FTI, Föreningen Teknisk Information i Sverige 

FTI startades 1964 och har sedan dess arbetat med att sprida vetskap om vikten för ett utvecklat land att ha specialister som arbetar med teknikinformation. Samtidigt har föreningen genom föredrag, konferenser, studiebesök och kurser underlättat för medlemmarna att fortbilda sig.

Den tekniska utvecklingen av våra arbetshjälpmedel sedan 1960-talet har naturligtvis påverkat de teman vi har behandlat i föreningen,  men väl så mycket intresse har ägnats mer grundläggande aspekter på arbetet. Vi har till exempel betonat informationens funktion, funktionsprovning av information, vad som är informationskvalitet och psykologiska metoder att göra användningen av informationen lättare och snabbare. Vi tog tidigt upp frågan om produkters hanterbarhet och användning av andra medier än papper med tryck.

Internationellt har föreningen varit aktiv från början. Tidigt tog vi kontakt med den amerikanska föreningen. Den ville gärna starta egna chapters i Europa. Vi trodde mer på nationella föreningar i de olika länderna. Under åren 1967-1969 arbetade vi intensivt för att i stället skapa en paraplyorganisation för den amerikanska och de europeiska föreningarna. Målet var att ha en större grupp i ryggen när vi kontaktade olika instanser för att få större förståelse för vårt yrke.

Arbetet ledde 1970 till att INTECOM bildades av föreningarna i England, USA, Holland och Sverige. Därefter lade vi ner en hel del arbete för att få föreningar startade i ytterligare länder i Europa, vilket så småningom lyckades. Vi tog också initiativ till INTECOMs Forum-konferenser och arrangerade två av dem (i Malmö 1975 och Stockholm 1990).

The Swedish Association for Technical Communicators

History

FTI, Föreningen Teknisk Information (The Swedish Association for Technical Communicators) was founded in 1964. The main goal was to emphasize the necessity of having skilled professionals working with technical information. Another goal was to improve and share knowledge among the society’s members by arranging meetings, conferences, lectures, field trips, and courses.

Since the 1960’s, the development of new tools and techniques has revolutionized the craft of technical writing. Naturally, this has also influenced the themes and topics discussed in FTI. However, more fundamental aspects of the profession have also been treated, such as information quality and functional testing of information. Very early we also discussed product usability, and the possibility of using other media than printed paper.    

International contacts

Since its foundation, FTI has been active internationally. Early on, we got in touch with the corresponding American society, and worked to create an umbrella organization for the American and European societies.

The driving force for each society was to have a larger backing group when approaching authorities and organizations, lobbying for a better understanding for our profession. This resulted in the foundation of INTECOM in 1970, the charter members being the societies in the UK, USA, Holland and Sweden. We encouraged and assisted in starting societies in other European countries, for example in Germany. FTI initiated INTECOM's Forum Conference, of which we arranged two conferences (Malmö, 1975 and Stockholm, 1990).

FTI is one of the nine members of TCeurope, which is an umbrella organization for technical communication societies in Europe, founded in 2002. TCeurope's main areas of activity lie in the development of technical communication standards and guidelines, the advance of technical education and training programmes in Europe, and the promotion of technical communication at an international level. FTI hosted a TCeurope Colloquium in collaboration with the other Nordic associations in the spring of 2009.

Members

FTI currently has around 350 members, representing a wide variety of lines of business: software development, telecommunication, medical applications, consumer and industrial products, translation, etc. Our members work in organizations of all sizes, ranging from large corporations to smaller companies and consultant firms. Several members run their own business or are independent freelancers.

About 50% of the members are based in the Stockholm area.

The FTI board consists of six permanent and three co-opted members. 

Activities

Twice yearly FTI arranges an informal conference with lectures, demos and networking. Part of the session is often organized in a format called ”idea-market” where any member can present an idea or a problem on a simple flip-chart, while people mingling in the room discuss the various topics.

In May 2008 FTI launched an updated web site as a platform for knowledge-sharing and contacts, www.teknikinformatoren.se. We hope this will be a useful and lively forum for online discussions and for contacts between members. We also hope that the new site will help employers/clients get in touch with potential employees/service providers, and vice versa.

FTI publishes a paper, Teknikinformatören (The Technical Communicator), with one or two issues per year. The contents are mainly based on contributions from the members: reports from conferences or courses, book reviews, tips and tricks, and also scientific papers within the field of technical communication.