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Political Correctness and the Technical Communicator
Subject:Political Correctness and the Technical Communicator From:JONG -at- LIGHTBRIDGE -dot- COM Date:Wed, 7 Jun 1995 13:15:34 -0400
I'm more concerned with PC (personal computer) than PC (political correctness),
but Mike La Torra's comment that he wasn't concerned how his statements might
be deconstructed struck me as odd.
A technical communicator is in the profession of communicating with people.
Communication is a two-sided activity consisting of sending (us) and receiving
(the audience). Clarity in communication is defined as getting your message
through without distortion. How, then, can you be a technical communicator and
not be concerned with how your message is received? It would seem an analogous
statement would be "Why should I write to the eighth grade level? If they
can't understand my writing, tough!" or "Why should I include examples? It's
their job to understand it, not mine."
I reject those sentiments. I feel professionally responsible for the clarity
of my work, and I also feel some responsibility with the clarity of my personal
communication. If I say something that is taken as offensive, I may recognize
the misunderstanding, but I will apologize for helping to create it.
-- Steve
================================================================
Steven Jong, Documentation Specialist ("Typo? What tpyo?")
Lightbridge, Inc, 281 Winter St., Waltham, MA 02154 USA
<jong -at- lightbridge -dot- com>, 617.672.4902 [voice], 617.890.2681 [FAX]
