atw: Re: 'Writers' or 'communicators'? (WAS: Re: Apart from usingWord 2002, what else am I doing wrong

In reality writing is a part of technical communication, not the other
way around. There is a lot of writing that communicates very little in
the way of genuine knowledge.

Bill Hall
Documentation Systems Analyst
Head Office, Engineering
Tenix Defence
Nelson House Annex, Nelson Place
Williamstown, Vic. 3016
Australia
Tel: +61 3 9244 4820 (Direct)
URL: http://www.tenix.com
Mailto:bill.hall@xxxxxxxxx


| -----Original Message-----
| From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
| [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Allan Charlton
| Sent: Tuesday, 25 January 2005 1:33 PM
| To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
| Subject: atw: 'Writers' or 'communicators'? (WAS: Re: Apart from
| usingWord 2002, what else am I doing wrong
|=20
|=20
| Howard questioned the term 'technical communicator' and=20
| alleged that it
| 'may now be well established in our profession.'  After=20
| fifteen years or
| more it hasn't got through to Joe Public and I think that if it was a
| good label everyone would understand and accept it.  How many job
| adverts have you seen that call for a Technical Communicator?  Only a
| few.
|=20=20
| If I say I'm a technical communicator most people have no idea what I
| do, but if I say I'm a technical writer they immediately think of
| manuals.  It's less than half right, but it gets my interlocuteur
| thinking in the right direction.  As Howard says, the term
| 'communicator' is not clearly understood.  Maybe it has too many
| syllables, but it certainly has too many meanings.
|=20=20
| I agree with Howard when he says
| > Putting pen to paper, or finger to key, is surely understood
| > to be only part of what a 'writer' does. So I think it's
| > reasonable to regard technical writing as a specialised
| > branch of writing
|=20=20
| Yes.  'Writer' is a generic label that applies to many professions,
| including ours.  I'm happy to accept that being a technical=20
| communicator
| is a branch of being a writer, just as being a dermatologist=20
| is a branch
| of being a doctor or being an auditor is branch of being an=20
| accountant.
|=20=20
| The question is whether we need a job title that more carefully
| describes all the things we do.
| I think not, but I'm probably in the minority.
| Allan
|=20=20
|=20=20
|=20
|=20
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