Improving the Writer-Developer Relationship  

Many technical communicators work in environments where their contributions and value-add to business are not well understood. This perpetuates a lack of respect for the technical communication profession on the part of the technologists with whom we work. By improving our overall work processes and practices, we can change the perceptions of those around us for the better, improving our relationships and increasing the quality of our contributions. We can also begin to see technical communication as a practiced profession equal in importance to the professions of the technologists with whom we work.

Colvin, Richard D. and Virginia Beecher. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Workplace>Collaboration

Improving Your Interpersonal Skills

To succeed in the corporate world, then, technical types have to learn to live with -- even serve -- nontechies. This article gives tips to help you get along with -- and maybe even learn to like -- people, whether the same as us or different.

Bly, Robert W. Bly.com. Articles>Collaboration>TC

Increasing Chapter Membership Through Public Relations  

The Orange County Chapter of STC (OCSTC) set a goal of increasing membership by 20% in one chapter year, with increased public exposure and improved member services as the primary goal. PR Committee volunteers planned and carried out eight programs to increase corporate awareness and media coverage, improve intrachapter communications, and extend community relations. Chapter membership grew by 31% during that year and membership retention was above the International average. In addition to international recognition, committee volunteers gained professionally useful skills through their efforts.

Giles, Sandra J. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building

The Influence of E-Mail as an Interoffice Communication Tool in Small Organizations    

E-mail has significantly impacted the way we communicate in business, possibly going so far as to affect the social structure of organizations. One under-explored effect of e-mail is how it impacts communication in smaller organizations. Given the ability of regular face-to-face interaction, is e-mail necessary to boost communication? A report of employee attitudes in one small business did provide an opportunity to observe the impact of e-mail on communications and employee attitudes. As a result, it is suspected that interoffice e-mail may serve to link formal and informal communication channels, particularly in terms of including managers to the informal communications network.

Adrian, C. Mitchell. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Articles>Workplace>Collaboration>Email

The Influence of Gender on Collaborative Projects in an Engineering Classroom    

Using a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis, this article discusses some of the findings from a larger study on collaboration and the role of gender. Here, we profile three student engineering teams as they participate in processes leading to the submission of a report for a team-based technical communication course. While some theorists suggest that gender can play a significant role in achieving a successful team dynamic, our study only partially supports that claim. A synopsis of two women from two predominantly male teams reveals glimpses of what the literature describes as traditional gender-linked behaviors by both men and women, but the all-female team does not conform to stereotypical patterns and their behaviors call into question the existence of these interactional styles. We suggest that factors other than gender and independent of a team’s gender composition—such as team commitment and a strong work ethic—exert a greater impact on collaboration. Nevertheless, the study does caution against assigning women to predominantly male teams since, when a team’s social structure is mostly male, traditional gender-linked interactional behaviors as well as manifestations of the culture of engineering are more likely to emerge. Overall, the study underlines the importance of examining specific face-to-face interactions to see how behavior is situationally produced in order to more fully understand the interactional strategies open to individuals.

Ingram, Sandra and Anne Parker. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2002). Articles>Collaboration>Writing

Information About Video Conferencing: What You Need To Know

Video conferencing is the technique of meeting in a group over a network employing video and audio transmission technology and equipment. Armed with information about video conferencing businessmen, technologists, scientists and government heads started to explore ways to bring the world closer together and enable meetings of many people located in different parts of the globe. Video conferencing is the process of being able to see and interact with a group of people located at any point of the world at the same time.

Shakir A. Ezine Articles (2007). Articles>Collaboration>Videoconferencing>Online

Information Development Organizations Evolving to Keep Pace with Change: A Collaborative Conversation of Information Development Managers     

This article reports on an online discussion of the Advisory Council for Information Development Management (CIDM), which is composed of directors, managers, and CEOs from corporations and a consulting firm. The conversation, conducted over 3 weeks in January 2000, covered several key themes: The expectation of greater productivity while budgets are flat or decreasing Meeting this expectation means a considerable rethinking, doing more with less, improving processes, and understanding total cost. The need for higher quality and improved usability This important need leads some organizations back to traditional editing, to embracing different development techniques (such as single sourcing, structured documents, and standard English), and to more robust interfaces. Innovative leadership and effective organization Strong leadership in a supportive and flexible organization is ultimately the cornerstone for success.

Rosenquist, Deborah J. Technical Communication Online (2001). Articles>Management>Collaboration

Inside Out/Outside In: Transcending the Boundaries That Divide the Academy and Industry

Having lived and worked on both sides of the academe-industry border, I've thought a great deal about the negative attitudes held by so many who live in both of these parts of the larger world of technical communication.

Hayhoe, George F. George Hayhoe Associates (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Industry and Academy

Instant Messaging in the Workplace  

Proposes six guidelines for employee use of instant messaging.

Hoffman, Jeff. Intercom (2004). Articles>Workplace>Collaboration>Instant Messaging

INTERACTIONARY: Sports for Design Training and Team Building

This is an experiment in design education. The idea is to explode the process of design by forcing insane time constraints, and asking teams of designers to work together in front of a live audience. From what we've seen, it forces the discussion of design process, teamwork, and organization, and asks important questions about how designers do what they do. Below are summaries of previous events, and information about how to organize your own Interactionary.

Berkun, Scott. UIWeb (2001). Articles>Management>Collaboration

Internationalizing Technical Communication Programs: Teaching and Research Collaborations with the Universidad de la Habana (Cuba)  

Efforts to create joint programs with universities in foreign countries are evidence that internationalization is imperative. One such effort is the professional writing program at Fairfield University that recently established an international partnership with the Universidad de la Habana in Cuba.

Sapp, David Alan. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>International>Collaboration

Introducing Engineering Students to Intellectual Teamwork: The Teaching and Practice of Peer Feedback in the Professional Communication Classroom    

A rich discussion of collaboration as integral to writing in academia and the workplace has been on-going for some time among writing instructors and researchers. The outcomes of this discussion have convinced some writing instructors to promote peer feedback as one of the forms of collaborative writing in the classroom. In this paper we report on the preliminary stages of a longitudinal study of the role and place of peer feedback in the development of students' writing.

Artemeva, Natasha and Susan Logie. LLAD (2002). Articles>Education>Engineering>Collaboration

Is It Safe to Email Editors? Spam Filters Are Causing Unexpected Problems

It wasn't so long ago that freelance writers hesitated to email editors because email queries and other communications might not be the right form. Now comes word that as many as one email in four never gets delivered, even email that the intended recipient wants. This startling number comes from 'More e-mail scandal' an article by Brian Livingston on InfoWorld's web site. Granted, most of the comments and research there is aimed at opt-in email, but it's apparent that other, legitimate emails are also going missing. The problem is twofold: spam and spam filters.

Wayman, Anne. About.com (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Email

Is Open Source is Killing the Lone Coder?

It is probably more true that open source is helping the lone coder find a niche or their own market share. There are plenty of them and more are appearing everyday. With potential clients looking for specialists in content management software like Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, Typo3 and a gang of newcomers finding a niche is becoming increasingly easier.

Hiveminds (2005). Articles>Collaboration>Software>Open Source

Is the Internet a Self-Correcting Mechanism?  

The hype surrounding the hype surrounding the Internet has made it into all kinds of animals. But it's a self-correcting mechanism.

Fleishman, Glenn. Adobe Magazine (1996). Articles>Information Design>Collaboration

Is Wiki Under Your Radar?

Your staff may already be using one of the most productive collaboration tools ever built.

Dickerson, Chad. InfoWorld (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Content Management>Wikis

The Issue of Quality in Professional Documentation: How Can Academia Make More of a Difference?      

This article recommends strategies academics can use to contribute to an issue of great interest in industry: how best to define, measure, and achieve quality documentation.  These strategies include contextualizing quality definitions, advocating the use of multiple quality measures, conducting research to identify specific heuristics for defining and measuring quality in particular workplace contexts, and partnering with industry to educate upper management about those heuristics and the benefits of promoting technical communicators to the strategic role of organizational “gatekeepers of quality.”

Spilka, Rachel. Technical Communication Quarterly (2000). Articles>Documentation>Collaboration>Technical Writing

Issues You Will Confront When Using Third Parties To Build Out Sites

Nearly every ecommerce site revolves around a database to support inventory, listings and transactions. Building out the database can be a challenge. Here is what to expect.

Pires, Halstatt. Ezine Articles (2006). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>E Commerce

It's More Than E-Mail: An Overview Of Inter-Networking  

Although global computer networks have existed for many years, they have grown explosively only in the last few—particularly the one called the Internet. ARPANET, the forerunner of these network, was set up to aid communication between the government and people doing defense research in universities and industry. The network got a major boost in the late 1980s when the National Science Foundation created NSFNET, linking the five NSF supercomputer centers with networks at university campuses and the ARPANET. Continuing advances in reliability, speed, capacity, and ease of access have made the Internet an international medium for information exchange.

Hibbard, Jeffrey L. and Eric J. Ray. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Collaboration>Online>Government

It's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know: Work in the Information Age  

We discuss our ethnographic research on personal social networks in the workplace, arguing that traditional institutional resources are being replaced by resources that workers mine from their own networks. Social networks are key sources of labor and information in a rapidly transforming economy characterized by less institutional stability and fewer reliable corporate resources. The personal social network is fast becoming the only sensible alternative to the traditional 'org chart' for many everyday transactions in today's economy.

Nardi, Bonnie A., Steve Whittaker and Heinrich Schwarz. First Monday (2000). Articles>Workplace>Collaboration

It’s the Communication, Stupid: Lessons in Communication-Driven Product Development  

Changes in software design and development are creating new opportunities for technical communicators at DDS. Writers have become an integral part of product teams, evaluated on their ability to help get products out the door. In some cases writers’ deliverables have themselves become full software development projects. As technical writers take on new roles they’re getting increased visibility, more interesting and varied work and a chance to move up ladders outside of the traditional technical writing group.

Dykstra, Peter. STC Proceedings (2000). Articles>Communication>Collaboration

Just a Cog in the Machine? Implications for Technical Communicators

This article explores the implications of choosing to work as a cog in the field of technical communication. The author includes perspectives from cog-colleagues and manager/cogs, and touches on concepts of ownership, recognition, and egoless communication. She recommends exercises in discipline-specific poetry and editing in a workshop setting as practical ways to work toward detachment.

MacQueen, Lisa Clare. Orange Journal, The (2002). Articles>TC>Collaboration

"Just the Boys Playing on Computers": An Activity Theory Analysis of Differences in the Cultures of Two Engineering Firms      

Using activity theory as a supplement to genre studies, this article explores a case of the disintegration of a traditional engineering firm. It focuses on the causes of such disintegration and the role of different types of communication in serving as sites where contradictions can be brought to visibility and resolution. The authors' goal is both to show the power of activity theory in illuminating issues of tension, contradiction, and dissonance that lead to the breakup of the original organization into two separate firms and point to fundamental differences in the cultures of traditional engineering firms and software design enterprises.

Artemeva, Natasha and Aviva Freedman. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Engineering

Keeping In Touch--Staying Online  

As technical communicators, we need to reach out and 'keep in touch' with customers if we want to provide truly user-friendly documentation. If we include our customers in the document development process, and convince them that they are an integral part of that process, we increase customer satisfaction. In this panel, writers will discuss practical, step-by-step approaches they use to gather customer comments.

Jacobowitz, Barbara E. and Peggy A. Yates. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Collaboration>Correspondence

Key Open Source "Best Practices" Supported in the Tigris Project

Software developers spend a large part of their time communicating with each other.  Clear and effective technical communications are needed to keep the team in synch and to allow individuals with key knowledge to apply that knowledge where it is needed. One tenet of the open source community is that techincal communications should take place in public forums.   Mailing lists are the backbone of open source communications.  Beyond that, open source projects need support for precisely communicating technical details and for group decision-making.

Tigris (1994). Articles>Collaboration>Open Source