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Re: What do you guys think of STCs new definition for technical writer?
Subject:Re: What do you guys think of STCs new definition for technical writer? From:linda_sims -at- vanguard -dot- com To:"Bill Swallow" <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> Date:Tue, 27 May 2008 14:16:15 -0400
Bill Swallow wrote on 05/27/2008 01:55:46 PM:
> I have many other issues with the definition that really should be
> addressed before we get to grammar.
>
> Challenge: Describe what technical communication is as though you were
> explaining it to a five year old. Kill all the flowery buzzword bingo
> crap and cut to the chase.
>
> What is Technical Communication?
>
> That we seemingly can't answer that question without injecting
> buzzwords disturbs me.
Y'know ... that is a bit disturbing, isn't it, especially since one of our
(or at least MY) primary duties is to explain hard-to-understand
information to people in a way that makes it easy to understand,
preferably without using any words that they're unlikely to know.
Hmmmm. I have a 5-year-old niece. I wonder how she'd feel if I sat her
down in front of a computer and tried to walk her through some of the more
finicky Excel instructions I'm writing right now, which involves lots of
copy and paste in special ways to special places in order to get something
done (Og help me!).
Lin Sims
Business Controls - Technical Writer
The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion
of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was
accessed.
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For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public
relations, for nature cannot be fooled. -- R.P. Feynman
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