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Subject:What techwhirler tools are required? From:geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA Date:Wed, 7 Jan 1998 21:27:15 -0600
To me, the whole issue of what tools (hardware and software)
are required for a techwhirler kinda misses the point. The
_real_ tools we need are the ability to write clearly in the
language of our audience, the ability to edit our own writing
(not to eliminate the need for an editor or peer review, but
rather to minimize the amount of rework required down the
chain), research skills (to find info. in books and other
references, and to pump SMEs for information), the ability to
learn new tools as the need arises, and the ability to work
in a team environment (both with other writers and with
people in other job classifications). Everything else is just
details.
That's not to say that those details are unimportant... far
from it. But let's face it... if you've used one word
processor or desktop publishing package, you can use any
other one within a few minutes of experimentation. If
you've booted one computer, you can figure out how to boot
any other with minor instruction. (Exception: One model of
Apple Powerbook--the 5300?--was so counterintuitive that I
never could figure out how to turn on.) You're not going to
be a wizard at using the software, but you'll be able to do
the most important job: getting the facts down on paper (or
in electrons) so someone will be able to figure out what
you mean.
Formatting what you've written is generally the smallest
part of the job, particularly if you're in the typical
situation of working to a predefined format or using a
document template anyway; _designing_ that format or
template is considerably more challenging, but that's a
skill you can learn too. (Just to be clear: I'm not
suggesting that design is unimportant; I _am_ suggesting
that in any project of significant size, you should be
spending far more time writing then you spend formatting.)
Modern computers and software are no longer rocket science,
and they're within shouting distance of doing what they
were originally designed to do: helping us create what we
want to create after _we_ (not the computer) spent the
skull sweat to figure out what we want to create.
--Geoff Hart @8^{)} geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.
