Re: I had say it because I was afraid no one else would?

[voxwoman <voxwoman -at- gmail -dot- com>]

On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 11:39 AM, Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> wrote:

> Collin reports: <<"Why tech writers use so much jargon, I don't know.
> Maybe it's self-aggrandizement; they want to lord their knowledge over
> everybody else. Maybe it's laziness; they can't be bothered to fish
> for a plain-English word. Maybe it's just habit; they spend all day
> talking shop with other nerds, so they slip into technospeak when they
> write for larger audiences."
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/technology/personaltech/16pogue-email.html?_r=4&8cir=&oref=slogin&emc=cira1&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin
>  >>
>
> I'd wonder whether this is true of all the docs he reads, or just for
> the large proportion that are not actually created by techwhirlers
> like us. It's certainly true that a large proportion of the materials
> I see coming across my desk are written by amateurs with no training
> or expertise in the subject, including a great many engineers who are
> forced to write in their second or third language because their
> employer is too cheap to hire a translator.
>
> That being said, it's also true that some of us need a bit more
> practice remembering our audience's needs. It's also true that some of
> what we're documenting is inherently technical, and you can't describe
> it without using jargon appropriately.
>
>
It seems to me that he is using the term "tech writer" to refer to
journalists who report on technical issues, rather than people of our ilk,
who actually write technical documentation.

As far as my jargon usage goes, it depends on the audience for the
particular document. When writing for a technical audience in a work
environment (such as installation technicians), I have found that they
prefer the jargon, and to do otherwise is insulting and "dumbing down" for
them. When writing for consumers, on the other hand, I write so that my
non-technical mother (of blessed memory) would understand it.

-Wendy
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