Technical communication experienced a seismic shift with the arrival of the World Wide Web, dramatically reducing publishing costs and enabling instantaneous global transmission across various platforms—ranging from instant messages and emails to blogs, webinars, videos, and interactive websites. According to Furrow (2019), one particularly appealing advantage of digital publishing is mutability: if an error sneaks into a blog post or online document, it can be swiftly edited without much fuss or embarrassment.
The web is so integral to everyday life that even writing about it feels inherently repetitive. Surely, somewhere else online, someone has crafted a similar opening thought, likely in multiple languages. Much of today's technical documentation—guides, manuals, and standard operating procedures—lives digitally, accessible via internal platforms and external sites alike. Hyperlinks serve as digital wormholes, instantly connecting related resources, allowing users to leap effortlessly from one piece of information to another. This powerful connectivity leads Furrow (2019) to aptly label the web a "hypermedium."
Yet, the global reach of the web introduces unique challenges. How exactly do you pinpoint an audience on a platform potentially reaching billions? Petrosyan (2025) highlights that approximately 5.56 billion people worldwide access the internet, making audience targeting akin to speaking simultaneously to the entire population of Middle-earth—and hoping everyone understands your Elvish accent. Unwalla (2023) underscores the complexity, noting that online audiences can be globally dispersed, multilingual, and diverse in their needs.
Arguably, the best aspect of technical communication via the web is its capacity for interactive collaboration. Imagine collaborating live with a colleague who resides halfway across the globe—sharing screens, editing documents simultaneously, and interacting face-to-face through video calls. The web makes such real-time collaboration commonplace. Just recently, while delivering a presentation that lacked some finishing touches, my colleague effortlessly added the final slides remotely in real-time, turning potential embarrassment into seamless professionalism. Like a high-tech wizard conjuring solutions on the fly, collaborative tools have turned the previously impossible into everyday occurrences.
From enhancing accuracy through easy corrections to enabling effortless global teamwork, the web has undeniably revolutionized how we produce and consume technical communication. The digital frontier continues to expand and evolve, proving that when it comes to technical writing and collaboration, the web truly is a marvel—wicked good, indeed.
References
Furrow, A. (2019, April 27). Technical writing on the web. AshFurrow.com. https://ashfurrow.com/blog/technical-writing-on-the-web/
Petrosyan, A. (2025, February 13). Number of internet and social media users worldwide as of February 2025. Statista.com. https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/
Unwalla, M. (2023, October 11). Website design: A technical communication perspective. BCS. https://www.bcs.org/articles-opinion-and-research/website-design-a-technical-communication-perspective/
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