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Re: STC - academia or real-world?

Subject: Re: STC - academia or real-world?
From: Kristen Beer <kris -dot- beer -at- ARKONA -dot- COM>
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1999 11:37:37 -0700

 

Marjorie Hermansen-Eldard wrote:

these students are the technical communicators of the future. As I tell many of the audiences I present to: the students are our (us veteran technical communicators) competition. Their learning processes, classroom experiences, and perhaps publishing opportunities are far superior to what we had when we were in school. Please don't be critical of these young folks. . . they may very well be in line to compete for your job one day. My preference is to get to know them; learn from them; tap into their enthusiasm and ride the wave of technological advancement WITH them, rather than against them!
Just a quick reminder to Marjorie and all other veteran technical writers: not ALL students are "young folks." I was in graduate school in my 40s as were many others in my class. Age was not then and shouldn't be now a barrier or an open door; it shouldn't be an issue.

Although I don't disagree with the concept of learning from students, I hope they too will learn from us. Academic experiences are NOT real-world. Both have value, but many technical writers didn't gain their expertise from academia. And many "young" (to the profession) tech writers need to learn how to apply all that rhetorical theory learned at the feet of academicians who, in many cases, have not themselves experienced the "practice" of technical writing. They were, however, supportive of any efforts toward publication, even collaborating with students to submit and present papers.

Regarding student publication: When I served as president of our university chapter of STC, the chapter (and our professors) encouraged publication, and many of us attended student conferences or CCCC where we presented papers. We also planned and put on a student conference, giving us an opportunity to read papers from students in other graduate programs.

Regards,
Kris

--------------- "Enabling the Extended Enterprise" -------------
Kris Beer                                                Arkona
Manager Technical Communications   4505 Wasatch Blvd, Suite 340
Phone +1 801 424-0044 x30              Salt Lake City, UT 84124
kris -dot- beer -at- arkona -dot- com                             www.arkona.com
 

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