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Re: Resolved: Technical communicators can create information
Subject:Re: Resolved: Technical communicators can create information From:Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca> To:TECHWR-L Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Sat, 19 Jun 2010 23:33:19 -0700
I disagree with everyone. ;-P
The STC hosted Buck Wilbur's webinar on "Technical Writer's transition
into Knowledge Management", and I got the sense that knowledge is the
stuff inside everyone's heads, and information is that knowledge
captured in tangible form. Unless technical writers are also
developers of their subject, which is likely in smaller companies,
they don't "create" the information; they only "capture" it.
However, because a technical writer is responsible for structure,
output methods, and production, they could also be considered the
"creators" of information products. The information itself should lack
opinion, but the product itself is subject to the creativity of the
designer.
But then we're just splitting hairs over semantics. Because, after
all, it's been quoted that "Creativity is the art of disguising your
source." If you leverage the opinions of enough SMEs eventually you
have to deduce which information to include in the final product, and
that's where creativity begins. The only difference is that our role
is to present the information in as clear and complete as possible.
With that out of the way, I'd like to see a show of hands for how many
technical communication departments are managed by Marketing, and how
many by Engineering/Development. I think the opine level of
information products varies depending on who calls the shots. IMO.
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