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Subject:Re: REAL Technical Writers From:KARLA KITALONG <kitalong -at- MTU -dot- EDU> Date:Sun, 1 Aug 1993 14:53:53 EDT
Jerry Blackerby writes:
> Technical writing covers every possible field of endeavor and must be
> written to so many different levels of expertise. This means that
> all of us are technical writers. It is just a matter of what discipline
> we are writing for, not a matter of REAL or not real technical writers.
***** stuff deleted here...
> So, please stop to think about how diverse a field we are in.
Just last week, I got a call from the dean of students at our little
university. She asked if I'd be willing to help rewrite an instruction
sheet that students would get with their first bills generated by our
new administrative computer system. The original instruction sheet was
full of jargon and poorly organized: it began with a
statement about "memo credits" that would have distracted even the
most determined reader. In an hour, we reconstructed the instruction
sheet around a series of questions. "What is a memo credit?" "What are
the various fees for?" and so forth. It was immediately obvious to me
what needed to be done. I've been a technical writer in the computer
field, and have done some writing for a hospital and another health-care
institution. Have done no writing for finance (can barely balance my
checkbook), but the principles I use in one field could be translated
to a totally new area.
This experience reinforced my long-held belief that the administration
of our university (and probably all universities) could benefit from
having a technical writer at their disposal. They all have public
relations writers, but I don't think I've ever heard of a technical
communicator playing an important role at the upper administrative level.
Yet another niche for the professional in our field.
Karla Saari Kitalong
Academic Computing Specialist/STC Undergraduate Advisor
Department of Humanities
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931
kitalong -at- mtu -dot- edu
P.S. Doesn't Jerry have a great signature??
> \\ //
> \\//
> /OO\
> \></ _
> __/__\__ Jerry Blackerby | ~~ Practice random kindness
> (________) 214-907-7810 (w) \, _} and senseless acts of
> | | exujbl -at- exu -dot- ericsson -dot- se \( beauty.
> [____]
