Re: Technical Communication in the Computer Industry: Survey

[Joan Stout <sasjcs -at- UNX -dot- SAS -dot- COM>]

> Eric Ray asks about technical reviews and TW coursework:

> > Have any of you covered reviews in tech comm programs, either teaching or
> > taking?


Len Olszewski writes:

> We did it at DTCC in the context of an actual doc project. We documented
> various aspects of actual internal systems there, lined up SME's,
> interviewed them, prepared doc plans and schedules, had review cycles,
> incorporated revisions, etc. We had some lecture about technical review,
> but the topic isn't all that well covered in textbooks, so most of it
> was from the experiences of the teachers (themselves working tech
> writers).

I was in the same DTCC program but not in Len's class. My major
project involved writing a user's guide for a real product (hypertext
software). The developers for this product (a husband-wife team)
certainly gave me a  real-world experience with reviews. They presented
all the problems that Len mentioned in his post - rudeness, incorrect
comments, conflicting comments, etc. The encounter that I remember
most fondly is the one where Ms. Developer told me to put most of the
document in passive voice. I declined. 8-)

Joan

<-------------------------------------------------------------------->
| Joan Stout          | "I worked as a technical writer...editing    |
| Freelance Indexer   | manuals...on how to dispose of sewage in     |
| Technical Writer    | permafrost; we all had to wear white shirts  |
| sasjcs -at- unx -dot- sas -dot- com  | - that was mandatory - and I was fired at    |
| SAS Institute, Inc. | the end of two weeks for spending too much   |
| Cary, NC            | time staring out the window." (Edward Abbey) |
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