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Subject:Re: TECHWR-L Digest - 28 Dec 1998 to 29 Dec 1998 From:Kathy Das Gupta <kdasgupt -at- NOTES -dot- CC -dot- BELLCORE -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 30 Dec 1998 10:35:26 -0500
<snip>I need a good definition of a technical writer...can you help me out?
A technical writer is a person who _________________________.
I'm writing a story about technical writers and I don't want to leave out
any aspects of the technical writer.</snip>
Well, this is a REALLY big topic. Every job I have had has defined tech
writer differently - and my experience is software related only. Sometimes
the medium is on-line, sometimes it is hard copy. Sometimes the format is
Help, and sometimes it is a manual. There has even been a little training
material and some marketing pieces thrown into the mix. However, I have
always felt that my mandate, my purpose, is to translate and present
technical information in a manner that is readable and usable by the
defined audience, and the audience always varies. There are a lot of
variables there. I think that is why our profession requires us to be
experts in some segment of tech writing, but flexible and current enough to
adapt our skills to new situations.
