Sixteen Suggestions for Successful Videoconferences  

Offers protocols, procedures, and rules of etiquette for conducting videoconferences.

Smith, Gary M. Intercom (2000). Articles>Collaboration>Online>Teleconferencing

SMEs in a Nutshell  

I admit that I don't know everything about subject-matter experts or SMEs (rhymes with please). But I do know that there are some things that you should avoid asking SMEs, the main ones being 'Does the user know this already?' and 'Do I need to explain this to the user?' The problem with these questions is that the SME is likely to reply 'No!' to both of them when in fact the answer is most definitely 'Yes.' SMEs tend to believe that everyone knows as much about technology as they do. Never, never, never let the SMEs tell you how to write the documentation. A SME is the subject matter expert, not the documentation expert (that's you).

Docsymmetry (2003). Articles>Documentation>Collaboration>SMEs

Social Networking and Social Software

Social Networks and Social Software have been gaining a great deal of attention in corporate think tanks and discussion groups around the world. Review of progress in this area and interview with Huy Zing, a self-described, 'seriously addicted online community personality.'

Quenin, Eileen. Usability Professionals Association (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Online

Social Topography in a Wireless Era: The Negotiation of Public and Private Space    

Talking on the phone is usually a private activity, but it becomes a public activity when using a cellphone in certain spaces. Unlike a traditional payphone in public, cellphones do not have privacy booths. Therefore, the ways in which people respond to cellphone calls in public spaces provide markers for social topographical space. In this study I explore how cellphone users negotiate privacy when using cellphones in public space and how those within the proximity of the caller negotiate space in response to these callers. Based on a year-long study involving observation fieldwork and in-depth interviews, I discuss the flexibility with which people constantly negotiate their private and public sense of self when using and responding to cellphones in public spaces.

Humphreys, Lee. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2005). Articles>Collaboration>Wireless Web>Geography

Software Documentation Process - McGraw-Hill School Systems  

This panel presents the software documentation processes of three companies. At McGraw-Hill School Systems, the technical writers are involved in every stage of the software development life cycle. This approach ensures that writers are always in control of the information they need and that sufficient time is available for the documentation process. Our involvement allows us to produce high-quality documentation that is up-to-date with the software’s functionality.

Rogers, Anne E. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Documentation>Workflow>Collaboration

Software Testing  

If you area technical writer who writes software documentation, chances are you have been informally involved in testing the software that you are documenting. In larger organizations, entire divisions are devoted to thoroughly testing software before it is released. In smaller organizations, this position could be informal or nonexistent. In this workshop, you will learn a basic methodology for testing software that you can use as a starting point for a new or expanded career.

Chiricosta, Tracey C., Charles D. Fisher Jr. and Tom Witherspoon. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>TC>Programming>Collaboration

Speedy Delivery  

We've come a long way since the Pony Express, but delivering electronic documents isn't always easy. Here are a few tips to make sure they arrive intact and on time.

Fleishman, Glenn. Adobe Magazine (1998). Articles>Collaboration>Online

STC and Academe: Pooling Our Expertise, Enhancing Our Profession  

Academe and business can learn much from each other about technical communication. The Chicago Chapter STC Institute for Professional Development, now in its fourth year, fosters the integration of knowledge and experience by bringing together teachers, researchers, and practitioners to plan and team teach courses that link theory and practice. All parties have realized extensive benefits. Academics confer with practitioners on research opportunities. Course participants interact with practitioners, who provide real-world examples and employment opportunities. Corporations offer a novel self-development opportunity to employees who became technical communicators through expediency, not necessarily training, and who lack a theoretical basis for practice. STC gains prestige as a professional organization with vision and capability.

Abbott, Christine, Mary Ryba Knepper, Joy Mason and Barb Ostapina. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Academic

Storyboarding and Collaboration  

For technical communicators, storyboarding is a path to collaboration with team members and users. Collaboration and storyboarding help technical communicators get new ideas, find new structures, and discover new modes of expression. In this workshop, you will learn about storyboards and how to develop them. You will also participate in exercises on conducting and collaborating on a storyboard review and on writing a storyboard specification. You will discover how collaboration helps create the context, organization, and design of a document through the use of storyboards.

Trapasso, Linda S. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Multimedia>Collaboration>Writing

Strategic Usability: Partnering Business, Engineering and Ease of Use

The shift to internalizing usability for an organization can be accelerated by thinking about usability from a strategic, instead of tactical, perspective. Tactical use of usability engineering is responsive and isolated, focusing on adjustments to existing designs, often late in the schedule. Strategic use of usability or user research is proactive and integrated, improving decision making at many levels of project and business planning. To make the transition from tactical to strategic work, a usability engineer needs to develop partners and champions within the heart of an organization. It can often take several projects releases, and the cultivation of multiple partnerships with key players in an organization for this change to come to fruition.

Berkun, Scott. ScottBerkun.com (2002). Articles>Usability>Collaboration

Strategies for Peer-Reviewing and Team-Writing

When you peer-review other people's writing, remember above all that you should consider all aspects of that writing, not just--in fact, least of all--the grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

McMurrey, David A. Illuminati Online (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Editing>Writing

Strategies for Student Chapter Success  

Students from the Cedarville College chapter of STC present seven factors that make their chapter successful. The Cedarville College chapter of STC received a Chapter Achievement Award at the 46th Annual Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Overturf, Jason and Sarah Flenar. STC Proceedings (2000). Articles>Collaboration>Management>STC

Strategies for Winning Recognition: Building a Visible, Viable, and Valuable Documentation Team  

Technical writing teams can improve their standing within their organizations. The purpose of this presentation is to share our experiences at Mirant where we've achieved recognition and respect as a vital internal service to the IT department and, increasingly, to the rest of the company.

Harkness, Holly E. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Documentation>Collaboration>Technical Writing

Strategies for Working with Authors: How to Foster Productive Author-Editor Relationships  

Learning to be a good editor requires much more than learning the rules of grammar, diction, spelling, and punctuation. Editing requires a complex skill set, including an eye for document design, an awareness of how different document features affect readability, an understanding of how to manage the document development process, including the role of an editor in that process, and the ability to work with a variety of not just documents, but the creators of those documents--the authors. This paper discusses strategies to enable editors to develop productive, collaborative relationships with authors. Within the context of a capstone course in technical editing, students describe various strategies they used to develop editing plans, negotiate levels of edit and conduct editor/author conferences, and how they managed editing projects involving real authors and their documents.

Grady, Helen M., Ericka T. Mayweather, Brian W. Davis and Andrea M. LaPlume. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Editing>Collaboration

Strategies of Influence for Interaction Designers

Unless you have the power to make business and development decisions for your project, some of your energy will be spent influencing those that do. Experienced usability engineers or interaction designers may have limited skill in influence, despite how significantly it can effect their ability to contribute to projects. It’s the smartest and most effective designers that work to understand the human to human interaction within their project teams, as part of their work towards better human to computer interaction.

Berkun, Scott. ScottBerkun.com (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Interaction Design

Streamlining the Decision Cycle Through Collaborative Decision Management  

Over the last 20 years, management philosophy has shifted from 'command and control' to a more distributed and enabled management philosophy.

Frid, Randy and Randall Eckel. KMworld (2001). Articles>Management>Collaboration

Student Collaboration: The Ups and Downs of a Real Life Project  

Many people disagree on whether collaboration is an effective tool in the workplace. Pros and cons exist on either side of the argument. This paper does not attempt to solve the argument or to suggest that every situation calls for the same solution. Instead, it relates the ups and downs of a real life project and the valuable lessons those involved have learned.

Beheler, Tiffany M. and Jill Malar. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Education>Collaboration

Sustaining Communities of Practice in the Workplace: A Case Study  

The expanding definition of technical communication requires an organization with a multidisciplinary set of skills (ranging from editing to visual design to user interface design to usability testing to programming) to meet the new demands. While the members of such a multidisciplinary organization have common goals, they also have unique and specialized needs for education, communication, and shared practices based on their specific skills. Nurturing, developing, and sustaining these distinct skills requires an infrastructure that supports divergent communities of practice, yet still encourages cross-pollination of ideas and integration of processes toward a common goal.

Fisher, Lori H. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Management>Workplace

Tag, You're It!

I was shocked today when I realized I hadn't ever written a post on tagging. At the ASTD TechKnowledge conference, when I explained Web 2.0 to a group, tagging was an integral part of the conversation. But tagging requires you to take a step back from the web, and consider how you think.

Lentz, Michelle. Write Technology (2007). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>Collaboration

TarragonaDigital.cat

Un blog essencialment d'opinió de temes generals i d'informació de l'actualitat de Tarragona i de Catalunya, a més d'oferir un seguit d'enllaços ciutadans i de serveis i utilitats per als blocs i webs.

Nosolousabilidad.com (2002). (Spanish) Articles>Usability>Accessibility>Collaboration

Task Analysis, User-Centered Design, and Group Decision Making  

Task analysis information is gathered from present and future customers within a clearly specified domain. Participants in the session are carefully selected to be representative of the target market. Information is gathered in a way to reduce the potential for bias. Participants provide information in their own words, group data in ways meaningful to them, prioritize tasks according to their business needs, and provide extensive detail on their most important tasks. By session end, there is group consensus defining the most important user tasks. And, through use of our meeting software, we have captured all the information for ready analysis.

Rauch, Thyra L., Candace Soderston and Rick LaRose. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>User Centered Design>Collaboration

Tasks and Operational Areas of Technical Illustrators

Technical illustrators are the link between the design engineer and the user. An illustrator is able to visualize technical issues in orientation to a specific target group and to prepare them for various media. This article will address how they do this, where their operational areas are, what tools they use, and what you can expect of a technical illustrator.

Kahl, Gabi. ITEDO Software (2002). Articles>Collaboration>Workflow>Technical Illustration

Teaching a Visual Subject and Facilitating Interaction  

This panel segment focuses on facilitating interactivity and teaching a visual subject matter in a distance (satellite) learning environment.

Keyes, Elizabeth. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Education>Visual Rhetoric>Collaboration

Teaching and Practicing Teamwork in Industry and Academia  

The purpose of this paper is to help educators and trainers design realistic working environments for team writing assignments and, thus, to prepare students to function on high-performance teams in the workplace. This paper describes differences and similarities between academic and industrial team working environments. It focuses on the kinds of tasks teams are asked to perform, the time and other constraints under which teams operate, the types of considerations that go into selecting people to participate in a team, the members' expectations about teamwork, the rewards used to recognize effective teamwork, and the role of the manager or course instructor. This paper offers suggestions to address some of the key challenges.

Kleid, Naomi A. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Education>Collaboration>Workplace

Teaching Online Workspace Collaboration  

This article provides a review and analysis of asynchronous chat sessions used by students to produce a collaborative formal proposal in an undergraduate technical communication service course at Bowling Green State University. The author/investigator reviewed archived chat sessions of the two most successful student groups and compared their experience to the conclusions drawn by a previous study on collaborative writing in the virtual classroom. The current study represents an initial exploratory attempt to replicate and/or refute the results of the prior study.

Edminster, Jude R. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Education>Collaboration>Online