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RE: The Wave of a TW's Future: (was RE: Tools & Technologies)
Subject:RE: The Wave of a TW's Future: (was RE: Tools & Technologies) From:Marguerite Krupp <mkrupp -at- cisco -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 30 Oct 2001 12:51:21 -0500
===Jenise asks===
Steven's comment makes me pause and say "Hmm." With all of the discussions
world-wide about XML, what will our jobs look like 20 or 25 years from now?
What will our profession look like? Will we find ourselves in one of two
groups: (a) Content Experts or (b) DTD/DTP Experts? Will we need to arm
ourselves to be both (a) and (b), or will we need to choose one and
specialize?
Will XML lead us in 20 to 25 years, or will we TWs lead XML?
Again, Steven's comment about focusing only on content just caught my eye.
Thoughts?
========================
WELLLLLLL, once upon a time, there was a company called Digital Equipment
Corporation (DEC).
Once upon a time, there was a tech writing tool called DECWrite that allowed
writers to focus upon content, while others focused on appearances/format.
Neither has been heard from in some time.
Now a company in which I am significantly involved is going through similar
spasms about XML/DTDs, etc. They have formed specialized teams to hone these
methodologies/workflows, and these teams will then disseminate (a carefully
chosen word) that amount of knowledge that we "content creators" need to
know.
Uh-huh. Seen this movie before.
My point is that we will go through whatever exercises and use whatever
tools and media are available. Our expertise as technical communicators
transcends these. Some people are wordsmiths. Some prefer to be toolsmiths.
Some of us find this kind of categorization exasperating, but in this
economy, we'll take the money and do the best we can.
Cynically,
Marguerite
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