What do you think?

[Nancy Hoft <nhoft -at- WORLD-READY -dot- COM>]

Hi Everybody,

I've recently been asked to do an informal review of an introductory
chapter to a book for instructors of tech. writing in a college
setting.  I'm only about 1/16th through the copy, but I was left so
incredulous by some statements that I had to write to you to solicit
your opinions for fear that my 15 years in this biz has left me
jaded.

Here are some snipets from the copy.  I'm leaving the source
anonymous, as well as the title of the book.  I just want your
unabashed opinions.

Snipet One -- Question: Do you agree that the majority of technical
communication is paper-based?

"Still other instructors have consciously decided against using
computers in their classrooms, and they have had good reasons for
doing so.  First, they argue plausibly that the majority of technical
communication in the workplace is still paper-based and that many
students will be entering companies where they could certainly get by
with little more than basic word processing skills.  Second, these
instructors argue that their courses are intended to teach technical
communication, not computer literacy."

Snipet Two -- Question:  What do you think of the word "forbidding"?

"Computers and networks are, as Dale Spender (1995) notes, an
environment of privilege-created by privileged white men and used
mostly by them-and those environments are quite often forbidding to
women and people from disadvantaged groups."

Snipet Three -- Do you think that your employers will be willing to
train new hires in technical communication on how to use a computer
to do their jobs?

"It's true that many workplaces are still primarily paper-based, but
does that mean we should ignore the enormous growth of electronic
media-the journal Electronic Publishing estimates that by 2001, 30%
of all workplace documents will be at least partially electronic
(Romano, 1997)-in the hopes students will find an employer willing to
train them?"

What do you think?

Signed,

Incredulous in the Upper Pennisula


N A N C Y   H O F T
Ph.D. Student, Rhetoric and Technical Communication
Michigan Technological University
PHONE: +1 906/482.5658  FAX: +1 906/482.0019
SMAIL: 209 W. Douglass Ave, Houghton, MI 49931-2221 USA
EMAIL: nlhoft -at- mtu -dot- edu -or- nhoft -at- world-ready -dot- com
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