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You're assessing the need for techwriters in biomed based on what
products and services currently exist. The wave of technology in the
biological sciences has not yet hit. We're at the same point in biomed
as those who stood around looking at a computer that needed an entire
room to house it, and who scoffed at the idea that anyone other than an
engineer, scientist, or mathematician would ever use a computer.
We don't yet know what products Joe Average will need to understand.
Perhaps a hand-held mass spectrometer, or a pocket blood pressure gauge.
Maybe it won't be the techwriters per se but the technical marketing
people who bear the brunt of helping the Averages understand what Zoloft
or Zantac or Havrix can do for them and why they should care about it.
Key phrases in your post: "buy this stuff and stimulate the economy".
In a competitive and highly regulated industry, the quality of
information directly affects the bottom line. The first med/bio/pharma
company to provide information that Joe Average and his family can truly
understand will outpace competitors very quickly.
--Beth
Dave Neufeld wrote:
...
All of a sudden joe-average was inundated with ever-changing computer hardware and software, as well as VCRs, Digicams, and home alarms with an exponentially growing number of buttons, knobs, and new fangled control interfaces. Joe- and Jane- average needed a lot of information to use this stuff, and more importantly -- to buy this stuff and stimulate the economy.
...
Now the biomed boom. What products is the biomed boom producing that J. Average will need a manual to figure out how to use. Will there be a Fry's for the biomed boom? I guess that would be like a pharmacy. Do any of the pill bottles come with boxes of user guides. Not really. "Take 3 times a day with food" and "do not induce vomiting" are it.
