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Subject:Re: Purpose of Tech Comms today From:Nancy Allison <maker -at- verizon -dot- net> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:16:41 -0500 (CDT)
The purpose of what I write is to provide a clear, accurate picture of
how to use our products, in contrast to the bad information floating
around on the web.
One of our product managers told me that he and another product manager
used to poke around on a forum devoted to our (smallish, very
technical) industry, and the amount of off-the-wall bad information
about our technology and how to use it was amazing. He said he didn't
even go to the forum any more because it would take up all his time
dealing with the misconceptions.
For a technical, proprietary product with a user base possessing
varying levels of education, online forums or sites like eHow are not
going to meet the need for accurate information any time soon.
I agree that some of what I write is not well focused for our audience,
but that's the same old struggle tech writers have had forever:
fighting for usability testing, fighting for the chance to interact
with actual users and observe them in their native habitat. It hasn't
been changed by the emergence of new media, sadly.
--Nancy
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