Re: Comment on terminology

[Pam Tatge <pamt -at- STEINBECK -dot- SC -dot- TI -dot- COM>]

From Jacobs Chris:

> Really, we must find another way to make this distinction. (real vs not real
> TWs) I found the reference highly offensive, but will assume that the offense
> was not intended. I am thinking that there must be a way to make reference to
> the different types of work that technical communicators do which does not
> degrade a good portion of TC's practitioners...


Okay, let me clarify what I meant by "real" vs. "not real". I avoided this issue
when it came up before, but it is important to me and to quite a few of the
people that I work with.

My idea of a real technical writer has nothing to do with the type of
 documentation
that is being written or with the person's path into the field. But, a good
 number
of people that have passed through this department in the past 10 years have
 done
little more than take dictation from an SME. In some cases, this is because they
were intimidated; in most cases, though, it was because they just didn't want to
bother to do any more than they had to. They simply have no passion for their
 work,
and I cannot regard them as real technical writers. And, I really don't believe
that this type of technical writer makes up a good portion of TC's
 practitioners.

Some people really care about what they do for a living; others don't. I have
 always
believed that if someone was going to invest 40+ hours of their life each week
 into
some activity, it would certainly be more satisfying if they at least had an
interest in that activity. Obviously, if you're reading this list, then you have
 an
interest; and, if you were offended, you must have thought about what it is that
 you
do. Some people don't. If you haven't ever worked with a warm body that shows up
at work to fill a chair and collect a pay check, then you're lucky.

Another way to think of it is in terms of the "value added" that was discussed
 at
the STC annual conference. Some of the people employed as technical writers add
 value
to the documentation, and some don't. To a certain degree, these types of
 problems
probably affect other fields, too.

One of the common complaints that I hear from other technical writers is that
 the SMEs
don't provide them with the respect that they deserve. Well, if most of an SME's
experiences have been with a dictation-taking type of technical writer, why
 WOULD
they think that we are professionals deserving of respect and of recognition for
our skills? What skills are they observing, except typing? So, as long as there
are a number of these technical writers in our field, issues such as "what is a
real technical writer" and "should technical writers be registered" will
 continue
to crop up.

If you can think of terminology that is more PC, let's hear it. Real vs. not
 real
is, if not offensive, at least cumbersome, and personally, just a bit too
existential for me, anyway!

==============================================
Pam Tatge, Member Group Technical Staff
Texas Instruments Semiconductor Group, Houston
pamt -at- steinbeck -dot- sc -dot- ti -dot- com
==============================================