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And In the U.S., They're Forced To Buy Retailby Mateo BurtchThe Society for Technical Communication (STC) released its annual Report on the Status of Technical Writers today. This report, issued by the STC's Writers' Committee on Technical Scribes, monitors the civil and human rights of technical writers throughout the world and documents abuses against them. It also includes a handy quick-reference guide to basic Fortran compiler options.Overall, the report noted that the situation for technical writers the world over is "precarious, and, in many cases, is worsening rapidly. In particular, writers in the Third World routinely live in poverty and squalor." (The report noted that this may apply to other people in the Third World as well.) The report concludes:
To the twin I-beams of Democracy and Freedom one may add those of Technical Accuracy and Good Visual Layout. But these too are threatened by mankind's age-old nemeses: Bigotry... Hatred ... Right Justification. If the human race is not only to survive, but to prosper in the heart and in the mind and in the soul, technical writers must practice their ageless craft unencumbered by fear, privation, or schedules. Some of the highlights of the Committee's report include:
What can you do? Lots. Send a letter to the head of government of one of the cited countries; include a diagram with mixed fonts and at least one incorrect cross-reference. Show them you mean business. Or write to the UN High Commissioner on the Status of Technical Writers, stating that you are categorically opposed to the use of mustard gas during staff meetings and that you're still having problems figuring out which way the darn CD is supposed to go in. Or you can have a fundraising party, inviting all your technical writer friends and promising them that if they give a donation to Save the Tech Writers you'll cancel the performance art you had scheduled for the evening. A copy of the report is available from the Copy Center and from your local samadzat. --Mateo Burtch
(c) 1992 Mateo Burtch
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