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Obviously our job is to communicate technical
information, so the information had better be:
* technically accurate
* relevant to our users' jobs
* communicated effectively
Effective communication means using the right medium
(paper doc, web page, whatever), writing clearly, and
formatting the information in a readable way.
What emphasis we put on one item over the other isn't
that important, since it _all_ needs to be there. But
the point is well taken that accurate information,
poorly presented, might still be useful. But incorrect
information, nicely presented, is totally useless.
I disagree that the tech writer's role is confined to
ensuring good formatting. No. My job is to communicate
technical information (see above). That means that
it's ultimately my job to make sure that the technical
information is accurate and useful. I may get others
to help me verify accuracy and completeness and so on,
but it's still my responsibility. That means that I
need to have enough technical competency and
understanding to do this.
I've seen too many technical writers, when confronted
with errors or omissions in their work, fall back on:
"Well, that's what the developers told me". The writer
never independently verified the information, because
they didn't have the technical ability. As far as I'm
concerned, that's what gives our profession a bad rep.
./Scott
--
Scott Wahl
Senior Technical Writer
Research in Motion
www.rim.net
--- "Christensen, Kent" <lkchris -at- sandia -dot- gov> wrote:
<snip>
> Seems a bit an irrelevant discussion since it's the
> subject matter experts'
> responsibility to verify adequacy and completeness
> of content and it's the
> tech writer's responsibility to ensure readability,
> i.e. create the best
> format.
</snip>
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