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Subject:Aw: Re: plagiarism in technical communication? From:Nina Barzgaran <e -dot- dickinson -at- gmx -dot- net> To:"Mark L. Levinson" <nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il> Date:Thu, 2 Nov 2023 19:36:28 +0100
Love these stories! Thanks people, for sharing them.
I am not as long in the field as some of you obviously were - or are.
But a good, long decade - and actually writing as such much much longer
- has brought me to some realizations:
It's like some of you already stated:
Sometimes you need credit for your own work. Even if only to prove the
time you spent for doing it. Apart from that I love looking at the
good work - if it is - I did. :)
Sometimes it's about technical content that really is owned by another
company.
Sometimes it's about actually checking the content - or saving time.
I think, 'plagiarism' is a legal term that is linked to the concept of
copyright and that deserves respect too - and thus asking the
colleagues from that department makes a lot of sense.
I was raised on the idea that you write original text, always.
Truthful, reliable... The first couple of months 'way back then' I
remember my neck hair raising whenever I re-used content... although
the concept at the time was clear, of course... And to this day I do
not copy or quote text from printed or digital sources without
indicating/stating them - the source, that is.
Kind Regards
Nina
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 02. November 2023 um 17:52 Uhr
Von: "Mark L. Levinson" <nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il>
An: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Betreff: Re: plagiarism in technical communication?
I was a manager of technical writers back in the cuneiform days, and
the
manuals of the particular company I worked for used to include a credit
line naming the writer. I opposed the practice (and eventually
terminated it) because if anybody inside the company wanted to know
which writer was responsible for the brilliant explanation of Product A
and the manual was written by Writer B but thoroughly revised by Writer
C, the credit could conceivably spark an unwinnable battle. Worse yet,
if Writer X needed a bit of help from Writer Y, Writer Y could think
"Why expend my time and skill when somebody else is going to get the
credit?" In a context like that, I can understand the notion of
intra-company plagiarism.
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Mark L. Levinson - nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il
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