TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Re: I had say it because I was afraid no one else would.
Subject:Re: I had say it because I was afraid no one else would. From:"Crimmin, Peter" <Peter -dot- Crimmin -at- nuance -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 3 Feb 2009 11:12:22 -0500
I agree with John Garison, and have a couople comments. He wrote:
> Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:03:24 -0500
> From: John Garison <john -at- garisons -dot- com>
> Subject: Re: I had say it because I was afraid no one else would.
>
> [...snip...]
>
> We are still in the early days of computing yet, and new technology
> appears almost daily. [...snip...]
>
> Rule one: Know your audience. [...snip...]
Contemporary tech writers have two challenges:
1. These are the early days... but the rate of change is enormous.
Consider the changeover from analog to digital television signals.
Millions of Americans have seen the warnings, but are unable to grok the
concept.
2. My audiences are shifting beneath my feet as more non-experts need to
understand and program our products. In the old days (2 years ago) we
could sell a biometric technology and assume developers knew concepts
like "false acceptance rates." Nowadays, those developers have no deep
background and no interest in learning all they details (or jargon).
They're too busy with other stuff. From my company, they want automated
behaviors and big pictures only.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. http://www.doctohelp.com
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
