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RE: Tech writing class (Intellectual Foundations) LONG
Subject:RE: Tech writing class (Intellectual Foundations) LONG From:"Jane Carnall" <jane -dot- carnall -at- digitalbridges -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 25 May 2001 16:26:28 +0100
>This thread has addressed some interesting topics, but I would like to 'wax
>philosophical', so be warned.
Warning acknowledged. <g>
>Is not college a time for studying and discussing the intellectual
>foundations and new ideas of a field?
>Rather than getting job training,
Well, like so many other answers on the list - it depends. <g> I went to
college (my local polytechnic) as a "mature" student (I'd been 3 years out
of high school by that time), with the express intention of getting a
workhorse education: learning how to do in order to get a job. (True, the
degree I took aimed at turning students into programmers and I turned into a
technical writer... but hey.)
I would actually really enjoy undertaking a course of the kind you describe:
but I am not certain that it would have done me much good *before* I landed
my first job as a technical writer. Too much time on the Parthenon and not
enough on the Optative, to quote C.S.Lewis. ("The Parthenon and the
Optative", coll. in _On Stories, and Other Essays on Literature_, 1982)
"What does it mean for Technical Communicators to be owners of the total
product experience? How should information be apportioned among the various
aspects of that experience?"
How can you properly discuss that question until you know what it means to
be the "owner of the total product experience"? And what the caveats and the
drawbacks are?
In a city in Scotland, two universities (I'll call them A and B, because
those are not their names) offer a "Computing BSc" course. Both employ many
computer technicians. A degree from B University is preferred as a
qualification to work for either B or A University as a computer
technician... because the degree from A Uni focusses strongly on the
philosophy and the theories of constructing artificial intelligence, whereas
the degree from B University trains computer technicians.
But as a postgraduate degree, your course sounds great. Now I've done these
things for several years, and had much trouble and thought about them, I'd
love to step back and take a long thoughtful look at the principles on which
I have been operating, in an academic environment.
Jane Carnall
Journeying Android Networked for Exploration: Cybernetic Artificial
Replicant Normally for Assassination and Logical Learning
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