documentation Archives | Shufrans TechDocs Home // documentation Archives | Shufrans TechDocs

While generative AI offers exciting possibilities for streamlining STE content creation, it’s crucial to understand its limitations and the enduring value of human expertise.

AI as a Tool, Not a Replacement: Generative AI excels at tasks like:

• Drafting and Editing: Automating repetitive tasks, suggesting alternative phrasing, and identifying potential inconsistencies.
• Enforcing Standards: Checking for adherence to ASD-STE100 and other standards.
• Improving Clarity: Identifying areas of ambiguity and suggesting clearer language.

However, AI cannot fully replace the critical thinking and nuanced understanding that human writers bring to the table.

Addressing Missing Information:

• Human Expertise: Technical writers, with their deep domain knowledge and understanding of the target audience, are essential for identifying and addressing crucial information gaps.
• Thorough Planning: Careful planning, including detailed requirements gathering and thorough subject matter research, is paramount to prevent missing information from the outset.

• Human Review: Even with AI assistance, meticulous human review is necessary to ensure all mission critical information is accurately and comprehensively conveyed.

The Importance of Human Judgement:

• Nuance and Context: STE requires understanding subtle nuances, interpreting complex technical concepts, and tailoring the information to the specific needs of the audience. These tasks demand human judgement and expertise.
• Ethical Considerations: AI models can sometimes exhibit biases or generate inaccurate information. Human oversight is crucial to ensure the ethical and responsible use of AI in STE.

Generative AI can be a valuable tool for technical writers, enhancing efficiency and improving the quality of STE documentation. However, it should be viewed as an assistant, not a replacement. The unique skills and expertise of human writers, including critical thinking, domain knowledge, and the ability to understand and address complex technical issues, remain indispensable for creating high-quality, effective, and trustworthy STE content. By leveraging the strengths of both AI and human expertise, we can create a synergistic approach that maximises the benefits of both while mitigating the risks.

Simplified Technical English: Breaking Barriers Across Industries

Simplified Technical English (STE) has its roots in the aerospace industry, where it emerged as a solution to address language and documentation challenges. While it initially served the aerospace sector, STE’s versatility and adaptability have made it relevant and applicable to various industries. This article explores the evolution of STE from an aerospace standard to its potential in revolutionising documentation practices across diverse sectors.

The Aerospace Connection

Aircraft maintenance, a safety-sensitive domain, faced issues that stem from ineffective language and documentation practices. To address this, the aerospace industry spearheaded the development of the STE specification over the past 40 years. However, despite its origins, STE does not consist solely of aerospace-specific rules. In fact, a majority of the writing rules apply universally, with only a few minor adjustments necessary to suit different industries.

Fine-tuning the Vocabulary

While some aerospace- or defence related terminology exists in the general dictionary of STE, it comprises a mere 5% of the overall words. These highly technical terms, often related to nuts and bolts, require adaptation when dealing with software-based interfaces and non-aerospace contexts. By omitting these industry-specific terms and adding a handful of words relevant to specific industries, STE can be readily customised for a wide range of technical documentation purposes.

STE Beyond Aerospace

The power of STE lies in its versatility. Its applicability extends well beyond the aerospace industry. For instance, even financial institutions can benefit from the streamlined and precise language of STE when documenting banking processes. By embracing STE, organisations from diverse sectors can enhance clarity, efficiency, and comprehension in their technical documentation.

Adaptability to Specific Needs

STE’s flexibility allows for customisation to suit unique requirements. As the specification primarily involves additions to the dictionary, aerospace clients themselves often make customisations to cater to different systems onboard their aircraft. This adaptability has been demonstrated by unexpected users, such as a coffee machine manufacturer. Although seemingly unrelated to aerospace, their coffee machines are installed in a vast majority of passenger aircraft. Documentation for these machines, whether used in offices, medical practices, or cafeterias, can be effectively developed using STE, with only slight relaxation of the rules originally designed for aerospace.

Simplified Technical English, born out of the aerospace industry, has evolved into a versatile language specification capable of transforming documentation practices across various sectors. Its effectiveness in enhancing safety, efficiency, and clarity has made it applicable to industries far beyond its initial scope. With the power to streamline communication and promote comprehension, STE offers organisations a powerful tool to optimise their technical documentation, regardless of their industry.

The writing style of the original text is highly technical and precise, which is suitable for conveying important safety information regarding the use of exercise equipment. The language used is formal, and the tone is serious, emphasizing the importance of safety precautions.

However, technical jargon can sometimes make it challenging for customers to understand the instructions and warnings, leading to improper use of equipment, which may result in serious injuries.

For instance, phrases such as “musculoskeletal discomfort” isn’t quite easily understood by customers who are not familiar with medical terminology. Similarly, terms like “Qualified Trainer” may not be clear to some users.

To avoid such issues, it is crucial to communicate safety information in a way that is easy to understand and accessible to the general public. It is important to use simple, clear, and concise language that is understandable by a broad audience.

Moreover, providing visual aids such as diagrams, pictures, and videos can be helpful in supplementing written instructions and enhancing customer understanding. Using a conversational tone, instead of a formal or technical one, can also make safety information more accessible and relatable.

In conclusion, while technical jargon is essential in certain contexts, it can hinder customer understanding in safety-related matters. Therefore, it is crucial to communicate safety information in a way that is easy to understand and accessible to a broad audience. This can be achieved through the use of Simplified English, clear and simple instructions, and avoiding technical terms or jargon wherever possible. By doing so, customers can more easily understand the instructions and use the equipment safely and efficiently.

🧑🏻‍💻 Sign up for our Simplified Technical English workshop and learn how to communicate clearly and effectively.

ASD-STE100 was originally developed to make maintenance documentation for aircraft and their components easier to understand for a global audience. Over time, use of the specification was increasingly required for other types of manuals in the electronics, automotive and IT industries. Amongst them is Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a subsidiary of the Tata Group. By 2012 revenues, TCS is one of India’s most valuable companies, and the largest India-based IT services company.

Tata’s services include technical publications for major aircraft manufacturers and their suppliers, who require compliance with relevant standards such as ASD-STE100.

Airbus is widely known to have strict STE quality checks that are difficult to meet for outside suppliers. Head of Aerospace Vertical, Mr Sureshbabu says: “Amidst the financial turmoil of 2008, India continues to offer new business opportunities. At TCS, we constantly keep up with high quality standards and keep our customers happy. Learning how to optimally use a documentation standard like ASD-STE100 is a substantial boost to our technical writing team’s capabilities and significantly improved our compliance rating.”

Said Dr Frans Wijma, Shufra’s principal trainer: “To date, Shufra has trained 20 technical writers and SMEs at TCS and we expect many more companies in India to take this leap forward.”

Hear more from our satisfied customers.