Re: new responsibilities and skills

[Elna Tymes <Etymes -at- LTS -dot- COM/>]

Dickie Selfe <rselfe -at- mtu -dot- edu> wrote:

>My question for this list is

>How many of you have some responsibility for support--planning (purchasing,
>installing, ...), policy making (access, security, etiquette), or
>instruction-- when it comes to communication technologies?

>I'm interested in making a case for research into how these skills might be
>integrated into STC programs.  I'd be collecting and collating this info.
>on and off the list and will repost my compilation to the list.


I've been in this field for something around 30 years.  Early on, tech
writers had NO say in communications technologies.  Ten years ago there
began to be some evidence that tech writers sometimes knew what they were
talking about, and SOME engineering groups would listen to input from a
writer.  In the last three years, however, I've seen more and more
engineering organizations ask for input from tech writers as to purchase,
installation, access, and security issues.  The company I head is just
completing a contract with a very large engineering company where our
writers were consulted all the time about Internet interface issues,
including software purchase, installation, access, security, and
training.  Because of our expertise, we have signed several other
contracts with the same company, basically mixing technical expertise
with writing.

Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems