Re: Resolved: Technical communicators can create information

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

There are more than a few industries where the qualifications to be hired as a 
technical writer include being an SME, or having the ability to become one.  In 
addition to all the things you wrote in your article, writers in these 
industries often check SME inputs against real-world performance and initiate QA 
reviews that may lead to changes in product development if performance is found 
to not meet design goals.

A tech writer who follows your reader's advice or never develops the ability to 
do anything more than what your reader thinks a tech writer's job is will never 
be considered anything more than a glorified secretary by these industries and 
may be totally locked out of them.

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steven Jong" <stevefjong -at- comcast -dot- net>
I did not say, or intend to say, that technical communicators can dispense with 
SMEs. But I do think that we can create information, not just serve as 
amanuenses. I think this goes to the heart of what a technical communicator 
does. If I am correctly paraphrasing the reader's opinion, a technical 
communicator can collect information ("here's what folks say"), and curate 
information ("here's what the SMEs say"), but not CREATE information. I 
disagree. What do you think?

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