Focused Sharing of Information for Multi-disciplinary Decision Making by Project Teams  

Today's electronic and paper-based approaches to the sharing of project information do not scale to the information sharing and interaction challenges of multi-disciplinary project team meetings. The inability to share and interact with information easily and effectively is one of the biggest bottlenecks in using electronic (online) information for collaborative decision-making. Through scenarios from recent construction projects, this paper summarizes existing approaches to the sharing of information and assesses their effectiveness in supporting multi-disciplinary decision-making by project teams. It then discusses recent research into interactive information workspaces where, with minimal software overhead, participants can share information that is relevant to a particular context to establish a common focus. We believe that the construction community can make significant progress quickly in leveraging existing and future investments in information infrastructure if it not only pursues information sharing through the use of product models but also formalizes the focused sharing of information and separates information interaction and view control from software services and underlying data as outlined in this paper.

Liston, Kathleen, Martin Fischer and Terry Winograd. Stanford University (2001). Articles>Collaboration>TC

Forging Effective Partnerships with Clients  

Numerous helpful references and courses teach us how information developers can create value for clients through good project management, but getting our partners to recognize that value remains a challenge.

Knodel, Elinor L. STC Proceedings (1997). Careers>Consulting>Collaboration

Forming a Policies and Procedures Professional Interest Committe  

This session offers participants an opportunity to learn and contribute ideas about forming a policies and procedures professional interest committee (PIC) within STC. The presenter defines 'policies and procedures' and its growing importance in industry. Represents STC’s requirements for forming a PIC. He proposes a mission statement, goals, objectives, and activities for having this PIC. Participants comment on and volunteer for making this PIC a success.

Urgo, Raymond E. STC Proceedings (1994). Presentations>Collaboration>TC

Forming Perceptions of Entrepreneurial Discourse: The Effectiveness of Oral or Transcribed Communication  

This paper explores the possibility that trained business communication professionals might perceive differentially the quality of the identical entrepreneurial presentations, depending on whether they are in audio or print form. By conducting a comparative analysis of heard and read versions of these speeches, we uncovered evidence which frames the following discourse. Results point to the variables which shape either (1) oral communication with an immediately- present audience, or (2) written transcripts with a distanced or imagined set of readers. This has aided us in identifying the funding for new ventures.

Sokuvitz, Sydel and Stephen Spinelli. Association for Business Communication (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Collaboration>Genre

Frameworks for Designers

These days, 'framework' is quite a buzzword in web development. With JavaScript frameworks like the Yahoo User Interface library, jQuery, and Prototype getting a lot of attention and web application frameworks like Rails and Django getting even more, it seems like everyone is using some kind of framework to build their sites. But what exactly is a framework? And are they only useful to programmers, or can we web designers benefit from the concept, as well?

Croft, Jeff. List Apart, A (2007). Design>Web Design>Programming>Collaboration

From Not Working to NETWorking  

Networking—whether done formally or informally, alone or as part of a group—can give you a competitive edge in getting (and keeping!) business coming to you as a contractor or independent technical communicator.

Keefer, Christine A. Intercom (2004). Careers>Freelance>Collaboration

From Sea to Shining Sea…Bi-Coastal Teaming  

This presentation addresses the issues that technical communicators face when team members are in different geographic locations. Issues such as communication, team building, project management and planning, and successful practices that help teams succeed without regard to their physical locations will be discussed. The management of distributed teams, what obstacles managers face, including labor and employment laws, cost-of-living relative to salaries in varied locations, and how to conduct performance appraisals when managers and employees work thousands of miles apart will also be explored, along with employee perspectives and issues of change and collaboration.

STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Online

From Sea to Shining Sea…Bi-Coastal Teaming  

This presentation addresses the issues that technical communicators face when team members are in different geographic locations. Issues such as communication, team building, project management and planning, and successful practices that help teams succeed without regard to their physical locations will be discussed. The management of distributed teams, what obstacles managers face, including labor and employment laws, cost-of-living relative to salaries in varied locations, and how to conduct performance appraisals when managers and employees work thousands of miles apart will also be explored, along with employee perspectives and issues of change and collaboration.

Chappell, Leah P., Deborah Gill-Hesselgrave, Strecker Peterson. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Collaboration>Online

Functional Specifications Subvert the Hierarchy of Nature

When you use a spec, you give your trust and authority to a piece of paper rather than the people on your team. You codify laws. You strip your 'judges' of the ability to act on intuitive feelings. There’s no fluidity. There’s no ability to respond, change, and evolve.

Fried, Jason. Signal vs. Noise. Articles>Collaboration>Specifications

Get Out from Behind the Curtain

When used at critical points in the design process, group sessions build strong, respectful relationships. Since clients directly experience the design work, you don't need to sell clients on an idea--they were with you the whole time.

Nelson, Sarah B. List Apart, A (2007). Design>Web Design>Collaboration

Getting Personal: Individuality, Innovation, and Technical Communication    

This philosophical article explores individuality and innovation (creating new technology) as they relate to the communication approaches of scientists, engineers, and technologists. I suggest that effective communication between technical and non-technical people is difficult because technical communication lacks humanity, a personal dimension. I also suggest that dimension is lacking because technical people give up their identity to be considered competent and I argue that a different approach to communication education for scientists, engineers, and technologists is required to equip them with requisite communication skills to make their personal contribution to successful innovation.

Steiner, Carol J. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1999). Articles>Collaboration>Technology

Getting Reluctant Stakeholders To The Table: Experienced Mediators Share Insights  

Most mediators agree that inclusion is a bedrock principle of public dispute resolution, that everyone with a stake in a dispute should be at the table helping to resolve it. This principle helps ensure that any consensus agreement reached will be seen as legitimate by all parties and the public and will have broad support when it is being implemented. So what does a mediator do when a key stakeholder is reluctant or even refuses to participate in a dispute resolution process?

Thomas-Larmer, Jennifer. Mediate.com (1998). Articles>Collaboration

Getting Reviewers to Review  

Presents ten humorous suggestions for technical writers on how to persuade reviewers of documentation to do their jobs.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2000). Articles>Editing>Collaboration

Getting Started with Performance Management  

What are some ways to effectively track and manage a group’s performance? Wiley examines a way to do so using specific requirements designed to measure the success of an STC SIG.

Wiley, Ann L. Intercom (2006). Articles>Project Management>Collaboration>Methods

Going Hollywood: Trends in the World of Work  

The 'Hollywood Model' is one of several work trends that have emerged to satisfy the needs of the changing U.S. workplace in the last couple of decades. This paper will: examine some of the forces that have precipitated change in the U.S. workplace; explore emerging work trends especially relevant to technical communicators; and recommend a small set of key skills that technical communicators will need to develop in order to thrive in the changing workplace.

Cheirrett, Peg A. STC Proceedings (1997). Careers>Workplace>Collaboration

Graphic Electronic Editing  

Radella discusses the advantages of graphic electronic editing with Adobe Acrobat 4.0 over traditional hard copy editing.

Radella, Marjorie Joyce. Intercom (2000). Design>Collaboration>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Grid Computing--the "Electrical Outlet" Model of Computing  

This column presents overviews of new technologies that may affect technical communicators in the near future.

Perlin, Neil E. Intercom (2003). Articles>Collaboration

Group Communication Specifications: A Comprehensive Study  

View-oriented group communication is an important and widely used building block for many distributed applications. Much current research has been dedicated to specifying the semantics and services of view-oriented Group Communication Systems (GCSs). However, the guarantees of different GCSs are formulated using varying terminologies and modeling techniques, and the specifications vary in their rigor. This makes it difficult to analyze and compare the different systems.

Chockler, Gregory V., Idit Keidar and Roman Vitenberg. MIT (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Groupware

Group Dynamics: Building a Dynamic Web Team

As a team you need to consider: Which tasks will you do together as a group? How will you divide the tasks among yourselves?

University of California San Diego (2003). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration

Group Think: Building in Quality

What kind of organizational structure is best for sharing information that will result in quality decisions? Researchers at the University at London provide insight into what empowers management groups make better more competitive strategic decisions. The quality of decisions is improved when all members of the group have access to information.

Rulke, Diane L. and Joseph Galaskiewicz. HRZone (1998). Articles>Collaboration

Group Work and Collaborative Writing

Working with a group on a project can be a pleasure: responsibilities are equitably divided, the tedium of work is punctuated by conviviality and commiseration, and large problems dissolve under scrutiny from a variety of perspectives. Working with a group can also be frustrating, the seemingly indirect and digressive, as well as anxiety-ridden and inconvenient. But still, the product of group work has better odds for success than does the product of an individual.

Connery, Brian A. and John L. Vohs. University of California Davis. Articles>Collaboration>Writing

Growing Your Practice by Managing Business Relationships  

Independent contractors and consultants know the value of working cooperatively with other professionals to complete complex projects. 'Other professionals' includes subcontractors, other independent contractors and consultants, and business partners. The formation of these kinds of strategic relationships can help meet the demands of today’s diverse markets and clients. This paper outlines some of the basic issues that surround business relationships, including planning (estimating and bidding), formalizing project-based contractual relationships, and exploring more permanent partnership arrangements.

Barker, Thomas, Ryan Bernard, Melanie G. Flanders, Rob Moschak and Nicole Wycislo. STC Proceedings (2003). Careers>Freelance>Consulting>Collaboration

Growth of Science and Technology Journals in India    

This paper estimates the growth of Science and Technology (S&T) journals in post-independence India.

Shafi, Muzamil. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Publishing>Scientific Communication>Collaboration

Guideline Dogma

Nobody would deny that usability guidelines, applied in context by a usability professional, are extremely valuable in guiding a website evaluation. The problem occurs when non-professionals apply these guidelines out of context. This can result in an unimaginative site that looks bland and homogenous. To design usable sites that truly engage customers we need to replace simple guidelines with a customer-centred design process.

System Concepts (2005). Design>Web Design>Style Guides>Collaboration