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.
Yes, I do both writing and editing. I'm sure that even if you know how to
speed read, when you need to look for transposed letters and misplaced
commas, you can "turn it off" and read normally for the details. But even for
editing work, it seems like speed reading might be useful to quickly go
through a large document to see the organization and a broad view of the
content. Then you can go back through carefully for the detail work.
For those who have requested it, I will post a summary of responses to my
query.
Earl Morton
WorkgWords -at- aol -dot- com
>>>>>>>>>
In a message dated 97-04-18 13:04:55 EDT, LaVonna writes:
> Earl wrote:
>
> > I am considering taking a speed reading course. As you know, our work
> > involves reading a great deal of technical material, and I believe that
> the
> > improved efficiency and retention such courses promise would be very
> helpful.
> > I'd appreciate any of you who have done this telling me about your
> > experience.
> >
>
> Earl, do you need to edit as well as write? If so, you might do
> yourself more harm than good with a speed-reading course.
>
> I've never taken one, but such courses have been introduced in other
> seminars that I've taken. I've listened attentively to the
> introductions and decided that the "reading for concepts" approach
> is OK for managers, but bad if you need to edit.
>
> Remember this
>
> PARIS IN THE
> THE SPRING
>
> and others like it? People miss errors such as this because they
> are looking for concepts. This would kill an editor or a writer
> who is expected to self-edit.
>
> My 2 cents,
> LaVonna
>
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html