Taking Risks with a New Online Help Tool

Some might not think that converting FrameMaker content into online help and user documentation would involve taking risks. In this article, we tell our story of what risks were involved with one of my recent projects, how we overcame them, and what benefits we reaped by using state-of-the-art technology.

Grissino, Ann-Marie and Rebecca McMurry. Carolina Communique (2007). Articles>Documentation>Online>RoboHelp

Talking Without Speaking: the Pleasures and Perils of Instant Messaging

Let’s face it, the honeymoon between you and your inbox is over. Finished. As spam and e-mail-borne viruses comprise a staggering 70 percent of all e-mail traffic worldwide, it is clear that we are all at our wit’s end. As our frustration with unsolicited e-mail has skyrocketed, our attention span for reading legitimate e-mails has plummeted. So what’s a conscientious e-communicator to do? As anyone in this business can tell you, silence is not an option. While there currently is no silver bullet to solve the growing e-mail problem, one technology that provides an alternative is instant messaging.

Hall, Chris. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Communication>Online>Instant Messaging

Taming a Telecommuting Team  

“Telecommuting” includes situations where members of a group (department, team, other) are working in different locations, communicating with each other and with clients by phone, fax, and e-mail. The team may be dispersed through an urban area, nationally, or internationally. Telecommuting has advantages and disadvantages over the traditional centralized working group and presents new challenges to management and staff As a team leader of telecommuting technical writers on software development projects, I have dealt with many of these Issues. In this discussion I cover some of the advantages and disadvantages and some principles and rules of successful telecommuting teams.

Weber, Jean Hollis. STC Proceedings (1996). Presentations>Management>Collaboration>Online

Teaching a Distance Education Version of the Technical Communication Service Course: Timesaving Strategies    

The author has taught a distance education version of the undergraduate technical communication service course at Boise State University since 1997 and shares the strategies he has found to decrease the time instructors spend teaching online, thereby enabling them to use the time they do have to enhance their students' online experience. These strategies are distributed among four areas: management of collaboration, presentation of course material, grading, and interaction with students. For each one, the author presents the problems that may occur and approaches to resolving them. The article addresses a number of concerns expressed in the scholarly literature on distance education and is informed by surveys given to five sections of the author's course taught between 2001 and 2003. Interspersed through the article is an overview of some of the current research and commentary on distance education of particular interest to those teaching the technical communication service course via the Internet.

Battalio, John T. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2006). Articles>TC>Education>Online

Teaching as Performance in the Electronic Classroom  

New developments in online educational technology have a profound effect on notions of intellectual property. Theories of the social construction of technology explain the extremely unstable nature of new technologies. Walter Ong’s theory of the alphabet effect provides insight into the ways in which knowledge changes as media of communication change. Shoshana Zuboff’s ideas on how managerial knowledge is transformed by technology help us understand how certain kinds of knowledge resist being textualized. These ideas help us understand the effects of new teaching technologies in terms of a long–standing struggle between two views of knowledge: knowledge as performance and knowledge as thing.

Brent, Doug. First Monday (2005). Articles>Education>Online

Teaching Online Workspace Collaboration  

This article provides a review and analysis of asynchronous chat sessions used by students to produce a collaborative formal proposal in an undergraduate technical communication service course at Bowling Green State University. The author/investigator reviewed archived chat sessions of the two most successful student groups and compared their experience to the conclusions drawn by a previous study on collaborative writing in the virtual classroom. The current study represents an initial exploratory attempt to replicate and/or refute the results of the prior study.

Edminster, Jude R. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Education>Collaboration>Online

Teaching Professional Writing Online with Electronic Peer Response  

For primarily practical reasons, professional writing courses are increasingly being taught totally or partly online. These practical reasons concern me because I do not believe that a pedagogical practice whose benefits are being actively debated by scholars, such as online education, should be utilized only or primarily because it is seen as a way of saving or making money. However, online education is one pedagogical practice that, I believe, has great potential to improve writing. A year-and-a-half ago, I taught several partly online sections of my professional writing course, and I discovered that a strategy valuable in my traditional sections became invaluable in my online sections: electronic peer response.

Tannacito, Terry. Kairos (2001). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Teaching Revision of Technical Documents in the Computer-Assisted Writing Classroom: Exercises, Research, and a Selectively Annotated Bibliography  

Reviews of the literature have shown that academics and practicing editors and writers differ in their view of the editing and revision processes; furthermore, research (in progress) suggests that authors of technical writing texts have been slow to incorporate a process model of writing and revision into their texts, especially a model making full use of advances in computer-assisted writing. This demonstration is an attempt to improve teachers’ and trainers’ abilities to teach revision in a computer-assisted writing environment.

Nerd, Roland D. and Michelle J. Moosally. STC Proceedings (1993). Resources>Bibliographies>Editing>Online

Teaching Technical Communication at a Distance  

Satellite education can be rewarding for both on-campus and satellite students. However, teaching in this setting places considerable demands on the instructor. Course planning, preparation, and delivery require more time and effort. When this is done optimally, the benefits to students outweigh the demands on faculty.

Krull, Robert. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Education>Online

Teaching Writing at a Distance: Avoiding Lecture, Fostering Interaction  

This panel segment focuses on lessons learned from teaching technical writing via Interactive Compressed Video ([C V). Although ICV has limitations, its two-way audio and video have distinct advantages, especially when combined with document cameras at each site. With some ingenuity, the discussions, hands-on exercises, workshops, and individualized coaching that are the mainstay of writing instruction can be adapted for teaching at a distance.

Farrell, Kathleen L. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Education>Online>Writing

Teaching Writing, Grammar and Editing Skills On-Line  

Universities are rapidly expanding their asynchronous course offerings in order to meet the demands of the adult learner. Nowhere is the asynchronous learning environment more useful then when teaching writing and editing skills. One such on line course was developed at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. The course, COMM 1002-Media Writing, uses the virtual classroom, threaded discussion and peer editing techniques to maintain student connectivity. The course also provides a number of testing/quizzing platforms to allow students to increase their grammar and vocabulary skills at an individual pace thus decreasing student anxiety about professional writing.

Cranford, Christine L. and Christine R. Russell. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Online

Tech Community

A resource website for teachers, students, and practitioners of technical communication. At this site, you can find information about exciting current events in the worlds of science, technology, and health. You can find information to help you study, teach or practice technical communication. We've designed TechCommunity as a focal point, as a gathering place, and as a resource for people involved in technical communication. And if you just want to explore and find out more about this exciting, rapidly growing field, take a look around. At this site, you'll also find information on Allyn & Bacon's series of technical communication books.

Allyn and Bacon (1998). Resources>TC>Online

A Techne for Artful Choices in Digital Writing  

The techne I envision for digital production deliberately makes things more difficult for designer users, whether they are teachers or students. This is a hard sell, particularly to teachers who feel intimidated enough by technology of the consumer ease variety. But we should remember that rhetoric, unless it takes the form of a Mad-Lib, is not easy. A techne of digital production is an effort to remove the disproportionality between effort and consequences: only when we earn the knowledge of production from a designer user standpoint can we more fully take responsibility for what we do with it. Digital writers must do the hard work of fashioning their content into a sound structure, developing unique presentational designs, and considering audience interaction with their finished works.

Stolley, Karl. Purdue University (2006). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric>Online

Technical and Scientific Communicators as Infopreneurs  

The technology trend for the future can be summed up in four words: instantaneous global information access. Advances in communications (wireless and electronic) and microprocessor technology will be responsible for the majority of this technology trend. The demand for immediate access to information from and to anywhere in the world will create a need for people with the requisite skills to design, develop and/or locate, and disseminate that information in as many formats as possible. To compete in this increasingly specialized information universe, technical and scientific communicators, information architects, and interactive information systems designers must expand their view of what they do to encompass the idea of 'infopreneuring' and see themselves as infopreneurs.

LeVie, Donald S., Jr. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>TC>Online

Technical Aspect of Next Generation Digital Library Project

Digital libraries are one of the central and most compelling applications for the 21st century's highly information-based societies. The development of such system needs three kind of technologies. First one is a system architecture that defines overall system structure and provides common services and interfaces. Second one is individual technologies that include search technology, retrieval technology, contents entry technology and so on. Third one is an integration technology that enables to combine individual technology as a system on the system architecture. The system architecture that plays a central role should be designed to have a interoperability to the international standards and de fact standards. Because digital libraries have to be open and inter-connectable.

Mukaiyama, Hiroshi. ISRDP in Digital Libraries (1997). Articles>Publishing>Online

Technical Communication

This web site is one of the online resources for English 271 students at MSU, Mankato. In addition, the instructor uses the gradebook feature in Ucompass Educator, our university's e-learning platform.

Tesdell, Lee S. Minnesota State University, Mankato (2003). Academic>Courses>Online>Technical Writing

Technical Communication and Distance Education: What’s Being Done, Where We Can Go  

Distance education (DE) is a growing national trend, with courses and enrollments nearly doubling between 1994-5 and 1997-8. Technical communication practitioners and departments should take advantage of the benefits DE offers, including geographical and chronological access, integration of learning space and working space, and less time spent in lecture and more time responding to work or more time studying. Currently, technical communication education departments offer classes, certificates, and degrees via distance, varying from one undergraduate introductory class to 36-credit Master’s degrees. Future directions might include more programs to accommodate students, concentrations such as cross-cultural communication, and shorter courses to accommodate specific needs.

Eaton, Angela. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Technical Communication in Cyberspace    

This introduction to a special issue of Technical Communication focuses on how the profession is functioning in cyberspace. It represents a range of topics: teaching about the Internet and via the Internet; working within organizational constraints; thinking rhetorically when creating a Web page; and remembering the international issues inherent in using the Internet. The technology, as this special issue illustrates, has great potential, and we should keep our eyes open for the possibilities and promises of teaching and practicing technical communication in cyberspace.

Gurak, Laura J. and Christine M. Silker. Technical Communication Online (1996). Articles>TC>Online

Technical Communication on the Web: A Profile of Learners and Learning Environments      

The number and variety of distance education courses have increased dramatically in recent years with the advent of new delivery technologies. Third-generation distance delivery methods such as interactive, Web-based instruction also have led to new levels of access for students. This article presents demographic information about students taking online courses at two institutions. In addition, it discusses some of the changes in learning environments that may accompany the move to the virtual classroom. Finally, it points out some potential problems in delivering courses with new technologies.

Schneider, Suzanne P. and Clark G. Germann. Technical Communication Quarterly (1999). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Technical Communicators and Online Help: The Developers' and Users' Perspectives    

Who is writing online help, technical communicators or developers? This was one question explored through recent Australian research. This is an important question for technical communicators because while communication of technical information is acknowledged to be an area of expertise of technical communicators many computer systems are delivered with online help written by someone not trained or experienced in the area of writing. Recent Australian research, conducted by the author as part of a PhD thesis, examined the roles of technical communicators in the design and development of information systems, including the role of writing online help. The research sought the views of developers, users and technical communicators. One aspect of the research explored the contribution of technical communicators to the development of online help. The results strongly demonstrate that the usability of online help is affected by who writes it.

Fisher, Julie L. Technical Communication Online (1999). Design>Information Design>Online

Technical Editing and Online Information: Features, Formatting and Friendliness  

Editing online information requires technical editors to modify their editing practices and become more involved in the information-design process.

Porter, Lynnette R. and William O. Coggin. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Editing>Online

Technical Writing Taught Over the Internet

Is it possible? Can a writing course be delivered effectively from a distance, without interaction from an instructor? It’s not easy, but we think it can. In fact we are well into developing an online course which is entirely self-evaluated.

Moretto, Lisa A. TC-FORUM (2001). Articles>Education>Online

Technocrats-me Networks Mailing List

Technocrats-me is a group that was organized on 17th July 2004, for communication professionals and writers all over the world. The organization started its mailing list and discussions on the online group, because the community for communication is in a mounting stage, and anyone can access the new changes very fast via internet and the wireless communication systems. For more details visit www.technocrats-me.org

Kumar, Santhosh. Technocrats (2004). Resources>Mailing Lists>Online

The Technological Challenges of Digital Reference    

Much has been written about the various tools for digital reference, technical issues associated with their implementation, and the potential for these tools to reach new patrons. In this article, the author focuses on the need to understand the technical environment within which digital reference occurs, from issues of patron definition and access, to the role of cooperative relationships and networks in meeting the shared needs of librarians and patrons. The author provides an overview of today's reference environment along with data and practical examples from services like QuestionPoint™, the Library of Congress, and Ask Joan of Art® to demonstrate the importance and effect understanding audiences, appropriately using technology, and working cooperatively can have for libraries in digital reference.

Penka, Jeffrey T. D-Lib Magazine (2003). Articles>TC>Online