Generative AI, comics, and a sunset. Impressions of NORDIC TechKomm 2024 in Stockholm

NORDIC TechKomm, the technical communication conference in Stockholm, Sweden, isn't big. This makes it an excellent opportunity to network with Scandinavian and international colleagues.

2024 is also a special year for tekom Sweden. The association emerged from FTI (föreningen teknisk information), which was founded in 1964 and will be 60 (!) years old this year. This makes tekom Sweden the oldest professional association for technical communication. Congratulations on your anniversary!

Many presentations focused on artificial intelligence, not all did.

My highlights include:

Get your content ready for the machinery compliance revolution with a digital first approach
Joe Gelb of Zoomin highlights the innovations of the Machinery Directive and its impact on technical communication.

The new Machinery Directive now allows for digital documentation, removing the requirement to print. However, the documentation must reflect the current state of the machine in operation and relate exactly to the supplied version. The online documentation must be available via a stable link for at least 10 years. These and other regulations are changing the way deliver technical documentation.

CCMS Adoption within an Enterprise at Microchip 
Morten Haaker of Microchip Technology and Charles Gettinger, RWS, about introducing a CCMS at a semiconductor manufacturer.

In addition to the CCMS, Microchips uses several tools to integrate content. For example, they transform Doxygen code documentation into DITA or scripts that automatically generate complete information products, including topics, according to standard structures. RWS has summarized the steps towards smart content on the following slide:

RWS also announced the release of its KI assistant "Draft Companion" for the RWS Tridion Docs content component management system.

GenAI at Work with Fluid Topics 

Fabrice Lacroix of Fluid Topics demonstrated the use of generative AI in the Fluid Topics content delivery portal. Like other portals, AI communicates with users and answers questions using RAG (retrieval augmented generation).

But that's not all: You can use additional features, such as article summaries, suggested search terms, or live translation. The Fluid Topics backend allows you to customize the prompts for these features.

How to use analytics to quantify the ROI of your technical content 

How do I measure the success of content delivery? For example, what is the deflection rate of unopened support cases due to the use of technical documentation? These figures make the case to management.

Learn more about content KPIs in Zoomin's benchmark report.

It doesn't have to be comics, but we can learn from comics
Marco Jänicke, IJJ

And last but not least – what do comics have to do with warnings or technical illustrations? Much more than I thought! Like technical documentation, comics follow strict conventions for depicting motion and emotion. We analyzed this using comic books, including a Mosaik book from my childhood.
 

And there were beautiful sunsets!