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Bryan Westbrook reports: <<In the case of doctors, there is a recognized,
authoritative governing body that licenses them. STC has no clear right to
declare themselves as such. BTW, I am not knocking STC, per se, and am
actually a member. I just don't think they need to be overstepping their
bounds on this issue.>>
To clarify this point: STC is not attempting to claim and enforce sole
responsibility for certification of all technical communicators, everywhere
(unlike regional medical and engineering associations). Instead, what they
would be offering is a voluntary certification process that would ideally
guarantee a minimum standard of competence; the goal would be to provide a
measure of reassurance to employers who are hiring and who have had bad
experiences with "self-appointed" experts in the past. Various editorial
associations have followed or are following a similar process; the Council
of Biology (now "Science") Editors already has such a voluntary
certification in place, and it's well-respected in the editing community,
and the Editors' Association of Canada is trying to develop such a program.
Many professional translation associations offer similar credentials.
Personally, I oppose certification for our profession for a large variety of
reasons that I won't bring up here; none of them are enough to make me
militantly opposed to ***voluntary*** certification. But I certainly
understand why STC wants to make certification available (it gives our
profession more of a "professional" appearance and increases our visibility)
and why employers would look favorably on this initiative (it decreases but
does not eliminate the chances of hiring an incompetent employee). I find
neither argument persuasive, but I do understand them.
--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
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