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Subject:Re: STC Letter to the Editor From:Andrew Plato <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sun, 3 Nov 2002 21:43:28 -0800 (PST)
"Tom Murrell" <> wrote ...
> Is Miss Universe judged by the quality of her content or the pleasantness of
her
> design? You sound like a bunch of feminists complaining that beauty pageants
are
> cattle calls.
>
> Of course beauty pageants have no interest in intelligence, wisdom, or
maturity. Of
> course a competition the quality of technical documentation will focus on
layout and
> design over content, even, I suspect, useability of the documentation.
That's cool. Beauty pageants however don't call themselves the Nobel Prize. A
beauty pageant is very clear what they're judging - superficial beauty. We all
know that those contestants are not being judged for the real person they are or
for their true accomplishments - but for their looks. And that's okay because the
contest is very clear, even it is name, what it is: a beauty pageant.
Hence, STC can rectify this entire issue by simply renaming its competitions.
"Design and Layout Competition" or "Organization n' Fonts" whatever. Just don't
call them technical communications competitions because its clear that STC and
the judges are not in a position to objectively judge the effectiveness of the
communication.
> My question is why are these things even a surprise to thoughtful people?
(Unless,
> of course, someone is just trolling for a fight and proving that there are
willing
> takers for any provocative comments that are made. But we are professionals; so
I'm
> sure that's not the case.)
I have a real problem with an organization that is supposed to be about
communication, perverting communication. The whole idea of technical
communications is to communicate complex ideas clearly.
I expect politicians and car sales people to pervert words to sell me something.
But when a society dedicated to communication starts telling me that a
competition is about communication - when its really about superficial beauty - I
can't help laugh at the ironic hypocrisy of that. A society of communicators,
who can't even communicate the true meaning of their own competitions.
That's sub-atomic absurdity.
Andrew Plato
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