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>Should it be "data were" or "data was"
It depends on the audience. Scientific audiences expect it to be true
to the Latin --- "data were" and "data are." Lay audiences are mostly
OK with "data was" and "data is."
From my experience teaching, I found that about half of my students
thought that "data are/were" "sounds weird." The other half thought it
should always be "data is/was." From this, I've decided that there's
no winning on this issue --- some part of your audience isn't going to
like your decision. To avoid distracting the reader, I try to use
different structures or synonyms to avoid the conflict. For example,
put data in a prepositional phrase --- "the group of data" --- or use
"information" in place of "data."
>Are production coordinator's usually associated with tech writing, or is
>this something new to you guys?
It depends on the organization. In most cases, I've seen them
associated with the graphics or printing group, but the best choice
depends on the physical and political situation at your workplace.
Good luck,
Barb
Barbara Philbrick, Caslon Services Inc.
Technical Writing. caslonsvcs -at- ibm -dot- net
Cleveland, OH
