How to Provide Internet Communication Services  

A new role for technical communicators is providing internet communication services such as web, FTP, and email. These services can enhance communication and collaboration, thereby increasing the quality of our organization and products.

King, Dusty. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>TC>Online

How to Write Effective Mailing List Email

With every passing day, increasing numbers of people are becoming web designers. One of the main forums for communication among web designers, both beginners and experts alike, is the mailing list. Most mailing lists generate a substantial stream of useful, information-laden email, and the good ones enjoy a healthy gift economy. I'm subscribed to a small handful of web-related discussion lists, and the busier ones average 20-40 messages per day. My favorite list contains more useful information in a month's worth of postings than any best selling web design book. Even when I'm not asking or answering a question, I can follow fascinating threads, picking up useful tidbits, and build rich archives of searchable information. When I ask a question, no less than two or three expert answers will appear within a few hours. The people that read lists are often successful designers and busy experts in our field. Yet even the best lists have their share of problems. I could pontificate all day on the nature of interpe

Haughey, Matthew. Digital Web Magazine (1999). Articles>Writing>Online

HTML-Based Help: A Convergence of Two Solutions  

IDX Systems launched two separate HTML-based help authoring efforts simultaneously. The results were two very different HTML-based help solutions. One solution emphasized thorough and complete information while compromising accessibility. The other solution emphasized accessibility while compromising thoroughness and completeness. In both cases, the compromises were forced by the limitations of current web technologies. The two writing efforts have now been merged into one solution that uses HTML, database technology, and Active Server Pages.

Johnson, Wayne and Fritz Garrison. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Hybrid Classes: Maximizing Resources and Student Learning

Hybrid courses are courses in which significant portions of the learning activities have been moved online, a combination of traditional classroom and Internet instruction. Time traditionally spent in the classroom is reduced but not eliminated. The goal of hybrid courses is to join the best features of in-class teaching with the best features of online learning to promote active independent learning and reduce class seat time. Using computer-based technologies, instructors use the hybrid model to redesign some lecture or lab content into new online learning activities, such as case studies, tutorials, self-testing exercises, simulations, and online group collaborations.

Spilka, Rachel. Durham Technical Community College (2002). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Hyperviews Online

News and Information from the Society for Technical Communication's Online Special Interest Group.

STC Online Information SIG. Resources>Information Design>Online>Blogs

"I Sent You the File as Plain Text!" And Other Lies

Procedures for how to send a file as RTF or plain text in the body of an email.

Stieren, Carl. Simware (1998). Articles>Collaboration>Online>Email

Modern Chivalry and the Case for Electronic Texts  

Finding editions of particular literary texts for the purposes of teaching or research has always been a problem for literary scholars. Given the current proliferation of electronic versions of texts available on the World Wide Web, it is tempting to assume that the problem is solved. Yet most professors are reluctant to use these sites and do not often recommend them to students. In reflecting on the reasons for this phenomenon, the most obvious causes seem to stem from questions of authority, design, and a general lack of knowledge concerning what is available and where it can be attained.

McIntire-Strasburg, Janice. TWI (2003). Articles>Publishing>Online

Identity and International Online Communication  

St.Amant discusses the tendency of online communication to obscure a person's identity and suggests ways people can ensure clear communication with individuals of other cultures.

St. Amant, Kirk R. Intercom (2001). Articles>Collaboration>International>Online

Impact of Multimedia on Online Documentation  

Multimedia is commonplace in entertainment and the Internet is proliferating the use of multimedia in electronic materials. Online documentation has traditionally been composed of text and some graphics. The proliferation of Intranets and online documentation is pushing the acceptance of multimedia in reference and procedural materials like Help. However, there is little research on the value of multimedia in online documentation nor its effective use.This paper describes an exploratory study done for a Master of Information Science thesis to determine the impact of multimedia on online documentation.

Rockley, Ann. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Documentation>Online>Multimedia

The Impact of Social Media on Technical Communication

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.

Albing, Bill and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>TC>Community Building>Online

The Impact of the Internet and Digital Technologies on Teaching and Research in Technical Communication    

Technical communication practices have been changed dramatically by the increasingly ubiquitous nature of digital technologies. Yet, while those who work in the profession have been living through this dramatic change, our academic discipline has been moving at a slower pace, at times appearing quite unsure about how to proceed. This article focuses on the following three areas of opportunity for change in our discipline in relation to digital technologies: access and expectations, scholarship and community building, and accountability and partnering.

Gurak, Laura J. and Ann Hill Duin. Technical Communication Quarterly (2004). Articles>TC>Multimedia>Online

The Impact of Web-Based Learning Supplements on Engineering Students in India: A Study with Audio-visual Aids    

The incorporation of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in the teaching-learning process of technical education programs in Indian universities is a relatively recent and gradual phenomenon. Most technical education colleges in the country still follow the traditional classroom and blackboard oriented teaching approach. This study, conducted on a group of engineering students at Agra, India, evaluated the impact of using web-based audio-visual study aids alongside (and as a supplement to) the traditional classroom teaching methodology and observed a substantial improvement in the students' academic performance.

Sinha, Madhulika. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Education>Engineering>Online

Imparting Values to the Peer Review Process    

Writing is popularly believed to be a spontaneous exercise. Often it is, but one cannot sustain oneself as a writer of merit, as a writer whose works will live on, without quality. Quality control--who could disagree with that? Whatever we write needs to be freed from both paper and its production costs, but not from peer review, whose 'invisible hand' is what maintains its quality. Peer review is educative, informative, enlightening. Peer review invests you with the confidence that eggs you on to keep writing. Peer review offers you the credibility you seek in the writing market, from editors, publishers, agents and readers. Peer review lends respect to your writing, and with time, to your by-line.

Aiyyangar, Ramesh. International Journal for Technical Communication (2006). Articles>Publishing>Online

Implementing Help Systems for Java Applications  

Technical communicators are facing a revolution in how we develop online help for software applications. No where is this more apparent than in the development of help systems for applications written in Java. Sun Microsystems, Inc., expects to roll out JavaHelp in the early part of 1998. Until JavaHelp arrives, technical communicators will have to find creative ways to implement HTML help systems for Java applications. The best news is that we have some standards to follow, like HTML, and some methods for browsing HTML help today. The key is to develop scalable help systems designed with the future in mind. This paper discusses some ways you can create HTML help content that works with your applications today and tomorrow.

Colvin, Richard D. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Implementing On-Screen Editing  

On-screen editing offers obvious advantages over paper editing, including greater accuracy, shorter turnaround times, and improved consistency. Because authors don’t have to retype handwritten edits, there’s less risk of misreading or missing corrections. Moreover, the edits have already been typed and spellchecked, so no new typos are introduced. Most editors can also enter corrections faster with a keyboard than with a pen, particularly when complex edits require restructuring of the document or extensive rewording, and eliminating the retyping phase further reduces turnaround times. Last but not least, using the search tools makes it easier to achieve consistency in long or complex documents.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2004). Articles>Editing>Online

Implementing the Online Classroom: Curriculum Development, Tutoring, and Teaching Initiatives  

Three facets of implementing the online classroom at University of Maryland University College have yielded promising results. The first facet, Curriculum Development, involved remaking a popular writing course. Humanities 390, Writing for Managers, was redesigned for online delivery with a new Course Guide, a revised syllabus, and new assignments, activities, and presentation strategies. The second facet, Tutoring, was realized in a project to match student users with online tutors for basic writing instruction. The third facet, Teaching, has provided training and support for online faculty -- including computer conferencing on Writing and faculty workshops for 'going online.'

Burke, Kathleen M. and Susan Nickens. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Education>Online

In Defense of Print

The reduced reading speed on computers can be compensated by good hypertext design that allows the user to read less information and to find it faster. A typical example is online help and documentation: because the information is right there on the computer, there is no need to spend time finding the hardcopy manual, and because of good search tools and hypertext links between related information, users can go directly to the one or two sections that contain the answer to their problem. After all, Nielsen's first law of computer documentation is that users don't read it. The second law is that if they read it anyway, it's because they are in deep trouble and need the answer to a specific problem. Thus, somebody reading a manual won't really read it cover-to-cover, so online presentation makes perfect sense.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1996). Articles>Documentation>Online>Usability

In Google We Trust?  

Trust, authority, and reputation are central to scholarly publishing, but the trust model of the Internet is almost antithetical to the trust model of academia. Publishers have been so preoccupied with the brute mechanics of moving content to the online world that they have virtually ignored the challenge that the Internet trust model poses to the scholarly publisher. Publishers can learn much about approaches to handling Internet trust from the actions of major online players outside the publishing industry. Publishers should also benefit from watching the trust models that are being experimented with in the nascent realm of social software applications. Publishers once led the way in establishing the apparatus of trust during the transition from manuscript to print culture in early modern Europe. Ultimately, publishers should again take the lead in helping to establish new mechanisms of trust in what could reasonably be described as 'the early modern Internet.'

Bilder, Geoffrey. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2006). Articles>Publishing>Online>Search

Independent Publishing is Growing Up

It can be said that the first year you publish an independent web zine you are in the process of learning the concept of the independent web. There is no one definition that could incapsulate what is and what isn't the indepenedent web other than the independent web is free. Free from commercialization. Free from censorship. Free from politics. Free from the boxes that we can find ourselves working our day jobs. The independent web movement is about everything we can't do elsewhere. What we can't do at our day jobs, we do on the web. What we can't do in our country, we do on the web. What we can't express elsewhere, we express on the web. We do it by ourselves for ourselves. It's our sandbox and it is our right to express ourselves not just as citizens of a country but as human beings as individuals.

Finck, Nick. Digital Web Magazine (2002). Articles>Publishing>Online

Indexing America Online (Part One)  

Indexing America Online was the most absurdly daunting project I had ever faced. This article is the story of that contract.

Maislin, Seth A. STC Indexing SIG (1998). Articles>Indexing>Online>Search

Indexing America Online (Part Two)  

To deal with AOL's size, I contracted others to help me with 'the dirty work' of typing search words in the database records. At the height of the project, four people worked in a large room at open desks. Although I was in charge of the project, most of the nitty gritty was accomplished by two other individuals. Following my lead, they reviewed each of the AOL pages, decided the important concepts of each area, and chose representative vocabulary. With their assistance and the involvement of several Songline employ- ees, the project took under one year, from the initial planning stages through testing, review, and summary. In theory, then, AOL's size could be conquered by allowing enough time to complete the project and contracting enough indexers to do the work.

Maislin, Seth A. STC Indexing SIG (1998). Articles>Indexing>Online>Search

Indexing Online Help  

In order to make a help system really helpful, you need to provide an effective index. But many online help writers face two dilemmas when it's time to index their help systems: How to prepare a useful index that meets the users' needs and how to code the keywords to make the index compile correctly. This article provides tips to help writers solve both problems.

Hamilton, Beth. STC Indexing SIG (1999). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Indexing Online Information    

Online indexing has great potential as a tool for information retrieval, although current online indexes are not always well used. Research and experience indicate that online indexing can be most effective if it is approached as a combination of traditional indexing and using computer search capabilities. Typical search facilities have great power but tend to rely on complex algorithms or else retrieve more information than users can effectively sort through. Traditional indexing techniques serve as a filter for concepts to limit searches to information that users will actually find valuable. To take full advantage of search facilities, online indexes can be designed with a flat (nonhierarchical) structure in which each index entry is clearly worded and makes use of keywords from the subject matter. Indexers can include additional keywords as synonyms that point to the relevant index entries. When indexers take advantage of these concepts and when index users clearly understand what to expect from online indexes, the the indexes become an extremely powerful retrieval medium.

Earle, Ralph, Robert R. Berry and Michelle Corbin Nichols. Technical Communication Online (1996). Articles>Indexing>Online

Indexing Online: The New Face of an Old Art

What happens to a book index when you remove the page numbers? It's called 'indexing online.'

Maislin, Seth A. Hyperviews Online (1999). Articles>Indexing>Online

Indicating Changed Text in Help Files

There are still many circumstances when drawing a user's attention to changed text is important. How do we do that with Help systems? By borrowing techniques from paper manuals, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. So here's a good approach that will work for Microsoft Word-based HATs.

Self, Tony. HyperWrite (2004). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help