It's Not the Tool, It's the Writer

This blog post ponders whether or not technical communicators are sometimes too enamoured with the tools, and because of that lose sight of what's best for the reader.

DMN Communications (2008). Articles>TC>Technical Writing>Technology

ITCF (International Technical Communication Forum)  

The ITCF (International Technical Communication Forum) is one of the activities of the STC Tokyo Chapter. Almost all of the Tokyo Chapter members are Japanese. But to take full advantage of this chapter of the STC, we have planned to hold English speaking meetings. These meeting helps us to learn not only the differences of viewpoints and cultures between both countries but also how unstable and diissatisfied native English speakers are.

Kobayashi, Norio. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC>Regional>Japan

Jack Molisani on Trends in Technical Communication

Shares some trends in the technical communication industry, arguing that writers need to become hyphenated to move forward and be successful in the future. Molisani owns a technical writing staffing company and also produces the Lavacon conference, which is in New Orleans this year, but is traditionally in Hawaii. He says users aren't concerned about polished language these days; they just want accurate, relevant content.

Molisani, Jack and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>TC>Planning>Podcasts

January 15, 2002, through April 15, 2002  

This report covers specifications, standards, and amendments received from January 15, 2002, through April15, 2002.

Bach, Claudia. Intercom (2002). Articles>History>TC

July 1, 2000, through August 31, 2,000  

This report covers specifications, standards, and amendments received from July 1, 2000, through August 31, 2000.

Bach, Claudia. Intercom (2000). Articles>History>TC

July 15, 2001 through October 15, 2001  

This report covers specifications, standards, and amendments received from July 15, 2001, through October 15, 2001.

Bach, Claudia. Intercom (2002). Articles>History>TC

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

Karlstad, Sweden - a Centre of Excellence in Technical Communication

How did Karlstad, a medium-sized town in central Sweden, come to be a 'centre of excellence' in Technical Communication? Well, a lot of it has to do with Ericsson.

Lewis-Sturmhoefel, Jeanne. TC-FORUM (1998). Articles>TC>Regional>Scandinavia

Kindred Spirits? Usability Practitioners and Technical Communicators

Technical communicators and usability practitioners are not simply kindred spirits--they are the same spirit: the spirit of communication.

Keirnan, Timothy. Usability Interface (2006). Articles>TC>Usability

Review: KnowGenesis Online Library for Technical Communication

What makes KnowGenesis different is, I feel, it has a potential both for the corporate needs and the non-corporate users of knowledge management (KM). On one hand, organizational and corporate knowledge is captured, processed, shared and available in many KM portals are well organized. And, in such a junction, this journal adds value to the existing knowledgebase with its own specialty.

Taher, Mohamed. Blogspot (2006). Articles>Reviews>TC

Leaders Light the Way

STC offers members many opportunities to practice and improve leadership skills. Whether you are guiding the chapter as an officer, serving as a committee manager, or participating in another way, you can make a difference this year! I encourage you to use this opportunity to sharpen your leadership, time management, and organizational skills. You will find it rewarding-both personally and professionally-and the experience will shine through on the job and on your resume.

Laurent, J. Suzanna. Carolina Communique (1999). Articles>Management>TC

Learn Public Relations Skills Through STC's Chapter Competition  

Technical communicators need public relations skills. STC offers two free opportunities to learn these skills. You can build a portfolio of public relations pieces you produce for your chapter. You can get feedback on them from the Chapter Public Relations Competition, and you may win an award.

Blankinship, Ann. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>TC>Public Relations

Learn to Read Technical Writing!

Why is my daughter not being taught to read technical literature? Practical things like reading a VCR manual or a pamphlet on health.

Kamath, Gurudutt R. IT People (2003). Articles>TC>Writing>Technical Writing

Liminality and Othering    

Subject matter experts, under the influence of modernist notions of authorship, often view technical writers as mere grammar and punctuation specialists and marginalize them as their ignorant 'other.' Technical writers, on the other hand, as rhetoricians occupying a liminal space between different disciplines, can understand different disciplinary rhetorics. If subject matter experts, instead of marginalizing technical writers, would view them as liminal subjects who are knowledgeable in different disciplinary rhetorics, then technical writers, through liminal practice, may be able to use their knowledge of audience and rhetoric to improve the quality of documentation.

Jeyeraj, Joseph. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2004). Articles>TC>Theory>Collaboration

Limitations in Technical Communication Ethics: Mastering the Shades of Gray  

Technical Communication is changing rapidly due to the new global business community. Many of the ideologies and standard practices that have long been used to teach and guide technical communicators are not entirely effective. A new approach to ethical dilemmas in technical communication involves accepting limitations in order to overcome them. Most technical communicators are the liaison between many forces but rarely have the power for final decisions. When responsibilities collide it is often difficult to know what the best ethical choice is, given that most communicators learn about ethics in a controlled context or environment, such as academia. For a more realistic preparation, educators should acknowledge the limitations placed on ethics, such as politics, conflicting interests, and time constraints.

Witta Colosky, Jacelin. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>TC>Ethics

Literacy and Technical Communication

Literacy has traditionally been the defined as the ability to read and write, but 21st century technical communicators must have skills which extend beyond these basic skills. They must be able to write rhetorically; read analytically and evaluatively; read and critique social situations, especially in the organization in which they work and act upon their critiques; analyze visual information and also create rhetorically effective visual or graphic information; and use and critique the technologies with which they produce their work and, often, which they write about. These extended literacies build from the basic skills traditionally taught to technical communication students, and they mirror skills identified and considered essential in recent studies of workplace literacies, including Dept of Education’s SCANS report and the NCTE’s own report on skills (Garay and Bernhardt). In this response, I will examine these extended skills and discuss what these new literacies privilege and what they reject. I will also consider how the field might better provide students with foundations in these skills and how such a focus on these foundations may change the field.

Cargile Cook, Kelli. Texas Tech University (1999). Articles>TC>Literacy

Location is Everything When it Comes to Getting Information from SMEs

A 20 minute monologue about the best way to get information from SMEs--sit by them, permanently if possible. Many IT organizations station the writer remotely from the developers, programmers, and other SMEs, but nothing could be more damaging to getting the information you need. Increasing your proximity also increases the communication you receive.

Johnson, Tom H. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>TC>Collaboration>SMEs

A Longinian Concept and Methodology for Technical Communication      

The rhetorician Longinus advises writers to 'transport' their readers by aligning the readers' perspective with the writer's.  The methods for transport are five 'fountains': high thought, emotional appeals, figures of speech, notable language, and arrangement.  This essay develops a Longinian concept and methodology for technical communication by comparing his ideas to current  scholarship and then applying them to two technical texts.  It shows how and why technical writers employ stylistic elements to achieve transport.

Todd, Jeff. Technical Communication Quarterly (1998). Articles>Rhetoric>TC

Look Before You Leap: Marketing Communication Strategies for Practitioners and Educators  

Too often, the emphasis in marketing communication is the tactic—the specific promotional piece clients—or your bosses—think they need. But what should drive marketing communication are the intended audience and the ultimate goals of the effort. Part of the marketing communication practitioner’s job is to assist clients, whether they are internal or external, to step back and decide “what for,” “to whom,” and “when,” before plunging into “how” to implement marketing communication. Part of the marketing communication educator’s job is to make sure students learn that the marcom process determines the marcom product. As a result, the tactic in many cases presents itself.

Teich, Thea, Carol M. Barnum, Sandra Harner and Tom Zimmerman. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Communication>TC

Looking for Questions to My Answers  

Debuts a new professional advice column for technical communicators.

Alroy, Faye. Intercom (2002). Articles>TC

Looking Toward the Electronic Future in the Classroom  

The electronic tools available in the technical communication classroom have increased in number and sophistication over the last decade. Our three panelists examine the implications to the classroom of virtual reality, E-mail, and 'the information superhighway.'

Glover, Kyle S. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Education>TC>Online

Making Academic Work Advocacy Work: Technologies of Power in the Public Arena    

Through interviews and courtroom observations in a case study done in collaboration with a community partner in two judicial districts in Minnesota, the authors extend the scholarly conversation about critical, activist research in business and technical communication and make pedagogical suggestions by studying two groups who contribute to the discourse about victim rights: judges who accept plea negotiations and make sentencing decisions and advocates who help victims contribute, through victim impact statements, their reactions as crime victims and their requests for certain punishments and conditions for the crime perpetrators. The authors identify the technologies of power used by each group to assert their disciplinary authority and trace how these assertions play out in the courtroom. They conclude that by capitalizing on the normative structures of impact statements, advocates may actually give victims more power. Such activist research might benefit research participants and enhance research methods.

Propen, Amy and Mary Lay Schuster. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2008). Articles>TC>Legal>Ethnographies

Making Sense of the Visual in Technical Communication: A Visual Literacy Approach to Pedagogy    

We employ an array of terms to denote the visual; however, we have not yet agreed on a clear framework for understanding the function and relationship between visual concepts. I propose a literacy approach to the visual so that as educators, researchers, students, and practitioners, we acquire more than skills that rely on changing definitions and technologies but an intellectual faculty that provides the knowledge, understanding, and abilities that the visual affords. Through an analysis of arguments for visual instruction, I present the wayS in which scholars justify their claims about the visual. These arguments uncover the breadth and depth of the visual and contribute to a taxonomy of visual terminology.

Portewig, Tiffany Craft. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2004). Articles>TC>Education>Visual Rhetoric