The Society for Technical Communication (STC) defines technical communication as being a broad field that can include any form of communication with one or more of the following characteristics: communication about technical or specialized topics, using technology, and instructions on how to do something.
The role of a technical communicator is to take information and make it usable and accessible for their audience; from those setting up their televisions, to a specific group, such as computer engineers. In order to do this, they have to determine the best methods for supplying this information to their audience and that can come in many forms: paper instructions that may/or may not include pictures, online tutorials, videos, PDF files, etc.