Re: Leading and Bleeding Edge?

[Lonie McMichael <loniemc -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Thank you all so much! You have given us a great start for our project. My
students will have plenty to think about.

As I acknowledged to someone in a private email: it isn't really about
tools anymore. Most importantly, it's about adapting. One thing I tell my
students over and over again: I promise you that technical writing as we
know it will change, and probably change often. It certainly has in the 25
years I've been in the field. I do my best to teach them to adapt first and
foremost.

Just getting academics to do anything with technology is a fight. I was a
tech writer for over a decade, then came back to academia. I was appalled
to find out that most academics teaching technical writing refuse to touch
technology. I've developed this course to at least give my students some
access to tech. I'm the odd one out, though.

I do know that the more exposure they have to a variety of tools, they
better they will adapt. There is no way I can teach them the more advanced
tools like DITA, Flare, etc. simply because we do not have the money or
support to have such programs on a classroom basis. We are trying to make
some of the tools available to the students through our lab, but that is
about it. However, I can make them read and write about advanced tools so
they at least have a concept of what they are and how they work. I'm having
them prepare a report describing the technology, software or tool,
explaining how it is used to produce documentation, and what kind of issues
writers have with the tool. They will use the archives of techwr-l as their
primary source. It isn't ideal, but it is better than nothing.

Thank you again for all your input!

--Lonie

On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 9:14 AM, Lonie McMichael <loniemc -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

> I may have misunderstood, by I read it as a senior-level student tech
> writer. As far as I can tell, most student who graduate with a technical
> writing degree are lucky if they have ever encountered the concept, let
> alone know anything about it.
>
> --Lonie
>
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>
> On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 8:55 PM, Tom Johnson <tomjohnson1492 -at- gmail -dot- com>
> wrote:
>
>> > I have not come across any senior level tech writers who've ever even
>> > heard of or worked with DITA.
>>
>>
>> Wow, it amazes me to read this. I can't imagine meeting a senior tech
>> writer who is so unaware of basic information about the field he or she
>> works in.
>>
>> ---------------------
>> blog: idratherbewriting.com
>> twitter: tomjohnson
>> email: tomjohnson1492 -at- gmail -dot- com
>> cell: 408-540-8562
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