Have Chapter Meetings that Members Love to Attend!  

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.

Dean, Morris. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Helping Each Other into the Future

About 50 NY Metro chapter members and friends gathered at the Parsippany Hilton on Thursday, April 11, to glimpse the immediate future in the world of Web development and online help. The result was a lively meeting with five simultaneous conversations on different aspects of help.

Parker, Anne Kennison. MetroVoice (2002). Articles>TC>Planning

HelpScribe Technical Writing

HelpScribe Technical Communication offers tips on writing technical manuals, help authoring, software documentation, and managing a TC career.

HelpScribe (2008). Resources>TC>Technical Writing>Blogs

Herbert Spencer's Philosophy of Style: Conserving Mental Energy    

My article traces the development, chronicles the impact, and explains the essence of Herbert Spencer's "The Philosophy of Style" (1852). Spencer's essay has had a significant influence on stylistics, especially in scientific and technical communication. Although in our generation Spencer's contribution to stylistics is not widely remembered, it ought to be. His single essay on this subject was seminal to modern theories about effective communication, not because it introduced new knowledge but because it was such a rhetorically astute synthesis of stylistic lore, designed to connect traditional rhetorical theory with 19th-century ideas about science, technology, and evolution. It was also influential because it was part of Spencer's grand "synthetic philosophy," a prodigious body of books and essays that made him one of the most prominent thinkers of his time. Spencer's "Philosophy of Style" carried the day, and many following decades, with its description of the human mind as a symbol-processing machine, with its description of cognitive and affective dimensions of communication, and with its scientifically considered distillation of the fundamental components of effective style. We should read Spencer's essay and understand its impact not so much because we expect it to teach us new things about good style, but precisely because: 1) it's at the root of some very important concepts now familiar to us; 2) it synthesizes these concepts so impressively; 3) we can use it heuristically as we continue thinking about style; and 4) it provides a compact, accessible touchstone for exploring--with students, clients, and colleagues--the techniques of effective style for scientific and technical communication. Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler [1, p. 314]. . . . the fewer the words are, provided neither propriety nor perspicuity be violated, the expression is always the more vivid [2, p. 333]. However influential the precepts thus dogmatically expressed, they would be much more influential if reduced to something like scientific ordination. In this as in other cases, conviction is strengthened when we understand the why [3, pp. 2-3]. The psychology of language reception is still very imperfectly understood [4, p. 77].

Hirst, Russel. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2004). Articles>TC>Theory>History

The Hidden Costs of Offshore Outsourcing

The current stampede toward offshore outsourcing should come as no surprise. For months now, the business press has been regurgitating claims from offshore vendors that IT work costing $100 an hour in the United States can be done for $20 an hour in Bangalore or Beijing. If those figures sound too good to be true, that's because they are.

Overby, Stephanie. CIO Magazine (2003). Careers>TC>Outsourcing>Offshoring

High-Tech Communication from Finland

Technical communication is still quite a young field in Finland, and only a few people have been in the field for more than a decade. The average age of a Finnish technical communicator is probably around 30, and most of us have four or five years’ experience and an academic background in languages. Estimates of how many technical communicators there are in Finland are hard to come by, but our guesstimate would be anything from 500 to 1000 (and growing). Even though most of us speak Finnish as our native language, English is the main language of technical communication, since most of the products are exported. Localizability is one of the key elements in Finnish technical communication.

Lahti, Maria. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>TC>Regional>Scandinavia

Hiring Contract Technical Writers

When you finally get the approval to hire a contract technical writer you'll want to go about it the right way in order to avoid problems and ensure success. This article provides insight on what you need to do before you start looking for a contract technical writing professional and how to go about finding one suitable for your project.

Hartmann, Scott. Writing Assistance (2006). Careers>Interviewing>TC>Technical Writing

His Master's Voice: Tiro and the Rise of the Roman Secretarial Class    

The foundation for Rome's imperial bureaucracy was laid during the first century B.C., when functional and administrative writing played an increasingly dominant role in the Late Republic. During the First and Second Triumvirates, Roman society, once primarily oral, relied more and more on documentation to get its official business done. By the reign of Augustus, the orator had ceded power to the secretary, usually a slave trained as a scribe or librarian. This cultural and political transformation can be traced in the career of Marcus Tullius Tiro (94 B.C. to 4 A.D.), Cicero's confidant and amanuensis. A freedman credited with the invention of Latin shorthand (the <em>notae Tironianae</em>), Tiro transcribed and edited Cicero's speeches, composed, collected, and eventually published his voluminous correspondence, and organized and managed his archives and library. As his former master s fortune sank with the dying Republic, Tiro s began to rise. After Cicero's assassination, he became the orator's literary executor and biographer. His talents were always in demand under the new bureaucratic regime, and he prospered by producing popular grammars and secretarial manuals. He died a wealthy centenarian and a full Roman citizen.

Di Renzo, Anthony. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2000). Articles>TC>Government>History

Historical Patterns in the Scholarship of Technology Transfer  

Offers an historian's view of the development of the scholarship about technology transfer over the past half century, interweaving two primary threads. First, it identifies events and circumstances that have influenced and shaped real-world efforts to move technology in its many guises across boundaries— national, geographic, institutional, organizational, social, or otherwise. These historical situations have had a profound impact on the efforts of American policymakers and leaders in business, government, universities, and nongovernmental organizations who deal with technology transfer. These circumstances have produced significant changes of emphasis in the definition of technology transfer at different points in time.

Seely, Bruce E. Johns Hopkins University (2003). Articles>TC>History>Technology

Hockey and the Art of Technical Communication

If STC would fund an appropriately intensive study of the NHL, I have no doubt we could inspire dramatic changes in technical communication; the contrasts between the NFL and NHL approaches have profound consequences for our work.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (2001). Articles>TC

Homegrown Technical Communicators: Developing a Technical Communication Program for Community Colleges  

How can business address a local shortage of competent technical communicators? Identifying and educating resources available within the community provides one solution. The intent of this paper is to give a brief account of a project that was undertaken jointly by participating businesses and the Dallas Community College System to address a shortage of technical communicators in the immediate area.

Schoemaker, Carlos P. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Education>TC

Hosting the Traveling Exhibits: A Primer

In April 2005 the Vermont Chapter STC hosted the STC traveling exhibits, which include award-winning entries from the five major STC competitions: the international technical art competition (ITAC), international technical publications competition (ITPC), international online communication competition (IOCC), Society newsletter competition, and Society public relations competition. If your chapter, like ours, is in a small market, you probably don’t get the opportunity to network with technical writers from different industries or to see documentation for other markets. Hosting the traveling exhibits is a great way to see what other technical writers are doing in the field.

Myers, Patricia. Tieline (2005). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

How Did the Special Needs Committee Get Started?  

A member of STC’s Special Needs Committee describes the history and goals of the Committee.

Hanigan, Mark. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>TC>History

How Do You Believe You Add Value to the Development of an Information System?

In recent months, as part of my doctoral research, I have been interviewing technical communicators, users and developers of information systems to try and find out if in fact the work of a technical communicator is of value to those developing and using information systems. The interviews demonstrated clearly that technical communicators do add value. This was further confirmed in Paris where I discussed my work with technical communicators at the Comtec '97 conference. The following discussion encapsulates some of the comments from participants at Comtec '97 and the interviews I conducted.

Fisher, Julie L. TC-FORUM (2003). Articles>Collaboration>TC

How Have You Advanced Your Career?  

Three technical communication gurus answer the question, 'What single action or decision did more to advance your career than any other?'

Barker, Thomas, Janice Gelb and Donald E. Zimmerman. Intercom (2002). Careers>Advice>TC

How I Leaped Almost Overnight from Traditional Tech Writer to Marcom Guy to Hybrid - in a Tad More Than Four Decades  

I began as a traditional technical writer and editor in January 1961. Then a gradual evolution changed my worklife: I became a multiple-threat hybrid. My experience zig-zagged from writing proposals to professional acting to building technical resentations to educating myself in marketing communications and marketing to counseling others in strategically thinking how to better market their ideas. Today, I am the hybrid of the future: technical writer and editor/marcom specialist/strategic thinker/marketing counselor.

Gottlieb, Larry. STC Proceedings (2002). Careers>TC>History

How Important is the Writing Part of Technical Writing?

Writing documentation isn't merely the act of pounding out dry prose. There is some creativity involved which comes from how you present the information, both textually and visually. The writing, though, needs to be easy to read, complete, concise, and to the point.

DMN Communications (2007). Articles>TC>Writing>Technical Writing

How Technical Communicators Can Apply User-Centered Design to Their Work

The user-centered design process applies to designing a piece of technical communication as well as designing a product. Placing the user at the center of the design and development process for information ensures that a usable piece of communication will be delivered to the customer. Technical communicators can apply each of the user-centered design (UCD) tasks to their own writing process and information development cycle.

Fisher, Lori H. Usability Interface (2000). Design>User Centered Design>TC

How the East Tennessee Chapter of STC Created, and Administers, Its J. Paul Blakely Scholarship  

Every local chapter of any professional society should consider starting up a scholarship. Scholarships are obviously great for students, but they’re also great for the people who give them out. You get wonderful PR, a lifeline of new blood, and that inner glow that comes from doing good.

Hirst, Russel. STC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Scholarships>TC

How To Break into Technical Writing

Whether you're attempting to become a technical writer at 21 or 41, the steps are the same. Statistics show that the best way to find a job is network, network, network. Go to association meetings, like STC, and talk to as many people as you can. Introduce yourself and tell them honestly what you want. Ask them a lot of questions about how they did it. Everyone started somewhere.

MicroSearch. Careers>Writing>TC

How to Consume Research Effectively: You Are What You Eat  

In this hands-on, interactive workshop, you will learn to identify and overcome barriers to using research on the job, identify sources of usable and valid research for your job, identify five basic research concepts and terms everyone should know, and apply practical decision-making methods for knowing whether to use research on the job.

Kleimann, Susan D. and Kenneth D. Keiser. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Research>TC

How to Create a Portfolio

So, you decide that you would like to create a portfolio. What do you do? Where do you start?

Burnett, Rebecca E. Thomson. Careers>Portfolios>TC