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Glenn makes several good points but, overall, I have to agree with Andrew on
this one. Tools are transient at best, but good technique will last a
lifetime. Also, most colleges won't spend the bucks necessary to purchase
all the up-to-date tools with all the spiffy tech writer bells and whistles
because it just plain costs too much to purchase Mac, PC, mainframe and
Linux/Unix versions of all the most popular tools in common use. If the
writer is unable to learn a platform/tool on the fly while producing good
documentation, perhaps he/she should reconsider their choice of career. The
job is not the tool, the job is developing documentation related to
technical products and services. Tools just give us a convenient means of
organizing and conveying the information. Andrew has stated more than once
that a lousy writer will not produce better documents by being a whiz with
Frame. A lousy writer will still be a lousy writer, regardless of their
expertise with any of the tools.
Where I agree with Glenn is that the students should be introduced to the
different tools that they will encounter in the market place, some of their
quirks and tricks we use to make the tool sing our praises. But the money
factor to keep updated tools available for a handful of tech writing
students at universities across the country could raise the cost of tuition
for the students to the ivy league level without providing any of the
additional benefits.
Regards,
Pete Sanborn
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-81537 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-81537 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of Glenn Maxey
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 6:54 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Tech Writing Curriculum
As always, Andrew, I enjoyed your rant.
I agree with the spirit of your rant, but not its recommended
implementation. Tools and their efficient use have to be a part of the
Tech Writing Curriculum. It does not have to be the end-all cure-all of
that program, but cannot be ignored, either.
I don't know how many Word documents I have received (and fixed) that
used the normal style in abnormal ways, which led to unmaintainable,
ugly, broken documents: Normal=normal, Normal=bold, Normal=bullet list,
Normal=numbered list, Normal=italics, Normal=indented... Let's not
forget those manually generated TOCs, manually generated indices,
manually created cross-references, manually inserted carriage returns
and page breaks "to get the text to line up".
The documents were screwed up from the start, because built-in tool
features were not used in the correct manner. Yes, eventually a
well-formatted documented could be printed out and distributed... one
time. Thereafter, just inserting text, removing text, or selecting a
different printer messed them up beyond recognition.
The problem is that documentation creation is only one part of the tech
writer's job. Another big part of our job are three buzzwords (that are
also on Andrew's bad list): "maintainability", "single-sourcing", and
"re-purposing" of text. If discipline in tool usage is taught, these
goals can be easier to obtain.
You name the subject matter and an argument can be made that you can
learn everything you need to know and more with a self-study program.
("Go play with the tool.") This seems to be Andrew's point.
Some of us, however, need a kick in the pants which is why we enrolled
in a course of study in the first place. "Lecture me. Help me learn what
I should know. Give me a guided study. Give me graded homework. Give me
tests. Give me evidence that I'm learning. This is what I pay my tuition
for. If I knew what I needed to know, I wouldn't be here." The course of
study should bring to light those things that we can't always see the
importance of, as well as show how it is applied in the real world. In
an academic environment, you can afford to mess up; you don't have to
live with and maintain your mistakes, ignorance, and initial ineptitude
for years, because it is just one assignment in one class. This would be
the case with the first assignment from your employer where you use a
new tool.
I think that effective tool use should be taught early on in the program
and then expected in all future course work.
We have tools because they make our work easier. Not to teach the tools
means that we forever are doing things the hard way; it means forever
being closed-minded about the work, because we never were exposed to
(and forced to understand) what could be done.
Glenn Maxey
Technical Writer
Voyant Technologies, Inc.
1765 West 121st Avenue
Westminster, CO 80234-2301
Tel. +1 303.223.5164
Fax. +1 303.223.5275
glenn -dot- maxey -at- voyanttech -dot- com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Plato [mailto:intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com]
> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 3:53 PM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: Re: Tech Writing Curriculum
>
>
> Why not teach NO tools and focus instead on dissecting, analyzing,
> organizing, and managing complex technical information.
>
> Why are any of you hung up over which tool to teach? The tool is
> irrelevant. ANYBODY can learn to use Frame, Quark, Quack, Duck, Word,
> Turd, or MasterMasker 10000 for OpenSource Communist Server.
> Knowing these tools does not make you an accomplished writer.
<snip>
> So, I say remove ALL tool-related classes from tech writing
> programs. Or
> at a minimum, reduce it down to a small, small fraction of
> the courses.
>
> Andrew Plato
> Executive Flaming Retard
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