TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Help w/TW skills From:LynnDianne Beene <lbeene -at- UNM -dot- EDU> Date:Wed, 31 Jan 1996 09:39:18 -0700
John--
Great response!! I hadn't considered these points but,
now that you mention them, they are exactly the skills
that I had to cultivate on the job when I was working
as a tech writer. Thanks for the input!! I'll use it.
Lynn Beene email: lbeene -at- unm -dot- edu
B & F Writers Albuquerque, New Mexico 87123
Is it not, then, better to be ridiculous and friendly than clever and hostile?
--Socrates
On Tue, 30 Jan 1996, John P. Brinegar wrote:
> Lynn,
> > In the fall semester I'll be teaching technical writing
> > in a computer lab for the first time. The students will
> > be mostly undergraduates wanting to become professional
> > writers and editors. Their writing skills vary greatly,
> > from some who are great writers to some who can't recognize
> > a sentence fragment from a graphic. As professionals,
> > what would you all say are the top skills I should push in
> > this class?
> I am concerned that many would-be and actual tech communicators are more
> concerned with writing skills than actually meeting the primary objective
> of our profession. That objective is to promote the on-the-job performance
> of the users of our work.
> This requires many more and more important skills than just clear writing
> (not that clear writing isn't important). Among these other skills are:
> --Understanding the users' world of work
> --Providing the right assistance and information at the right time and place
> --Communicating visually
> --Thinking as the users think-having strong empathy for the users
> --Choosing the right media (great masses of text on paper are seldom the
> right medium)
> --Developing in multiple media (text, graphics, animation, video, audio,
> (smell-a-vision, feel-a-vision?)
> --Delivering in multiple media
> --Acquiring information and expertise from appropriate sources (these are
> not always the development engineers)
> --Interviewing users and sources of information and expertise
> --Working in a cross-functional-team environment (marketers, tech support,
> users, trainers, and other tech commuicators)
> -----------------------------------
> John P. Brinegar, http://www.netzone.com/~jbrinega/
> Consulting and development
> -Performance support systems
> -Technical communications
