TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I agree with most of what you posted, so I won't bother with
addressing the stuff that I do. I'm only going to address what I
don't agree with.
>
> Though that's also true, I don't think we should accept the status
> quo--and
> teach it to students--just because that's the way things work. As
> professionals, one of our jobs is to advocate improvements, and
> make those
Too many kids are thrown into the street with an expectation that
real-life is what they learn in school.
They go into the real world and find out that they aren't in Kansas
anymore.
I agree that they should be taught the way it should be. However,
this must always be framed by how to do it while complying with
business' expectations.
I normally don't care for Rodney Dangerfield's movies...however,
there is one going around on cable now, something to the effect Back
to School, where a successful business man goes back to college and
he's in a business course where the proff is explaining how they are
going to create a fictional company "according to the book".
Dangerfield precedes to interrupt with question having to do with
bribing vendors, dealing with unions and the mob, leasing as opposed
to buying.
If there was a class on how to create a PDF, it would probably cover
the theory on fonts, spacing, white space, page vs screen size, etc.,
but not how to create a useful PDF of one documentation set while
you're in an all-day meeting planning the next project.
I'm not advocating "accept the status quo--and teach it to
students--just because that's the way things work." as a copout, but
we should prepare them to be productive under real conditions...teach
them how to make improvements within the system the way it really is.
=====
John Posada, Senior Technical Writer
"I am a bomb disposal expert. If you see me running, try to keep up." mailto:john -at- tdandw -dot- com, 732-259-2874
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
A landmark hotel, one of America's most beautiful cities, and
three and a half days of immersion in the state of the art:
IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.