April/May 2006

Volume 46, Number 5

Message from the Editor

by Ron Arner

As a means of job security, I like to explore ways that technical communication is being or could be used in the world today. With the advent of online banking, electronic funds transfers, and online services such as PayPal, many new opportunities exist in the financial sector for technical communicators.

My investigation into the prospect of financial writing led me to review the basics of Economics, and in turn I became curious about how money itself was invented. I'm not talking about supply and demand, the Stock Exchange, or the current percentage rate. I'm asking at what point in history, and how, did humankind transition from bartering for goods and services to using money to obtain them? What caused this transition to take place, and how can it help us better understand the concept of digital cash¹?

In a barter economy, one good or service is exchanged for another good or service, plain and simple. At some point in time a certain good or service became universally valuable, acceptable in any barter situation, and valued above all else. Was this the first form of money? Was this done willingly or by force?

Since the first form of money was cattle², the transition probably came about simply out of necessity. Everyone needed milk, a beast of burden, and meat, so cattle became an agreed upon standard of value. This equation is now electronic and more complex, with bits and bytes representing the amount of cash you have on hand. Like any form of new technology, users need user manuals to understand how to work with electronic money, and online help systems to know how to navigate a site. In addition, the need for database driven Websites has skyrocketed with the popularity of online commerce. Online advertising hasn't hurt Marketing professionals either.

So what's been good for the economy has literally been good for technical communicators, no pun intended. Does increased use of digital cash mean that we hold the keys to economic prosperity? I find myself hoping so every time I fill up my car. While the equation may not be so simple, we've certainly seen indications that the tide is turning in our favor. (See the summary of the Money Magazine article that lists technical writing as a hot job by clicking here.)

Ultimately, I'm once again reminded that technical communicators will best prosper if they can adapt their skills to whatever the hot job market of the day is. If nothing else, I've also learned a new strategy to employ in the case of economic hardship: buy a few cattle, and start over from the beginning.

Sources

¹ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/moolah/digitalcash.html

²http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/moolah/history.html