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Now is the winter of our dis-CONTENT (was Content vs. Style)
Subject:Now is the winter of our dis-CONTENT (was Content vs. Style) From:"R. Johnson" <rjayz -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 19 Nov 2002 12:05:32 -0800 (PST)
I never wanted to join this conversation because 1) the
content vs. style conundrum is a non-issue?-they are *both*
important in terms of communicating information (knowing
WHAT to communicate as well as HOW best to convey that
information is what differentiates technical writers from
other types of writers, IMO); 2) I was enjoying my status
as a semi-lurker.
But now I feel compelled to jump into the fray.
I think organizations like the STC, and yes, even TECHWR-L
tend to focus on processes, tools, methodologies, design,
etc., because those issues are common to everyone in the
profession. Content varies. From day to day, job-to-job,
person-to-person?you name it. If we were all discussing
content, there really wouldn?t be any discussion because
we?d all be talking about different things. It?d be
anarchy?-no cohesion, no focus, no point.
I?m curious to know what types of content you all produce?
I think I can safely say that very few of you would be
interested in my subject matter. I create training
documents, policies and procedures, and operations
materials for a building services company. Sometimes I do
proposals and RFPs, but very little of what I produce has
anything whatsoever to do with computers or technology in
the traditional sense of the word. In fact, my content is
about as low tech as possible, though I suppose it would
still be regarded as ?technical writing? because it?s
specialized toward a particular industry and is geared
toward educating and informing a particular audience about
that industry.
Anybody else feel like sharing?
Robin Johnson
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