Re: Resolved: Technical communicators can create information

[Keith Hood <klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Right. But explaining is not creating.  We figure it out, we deduce it, we compare things until we go "Aha!" but we don't create it.  I'm willing to call myself an information monger but I think calling myself an information creator is a bit too grandiose.

And RM - I do pay attention to politics. Lies are not really the same as information.  :-)


--- On Sat, 6/12/10, John Posada <jposada99 -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

From: John Posada <jposada99 -at- gmail -dot- com>
Subject: Re: Resolved: Technical communicators can create information
To: "Keith Hood" <klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com>
Cc: "TECHWR-L Digest" <TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, "Steven Jong" <stevefjong -at- comcast -dot- net>
Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010, 7:31 PM

> OK, so much for metaphysics. But frankly, nobody "creates" information. There are times when a tech writer will discover something about a thing that the engineer or designer or builder didn't realize. Like when I've built help systems and when they're

I SO disagree with this.

Information is what a human needs to understand what to do or what is happening.

Take a chemical reaction. Yes, the reaction takes place..we don't
create the reaction because we explain it. However, until there is
information about it, it may never happen again. Information allows us
to repeat it.

Take the theory of relativity. It was a phycal law. However, until it
was explained, we might not have had the benefit of knowing what e=mc2
allows us to do.  e=mc2 is what a star has always done. Hoqwever,
until it was documented, there would not have been the bomb.

So...we don't create fact. However, we create information about a fact.


BTW...Steve...seeya Tuesday night.



-- 
John Posada
Senior Technical Writer
NYMetro STC President



      
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