#28163
To get the most out of your STC membership--take action. Join a committee, write an article for the newsletter, go to a workshop, volunteer for the chapter conference.
Feldman, Diane. Carolina Communique (2006). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC
#24204
Highlights from the winners of STC's international technical art, technical publications, and online communication competitions.
#27982
Best of Show -- Winners of STC's International Competitions 
Read about the Best of Show winners of the 2005•2006 competitions in international technical art, international online communication, and international technical publications. Also, meet the winner of the international student technical communication competition.
Intercom (2006). Articles>TC>Document Design>International
#24261
Best of the Best of the Best: Winners of STC's International Competitions
This article profiles the winning entries in STC's international technical publications, technical art, online communication, and student technical communication competitions.
Intercom (2004). Articles>TC>Collaboration>STC
#19988
Beyond End-User Documentation: Opportunities for Technical Communicators
A large number of people in the technical communication field create end user documentation; therefore, many people seem to believe that technical writing is synonymous with writing end user documentation. On the contrary, creating end user documentation is only one of many roles that a professional technical communicator can perform. In this paper, we will describe several roles for technical communicators.
Vaughn, Joan E. and Katie Walton. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Documentation>TC
#14787
Beyond the Bleeding Edge Technical Sessions
Perlin summarizes several presentations on new technologies given at STC's 49th Annual Conference in Nashville.
Perlin, Neil E. Intercom (2002). Articles>Technology>TC
#14026
Beyond the Mechanical: Technical Writing Revisited 
Optimism about the future of technical writing can be sustained only if we persist in setting for technical writing the same standards we apply to other sophisticated modes of writing and require refinement in style as well as accuracy in content. The importance of content in technical writing, of the information presented, may seduce us into seeing technical writing as purely a form of language engineering and into teaching our students to perform mechanical writing tasks, churning out dull reports to fit mindlessly into the institutional norms of industry and government.
Iyasere, Marla Mudar. JAC (1988). Articles>Writing>TC>Technical Writing
#19135
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy: An Analysis 
Around 1 a.m. on Monday, the 3rd of December, 1984, in a densely populated region in the city of Bhopal, Central India, a poisonous vapor burst from the tall stacks of the Union Carbide pesticide plant. This vapor was a highly toxic cloud of methyl isocyanate. Of the 800,000 people living in Bhopal at the time, 2,000 died immediately, and as many as 300,000 were injured. In addition, about 7,000 animals were injured, of which about one thousand were killed. After the incident, over the next few years, numerous studies were conducted, many theories were explored, and the involved parties accused each other. In this paper, I will try to explore the various causes offered for the tragedy. In the course of my research for this case study, I came across many articles that put blame on various people and groups involved in the tragedy. I found one document particularly interesting from a rhetorical standpoint. This document, titled Union Carbide: Disaster at Bhopal , was authored by the retired Vice President of Health, Safety and Environmental Programs in Union Carbide Corporation. So for this paper, I would also like to rhetorically analyze this document and also, try to explore the various image restoration strategies that Union Carbide Corporation used through the course of the crisis.
Ungarala, Pratima. Michigan Tech University (1998). Articles>TC>Risk Communication>Crisis Communication
#25481
Blogs and Technical Communication
Blogs are a simple, yet powerful tool and their popularity is rapidly growing. How are blogs affecting the community and technical communication?
Cottrell, Christina. Michigan State University (2003). Articles>Content Management>TC>Blogging
#13644
Review: Book Reviews in Technical Communication
This page provides links to book reviews related to technical communication. I am looking for book reviews to publish. Please email me if you have a review that you would like to see published here. Note that this is a non-commercial site -- I don't pay for reviews.
#30296
Review: Bridging the Gap between Cultural Studies Theory and the World of the Working Practitioner 
Cultural studies is an academic field that focuses on understanding the unchallenged assumptions that constrain and shape communication and related interactions among people. Although the field has made considerable progress in the last half-century, many practitioners have either never encountered the field, or have encountered it only through extremist advocates who do the field a great disservice. As a result, they have lost the ability to benefit from the insights provided by cultural studies. In this paper, I review the recent book Critical Power Tools to provide an update on the current thinking in the field, and to demonstrate how the modern form of the field has much to teach technical communications practitioners who are willing to listen to what the theoreticians have to say.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Reviews>TC>Cultural Theory
#21223
Bridging the Gap: Developing a Technical Communication Outreach Program for Students and Educators
Establishing an Education Outreach Project on the local chapter level benefits not only teachers and students in area schools but also the chapter and individual members who participate. Such a project can be as large or as small as your chapter would like; it can range from one-time presentations to an on-going program with a school that can include job-shadowing for teachers or students.
Fisher, Ellen M. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Education>TC
#19386
Nielan summarizes fifty years of Society history and identifies key events that influenced the development of technical communication.
Nielan, Cate. Intercom (2003). Articles>TC>History
#13525
A Brief History of Technical Communication
Civilization is a cumulative enterprise, and communication has always been a vital component of that cumulation process. From the fourteenth century on, the social system of science has depended on technical communication to describe, disseminate, criticize, use, and improve innovations and advances in science, medicine, and technology. Rapid change in technical communication has been obvious during the past few decades with the advent of computers, laser printers, the Internet, and other developments. Viewed from a historical perspective, those changes can be seen as but a portion of the evolution that technical communication has undergone. It has undergone vast changes in the means and methods that it employs and in the audience to which it is addressed, the purposes to which it is put, the roles it fulfills, and the social forces that drive and support it.
O'Hara, Frederick M., Jr. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>History>TC
#24384
A Bright Idea: Online Financial Transaction Services
Looking for a quick, simple way for your members to register and pay for chapter events? Many chapters are turning to online services that facilitate financial transactions over the Internet (also called P2P, or person-to-person transactions).
Tieline (2003). Articles>TC>Community Building
#24386
A Bright Idea: Technical Communication Week
If you’re looking for ways to boost your chapter’s profile, consider having your state declare a technical communication week. Currently, about a dozen states celebrate the event. One of the first was Arizona, where Thomas P. Barnett, a senior member with the Phoenix Chapter STC, has been manager of Arizona’s Technical Communication Week for several years. Last October marked the thirteenth year that technical communicators in Arizona have celebrated their profession.
Barnett, Thomas P. Tieline (2001). Articles>TC>Community Building
#29014
The ongoing antitrust battle between the U.S. Department of Justice and Microsoft Corporation presents technical communicators with two ethical questions: 1) Is it right, good, or fair for Microsoft to give away its Internet Explorer browser? 2) If Microsoft gains monopoly control over the PC browser market, will this be good for us? This article examines these questions using traditional rights-based ethical theory (Kant), utilitarianism, and John Rawls principles of justice, concluding that it is neither good nor fair for a company having a near-monopoly over a market to sell products below fair market value, nor is it good that one company stands to gain monopoly control over the PC browser market. When the discussion turned to Netscape, one Intel executive, who asked not to be identified, recalled Martiz [Paul Martiz, Microsoft Group Vice President, Platforms & Application] saying: "We are going to cut off their air supply. Everything they re selling, we re going to give away for free" [1]. "We re giving away a pretty good browser as part of the operating system. How long can they survive selling it?"--Statement by Steve Ballmer, Microsoft President and CEO [2]. "Our business model works even if all Internet software is free," says Mr. Gates. "We are still selling operating systems." <em>Netscape</em>, in contrast, is dependent upon its Internet software for profits, he points out.--Statements by Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman [3]. Only a monopolist could study a competitor and destroy its business by giving away products--Statement by Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems Chairman [4].
Meier, Dennis. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1999). Articles>TC>Ethics>Web Browsers
#29032
Burkean Invention in Technical Communication
This article supplements existing rhetorical scholarship by returning to the notion of invention as general preparation of the communicator. Although much scholarship about invention in technical communication exists, it consists mainly of heuristics, checklists, ethical considerations, and audience awareness. Part of invention is using basic strategies to prepare the communicator to assess any communication situation and its context and to generate the appropriate discourse. Rhetorician Kenneth Burke s theories of dialectic and rhetoric are a twentieth-century version of this; this article explains important Burkean strategies such as etymological extension, limits of agreement with the thesis, finding the complex in the simple, expanding the circumference, translation or alembication, the four master tropes, and the pentad, and it shows how to apply these in technical communication. The article closes with a classroom assignment that uses Burkean invention strategies.
Todd, Jeff. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2000). Articles>TC>Rhetoric
#23569
The Business Landscape Analysis: Where We Are Today
STC's best opportunity for growth is to lead its members and the industry into the future by focusing on emerging disciplines and growing opportunities within technical communication. STC must ensure that the needs of its core writer/editor base are met at the same time.
STC Transformation (2004). Articles>TC>Planning
#31882
Businesses not as Keen on Blogs and Wikis? We Had a Hunch
Despite all the excitement in the technical communications community over Web 2.0 technologies like wikis and blogs, it looks like companies are still reluctant to tie the knot for a variety of reasons.
DMN Communications (2008). Articles>TC>Wikis>Blogs
#27275
A California Yankee in Raj Jahan's Country
Andrea Ames shares anecdotes and impressions of the cultural and communication differences she observed while in Hyderabad, India, to speak at a conference for STC members. She outlines growing changes in India's IT and technical communication industries.
#23493
Capitalization of Headings and Titles
The following summarizes the replies to the question of 'capitalization of headings and titles' in the mailing list tcf-gen in recent months.
TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Style Guides>TC
#20290
Cloning? Abortion? Social responsibility? Honesty? Legality? Loyalty? Trust? Privacy? You name it. 'The Case of Project Good-Bye, Dolly' immerses workshop participants in a maelstrom of value conflicts that swirl from bioethics to personal values. The presenters identify ten core values that un&rlie technical communication and show how these values can be used to support objective analysis and resolve ethical conflicts. Participants then explore ethical dilemmas 'hands-on' through small-group discussion and subsequent role-playing vignettes. This session is sure to spark lively debate.
Allen, Lori A. and Daniel W. Voss. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>TC>Ethics
#30393
Case Studies: Profiles of Two Technical Communicators
Dr. Philbin and Dr. Ryan will first speak about creating and administering the survey and explain the reasons for conducting the survey. As husband and wife and as technical communicators, we will discuss our feelings about participating in the survey, working in the field, and our plans for the future. We encourage other technical communicators to examine their career goals as well. From the beginning, our relationship was linked to the technical communication field. We helped each other during our job interviewing processes and fortunately we both found jobs as Technical Communicators. While we have shared many of the same experiences, we have each experienced unique aspects of the profession. The discussion mainly focuses on the feelings, questions, plans, and expectations raised in the survey.
Theodore, Todd E. and Paulette R. Elsass. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC>Case Studies
#29214
The CCCC Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication: A Retrospective Analysis
This article presents the history, purposes, outcomes, and significance of the CCCC Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication during its first five years. It analyzes the topical areas and research methods of the 34 dissertations nominated for the award from 1999 to 2003, as well as the evaluations of the judges. Methods of the nominated dissertations are interpretive (41%) and empirical (59%), but many dissertations combine methods. In the empirical category, qualitative methods (17) outnumber quantitative methods (3). The most frequent topical areas are workplace practice (8), rhetoric of the disciplines (7), and information design (6). Topics that are not widely investigated include issues of race and class and international communication.
Selber, Stuart A. Technical Communication Quarterly (2004). Articles>Research>TC>History
