Agriculture and Tech Writing?

[Geoff Hart]

Dash Barron reports: <<Greetings. I'm new to the field of Tech  
Writing and I'm attempting to explore all possibilities.>>

Welcome to the fray(ed)!

<<As my background revolves around agriculture, I am seeking to learn  
how these two fields are related, and what sort of career  
opportunities and experiences are available for someone like me  
wishing to become a hybrid of these two professions.>>

Well, let's put it this way: Agribusiness is one of the largest  
business sectors around the world (ADM probably has higher gross  
revenues than most developing countries), is heavily international  
(thus multicultural), is pretty much immune to the kinds of things  
that periodically wreck other industries (people always need to eat),  
and has gone high-tech in a big way (both at the farm level and the  
corporate level). It's hard to imagine that there wouldn't be  
opportunities for technical writers!

For some thoughts on how you might identify those opportunities:  
http://www.geoff-hart.com/resources/2006/finding-work.htm


<<Where may I begin my inexorable exploration into the different  
fields of Tech Writing...>>

Needless to say, techwr-l is a good starting point once you've done a  
bit of background reading. (Folks here aren't always kind to people  
who haven't done their homework.) If you don't know anything much  
about the field, there are dozens of textbooks, ranging from one "for  
dummies" book up to postgraduate course material. Visit your local  
big-box bookstore and grab a handful of books off the rack, browse  
'em, and see which one speaks most clearly to you. Then take it home  
and read it.

But don't take what it says as gospel. Our profession has a bunch of  
"best practices", but there's surprisingly little consensus on "the  
right way to do everything". Most of what you'll see in textbooks  
seems to be a mixture of "this seems to work, or at least most people  
are doing it", "I think this should work because it seems logical,  
but I've never actually tested it", and "we've proven this to  
everyone's satisfaction through careful research, so let's move on  
already".

<<... and is there anyone who is working specifically in the field of  
agriculture?>>

Not quite... my field is forestry. Some similarities, but not really  
the same thing.


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-- Geoff Hart
ghart at videotron.ca / geoffhart at mac.com
www.geoff-hart.com
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***Now available***  _Effective onscreen editing_
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