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

More Thoughts on Grassroots Documentation  

I thought technical communicators could use grassroots documentation to measure the effectiveness of their in-house documentation. I've since learned that grassroots documentation is already in play—though not in the way I expected.

Martin, Maurice. Intercom (2004). Articles>Documentation>Community Building

Moving a Community to the Web: Creating Hyperviews: Online  

This panel discusses the issues involved in creating Hyperviews: Online, the web-based newsletter for the STC Online Information Special Interest Group (SIG). The panel explores why Hyperviews, the hardcopy newsletter for the Online Information SIG, was moved to the web and the design decisions the editorial staff made to accomplish the move. The panel also discusses what tools and methods they used, what worked and what didn’t, as well as future directions for Hyperviews. The panel includes the Online Information SIG manager, newsletter editor, and newsletter assistant editor. The panel will also encourage feedback and brainstorming from the Online Information SIG community it serves.

Bledsoe, Bill, Karen Mobley and Scott DeLoach. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Web Design>Community Building

Moving Toward Knowledge-Building Communities in Health Information Website Design

In this paper, we describe our work with the Arthritis Source website and our efforts to develop a community of learners in that context. We argue that given proper architectural support, efforts to listen to learners can effectively foster collaboration between the authors of an informational web site and its users and help community building among its users through a dynamic knowledge base.

Turns, Jennifer, Kristina Liu and Tracey S. Wagner. Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (2002). Articles>Web Design>Community Building

Moving Toward Knowledge-Building Communities in Informational Web Site Design    

In this article, we describe how a knowledge-building community perspective can lead to a framework for designing an informational Web site. We illustrate the framework through our work on the Arthritis source, an informational Web site helping users acquire information about arthritis. The resulting framework provides one means of addressing challenges that arise in the design and development of such informational Web sites.

Turns, Jennifer, Tracey Wagner and Kristen Shuyler. Technical Communication Online (2005). Articles>Web Design>Community Building

My Other Job  

Michael Whitman describes his experience volunteering for a community service project.

Whitman, Michael. Intercom (2000). Articles>Writing>Community Building>Volunteering

Narrativity and Professional Communication: Folktales and Community Meaning    

Narrative has been neglected in the education of professionals. The persuasive power of narrative is essential to all the sense-making activities that govern the lives of professionals, for in sense making, they are regularly using narrative. The central example here is the O. J. Simpson legal defense that was organized within the narrative frame of Simpson's story. The authors compare his story with a famous Norwegian folktale to illustrate the role narratives play in amplifying the values of a community. Using Propp's structural analysis of the folktale, they deconstruct the Simpson trial, which reveals implications of the narrative paradigm for the professional.

Kelly, Christine and Michele Zak. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1999). Articles>Business Communication>Community Building

Network Your Way to a Seat at the Table

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.

Susman, Karen. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building

Networking that Works

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

Networking Your Way to Success

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!

Chroust Ehmann, Lain. TECHWR-L (2008). Articles>TC>Community Building>Collaboration

Networking? or NOTworking?

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

New Hampshire Usability Professionals' Association Launches On Seacoast

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.

Whalen, Kelly. Usability Professionals Association (2008). Articles>Usability>Community Building>New England

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

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

Online Communities for User Assistance Professionals

Online communities have become a very valuable source of assistance for answering questions unique to our industry. This article provides an introduction to online communities and describes how to access a few of the most useful sites.

Martin, Chuck. WritersUA (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>Help

Online Communities, Member Maps, Virtual Chats, Sparkpeople, Intercom, and More

In this podcast, Heidi and Tom talk about online communities, member maps, virtual chats, Sparkpeople, Intercom, and more.

Johnson, Tom H. and Heidi Hansen. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>TC>Community Building>Online

Parody Blogging and the Call of the Real

If the problem with American public discourse is lack of access, then the blogsphere will do much to improve it. If, however, the problem is how people participate, if there is already too much stance-taking and not enough argumentation, the blogsphere will simply give more people easier access to a form of public discourse which actually has limited benefit.

Roberts-Miller, Trish. Into the Blogosphere (2004). Articles>Writing>Community Building>Blogging

Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute

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.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Design>Web Design>Community Building

Planet Blog: Bringing Development Communities Together

Explains how RSS feeds from weblogs can be aggregated to enhance communication among groups of software developers, and how XML/RDF can be used to describe multiple communities.

Dumbill, Edd. IBM (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>Blogging

Planet Photoshop Community

Threaded discussion forums for people working in digital image editing.

Planet Photoshop. Resources>Graphic Design>Community Building>Adobe Photoshop

Power from the People: Assessing the New Online Participatory Tools for Your Organization

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.

Delany, Colin. IdealWare (2006). Articles>Content Management>Community Building

Producing A Winning Newsletter  

This workshop explores all the principles of newsletter creation--design, production, editing--with special emphasis on creating winning STC chapter newsletters.

McWilliams Johnson, Mary. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Publishing>Community Building>Newsletters

The Public Relations of the European Union: New Challenges in a More Integrated Europe  

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.

Valentini, Chiara. Chiara Valentini Communication Management (2006). Articles>Communication>Community Building>Government

Publishing a Project Weblog

Running a project Weblog is a great way to collect, organize, and publish the documents and discussions that are the lifeblood of the project and to shape these raw materials into a coherent narrative. The serial nature of the Weblog helps you make it the project's newspaper of record. This kind of storytelling can become a powerful way to focus the attention of a group. The desire to listen to a compelling story and find out what happens next is a deep human instinct.

Udell, Jon. InfoWorld (2003). Articles>Project Management>Community Building>Blogging