RE: What to look for in a technical editor

["Giordano, Connie" <Connie -dot- Giordano -at- FMR -dot- COM>]

The last time I checked, I WAS the editor, desktop publisher, help producer,
and designer... And the curriculum developer, and the assistant webmaster,
the company's MS Office guru, and a sometimes QA analyst and Business
analyst... And even the evil marcomm expert. I LIKE it that way.  So the
ideal situation for you, wouldn't necessarily work for other people.

There are a lot of us with the title "technical writer" who do not believe
that writing should be isolated from the rest of the communication
process... Or product development strategy... Or industry expertise. And
that's one of the reasons  "technical writer" has become such a misleading
job title.  We even wrote that up in my last review!


Connie P. Giordano
Senior Technical Writer
Advisor Technology Services
A Fidelity Investments Company
704-330-2069 (w)
704-330-2350 (f)
704-957-8450 (c)
 
If surrounded myself people in all necessary supporting roles, they'd be
calling me "Sybil" 




-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Baker [mailto:mbaker -at- ca -dot- stilo -dot- com] 
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 11:09 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: What to look for in a technical editor


[snip]

3. Precisely because, for complex products, it is hard to find suitable
candidates for technical writer positions, it is appropriate to surround
those valuable resources with supporting players such as editors, designers,
and desktop publishers who can relieve the writers of various burdens and
allow them to focus their scarce talents where they are needed. While it
would be ideal if all these supporting players also had the technical
knowledge that the writers need, it is probably unrealistic to hope to find
suitably qualified people. Supporting technical writers with non-technical
editors is therefore an appropriate strategy to maximize scarce resources.
However, work needs to be structured to recognize the limits of each of the
people involved.

---
Mark Baker
Senior Technical Writer
Stilo Corporation
1900 City Park Drive, Suite 504 , Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1J 1A3
Phone: 613-745-4242, Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- ca -dot- stilo -dot- com
Web: http://www.stilo.com

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