Re: Technical writer survey: What should we really call ourselves?

[Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Heh. That's just it. I try to keep my hands out of technical writing  
as much as possible, save for typing words.

---
Bill Swallow
http://techcommdood.com
Sent from my iPhone.

On Aug 10, 2009, at 3:56 PM, "Leonard C. Porrello" <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com 
 > wrote:

> As Bill said, "to each his own."
>
>
>
> I prefer to reserve "artisan" to the definition given on Wikipedia:  
> "An
> artisan (from Italian: artigiano) is a skilled manual worker who  
> crafts
> items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including
> furniture, clothing, jewelry, household items, and tools. The term can
> also be used as an adjective to refer to the craft of hand making food
> products, such as bread, beverages and cheese." In other words, I  
> see an
> artisan as someone with talent who has achieved a high level of
> technical skill in creating things primarily with his or her hands.
> Stradivarius was an artisan (as was the shoemaker in the Grimm fable,
> "The Elves and the Shoe Maker"). Shakespeare was a writer (as am
> I-although I admit, some elves would come in handy).
>
>
>
> Leonard
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: kathleen -dot- eamd -at- gmail -dot- com [mailto:kathleen -dot- eamd -at- gmail -dot- com] On  
> Behalf
> Of Kathleen MacDowell
> Sent: Monday, August 10, 2009 11:57 AM
> To: Leonard C. Porrello
> Cc: Geoffrey Marnell; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Technical writer survey: What should we really call
> ourselves?
>
>
>
> Leonard, I think a good technical writer is an artisan/craftsperson.
>
> That's what distinguishes skilled practitioners. The trick is deciding
> where one might want to draw the line at artisan, a la the  
> discussion of
> certification. People can be artisans with the tools-of-the-trade,
> organization, development, explanation, etc.
>
> Kathleen
>
> On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 12:30 PM, Leonard C. Porrello
> <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- soleratec -dot- com> wrote:
>
> For starters, I would never refer to us as "wordsmiths." Software
> engineers aren't called codesmiths; surgeons aren't called bodysmiths;
> lawyers aren't called lawsmiths; actuaries aren't called statsmiths;  
> and
> even a dentist, whose work is very close to that of the artisan, isn't
> called a toothsmith. Technical writing is similar to other  
> professions,
> and it is not an artisan skill or craft.
>
> Leonard
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing  
> Table of
> Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
> 2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
> http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
>
> Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
> authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
> once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version  
> control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com -dot- 
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/techcommdood%40gmail.com
>
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help  
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat