Technical Writer or Documentation Writer?

[Cardimon, Craig]

First, let's kill Wally.

Second, I think this is a tug of war of semantics and definitions. Kind
of a turf war.

I am writing documentation for computer applications. I love doing this.
It is usually called being a technical writer but you can also call me a
framistatjamjingle. 

Who would I be to argue?

My beloved little sister once called me "toilet face" during an argument
decades ago. 

I still don't dispute that!

-- Craig

-----Original Message-----
From: Lauren [mailto:lauren at writeco.net] 
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 1:40 PM
To: 'Hickling, Lisa (TOR)'; 'Techwr-l'
Cc: Cardimon, Craig
Subject: RE: Technical Writer or Documentation Writer?

Ohhh!  That reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon.  Alice is typing away and
I
think it's Wally who walks by and says something to the effect, "You're
a
technical writer, right?  Isn't that just a word processor?"  Alice
feverishly picks up the pace of her typing and scowls at her monitor.  

Yeah, no, I'm definitely not a documentation writer; not if it's going
to be
associated with being a word processor.  I remember when the job title
"Desktop Publisher" got a little popularity.  It pretty much stood for
anyone that could use Microsoft Office to produce a document or
presentation
with graphics.

Lauren

> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lauren=writeco.net at lists.techwr-l.com 
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lauren=writeco.net at lists.techwr-l.com
> ] On Behalf Of Hickling, Lisa (TOR)
> Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 10:26 AM
> To: Techwr-l
> Cc: Cardimon, Craig
> Subject: RE: Technical Writer or Documentation Writer?
> 
> Everyone who's been introduced to word processing is a "Documentation
> Writer" of sorts. Are you sure that's what you want your 
> coworkers to be
> nodding to?
> 
> Lisa
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cardimon, Craig
>  
> Coworkers might not know what a "technical writer" does, but they all
> nod when they hear the word "documentation writer."