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Subject:Re: What do you think? From:Beth Agnew <bagnew -at- INSYSTEMS -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 18 Jul 1997 11:15:11 -0400
This is what they're telling INSTRUCTORS? Yikes! Just goes to show you that some publishers will print ANYthing!
I too am incredulous about these statements. I really wonder who might select this book as a reference for a college course.
Q1: Do you agree that the majority of technical communication is paper-based?
If you're looking at output, yes I believe the majority of technical communication is still paper-based, but the computer is such a vital tool for creating that output that I cannot see how these people can "argue plausibly" against them. That's like telling a carpenter that since s/he'll be working mostly with wood, there's no real reason to learn how to use a Skilsaw(tm) because houses can be put up just fine with hammer and straight saw.
True, TC courses are not intended to teach computer literacy, but it's a prerequisite and part of the trade.
Q2: 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."
This paragraph scares me. It's a perfect example of the many subtleties of this thing called writing. On the surface, this statement is true, from a certain point of view, and may seem quite innocuous. BUT, the insidiousness of the subtext, its tone and voice can leave an impression that could be harmful or even inflammatory. It frightens me that this kind of statement could get into a college textbook to be read by impressionable young people. I would lay a major rewrite on this paragraph that would still get across the basic idea but in a more objective way.
Q3: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?
No way. Employers don't have time to train people in basic computer literacy. They certainly don't have time to train technical employees in an area that should be a prerequisite for their hiring.
Nancy, it's great you have an editing job, but if it were me, I'd feel like an idealistic lawyer forced to defend someone I know is guilty of a heinous crime. I wish you the best. I think your instincts are correct; this book is very, very strange!
--Beth
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