Don Bush's Intercom article

Tue Feb 6 14:54:07 MST 2007

Hi, Kathy--In addition to supporting you (as others have done) in noting
that Don Bush's February '07 Intercom article does not accurately or fairly
represent the work of technical communication specialists in academe, I also
want to note that the article strongly misrepresents the work that technical
communicators do in the workplace.

Most importantly, based on my own experiences working in industry and on the
many recent and ongoing experiences of other technical communicators that I
know of from STC colleagues and from interns in and graduates of our
program, technical communicators in industry are not just keyboardists or
tools jockeys. Even in entry-level positions, technical communicators do
indeed write about technical content, and they often write collaboratively.
The range of job options and career development opportunities for technical
communicators is not nearly as limited as the article suggests. And even
other articles that Intercom publishes, especially in its "my job" features,
demonstrate that fact. Of course, the workplace-based research that we
academics use to develop our curricula also confirm it.

In addition, there are several other claims made in the article that are
off-base about workplace realities for practitioners. For example, even just
a check of STC's own salary survey would reveal that the idea of making $90K
salary in a career as a technical communicator is not, in fact, a fantasy.

So, what bothers me is not just that Don's article is polarizing and
devalues the work that I do (although, yes, that is annoying), it's also
that the article devalues and misrepresents our entire field and the work of
our practitioner colleagues. as well. While I sometimes have enjoyed Don
Bush's idiosyncratic approaches in the past, this is not the first time that
I have found in his column much that seems to be based on personal
anecdotes, long-held (and possibly untested) fixed ideas, extreme opinions,
and stereotypes, rather than on broad experience and field research. This
particular column also is striking for its discourteousness and somewhat
mean-spirited tone (though, admittedly, this may just be due to a failed
attempt at curmudgeonly humor a la Andy Rooney).

I understand that Intercom, as STC's magazine, may not need to be held to
same standards as its journal, Technical Communication, but its columnists
at least should be expected to demonstrate a constructive and knowledgeable
engagement with the prevalent issues and practices that all of STC's members
share, whether they work mainly in industry or mainly in academe (and, of
course, recognizing that many of us effectively cross back and forth between
those two "worlds").

Thanks for bringing this article to our collective attention, Kathy.-Lu

P.S. As others have encouraged, I will share my thoughts on the article in
question with the editor of Intercom, as well.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lu Rehling

Director, Technical & Professional Writing Program

 <http://www.sfsu.edu/~tpw> http://www.sfsu.edu/~tpw 

Professor, College of Humanities

San Francisco State University

1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132

office: room 413, Humanities Building

phone: 415-338-3988

email:  <mailto:RehlingL at sfsu.edu> RehlingL at sfsu.edu

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-----Original Message-----

From: bounce-stc-ac-277434 at lists.stc.org
[mailto:bounce-stc-ac-277434 at lists.stc.org] On Behalf Of Northcut, Kathryn

Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 2:56 PM

To: stc-ac

Subject: [stc-ac] Don Bush's Intercom article

Colleagues:

Colleagues:

I've just read Don Bush's "The Friendly Editor" column of February 2007. I'm
distressed by the article, even though the proverbial shoe doesn't fit me.
With this sort of characterization of my work within publications that are
supposedly promoting the profession, we are doing ourselves a disservice to
say the least. At best, Bush is misinformed, and at worst, he's being
malicious. I'd send this message to Mr. Bush, but he lists only a snail mail
address, no email.

I'm interested in hearing how others are reacting or responding to what he's
said, and if I'm off base in thinking that a column published in TC reflects
the position of STC toward "academicians" (a term I loathe). Certainly there
are factions within STC trying to build bridges between university personnel
and workplaces, but are we swimming against the tide?

Although I could perhaps shrug this off, I told my students to join STC, and
they read this column, and they will take it to heart.

I'm concerned.

Kathy

Kathryn Northcut

Assistant Professor of Technical Communication

Department of English and Technical Communication

University of Missouri-Rolla

northcut at umr.edu

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