Re: Logic and the art of communication (was Real Writers - WRITE)

["David Berg" <dberg -at- dmpnet -dot- com>]

From: "Bruce Byfield"

> David Berg wrote:
>
> > Of course I'll beg to differ. I'm a communicator. The doctor that
originated
> > the material I worked with is a medical expert.
>
> I'm not sure what a "communicator" is; it could mean almost
> anything. I do know that I tend to distrust the word. For me, it's a
> word that obscures rather than clarifies. Too often (although I say
> nothing about your case), it's used by people who want to inflate
> their own importance.

As far as I'm concerned, most TWs do far more than just "write." To me,
writing is just text. TWs do much more than type text to get the message
across, whether they're dealing with paper or electronic media. That's why I
prefer to call it communication.

> Andrew's claim that you weren't a writer sounds insulting, but it
> might be more accurate to say that you were doing more copy editing
> than writing. That's a demanding and rewarding job in itself, but it
> isn't writing, although closely related. And, at times, it turns
> into writing. That may have happened in your case, although
> obviously I can't say for sure.

The example I referred to, the medical Web site, called for a number of
approaches. Sometimes (rarely) it was a simple matter of going through
various levels of edit. Other times I studied the material and condensed
several pages into one concise page. I also put effort into layout, color
scheme, navigation, original graphics, etc.

> It sounds to me as if David and Andrew aren't as far apart as they
> seem to think. Maybe rhetoric is obscuring the fact?

Perhaps. I readily see that Andrew and I have common ground. Where I have a
problem is with his absolutism.

David Berg


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