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Subject:Re: What do you think? From:"Williams, Diane (contractor)" <Williams_Diane -at- DOTE -dot- OSD -dot- MIL> Date:Fri, 18 Jul 1997 10:32:20 -0400
>>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."
>>
Answer: Whoa! Two thumbs down on that comment! This position sounds like
a copy editor! And even most copy editors work online these days cos
they do their own corrections! If I had to mark on paper every change I
ever made on a document and give it back to someone else to fix, I'd
still be working on last year's annual report! :-\
******
>>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."
>>
Answer: Whoa! Another two thumbs down on that comment! Is this guy left
over from the Stone Age? What a sexist and racist comment!!!! I believe
that very few people are computer-phobic these days compared to 10 to 15
years ago.
******
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?"
Answer: Only 30%? Who is the author including in his universe of
workplaces? Sidewalk lemonade stands?
**********
I don't have any statistics to back up my opinions, but I think you are
correct to question these statements. They certainly seem outrageous to
me!
~~Diane
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