Re: Technical writer survey: What should we really call ourselves?

[Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>]

To each their own. For me, I prefer to avoid the artisan or  
craftsperson label in my techcomm work. Beer brewing, on the other  
hand..,

---
Bill Swallow
http://techcommdood.com
Sent from my iPhone.

On Aug 10, 2009, at 2:56 PM, Kathleen MacDowell <kathleen -at- writefortheuser -dot- com 
 > wrote:

> Leonard, I think a good technical writer is an artisan/craftsperson.
>
> That's what distinguishes skilled practitioners. The trick is  
> deciding where
> one might want to draw the line at artisan, a la the discussion of
> certification. People can be artisans with the tools-of-the-trade,
> organization, development, explanation, etc.
>
> Kathleen
>
> On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 12:30 PM, Leonard C. Porrello <
> Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- soleratec -dot- com> wrote:
>
>> For starters, I would never refer to us as "wordsmiths." Software
>> engineers aren't called codesmiths; surgeons aren't called  
>> bodysmiths;
>> lawyers aren't called lawsmiths; actuaries aren't called  
>> statsmiths; and
>> even a dentist, whose work is very close to that of the artisan,  
>> isn't
>> called a toothsmith. Technical writing is similar to other  
>> processions,
>> and it is not an artisan skill or craft.
>>
>> Leonard
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> -- 
> Kathleen MacDowell
> www.writefortheuser.com
> kathleen -at- writefortheuser -dot- com
> kathleen -dot- eamd -at- gmail -dot- com
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Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help  
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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