Real-Life Communication
Technical writers are communicators. They take complex technical
or scientific information and put it into terms that make sense to people.
They write user guides, online help systems, knowledge base articles, and
other content for the users of technology.
Putting complex concepts
into simple terms isn't as easy as it sounds. Let's see if you've got what
it takes.
You're a technical writer working for a cloud computing company
that has just developed an innovative AI-powered data analytics platform.
Your boss wants to market this platform to small businesses that have so far
been hesitant to adopt advanced analytics tools.
The problem: The people
in these businesses don't really understand what cloud-based analytics are
and how they work, so they don't see how your company's platform can benefit
them.
As the technical writer, you've been given the task of writing
a couple of short, explanatory paragraphs about AI-powered analytics in the
cloud. You've decided to break things down like this:
What are AI-powerred
analytics?
- Definition
- Why are they revolutionizing business operations?
- What do they mean for small business owners?
How do cloud-based analytics work?
- What comprises a cloud analytics platform?
- How do users interact with the data?
- How does the system process and learn from information?
Before you begin writing, here are some technical definitions to
work with. Don't forget that the point of this exercise is to take scientific
terminology and translate it into easy-to-understand language.
Definitions
- Artificial intelligence (AI)
- Computer systems capable of performing tasks that typically require human
intelligence, including decision making and pattern identification.
- Cloud computing
- The delivery of computing services, including storage, networking, analytics,
and intelligence, over the Internet rather than on local on-site servers.
This offers faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale.
- Machine learning
- A subset of AI that provides systems the ability to automatically learn
and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed.
- Data analytics
- The process of examining data sets to find trends and draw conclusions
about the information they contain.