulted and used ideas from Moran’s article. For example, when implementing a formal tone in the content, I also made the message mostly serious, respectful, and matter of fact. My casual version was also more enthusiastic to help emphasize the difference in tone. Last, I made my funny version casual, enthusiastic, and more irreverent than the other versions to fit with the additional humor.

Meaning to Career Goals

I expect the ability to analyze multiple dimensions of voice precisely to be very important in my career in technical communication. Different rhetorical situations call for distinct tones, and as a technical communicator, it is vital to tailor the tone as accurately as possible to the exact situation. Using multiple dimensions to analyze tone of voice makes it possible to detect slight changes that may cause noticeable differences in reader reactions.

As I read and watched the instructional materials for modules 1-3, I encountered several things that surprised, delighted, and disappointed me.

It’s Pronounced GIF

Watching Tom Scott’s video “It’s pronounced GIF” delighted me. I am a fan of Tom Scott’s videos and I really like how clear and accessible this explanation of the difficulty in determining what is “right” in language. I particularly enjoy the clever title, and that although Scott does not take an explicit side, he points out that the creator of the word GIF says “It’s pronounced JIF, not GIF”.

Design Systems

Chris Nodder’s video series “UX Foundations: Style Guides and Design Systems” surprised me because I didn’t know about design systems before. The fact that design systems play a parallel role to style guides, but in the context of code, surprised me because I had never thought about how code is kept standardized.

It was very interesting and useful to learn about the role of design systems because many of the style guides that I looked at included or were a part of design systems. Without this explanation, I would have been confused by and likely avoided style guides that are paired with design systems.

This knowledge was useful when I was writing my style guide recommendation report because the style guide that I recommended is a part of a design system. Thanks to this video, rather than feeling intimidated by this, I recognized it as a strength.

Algorithmic Readability Tests

The weaknesses and gaps of formulaic reading scores that the article “What makes writing more readable?” described surprised and disappointed me. While I didn’t fully trust algorithmic reading scores, in the past, I didn’t focus on these downsides because these algorithms are very convenient. This information is meaningful to my career goals because in the future I will make sure to be conscious of these shortcomings and always use common sense and testing to check if my writing is appropriate.

Without the knowledge of their weaknesses, I would have over relied on technology that is not equipped for the task. Cultivating a good sense of plain language is fundamental for a career in technical communication. I have used Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scores to represent the readability of text in the past, but I don’t think I would do so again. Although relying on a subjective judgement lacks the authority of a formula, it seems like such a subjective judgement would ultimately be more useful.

Mailchimp Style Guide

Reading through the Mailchimp style guide influenced my approach to the style guide recommendation report assignment by setting my baseline expectations for the features of a style guide. I analyzed this style guide and compared it to the style guide that I recommend instead. I found this style guide to be very interesting because humor is deeply woven into it. While this wasn’t the right choice in this case, it demonstrates how much a style guide can influence the voice of a company.

After completing my course assignments and instructional materials in digital content strategy, I have learned several lessons.

Based on the instructional materials and my experiences in the course assignments, I believe the most important thing someone learning about content strategy should do is connect content strategy to business goals.

The most important thing someone learning about content strategy should not do is start auditing without a comprehensive plan.

The most meaningful idea from content strategy for my career goals is considering content in the context of the organization’s entire body of content and governance.

Connecting Content Strategy to Business Goals

Connecting content improvements to business goals is the most important thing for someone learning about content strategy to do in any project they undertake going forward.

Kim Sydow Campbell and Val Swisher’s article “A Maturity Model for Content Strategy Development and Technical Communicator Leadership” identifies an inability to explain the business value of content strategy as a common cause of disrespect and poor treatment by internal customers. Val Swisher explains that companies only care about the aspects of content that increase revenue, decrease expenses, or decrease risk. Connecting content to business goals can motivate clients to care about the content.

In my experience conducting a content audit for a client (Client X), we heavily relied on their mission statement and style guide to establish our audit criteria and standards. This increased the usefulness of our analysis by demonstrating how improving the aspects of the content that we identified as opportunities for enhancement could increase profitability. My team received specific positive feedback from Client X in response to how we connected our content analysis to their brand goals.

Clients generally only value content quality if it leads to profit growth or risk reduction. Therefore, it’s important to describe how your suggestions can deliver these results.

Auditing without a Plan

When learning about content strategy, it is important to avoid starting an audit without a clear understanding of its goals, how the team will assess content, and the manageability of its scope. Paula Land describes these as conditions when one shouldn’t audit in Content Audits and Inventories. If you start an audit unprepared, it might never be finished, and even if it does, it is unlikely to produce valuable results.

To avoid going into an audit unprepared, conduct a pilot audit to see if your process is ready. Paula Land describes how a pilot audit will allow you to test your audit criteria, test how quickly your team can audit, and validate your process.

In my project for Client X, the pilot audit was very important. In the pilot audit, my team found two issues. First, we lacked sufficient detail in defining some audit criteria. Second, one criterion took considerably longer to assess than the others. By identifying problems in the pilot audit, we prevented overloading one team member and ensured effective findings with accurate descriptions.

As someone learning about content strategy, it is essential to avoid starting an audit without a clear understanding of its goals, scope, and criteria. Auditing without a clear plan will decrease the value of your results and might prevent you from completing the audit as planned. Fortunately, you can easily avoid this by conducting a pilot audit to verify your process, timeline, and criteria.

Analyzing the Context of Content

Content strategy is crucial for my career goals as it allows me to consider content in its complete context rather than looking at it as just an individual document. Examining content for consistency predicts its ease of translation and reuse; Inconsistencies can also result from gaps in an organization’s authoring or content governance processes.

When you analyze content-related issues and connect them to trends and the content process, you can prioritize finding proactive solutions to prevent these issues instead of merely addressing them reactively after they occur.

Also, by analyzing content through the lens of strategy, rather than focusing on the individual pieces, it becomes much easier to quantify the value of improving content. It is both hard to fix, and hard to see the value of fixing individual issues with certain documents. The value of content improvements is much easier to quantify when fixing a trend will improve a measurable percentage of content to increase profit.

I expect the importance of this level of strategic thinking to increase as the use of AI increases in content strategy. An article by Tom Johnson titled: “What I learned in using AI for planning and prioritization: Content strategy might be safe from automation” describes how AI tools are poorly suited for strategic analysis and decision making. Despite their strategic and decision-making weaknesses, AI tools allow content strategists to analyze and improve tone and style consistency with greatly increased efficiency. Although AI tools may not be the perfect fit for planning, they already enhance the value of content strategists by streamlining implementation of their plans.

Strategic analysis and decision making are valuable skills in technical communication, and that value is only increased with the use of AI tools. The ability to analyze content in the full context of an organization’s body of content and business goals allows you to connect issues in content to process causes in a way that current AI tools are not capable of.

I read and watched several things that surprised, delighted, and disappointed me as I engaged with the digital content strategy instructional materials assigned for Modules 5 and 6.

Limitations of AI

Val Swisher’s discussion of the strengths and limitations of AI as a content tool in her guest lecture surprised and delighted me. I am highly aware of the growing usefulness of AI tools for increasing the efficiency of content production, but I have not heard as much about the limitations of AI. Prior to this guest lecture, I hadn’t considered the cost or difficulty of training and implementing AI chatbots. I have always relied on human oversight when using AI in products. As a result, I didn’t consider the challenges and extra needs that customer-facing AI chatbots bring. I hadn’t considered that as a point against using AI more often because I take no issue with talking to a computer. These insights will be valuable in my career because without them, I would recommend implementing AI too often.

While I have also read Tom Johnson’s article “What I learned in using AI for planning and prioritization: Content strategy might be safe from automation”, which discusses how he found Notebook LM to be of limited usefulness for planning and prioritizing tasks, this result did not surprise me. I was, however, delighted to read an informed voice agreeing with me that jobs requiring analytical and strategic skills are likely to be safe from automation.

Text processing AI such as Notebook LM are, in my experience, poorly suited to strategic or multivariate tasks. I have found AI tools to be most effective when they are given very detailed prompts with a simple goal. Using AI for complex inputs often requires more effort than doing the task manually.

A Model for Content Strategy

The level of detail provided about maturity models for content strategy development in “A Maturity Model for Content Strategy Development and Technical Communicator Leadership” by Kim Sydow Campbell and Val Swisher, Val Swisher’s guest lecture, and Dr. Kim’s module 6 video lecture surprised and delighted me. I appreciate the depth with which the instructional materials explore this concept because this concept seems like one of the most important for me to take away from this course. These materials’ depth helped me understand how content strategies and tactics can improve the information process maturity level of an organization.

The focus on translating content improvements to business goals presented in these materials will be very important in my career. The value of content process improvements can easily be underestimated unless technical communicators document and show how they increase revenue, decrease expense, and decrease risk.

Conclusions

Val Swisher’s discussion on the practical limitations of AI in content applications and the comprehensive coverage of maturity models for content strategy in the instructional materials both surprised and delighted me. Tom Johnson’s conclusion that AI is not very useful for strategic and analytical tasks did not surprise me, but it delighted me.

It will be important to explain how content improvements will translate to business goals and to keep the limitations of AI in mind in my career.

I saw many things that surprised, delighted, and disappointed me as I engaged with the digital content strategy instructional materials for Module 4.

Continued Focus on Accessibility

The Web Accessibility Initiative article “Writing for Web Accessibility” and the section of Dr. Kim’s Module 4 video lecture covering content accessibility simultaneously delighted and disappointed me. The amount of advice about how to audit and improve accessibility for web content delighted me. In contrast, the materials’ focus on web content disappointed. Web content is very prevalent, but my current project does not involve web content. I was relieved to see a link to a Government Services Administration article about how to create accessible digital content that covers formats other than web pages in the “Sources to Learn More” section .

Assessing and improving accessibility are valuable skills as a technical writer for both ensuring legal compliance and improving content quality. These skills are important to my career goals because of both the universal ethical obligation to create accessible content and, in some jobs, a legal obligation to meet accessibility standards.

Document Quality Checklists

The shared similarities between the document quality checklists that Ellis Pratt discussed in their Podcast 123 episode “Document Quality Checklists” surprised and delighted me. Initially, the variety and number of criteria in this podcast overwhelmed me. However, as I went through them, I realized that most are essentially the same across the different checklists, making it more manageable.

Despite the different wording, all the systems Pratt discusses assess completeness, findability, accuracy, and usability. It delighted me to see that, although different organizations may ask different questions to assess their content, the basic priorities remain the same.

I expect understanding and navigating the precise nuances of an individual organization’s document quality checklist to be very meaningful in my career. To create high-quality content, it is crucial that I understand the checklist of each organization I am employed by and adapt to their similarities and differences.

Types of Systems for Managing Company Content

Dr. Kim’s explanation of the different types of systems for managing company content in the Module 4 video lecture surprised and delighted me. It was difficult for me to distinguish between Enterprise Content Management Systems, Content Management Systems, and Component Content Management Systems because they all share the phrase Content Management System in their names. When I read in the assignment for this blog that WordPress is a Content Management System, it surprised me because I primarily associated the term with CCMSs like IXIASOFT and Flare. I appreciate learning about the categories of CMS because the ability to communicate credibly about this topic will be important for my career.

Conclusions

The explanation of the different types of systems for managing company content and the section of Dr. Kim’s Module 4 video lecture covering content accessibility delighted me. The Module 4 video lecture by Dr. Kim surprised me with its explanation of the different types of systems for managing company content. I didn’t realize how unfamiliar I was with this terminology until Dr. Kim’s video lecture clarified it.

I felt disappointed initially when Dr. Kim’s Module 4 video lecture focused solely on web content accessibility. However, I was relieved to hear about a link in the “Sources to Learn More” section that covered creating accessible digital content in various formats, not just web pages.

The similarities that emerged between the document quality checklists that Ellis Pratt discussed in their Podcast 123 episode “Document Quality Checklists” also delighted me.

As I continue to learn about digital content strategy, I continue to encounter fresh surprises, delights, and disappointments.

Implementing Qualitative Criteria

Watching the section of Dr. Kim’s module 3 lecture that addresses how to implement qualitative audit criteria delighted me. Reading subchapter 8.4 of Paula Land’s Content Audits and Inventories also helped me in this regard. Before reading this chapter and watching Dr. Kim’s lecture, I was somewhat unsure about how best to summarize qualitative criteria. I appreciate hearing that two-, three-, and five-point scales can all work effectively to describe qualitative content in a spreadsheet. It was nice to see an example of how this can be implemented in Anna Kaley from Neilson/Norman Group’s video “How To: Content Inventory and Audit”. I plan to implement one or more of these point scales in my future work.

Auditing for Accessibility

Reading an entire chapter dedicated to auditing for accessibility issues in Paula Land’s Content Audits and Inventories surprised and delighted me. I did not expect this topic to be addressed in detail because a complete accessibility audit would exceed the scope of a typical content audit. Descriptive alt text, titles, and headings are important for screen readers to be fully effective for sight impaired users.

Although Content Audits and Inventories does not describe why most elements of accessible design are beneficial, it explains the most important aspects of accessible design very clearly. I particularly appreciate the inclusion of a list of tools for testing site accessibility and the suggestion to test the site with a screen reader. Although I don’t think assessing accessibility will be especially important in my current project, it is always important to keep it in mind. Even if it isn’t central to this particular project, I need to take every chance I get to develop this skill. Assessing accessibility is vital to technical communication because the quality of the content is irrelevant if it’s illegible.

Redundant, Outdated, and Trivial Content

Reading about auditing for redundant, outdated, and trivial content in Content Audits and Inventories and “Content Audits: A Heavy Lift for a Huge Payoff” as well as hearing about it in Anna Kaley from Neilson/Norman Group’s video “How To: Content Inventory and Audit” surprised and disappointed me. I understand why outdated information is a problem, but I expected content producers to have procedures in place to stop redundant or trivial content from being published in the first place. I expect auditing redundant, outdated, and trivial content to be difficult because it requires significant knowledge of the subject matter, the audience, and organizational goals.

Based on how frequently it was mentioned in my course materials, I expect identifying redundant, outdated, and trivial content to be an important skill going forward in my career.

Conclusions

I appreciated receiving clear guidance about implementing qualitative criteria in an audit and auditing for accessibility; I expect these to be valuable skills going forward in my career. It was disappointing to read about the importance of identifying redundant, outdated, and trivial content because I hoped that redundant and trivial content would be edited before publishing. I will make sure to look out for any ROT content now that I know how significant of an issue it can be.

As I have started to learn about digital content strategy, I have encountered many surprises, delights, and disappointments.

Building the Business Case

The focus on contextualizing and explaining the value of a content audit presented in Paula Land’s Content Audits and Inventories delighted me. Prior to this course, I didn’t understand the context or ways to articulate the value of a content audit. I was delighted to find explanations of why an organization might audit their content. I also appreciated Land’s inclusion of a chapter about building the business case for an audit.

I hadn’t considered how to quantify the results of an audit. The ability to explain the business value of an audit, which I learned from Content Audits and Inventories and Dr. Kim’s module 1 lecture, will be highly useful to me in the future. It is important for me to understand how to explain the value of content audits because I don’t want the work that I do on content audits to be undervalued.

Context for the Audit

The variety of contexts in which content inventories and audits can occur that Content Audits and Inventories presented surprised me. I assumed organizations conducted content inventories and audits almost exclusively as part of site redesigns. I didn’t consider less obvious cases like government compliance or continuous upkeep.

After reading about the variety of contexts that audits can exist in, I can see how they would affect their goals and scope. Beyond why the audit is necessary, business goals and the time and tools available affect the context of an audit. The context of content audits is much more complex than I thought.

Gathering Requirements

The similarities between how Val Swisher described the interview process before starting an audit in Dr. Kim’s module 2 video lecture and the interview process that I learned in TECM 5170: Grants and Proposals surprised me. I didn’t expect the content audit planning process to include interviewing management about business goals, KPIs, and defining success. My expectation for the interview process before starting a content audit was limited to the second type of interviews Swisher described: interviews with writers and SMEs about the process of writing.

Dr. Kim’s instructions for asking good questions, presented in the module 2 video lecture and in a dedicated video, also surprised and delighted me. I have learned how to ask detailed and answerable questions implicitly as a student; this is the first time I got direct instructions about how to ask good questions.

Asking good questions makes it easier to get the answers you are looking for and improves your relationship with the person you are interviewing. I appreciate explicit instructions about how to ask useful questions. As a technical communicator, asking good questions is vital for information gathering and developing professional relationships.

Conclusions

Land’s explanation of building the business case for audits, Swisher’s description of interviewing managers, and Dr. Kim’s guidance on asking good questions delighted me. I expect to benefit significantly from the abilities to quantify and explain the value of audits, interview management to find out business goals, and ask good questions that I learned from the instructional material in this course as I go forward in my career.