Improving Technical Reviews

Improving technical reviews, when subject matter experts, or SMEs, review content for technical accuracy, is a challenge every technical communicator faces sometime during their career. Every year, journal articles are published, presentations are made, and discussions are initiated on this very topic. Most of them conclude that SMEs are difficult. It's your job to bribe, cajole, or coerce a better review out of your SME. I don't agree.

Idoura, Alexia. Carolina Communique (2004). Articles>TC>Collaboration>SMEs

Increasing a Reader's Interest and Comprehension Through Basic Information Design

If you present information in multiple media, with complementary information, that address multiple learning styles, you increase a reader’s interest and comprehension by 65%.

Lynn, Michelle Corbin. Carolina Communique (1999). Design>Publishing>Visual>Visual Rhetoric

An Intranet Story

An intranet, in contrast to the Internet, is in-house and serves the employees of an enterprise. Although intranet pages may link to the Internet, an intranet is not accessed by the public. The intranet was fertile ground for web-savvy geeks like me to till and plant.

Findlay, Hugh. Carolina Communique (2006). Articles>Web Design>Intranets

Is Consistency Boring?

What do customers want from our software and documentation? They want to accomplish tasks, and to obtain information about tasks, as quickly and painlessly as possible. Do they also expect to be entertained along the way? No, not when there is work to be done. Years of usability analysis in the software industry indicates very clearly that clarity and ease-of-use is topmost on the minds of software users.

Kocher, Sue. Carolina Communique (2007). Articles>User Interface>Software>Usability

Is Technical Communication Like Riding a Bicycle?

I'm sure many of you have heard the expression, 'It's just like riding a bicycle,' which is applied to something that once learned, is just about impossible to forget. The same may be said for driving a manual transmission automobile; I can go years without driving one, but can easily drive one when I need to. (With the exception of VW bugs, whose clutches I have never managed to master.)

Mannion, Doreen A. Carolina Communique (2003). Articles>TC

Is Technical Writing Your Calling?

An essay exploring whether technical writing is a 'calling.'

Harvey, Michael. Carolina Communique (2007). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Community

It's All Relative

When it comes to relative pronouns, incomplete knowledge may lead to frustration and confusion. The pronouns that, which, who, and what serve as relative pronouns when they introduce a relative (or subordinate) clause.

Wenger, Andrea. Carolina Communique (2007). Articles>Writing>Diction>Grammar

It's All Relative

When it comes to relative pronouns, incomplete knowledge may lead to frustration and confusion. The pronouns that, which, who, and what serve as relative pronouns when they introduce a relative (or subordinate) clause.

Wenger, Andrea. Carolina Communique (2007). Articles>Writing>Grammar

Keeping Recruiters Accountable

Sooner or later, most of us work with a recruiter or two (or three or four) to look for a job or to respond to the ever-increasing abundance of employment opportunities for technical communicators in the Triangle area. In fact, due to the tendency companies have for hiring technical writers on a contract basis, recruiters often play a necessary part in our career development. This site offers some tips on dealing with recruiters and avoiding poor recruiting practices.

Shuman, Ceil. Carolina Communique (1997). Careers>Advice

Key Content: Developing a Personal Tagline

It is a helpful exercise to develop a tagline for yourself, in the same way that professionals in a previous generation were encouraged to develop a mission statement. With shortening attention spans, today's professional needs only a few-word tagline to fit in the sound bite of management's smaller time slots.

Albing, Bill. Carolina Communique (2007). Careers>Portfolios>Workplace>Collaboration

Leaders Light the Way

STC offers members many opportunities to practice and improve leadership skills. Whether you are guiding the chapter as an officer, serving as a committee manager, or participating in another way, you can make a difference this year! I encourage you to use this opportunity to sharpen your leadership, time management, and organizational skills. You will find it rewarding-both personally and professionally-and the experience will shine through on the job and on your resume.

Laurent, J. Suzanna. Carolina Communique (1999). Articles>Management>TC

Learning How to Read an Interviewer's Mind

Have you ever wondered what was going on in the mind of someone interviewing you for a job? Did you wish you could have had a 'cheat sheet' to prepare for the kinds of questions she might ask? Thanks to Lori Lathrop, a freelance indexer of technical manuals, we have a 'Cliffs’ Notes' for job interviews. Lori Lathrop is the principal of Lathrop Media Services. Her experience includes more than sixteen years as a technical writer, editor, and professional indexer.

Davis, Julie. Carolina Communique (1997). Careers>Interviewing

Living in Cubeville

Someone told me recently that business owners favor cubicles because they are less expensive to build than walls; they are easy to break down and rearrange; and they depreciate in seven years, as opposed to walls, which depreciate in thirty years. In short, our 'cubes' are cost efficient, and they're probably here to stay. How, then, are we to deal with the obstacles that they present? We don't have enough space to spread out our documents. We go crazy trying to tune out the conversation taking place in the cubicle next door. Few cubicles have doors, and people tend to view our open entranceways as open invitations to stop by and chat. Last, but not least, cubicles sometimes feel like hamster cages, causing us to feel more like 'a number' than a human being. There is no way to make it nice; but there are ways to make it better. Here are some ways to cope.

Shuman, Ceil. Carolina Communique (1998). Careers>Workplace

Looking At GUI Libraries: Spotlight On Infragistics

As a Graphical User Interface (GUI) programmer, I have many interface development tools to choose from. Over the years, my development environment changes to accommodate my needs. This often includes learning new languages and the tools that go with them.

Flowers, Natalie. Carolina Communique (2008). Articles>User Interface>Programming>Software

Managing Valuable Chapter Content

One of the ways that STC chapters can improve their value proposition to present and prospective members is to make available some of the best content that is created by and owned by the chapter members.

Kinder, Meredith and Sheila Loring. Carolina Communique (2006). Articles>Content Management>Community Building>STC

Review: Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools

Review of 'Book Review: Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools' by Kit Brown, Brenda Huettner, and Char James-Tanny.

Olson, Amy. Carolina Communique (2008). Articles>Reviews>Management>Online

Medical Writers Give Career Changers Plans of Action

Those who are interested in breaking into medical writing received the inside scoop from L. Megan Day and Dr. Susan Dakin, the panelists at the chapter meeting on January 9 at Dreyfus Auditorium at Research Triangle Institute. Day has a bachelor's degree in chemistry, a master's degree in anatomy and has written for pharmaceutical companies for 10 years. Dakin has a bachelor's degree in biology and psychology and a Ph.D. in zoology. Self-employed since 1984, her specialties are scientific writing and proposal writing.

Harvey, Rachel A. Carolina Communique (2003). Careers>Writing>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

A Mentor's Approach to Managing Technical Communicators

A manager, especially a more hard-nosed type, may pick up a writer's draft and attack the writer, circling mistakes with red ink, demanding rewrites, and peppering the work with negative remarks. If the manager is uptight, it doesn't take very long for subordinates to become uptight also. And being too managerial may end up creating an adversarial relationship, which can thwart the writer's professional growth. On the other hand, a supportive and nurturing fellow worker -- a mentor, in other words -- can help create a positive and productive team environment. Mentors may have to be patient with their writers at times, but that patience should pay off, long-term, in results and accomplishments. When you find ways to make your people look good, they will in turn make you look good.

Sullivan, Bill. Carolina Communique (1998). Careers>Management>Mentoring

Mentoring as a Two-Way Street

In a profession that does not have clear discipline boundaries or many built-in mentorships with professors and internships, most professionals in technical communication depend on fellow professionals as mentors.

Smith, Andy and Bill Albing. Carolina Communique (2006). Careers>Mentoring

Neologisms, Part 1: Fun with Words

In our professional lives, business and technology are the main sources for many new words. In our personal lives, blame (I mean credit) goes to popular culture for new words. New words, or 'neologisms,' are defined in Merriam Webster as 'a new word, usage, or expression' and (and next is my preferred definition) as 'a meaningless word coined by a psychotic.'

Caldanaro, Regina M. Carolina Communique (1997). Articles>Language>Technology

Paper at Its Peak: The Myth of the Myth of the Paperless Office

Anyone who writes for a living can, like me, describe a long love-hate relationship with paper as the conveyer of the written word. There's something physically appealing about putting pen to paper, as there is about picking up and reading a well-produced bound document.

Garrison, Ronald W. Carolina Communique (2007). Articles>Workplace>Business Communication>Paper

Pith and Vinegar: What Do You Do for a Living?

Rather than authoring printed manuals and on-line help panels, technical communicators should be involved in or leading projects that make them unnecessary.

Harvey, Michael. Carolina Communique (2006). Articles>TC

A SIG Transformation: Past, Present, and Future

A recent discussion about the STC's Technical Editing Special Interest Group (TE SIG) provided insights into the evolving role of communities of interest in the Society. At a meeting of the Carolina Chapter's local TE SIG, Diane Feldman, who is the manager of the Society-level SIG, provided members with an update on SIG activities.

Brautman, Heather. Carolina Communique (2005). Articles>TC>Technical Editing>STC

Squiggles

Thomas Mann described the writer as somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. Nowhere is this truer than for comma use: while most folks float along blithely putting commas in or leaving them out at whim, we agonize over every squiggle. Why? Because we understand that the presence or absence of a comma can change the meaning of a sentence. In our line of work, unclear sentences can have dire consequences for our readers. So we worry.

Wenger, Andrea. Carolina Communique (2005). Articles>Writing>Grammar

Structured Authoring and XML: Part One

Implementing structured authoring with XML allows organizations to create better content. The addition of hierarchy and metadata to content improves reuse and content management. These benefits, however, must be weighed against the time and money required to implement a structured authoring approach. The business case is compelling for larger writing organizations; they will be the first to adopt structured authoring. Over time, improvements in available tools will reduce the cost of implementing structured authoring and make it affordable for smaller organizations.

O'Keefe, Sarah S. Carolina Communique (2003). Articles>Documentation>Information Design>XML