How Companies Are Using Online Surveys to Measure Employee Satisfaction

With technology improving rapidly and costs continuing to drop, businesses are conducting more sophisticated online surveys. No longer confined to traditional paper-based surveys, companies are reaching out more than ever for employee feedback. These surveys include employee satisfaction, upward or "360" evaluations and the performance review process. Online surveys now contain open-ended questions, multiple formats and complex branching tools, giving businesses the potential to gather more insight about employees, corporate culture and business processes than ever before.

Frayne, Dennis. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Management>Online>Surveys

How I Survived XML Single Sourcing  

In Ontario Systems’ applications, customers can install various components and can change the user interface and data storage. Further, they can modify the system’s automated work flow and add custom features. To remain accurate, Ontario Systems’ documentation must dynamically change to reflect the changing application configuration. This session discusses how Ontario Systems implemented an XML-based single source system to create dynamic documentation and provides guidelines on this process.

Cantrell, Charles and Ann Rockley. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

How To Evaluate a Content Management System

Selecting and implementing a content management system (CMS) will be one of the largest IT projects tackled by many organisations. With costs running into the millions of dollars, it is vital that the right CMS package be selected. This article outlines some of the lessons that we have learnt when assisting clients to chose a CMS. It offers ideas and tips, and provides an approach for identifying your business' actual requirements for a CMS.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2002). Articles>Content Management>TC

How To Justify Conference Attendance

As a manager you may often be faced either with your own need to attend a professional conference or requests by your team members to attend one. Professional conferences can be expensive and not all budget managers understand their importance or the benefits derived by conference attendees. In this article, Mike Doyle discusses how to go about justifying the expense of attending a conference and provides some handy worksheets you can use to do so.

Doyle, Mike. Writing Assistance (2006). Articles>Management>Community Building>Assessment

How to Keep the Content Coming: Five Tips

Maintaining a steady flow of high-quality content can be a major challenge for any online venue. Shifting priorities, unexpected crises, ebbing resources, and just plain burnout can (and probably will) take its toll on your content plans. These tips can help you prevent or compensate for problems with your supply of fresh online content.

Gahran, Amy. Contentious (2002). Articles>Content Management>Writing

How to Plan On-line and Paper Versions of a Software Manual

On projects for which you must produce both on-line and paper documentation, there are many things you should consider before you start.

Kozuma, Bruce. Boston Broadside (1991). Articles>Documentation>Project Management>Planning

How to Present a Business Case for Web Site Investments

How can you convince others that Web investments are a wise decision in a slow economy?

Costello, Rick. STC Chicago (2003). Articles>Web Design>Project Management>Business Case

How to Revive a Zombie Content Management System

Without care and attention, a CMS can slide into a state of living death. Such systems can be revived by implementing a number of practical (and non-technical) activities.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2002). Articles>Content Management>Collaboration

How to Ruin a Writing Project in 10 Easy Steps

Does your job involve writing? Here's a surefire recipe for bringing on writer's block and making the whole process seem so onerous that you'll vow never to put pen to paper again.

Bennaco (2004). Articles>Project Management>Writing

How to Succeed As a First-Time UX Manager

In my last column, I suggested that being a manager of UX is no better—and no worse—than being a great designer or user researcher, but the roles are very different. In fact, as the book The First 90 Days [1] points out, the skills that make you successful as an individual contributor are not the same skills you need as a leader.

Nieters, Jim. UXmatters (2008). Articles>User Experience>Management>Collaboration

How to Write Information So You Can Use It Again

You have written a user’s manual for Microsoft Word for Windows. Now you have been asked to write a user’s manual for Microsoft Word for the Macintosh. The two word processors are essentially the same; the primary differences emerge from the differences between Windows and Macintosh systems. You feel that you should be able to prepare the second manual in next to no time, because you can essentially use the information you wrote for the Word for Windows manual again, with some technical changes. This is an example of re-using information and it is a common task among technical communicators. As the demand for information grows faster than the availability of people to develop that information, technical communicators are showing increasing interest in reusing information.

Carliner, Saul. Saul Carliner Studio (2003). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

How XML Enables Information Sharing and Reuse — Interview with Joe Gollner

XML, a way of tagging and structuring your content, can help solve a number of problems, including storing, mining, reusing, and sharing content. XML helps enable the interoperability of information between systems, allowing you to export and import your content from one application to another. XML is behind much of the collaboration and information sharing Web 2.0 technologies, such as RSS (really simple syndication) and blogs. By storing content in XML, technical writers can ensure greater flexibility among technologies for authoring and publishing their content.

Gollner, Joe and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Interviews>Content Management>XML

Hurdles to Single-Sourcing

LaTeX and DocBook (and for that matter any manner of XML editors), which could be considered excellent single-sourcing tools, are almost never discussed.

Meyerding, Henry. KeyContent.org (2004). Articles>Content Management>LaTeX>DocBook

I Wonder What This Button Does

We've all lost work to file overwrites and other minor disasters. There are remedies--and as Mike West explains, you don't have to have awe-inspiring technical skills to take advantage of them.

West, Mike. List Apart, A (2006). Articles>Project Management>Technology

Ideas to Invigorate a Chapter  

As a chapter leader, you work hard towards the goal of getting maximum interest and participation in chapter activities by the chapter membership. But are you on target? Probable accurate answers to this question are 'some times,' 'probably,' 'maybe,' etc. As any of us who have served in an STC chapter leadership role can attest, the fact is that the target is a moving one. What is on target today may not necessarily work tomorrow. And vice-versa. However, there are some 'tricks of the trade' which you can use to help you increase your on-target percentage. Come and interact with a panel of past and present chapter presidents as each shares specific ideas for increasing membership involvement and for tailoring activities to meet the needs of members and potential members.

Cantando, Mary Myers, Mark Hanigan Bruce E. Cone, Michael P. Bates and Judith N. Skinner. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Management>Community Building>STC

Identifying and Representing Electronic Engineering Resources: A Case Study in Knowledge Management

Current methods of access to the electronic resources offered by the Internet make little use of basic principles of information organization and retrieval, relying instead on relatively informal and, at times, ad hoc approaches. This creates problems in terms of the volume of information retrieved by a user of the Internet and the precision with which that information matches the user's information need. There is a plethora of engineering resources available on the Internet, yet no systematic method of retrieval is available to engineers who are in need of the most current information in their discipline. The Internet is often the only immediate source of the most current engineering resources. The purpose of this project is to identify electronic resources that could be of value to engineers and to represent these resources in a manner that enables engineers to make timely, informed decisions about the usefulness of the resources. This paper addresses the specific objectives the project which include: 1) the development of selection criteria for electronic engineering resources; 2) the identification of electronic resources of interest to engineers, as defined by the selection policy; and 3) the creation of abstracts for these electronic resources that will include at least two hyperlinks to other related electronic resources.

Connaway, Lynn Silipigni, Rochelle Logan, Christopher Brown. ISRDP in Digital Libraries (1997). Articles>Knowledge Management>Information Design>Engineering

Identifying the Components of Your ROI

Identifying Return on Investment (ROI) for your content management business case begins with a thorough analysis. This article reviews the information you need to gather to identify ROI for an effective business case for content management.

Rockley, Ann. Rockley Bulletin (2004). Articles>Content Management>Assessment>Business Case

If They Don't Test, Don't Hire Them

The single best indicator as to the overall competence of an interaction design team is their plan for user testing. If you are presented with no plan or a sort of vague 'and we'll eventually do some user testing,' you may want to back off and look at other resources. If, on the other hand, you are given a proposal outlining repeated design and test cycles, you are dealing with people who know exactly what they are doing.

Tognazzini, Bruce. Nielsen Norman Group (2000). Articles>Project Management>Usability

Implementing a CMS: A Game-Changing Corporate Initiative  

The success of a CM project depends not just on process management, but on change management as well. Discover the ways that an organization can help its staff overcome initial resistance to change.

Hamer, Emma C. Intercom (2007). Articles>Content Management>Project Management

Implementing a Content Management System  

Before you begin a pilot project using a CMS, you must understand how it will work. Read on to learn how to define your information model, set up your folder structure, create a metadata scheme, assign roles and responsibilities, define your workflow, and measure results.

Hackos, JoAnn T. Intercom (2007). Articles>Content Management>Project Management

Implementing a Document Control System  

Document control is a major component of any quality system. To implement a document control system, first establish Policies/procedures for generating, approving, issuing, and revising documents. The next step is to design and implement forms and a filing system/data base for managing quality documents. Teamwork and established guidelines can help ease the complexities of implementing a document control system.

Matthews, Diane L. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Content Management

The Implications for Technical Writers of the Movement Toward Open Systems  

The movement toward open systems is gaining momentum. Those technical writers in the computer and software industries who have been accustomed to working in the world of proprietary systems will have to adjust to working in this new world of open systems. This paper briefly describes the open systems movement and then discusses in detail the implications of that movement for technical writers. This includes the challenges they will face and the skills they will need to develop. A brief case study of the involvement of technical writers in the Open Software Foundation’s DCE project is included.

Abbott, John J. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Knowledge Management>Open Source>Technical Writing

The Implications of Single Sourcing for Technical Communicators    

Surveys four books that examine methods of single sourcing, including publishing tools, XML, and content management systems. Reviews articles describing the roles of writers and editors, the tool set and its implementation, and ways to make dynamic content more effective

Williams, Joe D. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>XML

The Implications of Single Sourcing for Writers and Writing    

Argues that single sourcing puts pressures on the workforce and the very conception of 'writer' and 'document. Examines literature on change management for clues into managing the impacts of single sourcing on writers.

Carter, Locke. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Rhetoric

The Importance of Leadership

Members of an educational community, business, or agency can all have the best intentions when it comes to creating a Web presence that is accessible to those with disabilities. Too often, however, these individuals with good intentions wait for someone to come and help lead them. Change is a difficult path. It is common to be told to acquire new skills because change is going to happen. So you do just that...you obtain the skills you were asked...you wait for some new policy, some new set of procedures, someone who will support what you were implicitly asked to do...yet nothing happens. This scenario occurs frequently when nobody takes a leadership role. Even when leadership will occur within a group, the group will be more effective if someone takes the responsibility of 'carrying the flag' to it’s intended destination. You probably remember the famous line, 'If not you, who? If not now, When? If you truly believe that accessibility to your Web site is important (or required) for your organization, then I ask you to answer this question for yourself. Your own actions or inactions will speak louder than any voice you give to this effort. You should not assume that someone else would take this role. You should not assume that it would happen in the near future. The only way you can assure that Web accessibility will become a part of the path of change in your organization is if you consider taking the lead, now.

WebAIM (2003). Articles>Accessibility>Management