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Subject:RE: What is More Important? From:"Gordon McLean" <Gordon -dot- McLean -at- GrahamTechnology -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 16 May 2007 14:13:20 +0100
Who said ANYTHING about it being a competition?
Think of it more like a percentage mark, one in which you MUST (by the rules
of the original post) assign 51% of your 'score' to either:
A. technically accurate content
B. well written content
(or hell, let's say 50.00000001% if you want).
We ALL KNOW that it's not an either or, I don't think that's the point being
asked here but until Richard returns to tell us WHY he's asking for this we
won't really know.
G
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+gordon -dot- mclean=grahamtechnology -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+gordon -dot- mclean=grahamtechnology -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- c
om] On Behalf Of Yves JEAUROND
Sent: 16 May 2007 13:52
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: What is More Important?
What's with this American Idol stuff? :-) Why must there be a single winner?
TW is a team effort of skills; a molecule, not an atom, not a boxing
match.
Technical writing is a part of the arts--to those who differ, may I point
them to the engineering group. Sure there are technical aspects to
our work: grammar, punctuation, logic, clarity. And when HTML is
involved, or macros or printing, then we need those technologies to
service our art. Make no mistake: afterwards, the result of our art then
serves the product's science, business and marketing...
And because TW is part of the arts, then the rules of art criticism apply:
what is better art? Note the "better", not "best"; good art adds to a
corpus.
It doesn't "win" over other art. Is my manual better than a play by
Shakespeare?
Well, yes and no. Hamlet seems to have more endurance :-0
My manual seems to have more pertinence :-) Northrop Frye makes that point
in _The Educated Imagination_, as do many other literary critics.
The question makes no sense because each item is a "sine qua non":
you need technical accuracy AND writing skill PLUS a bunch of other stuff:
(1) avoiding literary figures of speech in TW, which means being familiar
with rhetorical devices.
(2) knowing how to appear thruthful to readers which means being familiar
with the forms truth can take (concepts like precision, accuracy,
cogent communication)
(3) knowing about document design...
(4) knowing what makes a writer tick...
(5) knowing about business constraints...
(6) knowing your audience...
And so on.
So what is really more important? A writer that doesn't know about
business constraints can the most exact and engaging writing, but will fail
miserably if he's overbudget and past deadline...
What is important is awareness and competency in as many of the components
of the art of TW as you can handle. If its only one thing, like technical
accuracy, technical support will love to hate you.
Stop thinking that it's a competition, a war, a manicheism; TW is a
liberal art, a composite. It is just as silly to ask what is more important
about stained glass:
the lead frame or the colored glass?... or the light shinning through?
They are all needed.
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Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
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full Unicode support. Create help files, web-based help and PDF in up
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