Knowledge is manufactured? (take II)

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Dan Goldstein noted: <<"Precious" is the word for it all right, but  
maybe not in the way you intended...>>

I meant what I said, not what you snidely imply (cute, contrived,  
pretentious). I meant that information is important and valuable (the  
common meaning of precious), and it is. If not, why are we wasting  
our time producing it?

<<I appreciate your concern, Geoff, but my lack of pretentiousness  
has never harmed me...>>

Implying that I'm being pretentious, presumably. Fair enough...  
different strokes and all that. But let's look at what you said in  
the context of my previous message:

<<... not in my salary, nor in my colleagues' respect, nor in the  
rich variety of projects I get to work on.>>

So let's get this straight: you're well paid, and respected by your  
colleagues enough that they let you work on a rich variety of  
projects because you don't add anything new to the process: all you  
do is parrot back what your colleagues give you to say? From what you  
say below, that's clearly not the case. Yet those who do nothing more  
than parrot aren't paid well, aren't respected, and don't get  
opportunities to try anything new. To wit:

<<Your description of the workplace is awfully bleak, and,  
fortunately for me, totally unfamiliar.>>

If it's totally unfamiliar, that means you haven't been paying  
attention to much of the ongoing discussion on techwr-l, and haven't  
paid attention to the larger field of technical communication as a  
whole and the complaints so many of our colleagues have. (Sounds  
rather pretentious, actually... not to say "head up your ass", which  
is precious in the sense of "cute" if you're not the one admiring  
your own bowels.) My description is only bleak if you really are one  
of the parrots. Which doesn't seem to be the case:

<<What I *really* do at work falls clearly into Connie's definition  
of Knowledge Management, Geoff's definition of Technical  
Communicator, etc. My current, official job title is QA Manager, but  
my actual duties range from Development Design Transfer to ISO 13485  
Lead Auditing, with a bunch of stuff in between. I have a fun job  
with great pay, and people depend on me to do valuable stuff that  
they can't do as well. I call myself a technical writer, but, y'know,  
whatever.>>

And isn't that exactly the point of what I said? Perhaps if you went  
back and read my message (rather than striving to be non-precious and  
unpretentious -- and failing, by the way) you'd notice that you're  
agreeing with what I said. Of course, maybe I'm just being precious  
and pretentious again... whatever.


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
***Now available***  _Effective onscreen editing_
(http://www.geoff-hart.com/home/onscreen-book.htm)


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or 
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.