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Re: [TCP] certification (was: ranting STC)

Subject: Re: [TCP] certification (was: ranting STC)
From: Ned Bedinger <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com>
To: Susan Hogarth <hogarth -at- gmail -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2007 14:07:19 -0800

Susan Hogarth wrote:

On 2/28/07, Donald H. White <dwhite -at- jrtcllc -dot- com> wrote:
I still have no idea why the concept of a professionalization program causes
so much ire. ...
From a libertarian perspective, I think some people might see such a
program as a first step toward mandatory licensing. It's unfortunate,
but in so many cases private certifications have supported
cartelization in this fashion.

A tech writing cartel? Wow. Cartels are monopolies formed to control the supply and price of a commodity. So now that you mention it, I think I do see, that if TW certification was tied to an organization that could effectively (through certification) control/limit the number of TWs in the field, it would indeed suggest a cartel. This has happened in other fields? I guess I had best google for more.


While I'm confident that certification alone could never result in TWs having cartel powers (cool if it could), still, as I think you say, certification could be awarded by a TW organization that somehow comes to represent tech writers in the marketplace. That's a more potent (and dangerous) situation, with the potential to control the supply of TW (the commodity). I think I prefer to be an unherded libertine cat, and keep my mits on the cream that such an organization would otherwise skim.


Now soliciting stories of how a professional organization OR certification gives back to tech writing are welcome.
This topic has a miniseries inside, but I think it needs a tech writing sculptor to bring it out.


Bon mots.

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Re: [TCP] certification (was: ranting STC): From: Susan Hogarth

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