Planning a Community: The Value of Online Learning Communities in Technical Communication  

Businesspeople, faculty, and students can participate in learning communities in a variety of ways. Online learning communities provide benefits to individuals and the group, even if a community uses only low-tech communication tools. Learning communities are important because they create a human connection often missing in our Internet communication and allow people from diverse locations and backgrounds to share information and experiences. Effective learning communities celebrate diversity and create a supportive environment for members working toward a common goal.

Porter, Lynnette R. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Education>Communication>Collaboration

Planning and Leading a Successful Review Meeting  

Experienced and novice technical communicators can plan and lead successful review meetings by following this 4-step process: l—Plan ahead. 2—Use an agenda as a road map. 3—Wrap up. 4—Follow up. Although a faceto- face meeting is often the easiest way to get formal feedback on an information product, there are situations in which you should not hold a meeting. If a meeting is appropriate, however, there are specific things you can do to prevent or handle typical problems. Leading a successful meeting involves making a series of conscious choices to make better use of everyone’s time.

Hansen, Lauren Y. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Editing>Collaboration

Plural Authorship and the Thesis: What Graduate Students Tell Us About Collaborative Writing  

Most graduate students at the Air Force Institute of Technology's School of Logistics and Acquisition Management write their theses as a team project. However, the Institute has gathered no systematic information about how students manage their collaborative thesis-writing processes. This research gathers descriptive quantitative and qualitative data from 1992 graduates concerning how they composed the teem-authored thesis. In addition, this research extends the collective vocabulary concerning collaborative writing, particularly when applied in academic settings.

Rice, Rodney P. and John T. Huguley, Jr. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Education>Writing>Collaboration

A Polythematic Real-Time Synergistic Hybrid Data Telecommunication System for Scientific Research with Bidirectional Fuzzy Feedback Peer Review by Expert Referees    

Heterogeneous research environments, interests and locations do not necessarily coincide, thus hitherto the primary method of communication amongst researchers has been email. In this article a novel unified polythematic, real-time, synergistic, data telecommunication system is proposed with peer-reviewed, bidirectional fuzzy feedback for research scientists, to facilitate scientific information exchange via the extensible markup language (XML) on multiple scientific topics, e.g. in mathematics, physics, biology and chemistry.

Petratos, Panagiotis. Data Science Journal (2003). Articles>Knowledge Management>Scientific Communication>Collaboration

Practical Tips for Working with Global Teams  

Save team members time and conduct meetings and other steps in the project process effectively by integrating these tips for working with team members scattered in various locations.

Nesbitt, Pamela and Elizabeth Bagley-Woodward. Intercom (2006). Articles>Project Management>Collaboration>International

Preparing Students to Work with Technical Staff  

Technical communication programs should help students prepare to work with technical staff as well as develop writing, analysis, and communication skills. This presentation identifies assignments faculty can use to help students prepare to work effectively with technical staff: learning about what the writing technical staff do; learning about working in technical settings; interviewing faculty and staff; writing about science and technology for different audiences; editing a research article manuscript; learning about data networking; shadowing a technical professional; publishing a newsletter incorporating graduates’ observations and suggestions; having technical staff as well as technical communicators as guest speakers; and participating in STC.

Samson, Donald C., Jr. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Education>TC>Collaboration

Preparing Your Staff for Content Management  

Few changes are as potentially uncomfortable for technical communicators than implementing a content management system. Freeman explains why, and offers advice to managers on how to address writers' concerns.

Freeman, Bret. Intercom (2005). Articles>Content Management>Collaboration

Process of Knowledge Building in Educational Departments

In an educational department members are both drowning in information and craving knowledge. The department's information base is either scattered or unclassified. The business world understood this scenario and has brought a change to their knowledge infrastructure by including knowledge management (KM) systems. Educational departments, too, need to rethink their knowledge organization strategies. Therefore, a conversion from information to knowledge becomes imperative.

Rao, Abhijit. ASIST (2002). Articles>Knowledge Management>Collaboration

Professionalizing Knowledge Sharing and Communications: Changing Roles for a Changing Profession    

Web 2.0 technologies are becoming increasingly ubiquitous among younger generations of IT users and this is creating a new set of expectations about accessing quality information for business, research and academic purposes. The article looks at how this situation has impacted on the expectations of users of library and information services. Although there are solid reasons for standing by professional standards, there is little doubt that the next generation has a greater expectation around being participants in, rather than recipients of, knowledge sharing. How will this impact the status of the professional librarian and information manager, and to what extent should they change with this paradigm shift looming?

Cullen, John T. Business Information Review (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Collaboration>Online

Project Characteristics and Group Communication: An Investigation      

This research study examined the effects of technological complexity on project group communication. The same project teams performed three separate projects involving the development of an HTML website, the development of a local-area network (LAN), and the development of blueprints for a wide-area network (WAN). Each of the projects exposed groups to a different level of complexity. The results of the study indicated differences in group information sharing, group communication focus, and group gatekeeping activities. In each of these cases, the groups had greater communication with the less complex project task, the HTML project. The study did not find significant differences in group communication concerned with member withdrawal or group conflict.

Roberts, Tom L., Paul H. Cheney and Paul D. Sweeney. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2002). Articles>Collaboration

Project in Partnership Across Borders - Bridging the Communication Gap

The whole process and structure of globalisation is still very fragile indeed. As international business and international relations converge, businessmen will need to learn much more about diplomacy and diplomats will need to become more knowledgeable about business

Harris, Anke. TC-FORUM (2001). Articles>Collaboration>International

The Public Library as a Meeting-Place in a Multicultural and Digital Context: The Necessity of Low-Intensive Meeting-Places  

The purpose of the paper is to develop an improved conceptual framework for researching and discussing the public library's role as a meeting-place in a multicultural and digital society.

Audunson, Ragnar. Journal of Documentation (2005). Articles>Collaboration>User Experience

Publications on On-Line Collaboration and Educational Technology

On-line collaboration enriches the educational experience, especially if instructors use software environments that support group-generated projects, products, case studies, and other kinds of academic deliverables. Such activities are not supported well by the standard 'threaded topic' discussion formats of e-mail and message-based conferencing systems.

Klemm, William. Texas A and M University (1998). Articles>Education>Collaboration>Online

QuikScan: An Innovative Approach to Support Document Use in Meetings  

QuikScan is a set of summarizing and highlighting techniques that enable readers to quickly find information in documents. The foremost goal of the QuikScan Project is to improve the quality of business meetings by supporting attendees who must deliberate over documents they may not have carefully read. We envision QuikScan as a new career path for professional editors.

Zhou, Quan and David K. Farkas. STC Proceedings (2006). Articles>Collaboration>Methods>Usability

Rabbit Trails, Ephemera, and Other Stories: Feminist Methodology and Collaborative Research

As a basis for our exploration, we have analyzed our own experiences to date in four ongoing collaborative research groups. In using self-reflective critique as our method of analysis, we are keenly aware that the evolving nature of these collaborative groups has influenced the construction of our arguments here. And, conversely, we realize that our critique may in turn influence the evolution of these groups. Moreover, we recognize as a formative constraint our interest in preserving and continuing to work with colleagues in these groups. Plainly stated, we continually asked ourselves, 'Will the colleagues in our collaborative groups ever speak to us again after reading this article?' Because of this concern, we shared drafts with all of these colleagues, asked for their comments, and provided an opportunity for them to offer alternative interpretations.

Burnett, Rebecca E. and Helen Rothschild Ewald. JAC (1994). Articles>Rhetoric>Collaboration

Ready for Life in Transparencyville?

Before you jump up and down about social media and the wonderfully transparent world it is creating, consider the consequences. There’s just no way to prevent those outside your walls from looking in. Leaky information, errant e-mails and inappropriate instant messages now have the capacity to become very, very public. If there's one lesson that communicators need to take away from the new social media, it's how to operate in a world of transparency.

Fernando, Angelo. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Social Networking

Redefining Curriculum and Research Initiatives: A New Model of University Industry Partnership  

Our profession is changing daily, and this growth has an impact on industry, and our universities, who must address the academic requirements this change brings with it. We must work as a team 10 share plans, develop cooperative solutions, and direct our energy and resources to a common goal: developing quality programs that will bring us beyond the leading edge of our technical profession.

Hans, David F., Roger A. Grice, Edward J. See and Robert Krull. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Collaboration>Academic

Remember Your First Meeting?

I walked into my first meeting in Northeast Ohio and didn't know anyone. I no sooner stuck my name badge to my shirt and someone was there to introduce themselves to me. From there, the person took me around the room and introduced me to others. I left that night feeling as though I had met 20 new professionals in my field. I couldn't wait to go to the next meeting. This fall, many of you and your chapter leaders will be running formal membership drives. You will be looking for new members and trying to identify ways to retain your current membership. You don't have to be the Membership Drive Chairperson or on the committee to help. Here are a few suggestions.

Bates, Michael P. STC Northeast Ohio (2002). Articles>TC>Collaboration

Resources and Strategies for Successful International Communication  

Offers tips to technical communicators on how to communicate effectively with people from other cultures.

St. Amant, Kirk R. Intercom (2000). Articles>Collaboration>International

Rethinking Community Collaboration Through a Dialogic Lens: Creativity, Democracy, and Diversity in Community Organizing    

Community collaboration has become an influential interorganizational phenomenon that provides innovative solutions for social problems. This critical case study uses dialogic theory to investigate how collaboration stakeholders negotiate creative and democratic outcomes. Findings demonstrate how a dialogic moment, although embedded in a homogenous partnership that facilitated discursive closure, constituted meaningful organizational change. The study empirically extends the theoretical claim that diversity resides in the communication situation and reveals that collaboration practices and stakeholder models are better understood when grounded in dialogic theory.

Guarrello, Renee. Management Communication Quarterly (2007). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>Organizational Communication

Reviewing a Peer's Work  

If we've been asked by a peer to review his or her work before it is sent out to be scrutinized by the world, our job is to neither edit nor rewrite the information. Our job is to give helpful, specific feedback about where the information communicates well and where it needs work. The more we understand about how to review a peer's work effectively, and how doing this is different from editing, the better feedback we can provide.

Gillihan, Dana L. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Collaboration>Editing>Writing

Riffing for Originality

Riff is a metaphor from jazz to describe a form of improvisation in which one musician borrows and builds on the musical phrase of another.

Clark, Roy Peter. Poynter Online (2004). Articles>Writing>Collaboration

The Role of Double Agents in Writing Projects  

Double agents on writing teams provide benefits to both product developers and technical writers with their unique skills and perspectives. You'll be more likely to get the information you need when you need it because your double agent has already set the stage for success. Learn the benefits of having a double agent working with technical writers as a part of the product development team. Discover valuable secrets never before divulged to the public that you can use to work with your product developers. Take out your magnifying glass and look for the clues.

Mobley, Karen L., Kathryn L. Turk and Judith R. Fisher. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Writing>Collaboration>SMEs

The Role of the Editor in the Technical Writing Team

Editing today covers far more than printed materials. In this discussion, I am assuming a technical editor may be required to deal with: printed materials (for example, books, pamphlets, quick reference cards); electronic (for example, online documentation, online help, web pages); video scripts; computer-based training materials. I am also assuming that the audience for the material being edited is not comprised of other technical people; or if it is, the editor is not the person responsible for ensuring the technical accuracy of the material.

Hollis Weber, Jean. Technical Editors Eyrie (2002). Articles>Editing>Collaboration>Technical Writing

The Rules of Digital Engagement

For contract web workers, consultants, and freelancers who work with far-flung collaborators, multiple clients, and constantly shifting teams, the rules of digital engagement--the way we interact with each other and resolve conflict in virtual space--are constantly changing. As we adapt to new ways of collaborating, we must also learn how to communicate effectively, set expectations, and build team confidence in an evolving work environment.

Follett, Jonathan. List Apart, A (2008). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Workplace