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Re: New TECHWR-L Poll Question

Subject: Re: New TECHWR-L Poll Question
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 11:43:20 -0700

Deborah Ray wrote:


How interested are you, as a technical writer, in the subject that you document?

* Very, and would follow the subject on my own
* Somewhat, but would not follow it on my own
* Not very, and take only a professional interest
* Not at all interested in the subject
* Other/none of the above



I suggested this question as a result of the reoccuring discussions about how much technical knowledge technical writers need.

It occurs to me that those who believe that as high a degree of knowledge as possible should be sought might be more likely to answer this question "Very" - that's certainly true of me, anyway. By contrast, those who suggest that expert knowledge isn't necessary might tend to answer "somewhat" or "not very." I'm looking forward to seeing whether I'm right or wrong.

I also notice that, so far, over three-quarters of those who answered would not follow their subjects on their own, and that almost half are either "not very" or "not at all" interested.

I'm saddened to think that so many people are spending their lives at work that they don't especially care for. However, more to the point, I strongly suspect that the answers would be very different for developers. At least a large minority of geeks are regularly increasing their knowledge, and some even program in their spare time for open source or free software projects. I wonder: could that be the reason that so many tech-writers don't get along with their SMEs? Could the geeks unconsciously sense the indifference to the topics that occupy large chunkes of their lives?


--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com

"Wherever we go, we celebrate
The land that makes us refugees."
-The Pogues, "Thousands Are Sailling"


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