Technical Communication in World War II

Overview
The origin of technical communication as a demonstrable skill set can be traced back to multiple historical artifacts, including Chaucer’s medieval manual Treatise on the Astrolabe, Aristotle’s summary of the Doctrines of Pythagoras, and Vitruvius's treatise on architecture De Architectura. Documents similar to these, which convey scientific or rhetorically dense material in concise language geared towards uninitiated audiences, are found among any society that possesses the need to define, disseminate, or advance technology. Though artifacts of technical communication can be found throughout history, World War II was a critical era in the history of technical communication, as it was during this time the title of “technical communicator” began being recognized as a formal profession.

During World War II, technical communication not only played a significant role in advancing scientific knowledge, but it also ensured that new users were knowledgeable and competent when handling unfamiliar or dangerous technology. From this era rose a pivotal awareness of how professional writers could employ various rhetorical devices to not only communicate standardized information, but to keep users engaged with it. Technical communicators of the time engaged with subject-matter experts to write patents, proposals, public service announcements, and to generally report technical information.

Technological Expansion
War is an influential motivating force for the development of scientific and technological innovation. Transformative advancements in fields such as weaponry, communications, medicine, and aerospace technology have been enabled by military funding to meet the demands of combat. Since the early 20th century, research and development in applied sciences have been considered pillars of a successful military. World War II drove efforts that saw the first mass production and stabilization of penicillin, medical advancements in the prevention of malaria, the invention of radar, chemical development in the creation and defense of poisonous gases, the rapid development in aviation design, and the invention of the atomic bomb.

With the rapid expansion of technology came the necessity of standardization, as the applied sciences developed during wartime were complicated and required wide distribution. In tandem to the development and distribution of new technology was literature on procedure, training, and logistics.

The ENIAC Machine
The University of Pennsylvania’s Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) machine was the first general purpose computer, built between 1943 and 1945. In 1946, after wartime efforts, the US government made the ENIAC available to civilians.

Description of the ENIAC and Comments on Electronic Computing Machines was a document distributed among the War Department, the Office of the Chief Ordnance, the Research and Development Command, and three separate specialists within an Applied Mathematics panel. This document serves as one of the first descriptive manuals about computing for non-specialized audiences. In this document, authors Eckert, Mauchly, Goldstine, and Brainerd established the need for “high speed general purpose computing machines,” then described and defined the ENIAC in terms accessible both to mathematicians and liaisons within the military.

In the preface of Description of the ENIAC and Comments on Electronic Computing Machines, the authors comment that the report is to be circulated within a small introductory group that have a specialized interest in computing, but that when it is warranted, “technical descriptions will be published in technical journals.”

While the specialists selected were studied in mathematics and battle operations, there was a presumption of unfamiliarity with the specific machinery discussed.

Penicillin
Patents are a genre of technical communication that was affected greatly by policies put in place during this time period. To prevent war-related inventions from leaking to America's adversaries, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) implemented a secrecy program that halted the filings of 11,000 patent applications. This significantly impeded discovery and slowed the commercialization of inventions after the war effort, temporarily restricting advancement in this genre of technical communication.

USPTO secrecy orders were issued and enforced predominantly in areas related to weaponry and communications. Patents relating to medicine were not as targeted, so the development and marketing of products such as penicillin were more forthcoming.

The discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928 and the filing of its patent in 1945 made the antibiotic, which had only been available for troops during the war, available to the general public. In addition, the patent set off a great post-war public information effort to generate public awareness. To promote the antibiotic’s life-saving benefits, Public Service Announcements were filmed through the Signal Corps and promotional posters were circulated.

Line edits made for the Method of Producing Penicillin patent. The page is addressed to "The Honorable, The Commissioner of Patents", Beneath that address is the heading "In the Specifications," which then lists, page by page, revisions for multiple lines in the patent. One edit for page 6 line 26 reads: "cancel 'fermentation' and insert 'incubation'". Another line edit for page 8 line 7 reads: "cancel 'or' and insert 'including'". Line edits made for the Method of Producing Penicillin patent. These edits condensed and streamlined the language to improve readability. An excerpt of a script for a PSA on the manufacturing of penicillin. It is short, with no dialogue. It aims to depict the "detailed story on the manufacture of penicillin at the Reichel Labs in West Chester and Kimberton, PA." The film directions read "Close Up: hands of nurse prepare hypodermic needle with penicillin. M.S. Army nurse gives penicillin injection to soldier." An excerpt of a script for a PSA on the manufacturing of penicillin. This gave the public context for the production of the new antibiotic.

The Jet Engine
The patent for the jet engine was filed by English engineer Frank Whittle in 1930. Germany was the first country to fly a jet engine plane in 1939, five days before the invasion of Poland. Jet engines equipped planes with more speed and power than propeller engines, but they were also more difficult to handle.

Aircraft Safety & Transmedia Storytelling
Transmedia storytelling is a technique employed by technical communicators in which mixed media is used across multiple platforms to engage an audience on a regular or serialized basis. When used effectively, it captures an audience's attention and imparts information in a meaningful and memorable way. This was a practice technical communicators employed when authoring training manuals and safety notices for new recruits during World War II.

Prior to entering World War II in 1941, the U.S. Army Forces recorded an average of 51 fatalities in pilot training per year. During the war, the yearly average of pilot training fatalities rose to 3,675. This overwhelming increase in deadly and avoidable training accidents became a serious problem for the United States.

It became apparent that the existing literature regarding the evolving aircraft technology was insufficient in preparing the large number of pilots being recruited. Seeking to more effectively enforce safety procedures, the Navy enlisted various writers and cartoonists to create informative, engaging, and accessible literature on aircraft safety. These technical communicators developed and implemented rhetorical devices such as transmedia storytelling to make technical information more accessible.

Robert C. Osborn was a cartoonist who created over 2,000 aircraft safety posters from 1942 to 1945. In addition to instructional posters, the United States commissioned him, along with a team of educators and subject-matter experts, to create colorful and humorous training manuals. In investigating aircraft training practices, Osborn conducted interviews with subject-matter experts, toured training facilities, underwent flight training as a pilot himself, and attended missions.

Osborn's extensive research afforded him a comprehensive technical knowledge of aircraft safety procedures, as well as an understanding of how the pilots retained safety information. Informed by the lived experiences of the men he studied, Osborn employed transmedia storytelling in the form of attention-grabbing and repetitive literature to communicate important technical information.