atw: Re: Agencies, contractors and other gripes (another longish contribution)

And I hope that's the end of the slanging match. Pity all of us quiet people on the sidelines who are daily watching their inboxes swell with argument that seems to go nowhere. To the people who said 'we've tried that before and it didn't work' - you were pouring cold water. If you want to be useful and contribute positively, why don't you explain what you did in the past, how you approached it, where you got bogged down, and what lessons you learnt that you could pass on to the next group of people willing to take it on?
I've only joined this list recently, and I must say I'm dejected by the low level of this recent debate. Is that how you approach your work - oh I can't do it, it's too hard, we've tried it before and it didn't work? If so, you must be having a very hard time dealing with the challenges that face technical writers.
Good luck to the positive people who have stuck to the topic and are going ahead. 
Kathy

On 18/01/2007, at 11:46 AM, Christine Kent wrote:
Great Hedley, so get on board and offer your services too. If you have a new way, suggest it, generate energy and allow others to be part of it.
As with you, this is no longer my cause. My income comes largely from other sources now, so my future is not impacted by this one way or another. That's why I feel free to call a spade a bloody shovel, and tell it like it is.
As far as learning from history is concerned, we "elders" are the ones who have not solved this problem for the last 20 years, and have watched our industry conditions seriously eroded over that time. We have watched good people come, get disheartened, then broken hearted, then go, and have been unable to help. Perhaps it is time for us to remove ourselves from pseudo-leadership positions at which we have clearly failed, and lend our support and labour to new leaders who may just have that creative spark and energy that we, as a generation, have clearly lacked - history attests to that. We can supply our industry knowledge to the new leaders and let them turn it into something that works for them.
It is vastly unfair of those of us nearing the end of our non- careers to pour cold water of those who are stuck in a stagnant industry and want to do something about it. 

Christine
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Subject: atw: Re: Agencies, contractors and other gripes (another longish contribution) 


Christine:
Evidence-based activities are a wonderful thing: they have brought us hearing implants, the Internet, computers more powerful than those on the Apollo mission but no larger than a cigarette packet (sorry, I meant to say "mobile phones"), and cognitive-behavioural therapy. They may even bring us industry recognised accreditation of technical writers.
So when you speculate that Jill has '... too many vested interests that would not be served by the average "untrained" TW becoming proud of their profession?', presumably you have strong evidence for an otherwise baseless assertion. What Jill, myself and others were supplying was not /negativity/ but /data/, in this case a little history. Data are what is so useful about Michael's contribution -- a sociological analysis of the difference between editors and technical writers that helps explain why it is more difficult to mobilise the latter. It is similar to why it is so difficult to unionise outworkers: alienation, fragmentation, diversity of employment, geographical dispersion, barriers to communication, and difficulty in engendering a sense of belonging to an affine group.
Those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it. Many people (excluding my lazy self) over the years have poured much energy into implementing accreditation schemes, training schemes (some now realised), and promotion of the trade. Instead of treading the same fruitless path as others in the past, it may be possible to use their experience to find a new way.
If you imagine that an "If you're so smart, why don't you do it?" attitude will win people to your cause, go right ahead. Me? I am too old and too near retirement to give a rat's. But your petulant attitude has certainly convinced me to join the cause -- not! As for the lovely conferences, they have exposed new technical writers to training resources and helped all of us believe in ourselves as professionals. So may the lovely Jill organise many more lovely conferences (not excluding the lovely scratch rock band), because they have their part in the mix -- just not for accreditation.
I salute you for taking up the banner. But be prepared for the long slog. If you are going to be disheartened at the first jump and take it out on people who truly wish the enterprise well, it is doomed from the start. 

Regards,
Hedley

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Hedley Finger
Training Content Developer and Tools Specialist
MYOB Australia Pty Ltd <http://myob.com/au>
P.O. box 371   Blackburn VIC 3130   Australia
12 Wesley Court Tally Ho Business Park East Burwood VIC 3151 Australia 
<mailto:hedleyDOTfingerATmyobDOTcom>
Tel. +61 3 9222 9992 x 7421,   Mob. (cell) +61 412 461 558

© MYOB Technology Pty Ltd 2007
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Kathy Prokhovnik
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