'Know thy audience'; was: RE: What is 'well Written'?

[Elizabeth J Allen]

Hi Ned,

I agree that it can be useful to acknowledge the existence of the  
artistic process in our chosen field. But I think this good has to be  
weighed against any potential harm that identifying the field of  
technical writing with "an art". It is also true that engineers, when  
they design something, also draw heavily on the artistic process to  
create. In that sense, engineering is also an art.

In this world, where I was recently informed that my $dayjob will no  
longer grant me stock options or bonus because I do not hold the  
title of engineer, I wonder what benefit there is in further  
distancing ourselves from the field of engineering.

Needless to say, I am now open to other opportunities.

Cheers!

Elizabeth
--
Elizabeth J. Allen
eja at samurai.com

"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler." —Albert  
Einstein


On 22-May-07, at 6:25 PM, Ned Bedinger wrote:

> elizabeth j allen wrote:
>> Hi Ned,
>>
>> It seems to me that because our work involves creativity, you want  
>> to call
>> it art.
>>
>
> While it is true that I don't object to calling tech writing an  
> art, I don't exactly think that the title of Tech Writing Artist is  
> the brass ring.  I think it is useful to recognize the extent to  
> which we do draw on artistic processes.  But I dunno, maybe I've  
> drunken too deeply of the Kool-Aid again.
>
> --Ned
>