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326. #28232 Mediating Group Dynamics through Tabletop Interface Design Our tabletop research efforts at Stanford University have focused on how tabletop user interfaces (UIs) might respond to and even influence a user group's social dynamics. Morris, M.R., Piper, A.M., Cassanego, A., Huang, A., Paepcke, A., and Winograd, T. Stanford University (2006). Articles>Collaboration>User Interface 327. #13077 A Mentoring Program for Web Designers Creating a mentoring program for technical writers requires quite a bit of coordination. Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2001). Careers>Collaboration>Mentoring 328. #26199 Merging XML Files: A New Approach Providing Intelligent Merge of XML Data Sets As XML becomes ubiquitous so the need for powerful tools to manipulate XML data becomes more pressing. Merging XML is particularly tricky, but often necessary to consolidate data feeds from heterogeneous systems, or to synchronize submissions of XML fragments which make up a larger document. An automated mechanism for defining and controlling such merges has been developed and is demonstrated to provide a consistent, adaptable and resilient solution to this problem. Integration into an information pipeline allows limitless customization. La Fontaine, Robin. DeltaXML.com (2001). Articles>Information Design>XML>Collaboration 329. #25743 The Methodology of Participatory Design Technical communicators have lately become interested in participatory design as a way to structure and guide their research and development efforts, particularly in online media. But attempts to use participatory design - in technical communication and elsewhere - have been hampered because participatory design has typically been seen as an orientation or field rather than a methodology with its own methods, techniques, and acceptable range of research designs. In this article, I work with a range of participatory design sources to describe it as a methodology useful for technical communicators. After providing the historical and methodological grounding for understanding participatory design as a methodology, I describe its research designs, methods, criteria, and limitations. Finally, I provide guidance for applying it to technical communication research. Spinuzzi, Clay. Technical Communication Online (2005). Articles>Collaboration>Methods 330. #25624 Monitoring Communication in Partnering Projects This report is a summary of a two year research project carried out by the IT byg group at BYG. DTU for the Danish government agencies Erhvervsfremmestyrelsen and By- og Bolig-ministeriet. The objectives were to collect data on the use of IT by the PPB housing consortia, a development project to test out various innovations, to map communications between the partners, and compare IT usage with their original proposals. Data was collected on communications in housing projects in the period June 1999- Aug 2000. The original PPB proposals were made in 1994/5 but there have been breaks in the flow of projects, and information technology has gone through much change since then. Use of Email has taken over from post and fax, and Project Webs have been developed in most consortia. Consortium members' policies have dominated the choice of management and logistics software, restricted compatibility in the consortia, and limited willingness to share data. Greater involvement by the client, and more sharing of equity, would have encouraged adoption of common IT systems and created more trust for data sharing between partners. PPB projects have allowed consortium members to test out new technologies but, in general, the IT systems used have been similar to those which the larger firms use elsewhere. Vertical integration has been limited by lack of experience and technology in smaller firms. In future, access to Project Webs from mobile devices should help use by all partners from any location. In all the projects studied, and in spite of the introduction of Email and Project Webs, the ratio of non-IT communications to IT varied from 0.8 to 4.6. When problems need to be solved rapidly there appears to be a tendency to revert to traditional means of communication - meetings, telephone and fax. Howard, Rob and Ernst Petersen. ITcon (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>Government 331. #28055 The Most Non-Boring Article About The UPA Board Ever A quick overview of the Usability Professionals Association Board--what functions it performs, how it's structured, and who's currently performing what role. Sherman, Paul J. Usability Professionals Association (2006). Articles>Usability>Collaboration 332. #23738 Moving Between Academe and Industry: Lessons Learned The author discusses her transition from academic professor to corporate worker and back to academic professor. She compares and contrasts some fundamental differences between these environments on the dimensions of teaching, research, collaboration, problem solving, and ethics. She describes some of the lessons she learned as she moved back and forth across these environments. She concludes by suggesting that, however large these transitions seem, they are transitions we routinely expect our students to make when they migrate from school to work. Levine, Barbara J. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Collaboration>Industry and Academy 333. #19814 Moving to Single Sourcing: Managing the Effects of Organizational Changes Argues that the move to single sourcing often requires changes within teams as new skills are introduced and members' roles shift. Points out that while some changes may threaten the stability of the team, managers can anticipate and prevent problems. Bottitta, Jeanette, Alexia Prendergast Idoura and Lisa Pappas. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Collaboration 334. #23946 Multilingual Knowledge Management Empowers Global eBusiness With the penetration of Internet technologies into global business operations, employees at every level are collaborating across multiple geographies. Sargent, Benjamin B. ZDNet (2001). Articles>Knowledge Management>Collaboration>Online 335. #26210 My Time in Hell, or Why I Fired a Client Some team members wanted the guide to be extremely prescriptive of format and content. Others insisted that it offer only minimal guidelines. A compromise was unacceptable to either side. Hayhoe, George F. STC Orange County (1998). Careers>Consulting>Collaboration 336. #24731 The Nature of the Interchange Between Editors and Authors Editors, if allowed to interact with authors on a level above the comma, could often help authors negotiate new meaning as authors struggle to translate their ideas into writing. Document Design (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Editing 337. #23674 The Need for Technical Communication in IT Departments Although many would not believe such to be true, there is a vast amount of communication that must be done in the IT world. This is even truer when the IT organization is involved with a regulated industry (e.g., pharmaceutical). In general, procedures and practices that went into the development, installation, and use/maintenance of a system require documentation and the communication of outages to the user community are also important. Among the more specific areas are help documentation, user instructions, code comments, installation instructions, and maintenance procedures/schedules. When a problem arises, it is often necessary for the IT professional to explain exactly what happened and provide the resolution in a coherent, layman-termed method, whether it be verbal or written (or both). Unfortunately, not all IT professionals are capable of doing this. Mardekian, Beth. MetroVoice (2004). Articles>TC>Technology>Collaboration 338. #14950 If you have all the work you can handle, your idea of networking might be showing up late to STC meetings, sitting in the back, and leaving before the speaker finishes talking. But, for the rest of us, networking requires a bigger investment of time and energy and a wider circle of contacts. As networking expert Kathy Condon points out, networking begins in our comfort zones-our neighborhoods, our offices, our STC groups. But to be effective, we have to search for other opportunities to meet people-groups and individuals beyond our usual contacts. Condon suggests attending meetings of professional and special interest organizations. Below, we've listed some groups to get you started. We include a Web address for each organization and a quote from their site. Riley, Erin. STC Williamette Valley (2002). Careers>Collaboration>TC 339. #20979 Networking expands your resource base and enables you to make useful contacts in other companies, which, in turn, leads to your big break or an exciting new job. The prevailing attitude seems to be that it doesn’t really matter what industry you’re in, or at which level within a company your position is, just go out there and do it, and the results will follow. It does work, doesn’t it? Well, not really. Hamer, Emma C. Hamer Associates. Careers>Collaboration>Community Building 340. #26279 Established business owners and new entrepreneurs often have a difference of opinion about networking. The old-timers usually say that networking is one of their most important sources of business, while the newcomers frequently claim to put a lot of effort into networking without seeing much return. What's going on here? Hayden, C.J. Creative Latitude (2005). Careers>Collaboration>Community Building 341. #24191 Technical communication is a broad field—its practitioners perform many different tasks in many different industries. Technical communicators may write technical documents, design multimedia presentations, create Web pages, or illustrate mechanical designs. And they may perform these tasks in industries such as aerospace, biotech, computer software, or agribusiness. To effectively network with your peers, you need to find your communities of practice. Grice, Roger A. Intercom (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Professionalism 342. #30325 NetWorks or, How to Make Professional Connections When You Live and Work in the "Sticks" NetWorks is an association of people involved in public relations, technical/computer documentation, marketing, fund raising, planning and development, training, journalism, editing, video production and publishing. We have a common interest in sharing ideas, information and resources. Olander, Karen Wise. Boston Broadside (1992). Articles>TC>Collaboration>STC 343. #28151 Newsletter Co-Registration, and other Partnerships When someone signs up for my newsletter, I list some other newsletters they might be interested in on my site's thank-you page. People can simply check a box next to the other newsletters they want to receive, click one button, and they're done. The publishers I partner with do the same for me, listing the Excess Voice newsletter on their sign-up thank-you pages. Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2006). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration 344. #24687 A Newsletter Competition Where Everyone Wins A competition where everyone wins—is it too good to be true? Not if the STC Newsletter Competition Committee (STCNCC) has anything to say about it. Ames, Andrea L., Cheryl Disch and Helen T. Hegelheimer. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>STC 345. #22888 A Newsletter Competition Where Everyone Wins A competition where everyone wins--is it too good to be true? Not if the Society for Technical Communication (STC) Newsletter Competition Committee (STCNCC) has anything to say about it. This year we implemented the second phase of a three-year plan to increase participation and maximize constructive feedback in the annual STC Newsletter Competition. In this discussion session, the STCNCC would like to see judges and editors meet to discuss the effectiveness of the competition and the committee’s plan to improve it. Participants are invited to consider ways to improve the competition in the future. Ames, Andrea L. and Cheryl Disch. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>Newsletters 346. #25721 The Nine Pillars of Successful Web Teams Every Web team has its own take on dividing up roles and responsibilities and implementing processes for design and development. Formal titles, job descriptions, and reporting structures can vary widely. But the best teams I’ve encountered have one important thing in common: their team structure and processes cover a full range of distinct competencies necessary for success. Garrett, Jesse James. Adaptive Path (2003). Design>Collaboration>Web Design 347. #13226 Nipping Client Silliness in the Bud A significant number of ALA posts talk about unreasonable requests from clients. Either they want a Sony-level website on an AOL user's look at my kitties budget, or else they want so many features added to their sites that they will become as unusuable as the original boo.com. Miller, Robin. List Apart, A (2000). Articles>Management>Collaboration 348. #29414 Notes on the Documentation Development Process Define your audience, and their needs, explicitly and carefully. The definition process may lead you to include additional material such as indexes, system requirements, and contextual notes (e.g., lists of exceptions), as well as the preplanned documentation. Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (1996). Articles>Documentation>Collaboration 349. #24698 Nourishing the Bonds: Managing Information to Maximize the Skills of the Dev-Test-ID Team The IBM TPF group is organized into tightly-coupled teams of developers, testers, and writers. This paper explores that relationship, including our method of managing information, and how it creates an environment conducive to high-quality information products. Mills, M. Fay and Ellen C. Smyth. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Collaboration 350. #27461 Now That You've Got a Double Agent, What Do You Do With 'Em? Having demonstrated the importance of acquiring a double agent for writing projects, we now want to explain the best ways to successfully indoctrinate a double agent. This paper will help you prepare for, orient, train, and become a mentor for a double agent to help make him or her an effective member of your writing team. Fisher, Judith R., Karen L. Mobley and Michelle M. Wright. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Writing>Technical Editing>Collaboration
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