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Re: Are you a writer?

Subject: Re: Are you a writer?
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 11:04:37 -0800

Andrew Plato wrote:

You can't have your cake and paycheck too. You cannot expect the "ownership" of
documentation if you refuse to own the content. A few people who responded to
me privately seem to think they can offload all content issues to an SME while
they just focus on English. Their justification is that they were hired to be a
communicator, not an SME.

To elaborate on this point: I always have trouble with the claim that our specialty is communication. Perhaps I take the ability to communicate for granted, but I consider it no more than the basic requirement for the job. To say that a writer communicates is a tautology, and not very useful. The question should be WHAT are we communicating, not whether we are doing so, or how skilled we are. After all, the ability to sling a memorable phrase or write grammatically is fairly common. The ability to structure material is much rarer, and depends on the material itself.

--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com

"It's as bad as it gets
The Surgeon General said, 'you're better off with cigarettes,'
If you must have your bad habits, why don't you stick to booze:
Love's been linked to the blues."
-David Olney, "Love's Been Linked to the Blues"













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Are you a writer?: From: Andrew Plato

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