Abundance and Joy through Job Enrichment

With the economic crunch affecting the workplace, many of us are being asked to perform additional tasks while facing the same tight deadlines. Dealing with this stress sometimes makes me feel bogged down and stuck in a cycle of drudgery.

Azis, Denise. MetroVoice (2002). Careers>TC

The Best Machine

Several weeks ago, a supercilious colleague informed me that spell checkers and grammar checkers had rendered editors and proofreaders obsolete. When I attempted to explain that electronic grammar and spelling checkers are not reliable because they yield false negatives and false positives, she disagreed strongly. I went on to further explain that language is more complex than any computer can fathom, and that until artificial intelligence truly arrives, the best grammar checking program will continue to live between our ears. I am sorry to say that my colleague arrogantly declared that I was mistaken. I wrote the verse below in her honor.

Kasper, Rosa. MetroVoice (2002). Articles>Language>Word Processing

Blogs on the Side

Blogging as a trend has gained enormous popularity with the simplification of automated self-publishing systems, such as Blogger at www.blogger.com, or MT at www.moveabletype.org. Blogging as a way of life is also gathering adherents at a rapid pace.

Young, Lisa. MetroVoice (2003). Articles>Publishing>Online>Blogging

Direct Engagements: How Contractors Can Take Advantage

Many STC members work independently as freelancers, temps, or consultants. In some recent presentations I’ve given to STC members, many independent workers have asked me about ways to get more money and satisfaction out of their contracting careers. Almost invariably, my advice is to explore the possibilities of engaging clients directly, rather than using a staffing or consulting company.

Zaino, Gene. MetroVoice (2003). Careers>Freelance

Essential Pharmaceutical URLs and Organizations

Systems and network engineers, developers, project managers, and technical staff have been hit hard since the technology bubble burst. Since Y2K there has been an influx of competitive workers on H1B visas who have stayed and now have green cards. Now there is also outsourcing to India, Bulgaria, Russia, Ireland, the Philippines etc.

Marie, Cecile. MetroVoice (2003). Careers>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

From Tech Writer to Paralegal

Writing spots were becoming fewer and farther between, and it was clear that I'd have to make a career change. I used to pick up temporary secretarial spots during lulls, but with the downswing in the economy and the proliferation of PCs, the demand for word processing gurus had dwindled considerably. Most of the writing jobs that did come my way over the last three years were dreadful. Job satisfaction had reached an all-time low.

Lookabaugh, Nancy K. MetroVoice (2002). Careers>Writing>Legal

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

How To Generate A Table Of Contents in Word

Using heading levels and styles in Microsoft Word, you can automatically generate a table of contents. It is useful when doing a long document that needs a table of contents and generating a table of contents is much faster than doing one manually.

Austria, Arden Paul. MetroVoice (2003). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Microsoft Word

If You Build It…: A Social Services Agency Website Gets A Facelift

A case study of the 2002 redesign of the website for Catholic Community Services in Newark.

Crovetto, Christina. MetroVoice (2003). Design>Web Design>Redesign>Case Studies

Interesting Times, Interesting Measures

We've been living in 'interesting' times, as the saying goes, and many of us feel that we've had about as much interest as we can tolerate, thank you very much. Chapter meeting attendance has been down and the popularity of technical presentations has decreased, while the popularity of career cafes and career management days has increased. In any conversation between three technical communicators, at least one is unemployed, about to be unemployed, or thinking about a career change.

Bailie, Rahel Anne. MetroVoice (2003). Careers>TC>Planning

The Issue of Archiving and Obsolescence

We can be almost certain that CDs will be obsolete in about five years. But what should we do about it?

Pinkham, Gordon. MetroVoice (2004). Articles>TC>Technology>Standards

Membership Drives

Many chapters have membership drives in the Fall. Not a big deal, something we’ve always done. However, today membership drives can play an important role in sustaining STC.

Baker, Jonathan W. MetroVoice (2002). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

The Need for Technical Communication in IT Departments

Although many would not believe such to be true, there is a vast amount of communication that must be done in the IT world. This is even truer when the IT organization is involved with a regulated industry (e.g., pharmaceutical). In general, procedures and practices that went into the development, installation, and use/maintenance of a system require documentation and the communication of outages to the user community are also important. Among the more specific areas are help documentation, user instructions, code comments, installation instructions, and maintenance procedures/schedules. When a problem arises, it is often necessary for the IT professional to explain exactly what happened and provide the resolution in a coherent, layman-termed method, whether it be verbal or written (or both). Unfortunately, not all IT professionals are capable of doing this.

Mardekian, Beth. MetroVoice (2004). Articles>TC>Technology>Collaboration

An Overview of the STC Transformation Initiative

because technical information is ever changing, we accept the fact that our work will be continually various, constantly in flux. It's just the nature of the beast. This is the essence of the purpose of the STC national organization's transformation initiative: Keeping up with the changing times.

MetroVoice (2004). Articles>TC>Planning>STC

Reinvent Yourself: Applying Marketing's Textbook Rules

What happened to the days where we didn't have to put in any effort to look for a job, recruiters were calling nonstop, and offers were being thrown at us on what seemed a regular basis? What happened to 10 jobs for every resume? What happened to big sign-on bonuses, large paychecks, and the feeling of being wanted? Have the tables turned?

Dorfman, Susan. MetroVoice (2002). Careers>TC

RoboHelp Office v.3x: the Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent

Overall, in my experience, writers and programmers prefer to use RoboHelp to create and maintain Help systems because the application has fewer issues with the Internet and programming platforms. In fact, for this latest version Of RoboHelp, I have only one minor complaint. Here is a summary of my findings.

Hewitt, Sally. MetroVoice (2003). Articles>Documentation>Software>RoboHelp

Showcase Your Talents

Resumes. We know we need one. Most of use have one. But are we using our resumes to showcase what we can do, and to put our skills and talents in the best light? We can agree that a resume contains information about our work histories. It is often used by potential employers to pick a short list of candidates to interview for a job. In other words, it is often used by potential employers to screen out most of the candidates they decide aren’t qualified enough to make the short list. So how do you use a resume to your advantage?

Bailie, Rahel Anne. MetroVoice (2003). Careers>Resumes

Single Sourcing: Friend or Foe?

Single sourcing sounds good, but can you justify it in your organization? Reducing the need to maintain multiple versions of content produces real savings and improves return on investment (ROI). On the other hand, implementing single sourcing can be expensive and slow, and information developers will be on the spot to continue delivering content through every stage of the process.

Hawkins, John. MetroVoice (2004). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Spam I Am

Outlaw spam? I think it's best just to ignore it.

Danbom, Dan. MetroVoice (2004). Humor>Computing>Email

STC Recognition Helps Build Community

The best benefit of my STC membership and leadership volunteerism is that the STC name recognition helped me get the jobs I wanted.

Byron, Barrie. MetroVoice (2003). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC