TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
> Actually, I think both you and Bruce are right. Bruce is saying, with
the
> specific example of learning how to program, that the more a technical
> writer learns about their subject matter area the better they will be. I
> don't think you're saying this isn't true, just that technical writers
> have our own skill set: writing.
Yes...but....writing is only 1/2 the game. You can be a good writer and be
a terrible technical writer.
1. That is not a scientific poll. Therefore the results cannot be treated
as an objective fact.
2. However, if we were to take this poll as a valid cross section of tech
writing - it demonstrates what me (and others) have said for a long time:
Too many writers put content knowledge behind writing skills. I believe
this leads to bad documentation. It leads to well written nonsense. I've
read A TON of technical manuals - honestly 1 out of 50 are actually
useful. Most are just well-organized crap.
Most of the tech writers I meet are more interested in styles and grammar
then they are the accuracy of the words where those styles and grammar are
applied. If you throw perfume on a pile of dog poop it may make the poop
smell nicer, but its still dog poop.
> I know exactly how to rewire a plug. I can describe how it's done so
that my
> ten-year-old nephew can follow the instructions and do it himself. But
when
> *I* have to rewire a plug, it takes me 15 minutes to half an hour and
much
> muttered cursing, because I'm a klutz. (My nephew, who is not a klutz,
does
> it much faster and listens interestedly to my muttered cursing.) No one
> would ever hire me to rewire plugs... but anyone can hire me to write
about
> how to rewire plugs. I'm good at that.
Nobody is asking you to become an expert plug rewirer. But you need to
know how to do it and you need some first hand experience doing it. Just
sitting in a meeting and listening to people talk about rewiring plugs
would not make you a plug rewirer. You need to do it and get some
experience doing it so you can appreciate what the user is going to go
through.
I think this is where the division in this topic lies. We have one side
saying "be more technical" and we have another side saying "I'm technical
enough." What qualifies as "technical enough" varies from site to site,
job to job.
What is key is do you understand the content. Do you know WHY you are
writing certain things and what the greater purpose is behind various
technology issues. Its when you write in a vacuum, assuming everything
handed to you from a specification or an SME is correct that you get into
trouble.
Andrew Plato
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, July 15-18 in Washington, DC
The Help Technology Conference, August 21-24 in Boston, MA
Details and online registration at http://www.SolutionsEvents.com
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
