Re: Technical Communication in the Computer Industry: Survey

[Janie Bergen <BERGEN -at- UNTVAX -dot- BITNET>]

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

stuff deleted. . .

>Nonetheless, nothing is a bigger shock to most tech writers than facing
>their first spate of review comments. Some never make it past that first
>shock. More should be said about the tech review process in TW courses,
>including how frank (and sometimes how rude and incorrect) the review
>comments can be. Reconciling conflicting comments is also an art that
>should be addressed.

As a new tech writer, I'd like to address this business about reviews.
Perhaps I was asleep in class the day reviews were discussed, but I
don't remember ANYTHING being said about reviews. Yes, I was shocked
at my first review. Mostly I was shocked at being reviewed by non-
writers who made comments and suggestions that were directly
opposite from anything I'd been taught. Sometimes the reviewers
were programmers, but sometimes I was reviewed by the owner of
the company or by the next in charge. Now I can't very well tell
them they don't know what they're talking about! I have wished
many, many times that we'd had a little more nuts-and-bolts in
our university tech writing classes and a lot less theory. It
still bothers me, but I just have to smile and offer theories
about why we technical writers do things the way we do.
Sometimes I get my way, and sometimes I don't. This may be
another good argument for having professors who have
WORKED as technical writers, rather than as consultants or
academics only.