Cooperative Effort in Producing Paper and Hypertext Documentation  

Using hypertext and paper creates a successful trip for the user of an interactive, mainframe software system. Building integrated, complementary documentation requires thoughtful planning, careful organization, and skillful implementation. The resulting product needs the cooperation of the entire team.

Bibus, Connie M. 'C.J.', Patricia J. Bishop, Mary Ann Clark and Deirdre A. Murr. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Hypertext

Copyright and the Internet  

As original content takes on new forms in the rapidly developing and ever-changing digital publishing environment, copyright issues become increasingly important. Publishers that work with those authors who choose to link the information from their printed books to web pages can ensure that copyright violations do not occur.

Lemiski, Karen J. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Online

Corporate 101  

Documentation contributes to customer goodwill and can increase sales.

Graham, Bonni. STC India (2003). Presentations>Management

Corporate Intranets: Your Job is Never Over  

A corporate intranet is an effective tool for bi-directional information sharing. At last year’s STC conference we discussed how to build a successful intranet. Once you’ve built your intranet, your job is by no means over. Now you must maintain it and ensure that it becomes a part of your company’s corporate culture. To ensure this you must give attention to 1) the information, 2)-site design, 3) marketing and 4) support. We’ll discuss and demonstrate things you can do in these 4 areas to ensure that users continue to have successful experiences with your corporate Intranet.

Gordon, Michele and Brett Fielo. STC Proceedings (1999). Design>Web Design>Intranets

Corporate Size and Knowledge Management

The more knowledge is hoarded, the less productive we were able to become. It’s difficult to get beyond that “sharing for the benefit of the whole” stigma, but when you can it can be a wonderful thing.

Hauser, Lisa. STC NJIT Student Chapter (2005). Articles>Knowledge Management>Workplace

COTS: The New Challenge of Information Integration  

Systems engineering is moving away from specially-designed and built systems to integration of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software. COTS brings new challenges to technical communicators. In the past, we found all our information in-house, now it comes from many sources. We must change our process from pure development to information integration, and we must be part of the COTS selection process.

Lenk, Donald S. Jr. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Information Design>Software

CPI Navigator: Building an Electronic Library on CD-ROM  

This demonstration will discuss the development, maintenance, and future of the CPI Navigator application. The development of this Visual Basic application and the conversion of thousands of hardcopy documents developed on a mainframe-based processor to online help was a 3-year long process that included using databases, Word macros, and several Help prototypes.

Bottka, Hary-Janos, Richard Wrye and Allison Johnson. STC Proceedings (1997). Design>Multimedia>CD ROM

Create Your Consultant Image!  

Managing relationships with a client is an important part of the business cycle, ensuring successful projects and setting the stage for additional business.

Woods, Joyce F. STC Proceedings (1997). Careers>Consulting

Creating a Corporate Electronic Information Delivery Solution  

Tandem Computers Incorporated developed a new electronic information delivery system and changed internal publishing processes to achieve greater eficiency and customer satisfaction. We were able to move over 1,000 manuals and 11,000 pieces of support documentation along with education material from two different CD-ROM delivery products to one corporate viewer that supports publishing on both CD-ROM and the World Wide Web. The project included creating a new viewer using industry-standard components, creating new publishing tools, and establishing new corporate relationships and processes.

Fingold, Sharon. STC Proceedings (1997). Design>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Creating a Hypertext Help System for a GUI-Based Client/Server Application  

We are currently in the second phase of development of a large Windows online help system. This paper reviews the major decisions we had to make during the first phase of the project, and lists some project evaluation results that have helped us plan for subsequent phases.

Asher, Betsy, David E. Lasecke and John Wenstrom. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Creating a Multimedia CD-ROM: Bringing a General Information Manual to Life  

There are three parts to the process for creating a multimedia CD-ROM, and each part contains a number of steps. The first part, PLANNING, defines the goal, audience, budget, equipment, team members, theme, reviewers, schedule, and outline. The second part, PRODUCTION, develops, com- bines, and tests the multimedia elements: the script, story board, and audio and visual elements. The final part, PACKAGING, creates the printed infor- mation, the label, and the text and control files that go onto and ship with the CD-ROM.

Jedlicka, Linda Barnes. STC Proceedings (1993). Design>Multimedia>CD ROM

Creating A Paradigm Shift In Managers And Professionals Who Use Standards  

Organizational standards are often just a set of documents put into place for auditors or regulatory bodies. In such instances, the standards usually do not reflect current practices, which are passed along by word-of-mouth. Unfortunately, even if the information is up-to-date, it may not be easily retrievable by the person in immediate need of it. In a hospital setting, this situation can be extremely costly. It can also provide immense opportunities for the technical communicator to become a vital part of a cross-functional team.

Richardson, Verna. STC Proceedings (1994). Presentations>Writing>Policies and Procedures

Creating a Template for a Large Web Site: the U.S. EPAWeb Branding Experience  

Staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency created a template then steadily converted Web pages to achieve a 'corporate face' for www.EPA.gov, the Agency's Internet site. Management and maintenance of Agency Web pages rests among the technical subject matter and administrative experts within headquarters, program, and regional offices and laboratories – rather than centralized. Template design, deployment and conversion involved many employees and contractors nationwide, and took almost one year. As of February 1, more than 90% of EPA's Internet pages comply with the template, and staff continue improvements to the Agency's public Web resources.

Ellis, Leonid 'Lee'. STC Proceedings (2003). Design>Web Design>Information Design

Creating a Unified Web Site Design for the School of Technology at Purdue University  

The problem with any poorly designed web site is inconsistency. As a web designer or developer, one must create a web site as a finite, predictable universe with a specific set of standards and design specifications. When visitors go to any given page on a site, they should be able to recognize that they’re in the same site. The main focus of this paper outlines how a unified web site design was created for the School of Technology at Purdue University. In developing unified web sites it is important to have visual hints throughout a given site such as consistent typefaces for specific needs, consistent color palettes, and consistent placement and layout.

Miller, Susan G. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Web Design>Usability

Creating a User Experience Specification  

Creating any system of sufficient complexity requires a diverse team and a dizzying amount of documentation. While these documents do a great job of conveying components of the system, they do not provide an integrated view. This is because each covers different aspects of the system, written by a different author for a different audience. This paper proposes that project teams should create a user experience specification, a document that shows what the system looks like, how it behaves, and how it works. This specification needs to describe the system for all team members, at a useful level of detail, in a form that encourages team members to read it and inviting enough to get them to participate in the design, as well as allow developers to build from.

Oye, Phil and John Payne. STC Proceedings (2004). Design>User Experience>Specifications

Creating an Academic Program for Technical Marketing Communication  

Technical marketing communication is a growing category of employment. Yet recognition of these employment opportunities has not fully extended to the development of academic courses and programs that would prepare students or enhance the knowledge of working professionals. Students can gain valuable training in current programs for advertising, public relations, business communication, and technical communication. However, because the marketing-oriented programs generally don’t focus on technology products and the technical communication programs don’t focus on promotional materials, students themselves must craft a synthesis of the two aspects—often with incomplete and unsatisfactory results.

King, Janice M. and Judith A. Ramey. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Education>Marketing

Creating an Editing Policy  

As an editor, you realize how important it is to edit information consistently. What you might not realize how important it is to let the writer know how you are going to edit, what you are going to edit, and what you expect from the writer. An editing policy lets you communicate these things to the writer. When you and the writer know what to expect from each other, you are able to work together as a team to produce a quality document.

Reed, Wendy L. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Editing>Collaboration

Creating an Effective Business Plan  

A business plan describes your business’s future, including your vision for your organization, your competition, your products and services, markets you’ll compete in, how you’ll sell yourself, and your financial prospective. A successful plan conveys an organization’s exciting prospects and growth potential. Its overall purpose is to “sell” the business to management and possible backers.

Hansen, Lauren Y. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Business Communication>Planning

Creating an Electronic Service Manual  

Developed by the Technical Information Division of Caterpillar Inc., the Service Information System (SIS) is a state of the art process using the latest in computer technology to electronically create, process and deliver technical service information to Caterpillar dealers worldwide. It utilizes authoring workstations and servers on a distributed network to create and store information elements (I/E's). The I/E's are written using Caterpillar Technical English (CTE) which allows for complete automatic language translation. I/E's are taken from the data base to make traditional publications as well as CD-ROM's. A personal computer is used to display information for shop and field servicemen and to perform interactive diagnostics.

Rennich, Merv and Gerry Meixsell. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation

Creating an Idea Culture: Six Tips for Managers  

The future of technical communication is about generating and implementing new ideas so that your team can change with the times. Other fields are vying for some of the same jobs in an organization that we are capable of performing. If managers do not take time to stay abreast of these changes nor tap into the minds on their team that are generating ideas about how to morph into different realms, then our profession is at a disadvantage to those in related fields who are drafting proposals for new jobs or innovative projects. This paper presents six tips for managers on creating an idea culture. It also argues why it is essential for managers to start their team's idea culture as soon as possible.

Hansen, Heidi and Jennifer Square. STC Proceedings (2003). Careers>Management>Planning

Creating an Interactive Online User Guide  

Want to create a colorful, interactive online version of your FrameMaker® documents? Not many steps are involved in making the conversion: start with template changes in the FrameMaker files; create a postscript file; convert it into a PDF (Portable Document Format) file using Adobe Distiller®; and add final touches to the PDF file in Adobe Exchange®.

Beren, Wendy G. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Documentation>Online>Adobe FrameMaker

Creating an Orientation Package for Your Organization  

You can create an orientation package to acclimate new personnel and ensure that they receive all the items and information they need in a timely manner. The orientation package can consist of six sections: introduction, maps, organization overview, skills list, other information sources, and checklists. Such an orientation package is currently being used at the IBM(R) Corporation in Cary, North Carolina. Businesses constantly grow and change. People join organizations, transfer between departments and sites, and return after extended absences. The sooner new personnel become skilled in their new positions, the sooner they will be productive and contributing members of the organization.

Flaherty, Erin E. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Business Communication>Workplace