http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Community-Building A listing of the most recently indexed works about Community Building in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Community-Building http://tc.eserver.org/35757.html http://tc.eserver.org/35757.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/35664.html http://tc.eserver.org/35664.html Most American schoolchildren are familiar with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, (Mark Twain, 1876) and, thanks to translators, many students around the world have also read Twain’s classic. In the book’s most famous scene, the protagonist Tom is assigned the task of whitewashing a fence. While his motivation is to avoid work rather than cost, he cleverly manipulates his friends and acquaintances into doing the work for him. Not only does he leverage effective “non-financial rewards,” but he even gets others to compensate him for the “privilege” of contributing to the effort. Could this be the first recorded instance of crowdsourcing? http://tc.eserver.org/35675.html http://tc.eserver.org/35675.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/35584.html http://tc.eserver.org/35584.html Websites are social creatures. Or rather, their users are. In turn, the websites you visit are tempered by the users that interact with them. Your experience with a website, say facebook.com, is directly linked to the people with which you interact on that website. But this introduces an interesting challenge for a user experience designer: do you design for the intial experience or the resulting experience? http://tc.eserver.org/35540.html http://tc.eserver.org/35540.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/35494.html http://tc.eserver.org/35494.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/35440.html http://tc.eserver.org/35440.html Community is discussions, people, passion, alignment, emergent, support, connections, and relationships. http://tc.eserver.org/35374.html http://tc.eserver.org/35374.html Here’s a common assumption I’ve heard: People who network are ultra-confident, slick businessy types who are in their element approaching complete strangers and doing business deals on the spot. Rubbish! There might be a bit of this going on, but there are always lots of nervous, uncomfortable people who are giving it a go too. And networking isn’t about quick wins – instant business deals or job offers – it’s a slower process, of building up a network (hence the name) of mutual benefit. Eventually this can turn into business deals or job offers – that’s the point of doing it – but very rarely right away. http://tc.eserver.org/35299.html http://tc.eserver.org/35299.html You still have to be willing to moderate comments when you are a blogger or a wiki administrator. And you have to be willing to work hard to build a community that uses the technology in a productive way. http://tc.eserver.org/35260.html http://tc.eserver.org/35260.html Conflict within local communities is an under-researched theme in Community Informatics (CI). This article therefore aims to contribute to the development of CI as a field of study by analysing forms of internal conflict within Moseley Egroup – a CI initiative developed in Moseley, Birmingham (UK). Ultimately it is argued that conflict is an inherent part of local community and is important to CI for a number of reasons. Conflict impacts on the appropriation and social shaping of internet technology by local communities, and has broader implications on the extent to which CI regenerates localities and empowers citizens. In this sense conflict is identified as a productive force, shaping and reshaping both local community and internet projects mobilized in its name. Conflict also draws attention to the contested and mutable relationship that exists in CI between the online spaces that are created and the localities they are set up to serve. It is concluded that conflict and forms of social struggle within communities should form a central part of the developing CI research agenda. http://tc.eserver.org/34651.html http://tc.eserver.org/34651.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/34636.html http://tc.eserver.org/34636.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/34625.html http://tc.eserver.org/34625.html In case you haven’t heard, the STC’s finances are facing crisis proportions. Unless membership stabilizes, it could go out of business in a couple of years. Here are a few recommendations to help solve the problems of the STC. http://tc.eserver.org/34626.html http://tc.eserver.org/34626.html STC represents two conflicting groups: academics and actual business world employees. These are complimentary roles for building theory but they are conflicting for actual execution. http://tc.eserver.org/34627.html http://tc.eserver.org/34627.html As you may have heard, STC is in a financial crisis. According to the board of directors meeting minutes from May 5, 2009, STC must retain membership "for the next year or STC will be out of business in two years." I believe that STC needs to make some significant changes in the following areas. http://tc.eserver.org/34628.html http://tc.eserver.org/34628.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/34629.html http://tc.eserver.org/34629.html As a “young” technical writer, I thought I might share some of my feelings on the STC crisis. First, a little background on me. I knew while I was in college that I wanted to be a technical writer after graduation. I switched to an English major for that purpose, and picked classes that gave me a “technical communication emphasis”. I joined STC while I was in college because I wanted to connect with people in my field. I got a chapter scholarship to attend a regional STC conference, and had a great time meeting people who did for a living what I was studying. http://tc.eserver.org/34519.html http://tc.eserver.org/34519.html There was a time when organizations did offer a value proposition. Once upon a time, there was some prestige attached to being part of a professional organization. Being a member marked you as a professional. The potential was there for membership in an organization to open a more than a few doors. And organizations offered training, courses, information, and even pointers to jobs that you couldn’t find anywhere else. The Web, though, hasn’t just leveled the playing field. The Web has flattened the playing field, paved it over, and moved the goal posts. http://tc.eserver.org/34430.html http://tc.eserver.org/34430.html A podcast interview with Anna Parker Richards, incoming president of the STC Toronto chapter, about their event-driven chapter model, in which they replace regular meetings with periodic all-day events. http://tc.eserver.org/34098.html http://tc.eserver.org/34098.html We’ve all been part of communities since kindergarten, or earlier. Churches, schools, sports teams, and neighborhoods all satisfy basic human desires to interact with others and work toward a common goal. And yet, when these communities are online and we start to think of them as “social sites,” these concepts can suddenly feel foreign. My work in communities (primarily as the editor of community-created magazine JPG) has shown me that different sets of people are usually motivated in similar ways. Most people have an innate need to belong and feel like part of something, and successfully contributing to that something can really reinforce self-worth. Whether you’re at a company such as Yelp working with product reviews, or Threadless working with t-shirts, or in a church group working on an annual recipe book, try some of these methods to nurture great content. http://tc.eserver.org/34101.html http://tc.eserver.org/34101.html Humans can behave in surprising ways when you bring them together. In an information space, a human’s needs are simple and his behavior straightforward. Find. Read. Save. But once you get a bunch of humans together, communicating and collaborating, you can observe both the madness and the wisdom of crowds. http://tc.eserver.org/34043.html http://tc.eserver.org/34043.html I presented a session remotely at the Presentation Camp at Stanford University, California. My session was on “How to engage your audience with Twitter” and I tried to do exactly that during my presentation. Here’s what I learnt from my experience. http://tc.eserver.org/33999.html http://tc.eserver.org/33999.html In this article I’ll showcase some of the current top social news sites, will identify trends and patterns in their designs and suggest some best practices to follow when designing such sites. Let’s begin by looking at four popular social news sites and see how their designs compare. http://tc.eserver.org/33923.html http://tc.eserver.org/33923.html A UX (User Experience) Book Club is a get-together in which people interested in the area of user experience come to discuss a book relevant to the discipline. In keeping with the book-club theme the location would be somewhere like a wine bar or a bookstore. The important thing is that the noise level has to be low, and be able to accommodate a group of 15-30 people. http://tc.eserver.org/33885.html http://tc.eserver.org/33885.html In all, my experiences volunteering in the STC Carolina chapter have been very rewarding. I recommend dipping your toes in the water and trying something out. Email or call someone on the administrative council and ask what needs to be done. Start small. You might be surprised at the return on investment. http://tc.eserver.org/33751.html http://tc.eserver.org/33751.html There’s nothing quite like Twitter. It’s a Web site where you can broadcast very short messages — 140 characters, max — to anyone who’s signed up to receive them. It’s like a cross between a blog and a chat room. http://tc.eserver.org/33712.html http://tc.eserver.org/33712.html Surveys have always been a great way to gauge users' opinions and reactions toward new and existing products and services. With SurveyMonkey, an online survey software program, creating a survey has become a quick and easy way to create useful surveys for a multitude of needs. In this reprint of David Farbey's article, originally published in the January 2006 edition of Forward, the newsletter of the UK Chapter, Farbey gives a step-by-step guide on creating a survey with SurveyMonkey. http://tc.eserver.org/33714.html http://tc.eserver.org/33714.html Innovation is important in any area of life, and STC communities are no exception. Last year, STC Chicago and STC-NIU (Northern Illinois University) combined their strengths to facilitate innovation and to help revive a student chapter. http://tc.eserver.org/33642.html http://tc.eserver.org/33642.html When hundreds of people engage in content-generation and exchange, impressive results can happen — namely, you find a lot of interesting, accurate content. Writer River doesn’t have nearly enough community to be on par with these sites, but it’s a step in the right direction. http://tc.eserver.org/33643.html http://tc.eserver.org/33643.html With the explosion of Web 2.0 come two new kinds of community events: BarCamps and BookSprints. Gentle and Swisher share their experiences with these unconferences. http://tc.eserver.org/33651.html http://tc.eserver.org/33651.html Running a web community can be fun and rewarding, but you’re always reliant on the good faith of your members. So what happens when rogue elements threaten to disrupt, even destroy, the foundations of your virtual society? Derek Powazek has some suggestions http://tc.eserver.org/33631.html http://tc.eserver.org/33631.html Communities are different than audiences in fundamental human ways, not merely technological ones. You cannot simply transform an audience into a community with technology, because they assume very different relationships between the sender and receiver of messages. http://tc.eserver.org/33111.html http://tc.eserver.org/33111.html In this article, the authors argue that online learning conversations need to go beyond the common “information exchange” to a deeper level of interaction in order to help learners build situated knowledge that is useful in their local contexts. The article begins by looking at the commonly-used framework of a Community of Practice (CoP) and in particular, the challenges that designers can expect to encounter when knowledge building moves online, and conversants do not have a shared practice. The authors explain why this is problematic in terms of having insufficient grounding for the conversation and describe how online designers can compensate for the lack of shared practice by providing a common referent. Finally, the authors discuss three considerations that online designers should take into account in crafting a common referent (the richness of representation provided, the domain specificity required, and how the referent is conceptually framed) and explore their implications for both formal and informal learning environments. http://tc.eserver.org/33044.html http://tc.eserver.org/33044.html When you have a small base of users (say, under 10,000), everything has to be perfect to create effective discussion forums. Here are 6 guidelines. http://tc.eserver.org/32701.html http://tc.eserver.org/32701.html In addition to providing a welcoming atmosphere, SIN SIG offers newcomers a jump-start to networking. As a new member, Thuy Vu took advantage of SIN SIG for exactly that purpose. She says, "To have the support and resources of SIN SIG from day one was very valuable to me as a new member. SIN SIG made it much easier to connect with the group and to learn my way around." We've found that the casual SIN SIG meeting with its small group provides an avenue to get to know a few faces and learn about opportunities for involvement without intimidating new people. http://tc.eserver.org/32702.html http://tc.eserver.org/32702.html At this year's Technical Communication Summit, I introduced social networking at Leadership Day by telling those in attendance about Twitter. Some folks already knew about it, but for others, it was a new concept ... letting people know what was going on in real time? Setting up meetings? Getting the A/C fixed in the conference rooms? By the end of the Summit, about 20 people had sent messages, or tweeted, consistently throughout the conference. http://tc.eserver.org/32625.html http://tc.eserver.org/32625.html In An exploration of the internet publishing revolution, I discussed the implications of the increased self-publishing on the web. The discussion covered general concerns and possible impacts of the sudden growth, but not the reasons behind it. What has prompted the expansion of people’s voice on the web? Where have these communities of bloggers and posters come from? Why have they arisen? In this article I intend to find answers to these questions and ask: ‘What makes online communities so popular?’ http://tc.eserver.org/32567.html http://tc.eserver.org/32567.html Many nonprofit early adopters of Facebook set up groups as their organizational hubs because that was the only option. Later, Facebook Pages were introduced and many nonprofits have set these up as their institutional hubs. There has been some discussion in nonprofit forums, blogs, and listservs about the pros and cons of Facebook Pages versus Groups. Below are the notes I've drafted on the topic so far. http://tc.eserver.org/32583.html http://tc.eserver.org/32583.html A community has to be grown wild and organically or it will fail. Control comes with time and growth. The success of a community and its size may vary. The effort may not give expected results but the work still pays off in knowledge and experience. Community members will change and accept different roles and participate in different manners. Being user friendly and being willing to allow change to happen is most important. http://tc.eserver.org/32492.html http://tc.eserver.org/32492.html Here’s a complaint I’ve heard from most of the technical writers I’ve met: “I never get to meet my users.” User input helps us decide what content to include and in what form, and can confirm whether our books are effective. But getting user input can be difficult—at least I thought so, until I discovered a fun way to meet hundreds of users each year. http://tc.eserver.org/32467.html http://tc.eserver.org/32467.html Abuse has made me seriously consider – several times – disabling comments. I’m ambivalent about it. On the one hand it would make writing and publishing much easier. Write something, proofread it, publish. http://tc.eserver.org/32336.html http://tc.eserver.org/32336.html The paper explores the interrelation and differences between the concepts of occupational community, community of practice, online community and social network. It uses as a case study illustration the domain of UK university web site production and specifically a listserv for those involved in it. Different latent occupational communities are explored, and the potential for the listserv to help realize these as an active sense of community is considered. The listserv is not (for most participants) a tight knit community of practice, indeed it fails many criteria for an online community. It is perhaps best conceived as a loose knit network of practice, valued for information, implicit support and for the maintenance of weak ties. Through the analysis the case for using strict definitions of the theoretical concepts is made. http://tc.eserver.org/32285.html http://tc.eserver.org/32285.html Recently there has been some debate between deliberative democrats about whether the internet is leading to the fragmentation of communication into `like-minded' groups.This article is concerned with what is held in common by both sides of the debate: a public sphere model that aims for all-inclusive, consensus seeking rational deliberation that eliminates inter-group 'polarizing' politics. It argues that this understanding of deliberative democracy fails to adequately consider the asymmetries of power through which deliberation and consensus are achieved, the inter-subjective basis of meaning, the centrality of respect for difference in democracy, and the democratic role of `like-minded' deliberative groups. The deliberative public sphere must be rethought to account more fully for these four aspects. The article draws on post-Marxist discourse theory and reconceptualizes the public sphere as a space constituted through discursive contestation.Taking this radicalized norm, it considers what research is needed to understand the democratic implications of the formation of 'like-minded' groups online. http://tc.eserver.org/32158.html http://tc.eserver.org/32158.html To reinvigorate the chapter, former chapter president, Theresa Putkey suggested that the chapter move to a member-driven, online community. Instead of the eight volunteers currently pulling the chapter along, the chapter’s 250 members can set the pace, build momentum, and provide more value than a handful of volunteers are able to provide. http://tc.eserver.org/32000.html http://tc.eserver.org/32000.html The web is a conversation, but not always a productive one. Web discussions too often degenerate into whines, jabs, sour grapes, and one-upmanship. How can we transform discussion forums and comment sections from shooting ranges into arenas of collaboration? http://tc.eserver.org/31964.html http://tc.eserver.org/31964.html You don't have to spend hours making cold calls or squander money on invisible advertisements in order to find new clients. In fact, savvy businesspeople--technical writers included--know the best way to expand your client base is by leveraging the resources you already have. You might ask, "What resources?" Well, pull out your personal address book. This database of contacts--friends, relatives, and co-workers--is a gold mine when prospecting for business. By knowing how and who to ask, you can soon have as much business as you can handle! http://tc.eserver.org/31871.html http://tc.eserver.org/31871.html Most of us who are working as part of a design team in a services company, a product company, or even a design boutique have to live with a generic intranet. In this article, I’ll describe how to leverage your company’s intranet and how to build a community around an intranet for a UX team. http://tc.eserver.org/31852.html http://tc.eserver.org/31852.html There is an aspect of leadership that’s just as important as knowing how to resolve conflicts. That is knowing when and how to listen. If we are leading a chapter or a SIG or a Society-level committee and one of our members raises an issue, we need to listen very carefully to what they have to say. http://tc.eserver.org/31851.html http://tc.eserver.org/31851.html Once you prioritize time for involvement in STC activities, you have good opportunities to show your talents to your peers. Yes, it is scary. The technical communication community is a very difficult audience. But isn't that a fantastic learning opportunity? http://tc.eserver.org/31850.html http://tc.eserver.org/31850.html Using Constant Contact helped us distribute mass emails to (the former Region 4) STC members to promote a regional conference that we held in October 2007. This was a successful and professional-looking campaign. We signed up for a 60 day trial account to evaluate the Constant Contact service. The trial was so successful that our board voted to purchase an account for the NEO STC Community. http://tc.eserver.org/31770.html http://tc.eserver.org/31770.html Over the last few months as I've settled into my new employment arrangement and my STC administrative duties, I've occasionally reflected on my decision to join STC. I can easily see how much of an impact STC membership has had on my personal and professional life. Further, I can easily see how I will continue reaping the numerous rewards associated with membership in this organization. http://tc.eserver.org/31712.html http://tc.eserver.org/31712.html As a manager you may often be faced either with your own need to attend a professional conference or requests by your team members to attend one. Professional conferences can be expensive and not all budget managers understand their importance or the benefits derived by conference attendees. In this article, Mike Doyle discusses how to go about justifying the expense of attending a conference and provides some handy worksheets you can use to do so. http://tc.eserver.org/31675.html http://tc.eserver.org/31675.html The authors report on a 3-year action-research project designed to facilitate public involvement in the planned dredging of a canal and subsequent disposal of the dredged sediments. Their study reveals ways that community members struggle to define the problem and work together as they gather, share, and understand data relevant to that problem. The authors argue that the primary goal of action research related to environmental risk should be to identify and support the strategies used by community members rather than to educate the public. The authors maintain that this approach must be supported by a thorough investigation of basic rhetorical issues (audience, genre, stases, invention), and they illustrate how they used this approach in their study. http://tc.eserver.org/31677.html http://tc.eserver.org/31677.html A cargo cult website is a site that has all the bells and whistles of a dynamic community facing website but might as well be hand coded HTML for all the difference it really makes. The sites that imitate other sites and wonder why they too are not earning billions. A fine example of Cargo Cult CMS is Drupal. It is an overweight and underpowered system that tries to incorporate every kind of template system and every kind of website type in order to summon the gods of cool websites, community or success. http://tc.eserver.org/31650.html http://tc.eserver.org/31650.html This paper presents TCeurope, the European umbrella organization for technical communicators and its activities in the past, including lobbying for technical communication at the European Parliament, formulating a European guideline for usable and safe operating manuals for consumer goods, and formulating a European guidelines for professional education and training of technical communicators in Europe. http://tc.eserver.org/31534.html http://tc.eserver.org/31534.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/31526.html http://tc.eserver.org/31526.html It's no secret that networking is a key factor in career success. And failing to keep an active network can hinder your employment prospects if you suddenly find yourself in the job market with no contacts or references. As a professional communicator, you already know how important connections are. But a network must be continually nurtured, and you may be neglecting yours unintentionally. Here are 10 common networking mistakes and tips to avoid them http://tc.eserver.org/31537.html http://tc.eserver.org/31537.html As Leadership Community Resource (LCR) volunteers, we constantly receive requests to help a community with volunteer burnout. In the worst cases, we have seen entire councils walk away from communities, one volunteer doing all four elected positions, overworked volunteers snapping at each other, and many communities run by officers who have been in the same position for years. We want to help community leaders understand volunteer burnout and provide ways to help prevent it. http://tc.eserver.org/31536.html http://tc.eserver.org/31536.html Good leadership involves a responsibility to the welfare of the group. If you make choices based on popularity, you will avoid making tough decisions. You might even avoid confrontation and, as a result, deserving people may not be rewarded for their accomplishments. Sometimes leaders have to draw a line in the sand and take a stand. http://tc.eserver.org/31419.html http://tc.eserver.org/31419.html Any community—online or off—must start slowly, and be nurtured. You cannot “just add community.” It must be cared for, and hosted; it takes time and people with great communication skills to set the tone and tend the conversation. http://tc.eserver.org/31415.html http://tc.eserver.org/31415.html For the last 19 years, Keith Moore has hosted a conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, called "How Colleges and Universities Can Obtain National (and Regional) Publicity." In a sign of the times, this year's conference included a session in which we focused not on getting into the major mass media, but on the capabilities of the machines that sit on our desktops. In short, we looked at the evolving world of so-called "micro media," tools that are enabling us to create new online communities in ways never before possible. http://tc.eserver.org/31271.html http://tc.eserver.org/31271.html When Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwarz needs to communicate with the world, he doesn’t necessarily call a press conference, issue a press release, or even convene a webinar or videoconference. He blogs. His online diary gives him an unfiltered channel leading to the employees, customers, analysts and resellers who represent the first wave of perception formation regarding important company products and service initiatives. Sun is leading a transformation of the communication profession, as the Web transitions from an information repository to a platform of collaboration and community building. http://tc.eserver.org/31277.html http://tc.eserver.org/31277.html Like most corporations, computer maker Dell offers a pop-up list of countries and regions on its web site. But, look closely between Saudi Arabia and Senegal, and you'll find a country called "Second Life." Click on it and you'll find that it's not a country but a world—of the virtual kind. http://tc.eserver.org/31262.html http://tc.eserver.org/31262.html Did you know that every person you encounter has at least 250 people in his or her personal network? Imagine the possibilities if you were connected to a small percentage of those individuals. Multiply that by the number of friends you have, and you've expanded your networking opportunities exponentially. http://tc.eserver.org/31263.html http://tc.eserver.org/31263.html Many IABC members are hungry to get a seat at the corporate boardroom table. They want to be influencers. If you want to pull up a chair with the "C" level folks, networking is key. Networking is not asking, "Do you have work for me?" Networking is building long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. http://tc.eserver.org/31227.html http://tc.eserver.org/31227.html Technological changes keep happening, and every time a new phenomenon occurs, employers seem to react the same way. Questions that were asked about phones, e-mail, mobile phones and blogs in the workplace are now being asked about online social networks. Why do we keep repeating history? In my view, it’s because we can get so overwhelmed by the possibilities of the tools that we lose focus on the basic functions of communication and how these tools can help us with them. http://tc.eserver.org/31233.html http://tc.eserver.org/31233.html Despite blogs’ potential for creating valuable online communities, many communicators are still uneasy with the blog format. Communicators worry about the possibility of readers posting negative comments and feedback on the company blog. Angry customers leaving stories of poor experiences for all to see or employees submitting bitter public complaints are nightmare scenarios for most communicators. So how should we respond to negative feedback on corporate blogs? The process begins with shifting our perspective to see the risks as opportunities. http://tc.eserver.org/31238.html http://tc.eserver.org/31238.html The online world is abuzz with talk about social networking. With companies such as Facebook seemingly constantly in the news, 2007 has been the year that social networking took its first adolescent steps beyond being the sole purview of, well, adolescents, and started to become a tool that is getting noticed in the business world. But with all the hype out there about online social networking, how can organizations begin to better understand the tangible business impact of their forays into this area? http://tc.eserver.org/31240.html http://tc.eserver.org/31240.html Social media measurement sounds like an inherently good idea. Management likes numbers, and if we can measure it, we can manage it. So, all this new online activity should be easier to understand, once we measure it. There's only one problem: What does social media measurement mean? Like social media itself, it is an evolving term with multiple definitions based on the needs of different constituencies. http://tc.eserver.org/31239.html http://tc.eserver.org/31239.html Let's face it: These are tough times to be a professional communicator. Our audiences have taken the reins of what is indisputably the dominating mass communication medium of our era: the Internet. Web 2.0, characterized by social media applications for peer-to-peer collaboration such as YouTube, MySpace and Wikipedia is challenging all of our basic assumptions as communication practitioners. The astonishing rise of social networking structures and content is in effect challenging the very existence of the traditional corporate communication function. http://tc.eserver.org/31057.html http://tc.eserver.org/31057.html It's important to fully understand the theories of social groups before designing online social networks - find out all you need to know! http://tc.eserver.org/30872.html http://tc.eserver.org/30872.html A dedicated group of industry experts have launched the New Hampshire Usability Professionals' Association (UPA). The goal of the newly formed group is to foster the growth of the user experience community in the Seacoast and Southern New Hampshire regions. The group will provide networking and professional development opportunities for usability professionals and provide an environment for members to exchange information on tips, tools, methodologies, and technologies related to usability. http://tc.eserver.org/30823.html http://tc.eserver.org/30823.html Questions of ethics and conflict can seem far removed from the daily work of user experience (UX) designers who are trying to develop insights into people's needs, understand their outlooks, and design with empathy for their concerns [2]. In fact, the converse is true: When conflicts between businesses and customers--or any groups of stakeholders--remain unresolved, UX practitioners frequently find themselves facing ethical dilemmas, searching for design compromises that satisfy competing camps. This dynamic is the essential pattern by which conflicts in goals and perspectives become ethical concerns for UX designers. Unchecked, it can lead to the creation of unethical experiences that are hostile to users--the very people most designers work hard to benefit--and damaging to the reputations and brand identities of the businesses responsible. http://tc.eserver.org/30775.html http://tc.eserver.org/30775.html In this podcast, I talk with Bill Albing, founder of KeyContent.org, about the impact of social media on technical communication. Bill talks about different ways social media helps audiences interconnect and interact. Good social media technologies enable professionals to collaborate easily, without being encumbered by complicated technology or even burdened by managing and filtering feeds. Bill explains that the web is more than just a venue for publication -- it's a medium that allows people to interconnect and work/collaborate with information. This is the direction we're moving towards, and technical communicators are starting to integrate social media, such as user forums, directly into their help. http://tc.eserver.org/30748.html http://tc.eserver.org/30748.html The Define-a-Thon is a new word game from the editors of The American Heritage Dictionary. The idea is that you can spell a word without knowing its meaning. So why not develop a competition where the contestant has to pick the right word after its definition has been given? http://tc.eserver.org/30747.html http://tc.eserver.org/30747.html Make the meetings fun--after a long day at work, we need to relax. If you can help them relax at the meeting, you are a step ahead. Some chapters use a relaxation technique at the beginning of their meeting. One California chapter president responded on the listserv that he wears a Santa suit at his chapter's December meeting, so don't be afraid to try something new! http://tc.eserver.org/30746.html http://tc.eserver.org/30746.html Thanks to the Orlando Chapter, we now have a program that our volunteers enjoy. Whether or not you decide to do something like this for your community is up to you. But remember this: someone out in the world of STC has tried something. Rely on their expertise. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. http://tc.eserver.org/30749.html http://tc.eserver.org/30749.html In March 2007, the Chicago Chapter STC started a program that has become quite popular with its members. If your community covers a large geographic area, or has a large number of members, this program may work well for you too. http://tc.eserver.org/30740.html http://tc.eserver.org/30740.html Community collaboration has become an influential interorganizational phenomenon that provides innovative solutions for social problems. This critical case study uses dialogic theory to investigate how collaboration stakeholders negotiate creative and democratic outcomes. Findings demonstrate how a dialogic moment, although embedded in a homogenous partnership that facilitated discursive closure, constituted meaningful organizational change. The study empirically extends the theoretical claim that diversity resides in the communication situation and reveals that collaboration practices and stakeholder models are better understood when grounded in dialogic theory. http://tc.eserver.org/30677.html http://tc.eserver.org/30677.html In the age of the people-powered Web, allowing your readers to rate and review content on your site is critical. Discover just how easy it is to add rating and commenting features to a site with Ajax. http://tc.eserver.org/30679.html http://tc.eserver.org/30679.html Web 2.0 repositories can help you create a flexible software architecture, which can easily be plugged into Web 2.0 communities and extranets. Creating a fluid system that also works in accordance with requirements for modifiability, performance, security, scalability, and reusability can be challenging. In this article, learn techniques to help ensure your Enterprise Web 2.0 architecture meets your quality requirements. http://tc.eserver.org/30659.html http://tc.eserver.org/30659.html Learn to build a chat system into your Web application with Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (Ajax) and PHP. Your customers can talk to you and to each other about the content of the site without having to download or install any special instant-messaging software. http://tc.eserver.org/30668.html http://tc.eserver.org/30668.html Encourage user contribution to your Web site by learning from Wikipedia. Wikipedia builds on open source and respects the geographical variety and potential accessibility needs of its users. It provides tools to help users contribute, but also fosters an atmosphere where contributions are verified and discussed by the broader community. http://tc.eserver.org/30592.html http://tc.eserver.org/30592.html Listen to and talk with past and present STC chapter presidents about the positive side of lessons learned in running a chapter. Each panelist will initially address a specific issue that he or she faced as chapter president. Issues vary but will include tips on getting volunteers, learning more about your chapter members, and maybe most importantly, reaping the benefits and joys of chapter leadership. Join this informal discussion and take some new, exciting ideas back to your home chapter. http://tc.eserver.org/30566.html http://tc.eserver.org/30566.html To run a successful STC Employment Information Committee, you need methods for matching job seekers and employers. You need to obtain information on the qualifications of job seekers, find available jobs, and inform employers and job seekers. You also need to advertise your job bank. The job bank for the Lone Star Chapter provides examples of the methods. http://tc.eserver.org/30498.html http://tc.eserver.org/30498.html To improve your chapter meetings, begin by forming a vivid ideal of how you would like the meetings to be. You can realize your dream if you: (1) find out what chapter members want, (2) form an enthusiastic team to do the many tasks involved, (3) publicize meetings beyond your membership list, (4) ensure good presentations, (5) energize the audience for lively meetings, and (6) keep looking for ways to meet your members' wants. For advice and encouragement in doing these things, participate in a support group with leaders of other chapters. http://tc.eserver.org/30504.html http://tc.eserver.org/30504.html As a chapter leader, you work hard towards the goal of getting maximum interest and participation in chapter activities by the chapter membership. But are you on target? Probable accurate answers to this question are 'some times,' 'probably,' 'maybe,' etc. As any of us who have served in an STC chapter leadership role can attest, the fact is that the target is a moving one. What is on target today may not necessarily work tomorrow. And vice-versa. However, there are some 'tricks of the trade' which you can use to help you increase your on-target percentage. Come and interact with a panel of past and present chapter presidents as each shares specific ideas for increasing membership involvement and for tailoring activities to meet the needs of members and potential members. http://tc.eserver.org/30390.html http://tc.eserver.org/30390.html This paper is an explanation of a low-cost and high-fun method used by the Lone Star Chapter to recognize officers and committee managers for their work during the past year. http://tc.eserver.org/30256.html http://tc.eserver.org/30256.html In this podcast, I talk with Svi Ben-Elya about Elephant.org.il. Elephant is an online community he and others created to empower technical communicators in Israel (originally in the city of Yokneam) with relevant salary information to make them more market savvy when they negotiate jobs. http://tc.eserver.org/30213.html http://tc.eserver.org/30213.html Society chapters often involve members who live and work in a very wide geographic area. Even members of chapters with smaller physical areas face long commute times from work sites to meeting sites. Often, the time spent commuting is enough to discourage even the most stalwart Society member from participation. Chapter leaders and committee managers are left with the problem of how to offer their members the means to participate in meetings more effectively. http://tc.eserver.org/30214.html http://tc.eserver.org/30214.html Successful meetings are the end result of a∆ careful planning process. To successfully organize an educational meeting for a community or professional organization, you need to follow a series of steps. http://tc.eserver.org/30215.html http://tc.eserver.org/30215.html One definition of leadership that I like is 'the ability to cause other people to act in desired ways for the benefit of the group.' Those of us who are managers often have the authority to make other people act for the good of a group, but that power doesn't make you a leader--it makes you a boss. The people who choose to follow you decide if they want you as a leader and thus want to achieve the goals of the group. In the long run, folks in a volunteer organization follow a leader because they believe it's in their own best interests to do so. Those interests could be recognition, advanced career possibilities, learning a new skill, altruism, or any number of other personal perks. Good leaders know how to tap into an individual's personal interests and feed those interests so the person both enjoys and gains from helping the group reach a goal. http://tc.eserver.org/30140.html http://tc.eserver.org/30140.html This panel discussion becomes what the audience deems it to be. Each panelist is a past STC chapter president. Issues are audience-dependent but may include topics such as handling volunteers, managing money, recruiting members, and so forth. Join this informal discussion to share ideas, quandaries, and solutions for successfully leading a chapter. http://tc.eserver.org/30121.html http://tc.eserver.org/30121.html The problem with many Web 2.0 applications is the assumption that the community's motives are good, or at least neutral. Perlin's column explores how one of the drawbacks of Web 2.0--potential loss of control over information--has manifested itself. http://tc.eserver.org/30073.html http://tc.eserver.org/30073.html 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 of 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. http://tc.eserver.org/29947.html http://tc.eserver.org/29947.html In order for chapters to stay relevant to their members, they must provide intrinsic value to their members and show themselves as professional and authoritative leaders in the field of technical communication. http://tc.eserver.org/29899.html http://tc.eserver.org/29899.html In 2002, the Orlando Chapter of STC initiated a new competition to encourage local area and employer recognition of excellence in technical communication. In establishing the award, the Orlando Chapter increased its dialog with employers, helped raised the visibility of the profession in the area, honored its founder and its continuing relationship with a local university, and increased its level of service to chapter members. This paper describes the objectives established for the award program, how it was judged, and how the chapter benefited from its creation. http://tc.eserver.org/29674.html http://tc.eserver.org/29674.html The Leadership Community Resource (LCR) is the STC's structure for providing support and guidance to STC communities. The LCR provides volunteer guidance, formal coaching and mentoring in specific leadership areas, support for communities in crisis, and resources for new and prospective leaders including an online Leadership Training course to help build a personal or community leadership plan. http://tc.eserver.org/29675.html http://tc.eserver.org/29675.html Understanding the formation, evolution and utilization of online social networks becomes important. While the Internet contributes to the information overload, it also provides useful tools to effectively manage ones social networks and through them gain access to the right pieces of information. http://tc.eserver.org/29633.html http://tc.eserver.org/29633.html Boston, one of the founding chapters of STC, has a distinguished 50-year record of accomplishments. Boston recently won its third consecutive Chapter of Achievement award. We strive to consistently provide an outstanding level and value of services to our members. http://tc.eserver.org/29643.html http://tc.eserver.org/29643.html STC supports students through scholarships, the honor fraternities, and recognition of student chapter achievements. STC members provide a network for information and contacts for employment. The academic community can strengthen its ties to STC by encouraging students to apply for the awards and recognitions and to take advantage of the network of professionals. http://tc.eserver.org/29649.html http://tc.eserver.org/29649.html This paper describes the remarkable history of the Society's newest Special Interest Group--the AccessAbility SIG--tracing it back to its origins in 1997 as the Special Needs Committee (SNC). The SNC, founded by Judy Skinner, was originally chartered to assist technical communicators with disabilities in the practice of our profession by researching and publicizing assistive technologies and techniques to overcome those limitations. Over its 5-year lifespan, the committee expanded its mission to include a second overarching goal--assisting all technical communicators in developing information products that are fully accessible to end users with disabilities. Its accomplishments included a data-rich yet eye-pleasing online newsletter, an ever-growing comprehensive web site that is becoming a definitive resource on accessibility, and a robust and dynamic listserv. http://tc.eserver.org/30280.html http://tc.eserver.org/30280.html This leadership training workshop is designed to assist new and seasoned STC Chapter leaders with solutions to their chapters' most pressing problems. The agenda of this workshop is determined by the participants. Successful Chapter leaders will facilitate group discussion and roundtable problem-solving sessions. http://tc.eserver.org/29862.html http://tc.eserver.org/29862.html Holding competitions at regional and local levels enhances the value a chapter provides its members. This workshop, designed for chapter leaders and competition managers, provides a practical and well-tested plan for managing the chapter’s annual competition. Attendees will receive a complete package of samples, spreadsheet and document templates, and presentation slides that they can customize for their chapters. http://tc.eserver.org/29688.html http://tc.eserver.org/29688.html Every year, the annual conference offers potential chapter leaders a session entitled 'The Marathon of Chapter Presidency'. They're not kidding. My year as president of STC Montreal was a long, steady, exhausting haul--but a very pleasant one now that I can look back on our achievements. In this paper, I'll pass along tips learned from other presidents and tips I learned while coping with my own duties. Try out as many tips as your time, energy, and volunteers permit! http://tc.eserver.org/29696.html http://tc.eserver.org/29696.html Transformation is part of human evolution, so it is natural that STC is transforming itself through the 'Transformation Initiative.' Similarly, STC members as technical communicators need to transform themselves, or they will no longer be viable in a changing and evolving world. Part of STC's method for the Transformation Initiative, to rely upon internal communities to expedite solutions, is the same method that technical communicators can use to re-create their own niches or move to others. Individual technical communicators are hosts within themselves to a myriad of talents and strengths, with each talent and strength serving as a community. Individually, then, communicators should apply all of their personal communities to themselves. http://tc.eserver.org/29698.html http://tc.eserver.org/29698.html As a chapter President, starting the Transformation process can seem a daunting task. Once you have the committee in place, directing its efforts can leave you with even more questions. Not sure what to do next? Look to the corporate Bingo card to help set your course. While the blocks of the corporate Bingo card generate chuckles, smiles, and even more jokes, it also provides direction, guidance, and some thought-provoking considerations for your chapter's transformation. http://tc.eserver.org/29433.html http://tc.eserver.org/29433.html If you create a community around your Web site, look beyond providing the outer semblances of community: design a site that can potentially work the way each of these very different members of the community wants it to work. http://tc.eserver.org/29427.html http://tc.eserver.org/29427.html A lot of STC chapter and SIG mailings are done the old-fashioned way: envelopes stuffed by hand, and stamped manually or--occasionally--with a stamp machine. That's an awful lot of work, and expensive too. When I confronted this problem a few years back for my current employer, some research revealed a solution that eliminated the annual pressganging of volunteers to stuff envelopes and also saved us a fair bit of money. http://tc.eserver.org/29240.html http://tc.eserver.org/29240.html Although the concept of community has been advanced in technical communication as a moral reference point for civic rhetorical action, this concept is typically used in romantic, redemptive, and essentializing ways. This article argues for a radical and symbolic/rhetorical view of community, regarding it a discursive construct purposefully invoked by technical writers for strategic reasons. http://tc.eserver.org/29132.html http://tc.eserver.org/29132.html Claims about the emergence of a new type of social aggregation--"virtual community"--cover a type of ideological discourse about social interactions. The main cultural resource fueling this ideology is the counterculture and its social project. Virtual community, both as a discursive and as a social practice, is a culmination rather than a resolution of the modern conflict between community and individuality. Presenting virtual community as a panacea for modern social tensions, especially that between individualistic and communitarian ideals, hides from sight not only some of the negative aspects of on-line social life (cliquish behavior and incivility) but also the role played by communication technology in fragmenting modern society. http://tc.eserver.org/29117.html http://tc.eserver.org/29117.html Creating a community history Web site is a way for technical communication practitioners, students, and teachers to improve their expertise while performing a valuable public service. Developers of this kind of Web site combine personal interest in the history and culture of their chosen communities with professional interest in a wide range of skills: for example, online research, Web site design, creation of artwork, photography, graphics editing, collaboration, professional/technical writing, as well as site publication and promotion. Technical communicators working on community history Web sites enjoy creative freedom that makes these projects especially engaging and fun. While learning about subjects of particular interest and improving professional skills, developers gain the satisfaction of trying to help communities increase civic pride and heritage tourism. Also, the technical communication profession benefits when its members demonstrate good citizenship to employers, other constituencies, and the public. http://tc.eserver.org/28977.html http://tc.eserver.org/28977.html After implementing www.stc.org's RSS feed, I decided to develop one for my own chapter's site. I researched RSS, copied an .rss example file, tweaked the code, and was able to successfully implement a chapter RSS feed. http://tc.eserver.org/28808.html http://tc.eserver.org/28808.html A threaded discussion forum for issues of governance of the Society for Technical Communication. http://tc.eserver.org/28767.html http://tc.eserver.org/28767.html In this podcast, Heidi and Tom talk about online communities, member maps, virtual chats, Sparkpeople, Intercom, and more. http://tc.eserver.org/28757.html http://tc.eserver.org/28757.html This paper describes the remarkable history of the Society's newest Special Interest Group--the AccessAbility SIG--tracing it back to its origins in 1997 as the Special Needs Committee (SNC). The SNC, founded by Judy Skinner, was originally chartered to assist technical communicators with disabilities in the practice of our profession by researching and publicizing assistive technologies and techniques to overcome those limitations. Over its 5-year lifespan, the committee expanded its mission to include a second overarching goal--assisting all technical communicators in developing information products that are fully accessible to end users with disabilities. http://tc.eserver.org/28503.html http://tc.eserver.org/28503.html New online participatory tools like blogs, YouTube, and MySpace can be powerful and valuable--if they mesh with your goals. Colin Delany walks through the benefits and costs of common participatory tools and suggests which are likely to be useful for you. http://tc.eserver.org/28424.html http://tc.eserver.org/28424.html A long article describing a future more connected world-wide-web and a few killer applications that it makes possible. http://tc.eserver.org/28376.html http://tc.eserver.org/28376.html 多くのオンライン・システムでは、ユーザの90%は読むだけで自ら書き込むことは決してしない。9%は、ほんの少し書き込みをする。システム上にみられるアクションのほとんどは、残る1%のユーザによるものである。 http://tc.eserver.org/28353.html http://tc.eserver.org/28353.html While anonymity may allow people to feel more free and disinhibited to discuss otherwise embarrassing or stigmatizing topics, it can also be a community's biggest enemy. http://tc.eserver.org/28236.html http://tc.eserver.org/28236.html Online communities can take time to get off the ground. Like small businesses, most fail to thrive due to poor planning and support. John Gladding explains how anyone who can host a great party can start a successful forum. http://tc.eserver.org/28171.html http://tc.eserver.org/28171.html There's a lot of volunteer work that that goes on behind the scenes by chapter members to create value. Today, I'm inviting you to get involved so you can take part in and benefit from creating value. http://tc.eserver.org/28163.html http://tc.eserver.org/28163.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/28158.html http://tc.eserver.org/28158.html An STC conference is a unique type of education that supplements the formal theory and ideology one can learn in school. It is a place to interact with and learn from people with a range of professions, viewpoints, and expertise. It is a place to experience passion and vision for the field as a part of an international community. But most of all, it is a place filled with resources just waiting to be used by the next eager technical communicator. http://tc.eserver.org/28159.html http://tc.eserver.org/28159.html One of the ways that STC chapters can improve their value proposition to present and prospective members is to make available some of the best content that is created by and owned by the chapter members. http://tc.eserver.org/28108.html http://tc.eserver.org/28108.html In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action. Your website's design undoubtedly influences participation inequality for better or worse. Being aware of the problem is the first step to alleviating it, and finding ways to broaden participation will become even more important as the Web's social networking services continue to grow. http://tc.eserver.org/27885.html http://tc.eserver.org/27885.html Collaboration and cooperation - real and virtual - among people with commonality of interests and practices have given rise to e-communities and web-based communities. This paper examines some intra- and inter-community communications and exchanges, other than scholarly and business communications, and the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in this context. With particular reference to rural and marginalized communities, it considers positive aspects of ICT applications, such as acceleration of empowerment, creation of a more level playing field, facilitation of expression of and greater visibility to their needs and 'dreams', and utilization of the tacit 'community knowledge' for the greater welfare of society. It presents a few illustrative cases. It suggests that Knowledge Management (KM) ideas usually applied to enterprises can be extended to cover e-communities taking into consideration some additional parameters or dimensions. http://tc.eserver.org/27737.html http://tc.eserver.org/27737.html Communication between citizens and public officers is a fundamental aspect of public institutions’ planning. It is through an open and clear dialogue that positive public opinion is shaped. Furthermore it is a tool for creating a good reputation and stronger support. Currently the European Union is facing a period of low reputation, scrawny image and poor trust, which have direct influences in EU’s decision making. Different scholars impute this problem to the poor EU communication planning, the so called communication deficit. This paper seeks to examine whether public relations can help to solve the communication deficit of the European Union or not and which challenges public relations profession can open within the European context. Specifically the European societal approach of public relations is considered the essential bond to the European institutions. This study draws on theories and discussion in the fields of European public relations; reflective and educational approaches; a critical analysis of EU information and communication policies; and interviews with EU officers. It is followed by a discussion of the link between public relations’ reflective approach and public organizations, and suggests new interpretations and considerations of this profession within the European institutions.