Editorial Echoes

Holding Out for a Hero

By Kathy Graden, Managing Editor

A few months ago, STC's Intercom magazine launched a contest that invited readers to create and submit descriptions of "superheroes of technical communication"—new, original characters who combine the ideals of the technical communication profession with special powers.

I never found out whose superhero character won the contest. But as a lifelong reader and sometime collector of vintage comic books, I have my own ideas about comparing technical communicators to superheroes.

Side note: before I go further, here's an example of the fascination that superheroes have for many technical communicators. Several years ago when I worked for a large industrial conglomerate, the people at our site received two simultaneous announcements: the CEO had been fired suddenly (the official euphemism was "decided to pursue other opportunities"), and his successor would be visiting our plant the following week.

We all asked, "What's the new guy's name?" When the answer "John Jones" came back, every one of us technical writers piped up, in unison, "The Martian Manhunter!" That floored me. All six of us were of different ages and grew up in different places, yet we all recalled a secondary DC Comics character from the 1950s and '60s.

Most of the special powers that superheroes possess wouldn't be much help to technical communicators in everyday life. Three-foot adamantium claws might be cool, but if you wanted to keep your job you couldn't use them to scare subject matter experts into returning their review comments on time. And would we really enjoy commuting between buildings by swinging on steel-like cables of spiderweb? I doubt it.

But I do see parallels between us and superheroes. Although technical communicators don't go running around in bat suits, like Batman we embrace gadgets and technology—only our "utility belts" include devices like cell phones with cameras, PDAs, portable flash drives, etc. Batman's outstanding detective skills contribute to his superhero status; and our jobs call upon us to be good detectives every day, ferreting out secrets of product usage, collecting and analyzing assorted bits of information from sources around the globe, etc.

Then there's Superman, whose alter ego Clark Kent is a successful news reporter. Being a superhero definitely gives him an edge when it comes to scoring the scoop on fast-breaking news stories. But if he didn't know how to collect the facts, frame the story, and tell it clearly and concisely (as technical communicators do), he'd be standing in the unemployment line.

One thing that's true for both superheroes and us is that each day, we never know for sure who or what our next nemesis is going to be. And our survival will depend on sizing up the situation or enemy, developing strategies for dispatching them, and moving on to the next challenge. You might say that superheroes have it easy; they only need to worry about foes like the Joker, Lex Luthor, or Doctor Octopus. Technical communicators' nemeses are much more complex and challenging: outsourcing, offshoring, transformation, and the continuing struggle to grow and strengthen new skills to meet changing marketplace needs.

What would Superman do if he were told, "Sorry, dude, X-ray vision just doesn't cut it anymore. You gotta learn XML and master three new publishing tools in the next two months, and by the way, we're not moving the deadline!"?

For me, though, the most fascinating heroes are those who don't have special powers. They are simply good at what they do, and although they struggle and aren't invincible, they often display extraordinary courage and perseverance in doing what is right.

Here are two of my favorite examples. In DC Comics mythology, Barbara Gordon was Batgirl until an assault by the Joker turned her into a paraplegic. But she wanted to continue fighting crime, so she studied and learned to become an expert in cybertechnology — and now she's known as Oracle, who collects technical and other complex information from universal sources and provides it to her user community, the DC Comics superheroes.

Does anyone out there doubt that she's acting as a technical communicator?

And there's the heroic character Eowyn, from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Defying her family, she disguises her identity in armor in order to participate in the final titanic battle against evil Lord Sauron and his dark forces. In the midst of the fighting, she sees her uncle fall to Sauron's horrifying second-in-command, the Witch King. Wounded, reeling, she finds the Witch King coming for the kill. In the movie version, her face reflects pure terror (excellent acting by Miranda Otto). Yet, she stands her ground. And when the Witch King jeers, "You fool! No man can kill me!" she whips off her helmet and replies quietly, "But I am no man!" and then strikes him down.

I don't face witch kings or supervillains every day, and neither do you. But if we can be as courageous as Eowyn in facing transformation and the other challenges awaiting us professionally, and delivering in spite of obstacles, then we can be everyday heroes.

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