TECHNICAL WRITERS: EDUCATED OR TRAINED,
Abstract
The paper discusses the influence computers will have on the future of editors and technical writers, by describing two possible innovations. One is a typewriterlike console which gives the editor access to computer services. Editing can be accomplished on the console and changes entered into the computer's memory for subsequent print out. The second is a tablet on which the editor can, by the use of a stylus, make changes in a text which moves before him on a screen. The author argues that these innovations, while they change certain habits of the editor, do not change the responsibilities of the editor nor do they change his position in the communication process. Computers, if they make any change at all, will simply make the editor's work more exacting. Therefore he needs the same kind of education he has always had-an education in the basic communications disciplines-but his need for that education is even more urgent than it was in the past. Tomorrow's technical writer, like today's, should have sensitivity to words, awareness of mathematics, and experience in a science. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0612380
Entities
People
- Virgil Peterson
Organizations
- RAND Corporation