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Subject:Re: Researching your Subject From:Doug Nickerson <Doug_Nickerson -at- ONSETCOMP -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 21 Dec 1998 13:45:17 -0500
thomas -dot- quine -at- nxompasslabs -dot- com wrote:
>Ben Kovitz <snip> [made] the point that discussing the correct use of
programming
>terms is inappropriate for this list.
>That's foolish. Most of us are in the software industry, and usage is
>central to our occupations.
<snip>
> I wrote an excellent manual about cable installation which
>my client was very pleased with and paid handsomely for. This year, I
>can't tell you a thing about cable installation. Because my job was to
>capture the knowledge of the SMEs and present it in the most accessible
>and user-friendly format - not to install cable. I'm a professional
>technical communicator - I'd never cut it as a cable guy, and don't even
>want to try.
You can't acquire the deep knowledge of an expert in the field in every
writing job you
approach. However, you say above that most TWs work in the software
industry. Doesn't that make
the knowledge of the software industry a superset of the knowledge
required to do the job? That is, wouldn't knowledge about programming and
the software process be transferrable among many assignments in the
software industry--whether the domain area of these assignments was
electronic cables or manufacuturing stockings?
