Does the STC Deserve to Survive?

Recently, I have begun to feel that there is not much value left in STC as it stands today, and it is in need of a radical overhaul in order to survive. I believe that outside the rarefied atmosphere of the STC Board and Head Office, this view is widely shared.

Farbey, David. Blockhead Blog, The (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

STC Floundering?

It's been pretty clear over the last few months that the Society for Technical Communication (STC) is facing some hard times. Attendance at this year's conference was way down (below 1,000) and memberships, the other major source of revenue, are falling too. The STC has been sponsoring a series of webinars to discuss future directions and has acknowledged that unless they can turn things around, and quickly, the organization will run out of money in a couple of years.

Soltsys, Keith. Core Dump (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Bye Bye STC

Perhaps the time has come to wrap up the STC and let a new organisation grow from the ashes. Those who are interested, and who believe our profession needs such an organisation will rally round and rebuild something. If there is not enough interest then perhaps that is a further indication that the STC has had its time.

McLean, Gordon. One Man Writes (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Learn How Much You Don’t Know

I’m amazed when I hear people say they learn nothing from others in the technical communication field. Some people have a lot of experience, so they feel there are few opportunities to learn from others. I believe they forget that often through discussions, we discover a new perspective or a new way to solve an old problem. Different approaches can also lead to new techniques and solutions.

Mueller, Paul. Answers for All (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>Collaboration

STC: Help the Communities Provide Value

Much has been said about the problem the Society for Technical Communication has found itself in, including on blogs, Twitter, and email listservs. I’ve deliberately kept quiet here until I had some semblance of perspective to offer. But I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe this is a crisis STC needed—an impetus to get us all thinking together about how to improve the model, how to offer more direct benefits to the members.

Minson, Benjamin. Gryphon Mountain (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

The Growing Sector of Technical Communication in India

Over the past decades, technical communication in India has grown from an unknown profession to an indispensable part of many industries and sectors. A testimony to the maturity and significance of this professional field is the tremendous growth of the so-called TWIN community, representing the Technical Communicators of India.

Ramamurthy, Ramesh. TC World (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>India

Reverse Engineering SIGs

STC SIGs are like areas where outside professions insert specialized instances of their expertise into our profession. But what if we could reverse that gateway? Our SIGs could be an excellent outreach channel to market our specialized knowledge into those other professions.

Hughes, Michael A. User Assistance (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC