Re: Tools and Technology

[Kathy Borgtodd <kborgtod -at- SCTCORP -dot- COM>]

Win and Roger:

I originally got into tech writing because 20+years ago I was a clerk in a
public health clinic who spent a lot of time doing what was called "health
education" in a public health (well baby, family planning, multiphasic for
seniors) clinic and began to write brochures in clear language for our
clients, many of whom either spoke English as a second language or lacked
enough English mastery to understand the clinic terminology and the
leaflets that came with their prescriptions. I thought that it could be a
wide open field, but no one in the health department was interested in
funding a clinic clerk who wanted to streamline the information flow.
(Who'd have thought that it would become a profession?) When I went to
college after working for 10 years, I was pleased to discover that there
was a discipline that existed that could teach me how to simplify my
writing and to make murky information clear to any audience. Although this
was the beginning of the computer age, and I was in Silicon Valley, we used
typewriters and yellow legal pads and pencils. My first tw project was
typed (sometimes over and over) because it had to be perfect.

So, yeah, I would still write, even without computers, but believe me,
there is no way I would return to the days of carbon paper, rub on
lettering and White Out unless a huge magnetic storm came and wiped out
everything. A true technical communicator has the gut instinct to make
information available, with or without technology.

--Kathy Borg-Todd
Sr. Tech Writer/Freelance Copyeditor/Mathematical Typesetter
kborgtod -at- sctcorp -dot- com
wordwrap -at- mindspring -dot- com
Columbia, South Carolina

On 1/27 Win and Roger wrote:

I originally sent this reply directly to Roger.  After seeing the other
replies posted to the list, I'm going to stick my neck out here...
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At 12:35 PM 1/27/98 -0800, Roger Peterson <wy491 -at- VICTORIA -dot- TC -dot- CA> wrote:
>Fellow Writers:
>
>You can file this one under misc or you can make it my "off-topic"
>post for the month, but here goes:
>
>If you did not have all the latest computer technology and all that
>wonderful GUI "eye candy" would you still be drawn to technical
>writing.  How interesting would it be if you used pencil,
>notepad, and an electric typewriter?  Can you separate the
>technology from the task?
>
Actually, I don't use a whole lot of fancy tools to write.  I write about
hardware and engineering projects, not software.  And I STILL always write
my drafts in pencil, in a three-ring binder!  Even the fiction I've started
to write recently...
How's that for old-fashioned?
Win
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======================================
I find I think better when I write by hand.  I don't document software, or
computer hardware.  The hardware I write about is things like pumps, and
compressors, and turbines, and control valves, and distillation columns,
and
desalters, and heat exchangers.  I also write engineering project reports.
Not terribly high-tech, or GUI, but I LIKE refining!
Also, I find it difficult to stare at a computer screen for hours on end.
No matter how fast the refresh rate, I can still see the damn things
flicker, and it drives me nuts.  The only thing worse is fluorescent
lighting.  The combination of the two would drive me right round the bend.
So I'll continue to work on notebook paper with my pencil and eraser
flying,
at least when I'm writing a first draft.
Win
----------------------
Win Day
Freelance Technical Writer/Editor
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
mailto:winday -at- idirect -dot- com
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