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My parents were also encouraging, but doubtful I could make a living writing instructions. This was in the late 1970s.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Dan Goldstein
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2012 5:06 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Post on Technical Writing vs. Technical Communication
Amen, sister! When my father the chemist unsuccessfully tried to convince 14-year-old me to be a technical writer back in the year <mumblety-mumble>, he meant someone who writes for chemical journals - not about the technology of chemistry labs, but rather about the knowledge of chemistry discovered in those labs. And he assumed that as a technical *writer*, I would need not only to write well, but also to draw schematics as well as any chemist.
It took me over two decades to see that he was right, and by then it was all about the technology.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lauren
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2012 4:48 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Post on Technical Writing vs. Technical Communication
... There is nothing misleading about calling the production of the technical communication in multiple media formats technical writing.
Writing is what produces the content of the various media.
"Technical communication" is not a new term, though. Technical writing has always been a form of technical communication. What is new is that so many people are confusing "technical" with "technology" and using a sort of revisionist history to say that technology is the reason for calling the communication of technology, "technical writing"...
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