the Survey says:

[JPMartin1 -at- AOL -dot- COM]

Thank You, to the dozens and dozens of respondents to the questionnaire I
tossed online about a month ago.
I'm sorry for the lateness of this summary, but with graduation approaching
(June!) and me moving to Dallas (ahh, the smell of internet romance in the
air) things have gotten a little hectic. <To those in the N. Dallas area, Any
job leads would be Wonderful!!>

:) here it is:
Questionnaire Summary:
How many minutes do you spend on the Internet each day?
        High: 2 hours           Low: 15 minutes         Average: 35 minutes

How many other technical communicators are employed where you work?
        High: 370 at one site   Low: 1 (obvious)        Average: about 3 per site

What percentage of the other technical communicators where you work also take
advantage of the Internet?
        High: 70%               Low: none               Average: about half

For manuals, how many hours per page do you budget?
No truly meaningful numbers emerged since some writers were engaged in new
product development while others were doing re-writes.

Has access to the Internet increased your abilities, confidence or competence
as a technical communicator? How?
Predictably, the typical answers included broadened my horizons, world-wide
access to information and problem-solving, and the interaction between fellow
professionals.

As compared to a university (assuming that they do compare), how would you
rate the Internet as a learning device for technical communicators?
Most respondents felt that they didnt compare at all. Many felt that the
universities provided good background information, but that the learning
offered by TECHWR-L was both more immediate and of greater job-related
importance.

Do you read all of your E-Mail? If not, what criteria do you use as a filter?
For anyone face with an E-Mail in-basket containing dozens or tens of dozens
of messages, the typical answer (No, Never, Not) is unsurprising. Of
interest, are the ways that different people filtered their mail. Most
respondents scanned the subject lines for topics of interest, using the
magical delete key on those that were immediately uninteresting. Only a few
actually opened each mail message. Of those, all mentioned that they only
read the first few lines. Another, nearly universal criteria was the senders
name. A large number of respondents commented unfavorably on writers that
they felt wrote only to hear (their own) voice.