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This is the thing I was watching for on this thread - the assumptions that
(i) there would be public discussion, and (ii) that a body such as the STC
would oversee it. My own experience suggests otherwise.
Without going into tedious detail (tedium abounds), in my pre-TW life I
belonged to a profession that was "regulated" by a national body similar
to STC, except that it also administered examinations which one was
required to pass in order to practise. That profession was hijacked on the
provincial level by a small group of ambitious lobbyists who convinced the
provincial government that there should be a "college" of practitioners,
which *they* should create and supervise. All "public" discussion took
place behind closed doors, until an act of parliament was passed. Then we,
the members of the profession, suddenly discovered that we had to register
with this new body, pay a swingeing annual fee for the privilege, and
would be out of a job (it was the law) if we refused.
Strangely enough, that small cadre of lobbyists ended up as board members
of the college, and of the $8 million revenue in the first year, over 40%
of it went in...salaries.
Don't count on "public discussion" or the STC (which, as an international
body, would have to remain aloof anyaway).
Who was it that said that those who don't learn from history are condemned
to relive it?
Roger Shuttleworth
London, Canada
> I wouldn't worry about any perceived exculsivity or
> snobbery of private discussions. Private conversations
> occur every day in the world of face-to-face
> communication, so if a handful of TWs want to take
> online discussions to another group, that's fine with
> me. And even though we all have a stake in any kind of
> certification, it would probably be sponsored and
> administered by the STC, and I suspect that they would
> open the issue for public discussion before
> implementing a formal program.
>
> Steven Brown
> Techncial Writer
>
>
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