Using Student Management Teams to Improve Technical Writing Courses  

In this article, the authors describe the student management team (SMT) teaching concept, used to build appropriate teamwork competencies, and explain how they implemented an SMT in their technical writing course.

Mutschelknaus, Ina L. and Mike Mutschelknaus. Intercom (2000). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Collaboration

Using Word's User Forms  

Mohr explains how to create User Forms--macro-controlled user interfaces that employ standard graphical user interface components--for collecting information from users that can be saved as character-delimited text files and fed into a database.

Mohr, Robert P. Intercom (2003). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Forms

Using XSL in Internet Explorer 5  

Dann explains the workings of a simple Extensible Style Language (XSL) stylesheet capable of displaying an Extensible Markup Language (XML) user procedure in Internet Explorer 5.

Dann, Peter. Intercom (2001). Design>Web Design>XML>XSL

Utilizing Free Web Sites--The Pros and Cons  

Archee discusses the advantages and disadvantages of free Web sites.

Archee, Raymond K. Intercom (2000). Design>Web Design

The Value Added by Technical Communicators  

Edelman lists several arguments technical communicators can use to specify the value they add to an organization.

Edelman, Mark. Intercom (2001). Careers>Workplace>Assessment

Viral Networking: Tactics in Today's Job Market  

Drakeley explains how to construct a network of job contacts that helps technical communicators spread word of their abilities through the job community.

Drakeley, Caroline A. Intercom (2003). Careers>TC

Virtual Communities: Weaving the Human Web  

Muses on the increasing importance of communities in the technical communication profession.

Quesenbery, Whitney. Intercom (2005). Articles>TC>Community Building>Social Networking

Voice Broadcast Messaging  

A new genre of computer-mediated communication has unceremoniously appeared in the marketplace, promising to solve countless problems that you probably never knew you had. The new technology, generically known as broadcast messaging, represents the convergence of fax, e-mail, short messaging service (SMS), and voice messaging in a single, Web-based front end.

Archee, Raymond K. Intercom (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Online>Voice

Voice Extensible Markup Language Status  

Introduces readers to Voice Extensible Markup Language (VXML), a markup language that allows vocal interaction between users and applications via a telephone-based communication system. The author also discusses World Wide Web Consortium specifications for VXML.

Lippincott, Richard J. Intercom (2004). Design>Information Design>XML>Voice

Voice Portals  

Perlin discusses the latest developments in voice portal technology.

Perlin, Neil E. Intercom (2002). Articles>Technology>Software>Voice

Voicemail Messages That Get Returned  

Offers seven tips for increasing the likelihood that messages you leave on voice-mail will elicit return calls.

Walinskas, Karl. Intercom (2001). Careers>Collaboration>Collaboration

W3C Standard for Scalable Vector Graphics  

In this installment of 'W3C Watch,' a new Intercom department dedicated to discussing the work of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and its potential impact on technical communicators, Porter introduces Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), which the W3C defines as 'a language for describing two-dimensional vector graphics and graphical applications in XML.'

Porter, Sara J. Intercom. Design>Graphic Design>Standards>SVG

The W3C: Shaping the Future of Technology  

This column continues my focus on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) by describing some activities and non-W3C technologies that I encountered at the W3C Technical Plenary, held in early March outside Cannes, France.

Perlin, Neil E. Intercom (2004). Design>Web Design>Standards

Waiting for the Wireless Web  

Are you one of those cell phone users who researched all the useful features of your mobile device, and made certain that your phone and/or PDA (personal digital assistant) was WAP (wireless application protocol) compatible? Did you (like me) carefully read the ads and brochures that emphasized wireless data capabilities, which everyone said were the next step forward in convenience and convergence? Now, hands up, all of you who actually use your phone or PDA to access e-mail or the Web! (My hand is not up, either!)

Archee, Raymond K. Intercom (2003). Articles>Web Design>Wireless Web

The Web Accessibility Initiative  

Gillen explains the Web Accessibility Initiative, a coalition of groups that work to advance the cause of accessibility on the Web.

Gillen, Lori. Intercom (2004). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility

Web Navigation without JavaScript and Java  

Newell offers suggestions to Web designers on how to maintain some semblance of menu-based navigation for users whose browsers cannot process JavaScript or Java.

Silvert Newell, Hilary. Intercom (2003). Design>Web Design>HTML

'Web Presence': Context-Sensitivity Meets the Physical World  

Computing exists in a virtual world of e-mails, document files, and Web sites. But people exist in a physical and tangible world that, for the most part, is separate from the world of computing. Now, developments in Web and wireless technologies, along with experience gained from an experiment called Cooltown that began in the mid-1990s, may connect those virtual and physical worlds. The goal is to actually attach information to objects, so that computer projectors and printers, art works and books, and even physical locations such as conference rooms and city buses could be represented on the Web. In other words, to provide user assistance that’s context sensitive in the real world rather than just in the virtual world. the underlying technologies, and how this development might affect technical communicators.

Perlin, Neil E. Intercom (2002). Design>Web Design

Web Two-Point Uh-Oh  

The problem with many Web 2.0 applications is the assumption that the community's motives are good, or at least neutral. Perlin's column explores how one of the drawbacks of Web 2.0--potential loss of control over information--has manifested itself.

Perlin, Neil E. Intercom (2007). Articles>Web Design>Community Building>Content Management

Web-Based Teaching: A New Educational Paradigm  

Clark assesses the effects of virtual classrooms on teachers of distance-learning courses.

Clark, Lawrence J. Intercom (2001). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

WebWorks Publisher: Can It Convert You?  

Discusses Quadralay's WebWorks Publisher, a software package that allows single-sourcing from Adobe FrameMaker to online documents. For a more advanced discussion of WebWorks, see Robert R. Desprez's article 'WebWorks Publisher: Jumping into the Details,' also in the September/October 2001 issue of Intercom.

Beren, Wendy G. Intercom (2001). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe FrameMaker

WebWorks Publisher: Jumping into the Details  

Desprez illuminates some of the advanced features of Quadralay's WebWorks Publisher, a software package that allows single-sourcing from Adobe FrameMaker to online documents. For a discussion of WebWorks tailored to beginners, see Wendy G. Beren's article 'WebWorks Publisher: Can It Convert You?'

Desprez, Robert R. Intercom (2001). Articles>Content Management>Software>Adobe FrameMaker

What Does It Mean To Be a Technical Communicator?  

The author presents a description of his job that he gives to people who ask what he does. The article is reprinted from the May 1998 issue of CommLink Online, the online newsletter of STC's Atlanta chapter.

Houser, Rob. Intercom (2000). Careers>TC

What Is a Web Designer?  

Leonard-Wilkinson identifies two kinds of Web designers: 'generalists' with programming skills who reason analytically, and 'specialists' with artistic skills who reason intuitively. She urges companies looking for Web designers to specify the skills they need in their job advertisements.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2000). Articles>Web Design

What is Embedded Help?  

Defines embedded help as user assistance that is part of the behavior and real estate of the user interface of a software application. Discusses three types: the right embedded help pane, process-embedded help, and instructional embedding.

Zubak, Cheryl Lockett. Intercom (2000). Articles>Documentation>Help

What the Blazes Is a Blog?  

'Blogs,' or Web logs, are the newest form of one-way and interactive online communication to hit the Internet. Most people would agree that a 'blog' is a regularly updated set of Web pages with a chronological set of thoughts and links. Starting around 1999, the blog movement has gained so much momentum that hundreds of thousands of Web logs and many different styles of blog now exist.

Archee, Raymond K. Intercom (2003). Articles>Web Design>Publishing>Blogging