TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
> The original poster did not say it was about "activism for users," so
> you did not miss anything.
Rule #10 does, I went back and reread it.
> It seems to me that the above is what people
> mean by being a "user advocate."
> At least that's how I have always understood
> the term. I think it's a useful
> concept -- far from "idiotic" -- as long as
> it's not seen as the primary role.
> It certainly plays a part in good writing.
Over the years I have encountered writers who saw
it as their job to document every last little thing about a
product, "just in case it might help the user," and continued
to vehemently argue that the user was being "shortchanged,"
even after a company's marketing planners specifically
decided that certain aspects of a product should not be
supported for business reasons. As I said, keeping the
user's needs in mind can be a good thing, but the writer
needs to remember who's signing the paycheck and what
the real targets are.
Gene Kim-Eng
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.744 / Virus Database: 496 - Release Date: 8/24/2004
ROBOHELP X5: Featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author
support, PDF and XML support and much more!
TRY IT TODAY at http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrl
WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT: New! Document review system for Word and FrameMaker
authors. Automatic browser-based drafts with unlimited reviewers. Full
online discussions -- no Web server needed! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
