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Subject:RE: STC Letter to the Editor From:"Grant, Christopher" <CGrant -at- glhec -dot- org> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 4 Nov 2002 08:05:25 -0600
> What I did say, which you ought to
> understand because you retyped it, is that assessing the technical
accuracy of a
> document as part of the competition requires access to the product it
> documents, which STC does not have; and that such an
> assessment would, if done right, be too valuable a service to offer merely
for the
> Competitions entry fee.
This seems like a major problem with a "technical communuication"
competition. You've just stated that the assessment of the technical
accuracy of a document is not possible by the STC during a competition. I
agree that other elements of documentation (formatting, layout, etc.) have
some role in good documentation, but their importance is marginal compared
to the accuracy or completeness of the information, and to the effectiveness
of the doc in accurately communicating information.
Given the admission of this inability to assess technical accuracy, I do not
understand how the STC can get away with holding "technical communication"
competitions and have folks take them seriously. I can throw a "medical
treatments" competition, but if I only base it on judging the physical
appearance of doctors, how friendly they are to their patients, and how nice
their facilities are, is there really any legitimacy there?
> Do you have any suggestions how to assess the technical accuracy of a
> document without access to the product it documents? Does anyone?
Base the winners of the competition on REAL end-user feedback about docs,
and not on the opinon of judges who've never seen the doc nor understand the
content contained within.
At the very least, the name of this sort of competition should be changed
from "technical communication" to "style and layout" if in fact that is what
is being judged.
Chris Grant
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