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Subject:Re: What good is it if you can't find it? From:Andrew Plato <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sat, 16 Nov 2002 00:12:11 -0800 (PST)
"Bonnie Granat" wrote ...
> Show me just one single person who has taken the stance that content is *not
> important*!
Its not that people say "content isn't important." Its a matter of priorities.
Just watch the posts and attitudes on this list. Flip through any STC magazine.
Look down the list of last years STC yearly seminar.
There is an overwhelming emphasis on design-related issues. Content is the 800
pound gorilla nobody really wants to deal with. Hell, the whole concept of SMEs
was invented by tech writers so they could offload any semblance of
responsibility for content.
So, while people publicly say "content is important" the reality is, they don't
want to work on content issues. Otherwise, there would be a different attitude
out there.
This is why I am big on a fundamental reclassification of "technical
communicators" as such:
2. Technical Editors: improves content, edits, designs
3. Editors: edits, designs
4. Desktop Publishers: designs
5. Font fondlers: wastes space
Therefore, when a desktop publisher says "content isn't important" he is right.
For that job, content isn't important. But a writer can't say that. Content is
job #1 for a writer/author.
The higher you move up on the list, the more involved you are with the content.
At the top level, where you are a "writer", content is crucial. At layer 4,
content is mostly irrelevant since you were hired merely to design.
The problem comes when people sell and present themselves as #1, when in reality
they are #4s. They don't consider content very important because its not their
job. This explains why STC is mostly about design. STC shoThereor 3s, 4s, and 5s.
THere are more of these folks and as such - more dues.
Andrew Plato
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