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Subject:RE: The Real Offense From:Darren Barefoot <dbarefoot -at- mpsbc -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 8 Mar 2000 16:22:13 -0800
Good afternoon,
I did a double major in Writing and Theatre (Directing). Believe it or not,
I learned more about technical writing from Theatre than from Writing. From
Theatre, I learned about: how to communicate effectively and tactfully with
other people, how to motivate other people, how the production process works
(in general, project management terms), how to go from concept to product
and how to solve complex problems and communicate the solutions simply.
From Writing (mostly in fiction and drama), I picked up some grammar,
learned to write faster and got some tips on my style. Generally, though,
most of what I learned wasn't particularly applicable. Now, if I'd taken
more non-fiction/professional writing courses, I'm sure I would benefited
more (visa vi technical writing).
That's my two cents. DB.
Darren Barefoot
Meridian Project Systems
Manager of Documentation
604-904-0822 ext. 112
dbarefoot -at- mpsbc -dot- com
www.mps.com
I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the
time to make it shorter. - Blaise Pascal
-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Deal [mailto:jason-deal -at- vertel -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2000 11:23 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Cc: cjgrimsh -at- ucsd -dot- edu
Subject: Re: The Real Offense
So the rest of you out there, especially the current students/recent grads,
did you learn anything, and I mean anything at all, relevant to technical
writing from the academic portion of college (I do not mean to infer that
the interpersonal skills one learns in college are unimportant)? Am I just
caught in an unfriendly system, or does academia's adherence to method over
results actually hurt us all?
