#13129
Discover Buried Treasure at Your Local STC Chapter Meetings 
You don’t have to be an officer to benefit professionally from your local STC chapter meetings. Start attending your local chapter meetings and discover the many forms of buried treasure. These treasures will result in a new perspective to your writing, an increased library of professional resources, professional writers being hired at your workplace, and the chance to view the “Best of Show” writing. You can reap rewards such as these with a small investment of personal time.
Lunemann, Rhonda S. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Collaboration>Community Building>STC
#29805
Do Groups Know What They Don't Know? Dealing With Missing Information in Decision-Making Groups 
Although scholars have examined how individuals deal with information that is unavailable on decision-making tasks, little research has explored how groups deal with missing information. The present study proposes two ways groups can address information that is unavailable: by employing a diminished information set or by inferring the value of missing information. Both of these approaches are tested using an information sharing task. Groups are compared with information unavailable to any member, available but unshared among group members (i.e., hidden profile), and available and shared among all group members. Evidence indicates that group members may utilize both strategies to deal with missing information.
Henningsen, David Dryden and Mary Lynn Miller Henningsen. Visual Communication (2007). Articles>Knowledge Management>Collaboration
#31534
Do You Have a Reputation for Excellence?
Your reputation depends on your ability to be a public-spirited, plain-talking professional who serves the interests of your audience rather than your organization.
Olds, George. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Careers>Collaboration>Community Building
#10350
Technical communicators frequently collaborate in workplace projects and bring a host of different kinds of expertise to this collaboration. Yet the understanding of communicators’ expertise among managers and subject matter experts is grounded in a view of writing as a finished product and authorship as singular. This article documents many different kinds of 'contributory expertise' employed by writers collaborating to produce articles for publication. Expertise in research, textual composition, visual composition, as well as other kinds of expertise garnered on previous projects is often brought to collaborative projects. Often emerging and developing as a function of collaborative work is expertise in framing the project, conducting review processes, and assessing outcomes. These categories are discussed in some detail to provide practicing communicators with ideas for documenting expertise in their specific workplaces, to provide students with ideas for developing expertise in various areas, and to prov
Henry, James M. Technical Communication Online (1998). Articles>Writing>Collaboration>SMEs
#31035
Documents That No Project Cannot Be Without
Short deadlines force project teams to quickly design, test, and release the product with little or no design documentation. If these documents are written, they generally are not well-written and are not comprehensive. The fact of the matter is that most project teams do not have enough staff to design the product, let alone write and manage documentation. This situation creates an ideal opportunity for technical writers to assist the project team in more ways than writing a user guide.
Dick, David J. Carolina Communique (2008). Articles>Documentation>Project Management>Collaboration
#29942
Does Communication Everywhere Improve Communication?
As much we think we are multitaskers, there's a limit to what we can process. How has technology's enabling of communication anywhere and everywhere affected us in the context of traditional activities? How do they interplay with each other?
Cheng, Kevin. OK-Cancel (2005). Articles>Technology>Wireless Web>Collaboration
#13346
Does Computer-Mediated Collaboration Really Improve Group Communication? Our General Findings 
As companies continue to expand world-wide, effective communication among project teams and employees becomes a serious challenge. This has not only made it a necessity for businesses to share information electronically, but has also made it essential for organizations to promote team learning and innovation through group collaboration. In fact, as we all know, it is common for business to interact and conduct group seminars in several countries, all at once, via the Internet. For example, several years ago Hewlett Packard conducted collaborative seminars in traditional classrooms. Now however they focus almost exclusively on instructions via an interactive electronic network. As Susan Burnett, of Hewlett Packard points out, 'we are constantly pushing to blur the lines between learning and doing the job' by using information technology (Perelman, 1994, p. 88).
Bernard, Michael, Ta-Tao Chuang and Shahid Ali. Usability News (2000). Articles>Usability>Collaboration
#29431
The Domino Effect: Changes Have Unforeseen Consequences
It's obvious that almost all the changes you make will affect your user community, but considerably less obvious how helpful that community can be about providing feedback before you make the changes.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (2000). Articles>Technology>Collaboration
#24739
Don't Feed the Subject Matter Experts
I found myself wondering; was there any statistically significant relationship between feeding and cooperation?
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Collaboration
#29437
Dr. Strangemeeting (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Enjoy the Donuts)
Experts claim you'll spend 1500 hours in meetings during a typical 30-year career--that is, if you can duck some meetings by looking busy and if you can retire early. If you duck slowly or plan a long career, you could easily spend more time in meetings than you spend working. Fortunately, a little planning and some quick thinking should let you turn meetings into a blessing--or at least a tolerable evil.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (2001). Careers>Workplace>Collaboration
#18207
The Dynamics of Collaborative Design
The University of Colorado at Denver’s Internet Task Force designed a home page on the World Wide Web (WWW) for the School of Education, while simultaneously studying the group dynamics of the collaborative learning/design process. We developed a 4-point model which is appropriate for technically sophisticated adult learners, instructional designers, software developers, and information technologists. Critical features are reflection-in-action, building a common knowledge base, taking ownership of an authentic task, and generating research questions.
Sherry, Lorraine C. and Karen Madsen Myers. STC Proceedings (1996). Presentations>Collaboration>TC
#28887
E-Journal Subscription Consortia
The advent of e-publishing has brought a revolution in journal publication, subscription, access, and delivery. Print journals' publishing costs include high article processing costs, and high production and marketing costs. E-journal production and access costs are increasing due to the rising cost of infrastructure, customer support, IT savvy human resources, etc. While these costs form the base, other pricing factors include the number of nodes, multiple campuses, an access mode, training, perpetual access, etc. Dwindling library budgets and the growing number of journals force libraries to form consortia for accessing e-journals. The old concept of 'consortium' is a strategic alliance of institutions having common interests.
B.A., Rajeev and Jayaprakash S. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Publishing>Collaboration
#10790
E-Mail Tutoring, A New Way To Do New Work
Although writing centers have used computers for over a decade now, they have used them primarily in autotutorials (computer-assisted instruction) and word processing. These applications reflect the influence of the process movement in composition studies and the writing center's commitment to the individual writer. Yet as the field moves towards the social in its scholarship and its writing technologies, writing centers might look towards e-mail to seek out new forms of tutor-student collaboration. The essay describes an experiment with e-mail tutoring and explores implications of new working conditions for online tutors.
Coogan, David. Computers and Composition (1995). Articles>Collaboration>Writing
#28513
Early and Often: How to Avoid the Design Revision Death Spiral
One lesson we've learned over the past several years here at Cooper is that on the vast majority of our projects, intimate client collaboration is a critical ingredient for success. This is a lesson that we have sometimes learned the hard way; collaboration can be messy, unpredictable and has often forced us to compromise what we thought was a supremely clear and elegant vision.
Cronin, Dave. uiGarden (2007). Design>Web Design>Redesign>Collaboration
#27221
Earning Respect: How To Improve Your Department's Image
Could your department's contributions be better understood and valued? This workshop will give you some ideas for improving your department's image. You'll learn some time-honored marketing techniques for finding out what your customers think of your efforts. You'll also find out how to use those techniques to change perceptions. You'll discover ways to prevent second-guessing of your document designs. And you'll find out how to promote your services to the rest of your organization.
Bolton, David. STC Proceedings (1994). Careers>Management>Collaboration
#27602
Agile modeling started out fairly complex and it grew a bit into its current form.
Ambler, Scott W. Agile Modeling (2006). Articles>Project Management>Agile>Collaboration
#24047
I'd like to assume that most of us find ourselves having to edit a moving target only occasionally, but from the horror stories I've been hearing, it seems that more and more people are being expected to edit well in a ridiculously short time.
Stoughton, Mary. Editorial Eye, The (1997). Articles>Editing>Collaboration
#28800
Who decides what's best for a website? Highly skilled professionals who work with the site's users and serve as their advocates? Or schmucks with money? Most often, it's the latter. That's why a web designer's first job is to educate the people who hold the purse strings.
Diffily, Shane. List Apart, A (2007). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration
#25367
Educating your boss and co-workers about what we do for them on the company Intranet can be a major headache or it can be a fun-filled, creative exercise. It is our choice.
Burns, Barbara. Wise-Women (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Technology
#32016
The Effect of Rater Training On Reducing Social Style Bias in Peer Evaluation
This study employed a quasiexperimental control group design in a university setting to test the effect of a rater-training program on reducing social style bias in intragroup peer evaluations after controlling for ability based on GPA. Comparison of rating scores of the test group to the control group indicated minimal social style rating bias in the test group, whereas significant bias was exhibited in the control group. Implications for college instructors who use peer evaluations for grading in team projects are discussed.
May, Gary L. Business Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Education>Collaboration
#24545
This article looks at how two offices changed their informal work relationships and patterns in response to a major technological innovation in their field. This inductive study involves a cross-case analysis with field studies covering a two-year period. The research applies the models suggested by social action theory to help explain outcomes. By the end of this study, one office had lost its funding and was eliminated, while the other has survived and grown. The article examines whether the differing organizational responses to new core technology were related to each office's ability to survive.
Kahn, Russell L. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2000). Articles>Workplace>Technology>Collaboration
#30216
Effective Delegating Achieves Results
If you are not delegating properly, you are making your own life more difficult. In turn, your subordinates suffer because their interests and talents are being overlooked, however unintentionally.
Laurent, J. Suzanna. Tieline (2007). Articles>Management>Collaboration>STC
#31212
Effective Internal Communication in Global Organizations
Today’s global marketplace teaches us that effective practices for internal communication in international corporations must be tuned to the cultural profiles of employees in their own countries. Internal communication departments are given the task of adapting company messages that effectively reach the organization’s global employee base. In order to ensure the effectiveness of these communications, organizations must first develop awareness, knowledge and intercultural skills within their internal communication teams.
Apud, Salvador and Talis Apud-Martinez. Communication World Bulletin (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Collaboration>International
#21704
Effective Interpersonal Skills 
Become genuinely interested in other people. Call people by their names. Talk in terms of the other person's interest. Smile. Listen.
STC India (2003). Presentations>Collaboration>Workplace
#14612
Effective Interviewing: Get the Story
In this article, Geoffrey Hart offers the following tips on how to interview a subject matter expert (SME) for reliable, comprehensive, timely information:
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2000). Articles>Interviewing>Collaboration
