Lawrence Don-Elysyn
Many years back when I was a mite less gray on the sides, I began to read about the “paperless” office. It was one of many promises that technology made to my generation back in the halcyon days of the fifties and sixties.
Training for the Job
Lawrence Don-Elysyn
I am sometimes asked what a person should study in order to become a technical editor. After all, people study medicine to be doctors, other people study education to be teachers, and even engineers have studied engineering in order to become whatever they are. So, what does someone study to become a technical editor? Technical editing?
Don’t be silly.
The Hammer: A Sort of True Story
Lawrence Don-Elysyn
Once upon a time, a group of people that we will call “the Company” obtained a contract to put up a house. This entailed a great deal of nailing. In the preplanning stages, someone figured out that 10,000 nails would have to be hammered in to build this house. This seemed like a frightening amount, and the Manager decided to do something about it.
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Wonderful and Woeful Warnings
Lawrence Don-Elysyn
One of the true delights I’ve had as an editor is the checking of Warnings, Cautions, and Notes. It thrilled me to think that something I edited, if neglected, would lead to a fellow human being being fried to a crisp or to the destruction of a multimillion-dollar piece of equipment.
Password Psychotic
Lawrence Don Elysyn
We live, it seems, in perilous times. We are reminded constantly that crime is increasing, basic values are breaking down, people shoot at one another on the highway, and men are sneaking onto airplanes with weird and dangerous plans in mind.