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Deborah, what an interesting topic for a thesis. Is there an article
somewhere that I can access to read more about your findings?
Tom
On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 10:02 AM, Hemstreet, Deborah
<DHemstreet -at- kaydon -dot- com>wrote:
> Hi Nancy and all,
>
> I read the reviews... And it sounds to me (without having watched) that
> it is a caricature of the stereotypical idea of a technical writer
> (introverted, neurotic and a geek)... But just the reviews are enough to
> turn me off to the movie.
>
> Having said that, it made me think of my own research a few years back
> when I was doing my MA in technical communication... My thesis was on
> the personality characteristics of technical communicators. It surveyed
> over 220 technical communicators from around the world. I used a
> validated personality test based on the five-factor model of personality
> along with a questionnaire about each person's professional practice,
> and a demographics section.
>
> I mention this, because of the whole issue of the stereotypical
> introverted technical writer. My findings were the exact opposite of
> what we would expect to see. The majority of writers were extroverted.
> When I correlated professional practice to the personality
> characteristics, it appeared that effectiveness improved with
> extroversion, with managers being the most extroverted. The majority of
> introverts were editors (made sense to me), and only a few rated
> negatively with regards to what the five-factor model called
> neuroticism. Interestingly, those few writers ranked low in professional
> practice.
>
> I share this because from the little I know of the movie, it seems to
> draw on the stereotype that we are all introverted and neurotic.
>
> Now, it is possible that when compared to others of the general
> population, we are more introverted (I only compared technical writers
> to technical writers since it is us I was interested in) - and I have to
> admit I've met my share of "unusual" technical writers... But I've met
> doctors and engineers who are just as quirky as we can be, just quirky
> in different ways.
>
> The majority of technical writers I've worked with and known tend to be
> far more extroverted than introverted, and all of us have been quite
> opinionated on a number of issues. But we sure know how to argue and
> discuss our points, and if given an intelligent reason to change, I've
> seen colleagues really strive to improve - and quickly. (My research
> also supported this).
>
> So my guess is that this movie should have flopped - since if it had
> succeeded, based on what I've read - it would have given people a skewed
> view of who we are and what we really do.
>
> Anyway, that is just my two cents worth on this first day of work in
> September of 2008...
>
> Deborah
>
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