STC Toronto’s New Five-and-Five Chapter Model

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.

Johnson, Tom H. and Anna Parker Richards. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>Podcasts

Dinosaurs, Gazelles, and the Need (or Not) for Organizations

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.

Nesbitt, Scott. DMN Communications (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Lifelines to the STC

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.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

In Which I Comment on the STC Issue

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.

Anderson, Keith. MK Anderson (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Whither STC?

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.

O'Keefe, Sarah S. Palimpsest (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Does the STC Deserve to Survive?

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.

Farbey, David. Blockhead Blog, The (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

The STC Crisis: The Take of a "Young" Writer

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.

Pehrson, Paul. Technically Speaking (2009). Organizations>TC>Community Building>STC

STC Floundering?

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.

Soltsys, Keith. Core Dump (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Bye Bye STC

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.

McLean, Gordon. One Man Writes (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Community Informatics, Local Community and Conflict: Investigating Under-Researched Elements of a Developing Field of Study    

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.

Goodwin, Ian. Convergence (2008). Articles>Web Design>Community Building>Social Networking

Tragedy of the Commons

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.

Gentle, Anne. Just Write Click (2009). Articles>Web Design>Community Building>Social Networking

An Embarrassing Little Secret

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.

Potts, Rachel. Communication Cloud (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building

The Power and Peril of Online Communities

Community is discussions, people, passion, alignment, emergent, support, connections, and relationships.

Happe, Rachel. SlideShare (2009). Presentations>Web Design>Community Building>Online

Learn How Much You Don’t Know

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.

Mueller, Paul. Answers for All (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>Collaboration

STC: Help the Communities Provide Value

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.

Minson, Benjamin. Gryphon Mountain (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Long-Tail User Experience: How to Cultivate (or Dissolve) a Community

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?

Maier, Andrew. UX Booth (2009). Articles>Web Design>Community Building>Social Networking

Tom Sawyer: A Crowdsourcing Pioneer?

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?

Orr Priebe, Shelly. TC World (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building

The Growing Sector of Technical Communication in India

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.

Ramamurthy, Ramesh. TC World (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>India

Reverse Engineering SIGs

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.

Hughes, Michael A. User Assistance (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC