Assessing "Translation Readiness": A Maturity Model  

Generally, cost increases and quality decreases when turn-around time decreases. Explore the latest technology for making the translation process more efficient.

Kuehn, Heidi and Steve Iverson. STC Orange County (1998). Presentations>Language>Localization

Assessing “Translation Readiness”: A Maturity Model  

The importance of competent translation is becoming increasingly evident. Many companies are unsure of how to deal with the conflicts of high volume, fast turn-around and reasonable cost. We propose five levels of “translation readiness” or maturity: Reactionism, Quality Awareness, Consistency, Long- Term Solutions and Continuous Improvement. These levels indicate an organization’s ability to manage high volumes of translation more quickly while keeping costs under control. While recognizing the uniqueness of each organization, we propose that assessing the level of “readiness” can lead to improvements in quality, cost, and turn-around time.

Iverson, Steven P. and Heidi E. Kuehn. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Language>Localization

Assessing Information Needs of Diverse Users to Guide Web Design and Content Development  

This paper presents a qualitative study of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's diverse users and their mental models regarding injury-related content. The study employed an innovative modified contextual inquiry method utilizing tailored, in-depth interviews with five distinct user groups. Included in this paper is a detailed description of the background, framework, and method used for this study. Analysis of the full results was still in process at the due date of this paper. The results will be in the presentation's slide set and available from the STC website www.stc.org.

Pettit Jones, Colleen and Susan J. Robinson. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Web Design>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

Assessing Publications Process-Maturity: The Experiences of Two Organizations at Different Levels of Process Maturity  

As Information Development organizations grow and mature, their organizational structure should grow and mature as well. The optimal structure for an organization in its early stages should focus on achieving stability and repeatable quality. As an organization matures, the optimal structure may need to be significantly different to develop a more thorough understanding of customers and contribute substantially to customer satisfaction.

Hackos, JoAnn T., Lisa Blaschke, Brenda MacKay and Deborah J. Rosenquist. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Information Design>Assessment>Case Studies

Assessing the Maturity Grade of Policies and Procedures Programs  

Policies and Procedures (P and P) refers to the types of communication about an organization’s internal operating practices. A P and P program refers to the context in which an organization develops and manages its P and P communications. Because a P and P program is an on-going investment, its role and value to an organization should be assessed. A P and P program must provide performance-based communication, using performancebased means, for an organization that is performance oriented. Urgo and Associates devised a model to assess the maturity of P and P programs. The model consists of a questionnaire and matrix that work together in measuring and describing four grades (levels) of maturity according to five functions commonly found in P and P programs.

Urgo, Raymond E. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Management>Policies and Procedures

Assessing the Value Added by In-House Technical Communication Courses  

A specially designed instrument that measures the effectiveness of written communication courses taught in-house has been pilot-tested with employees of a major power utility. The instrument showed that, one month afrr attending the course, participants’ written communication skills increased by twenty percent. A second measurement, recordedfour months aJer the course, showed there had been only a marginal drop in skills compared to the level recorded three months earlier.

Blicq, Ronald S. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Writing>Assessment

Assessing Visualizations in Public Science Presentations  

Natural resource agencies and other technical and scientific organizations face an immense challenge of when communicating complex technical information to diverse publics. The laptop computer, presentation software, and projection unit have emerged as one of the primary presentation tools in many technical and scientific fields. Advances in software functions enable presenters to capitalize on a wide range of multimedia functions thought to make presentations more appealing, interesting, and effective. Our presentation reports on a specific research project and then provides guidance for enhancing their presentations.

Zimmerman, Donald E., Carol A. Akerelrea, Jane Kapler Smith and Garrett O'Keefe. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Presentations>Visual Rhetoric

Assessing Web Page Usability  

Assessing Web site usability can be complex, because the medium can be both a document and a 'software product.' Documentation usability testing asks how headings, page elements, and index entries help users find the content they need, and whether that content is useful. Software usability testing asks how well the user inteface supports users’ job-task activity, indicates functionality, provides navigation signposts and program status, and prevents errors. A Web site must meet a combination of these goals—links should lead to the content that users seek, through pathways that users can easily follow without reaching a dead-end or getting lost.

Hinderer, Deborah and Laurie Kantner. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Usability>Web Design

Assistive Listening Systems: Crucial For Skilled Listeners With a Hearing Loss  

Technical communicators are skilled listeners. Whether interviewing subject matter experts or working on teams, good communication is essential. But if you have a hearing loss, assistive listening systems (ALSs) can help.

Vinegar, Judy A. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>TC>Accessibility>Audio

Assumptions About Technical Communication Programs  

Survey data indicate that current academic programs in technical communication exhibit more differences than similarities in requirements, student support, faculty, schedule, and student support. Moreover, current programs are vigorous, continue to increase, and exhibit three primary needs: increased budgets, more new faculty, and increased involvement with industry.

Rainey, Kenneth T. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Education>TC

Audience Analysis and Information Design: Creating a Needs Assessment Documentation Strategy  

A user needs assessment developed from extensive audience analysis can be used to develop a documentation strategy that effectively meets user needs. This paper provides an overview of the steps required to identify and analyze the various audiences critical to enterprise software documentation and create a needsassessment- based strategy.

Yeats, Dave and Paula Kozlowski. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>User Centered Design>Audience Analysis

Audience Analysis: Can You Get There From Here?  

As writers we face many pitfalls. One of the most challenging is trying to meet multiple audience needs -- once we identify the audience. Rarely do we have the luxury of knowing the members of our audience personally and, even if we did, bringing them to consensus would consume all our time. As writers we often decide what the readers in our audience need before the readers have ever seen our material. The analogy of map readers can help us focus on our clients' needs.

Blagg, Lynn and Carolyn K. Johnson. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Rhetoric>Audience Analysis

Audience Analysis: Looking Beyond the Superficial  

In performing an audience analysis, it’s easy to focus on simple, obvious issues such as the differences between men and women. In fact, men and women have more similarities than differences when it comes to most of the things that technical communicators document. A discussion of some seemingly obvious differences between men and women illustrates how to look beyond superficial issues to find the truly important differences.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Usability>Audience Analysis

Austin T. Brown Technical Communication Scholarship Competition

The Washington, DC Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) invites high school students in the Washington metropolitan area to submit entries to its annual Austin T. Brown Technical Communication Scholarship Competition. The Chapter sponsors this competition to encourage the development of technical writing skills among students in grades 10, 11, and 12.

STC Washington D.C. (2002). Academic>Scholarships>TC

Austin, Texas Salary Survey

The STC Austin chapter conducts a salary survey each year. If the survey is in progress, you can download a survey here. The most recent results are always posted here.

STC Austin. Careers>Salaries>Regional>Texas

Austin's Technical Documentation Focus Group: An Industry/Academic Partnership In Action  

Austin's Technical Documentation Focus Group represents an innovative collaboration between major area publications departments and academia. Designed to provide a networking forum on current publications, the group is managed by its one not-for-profit member, Austin Community College's Department of Technical Communication.

Dunlap, Johnny L., Deborah J. Rosenquist and Katherine E. Staples. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Collaboration>TC

Authoring and Viewing Hybrid CD-ROMs  

Hybrid CD technology, which allows publishing documents on CD-ROM and placing updates on a Web/FTP server, is the solution of choice for the delivery of time-critical, large technical documents requiring frequent updates.

Lanyi, Gabriel. STC Proceedings (1999). Design>Multimedia>CD ROM

Authoring for Electronic Delivery  

Caterpillar is dramatically changing the way technical, product support information is authored. Book paradigms have been replaced by the more granular Information Element (IE) approach. The new integrated environment utilizes Unix based, TCP/IP connected, ECALS compliant tools on multi-tasking author workstations. Research data, in-process work approved IE's and relational indices are distributed to work group servers. Application software tools include a graphics editor and an interactive, context sensitive, SGML text editor. The environment is managed by a robust file management system that provides file tracking, revision control, workflow sensitive tool launching, burden planning and management reporting capabilities.

Hudson, Dave. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Authoring Technical Books  

Who can write a book? Timelines. Steps in bringing out a book.

Kahate, Atul. STC India (2003). Presentations>Writing>Publishing

Authorship and Responsibility: The Problem of Special Knowledge  

The ethical questions that technical communicators face frequently present themselves obliquely, arising because the communicators depend heavily upon the special knowledge of other people who provide necessary information. The special knowledge that communicators lack and others possess may come from highly technical education, privileged access to information sources, or socially constructed access to information. Proponents of need-to-know policies may argue that limiting communicators' knowledge absolves them of responsibility for the information's veracity and effects; however, more ethically rigorous considerations of the issue consider communicators' authorial roles, their right to know, and their responsibility to their audiences.

Bryan, John G. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC>Ethics

Avenues to a Career in Scientific Communication  

Scientific communication (SC) covers science, medicine, and technology. Its documentation format ranges from research papers and regulatory-agency submissions to educational/ training materials and reference guides. This panel discussion addresses issues for those entering the area of scientific communication or wishing to enhance their skills in this area.

Armbruster, David L., Nancy E. Davis, Alice L Philbin and Jim J. Walsh. STC Proceedings (1994). Careers>Scientific Communication

Avoiding Client/Contractor Nightmares: Best Practices for Contractor Management  

You've secured the budget to produce some badly needed, high visibility deliverables. Part of that budget includes funding for contractors. To help manage and guide the communications between your contractors, your staff, and your management, you want to use your company's best practices. The best practices of the contractor or provider firm you employ should closely match your own company's best practices. Beginning on the "same page" will eliminate headaches and expenses during the lifecycle of the project. A quick comparison of practices and procedures enables you to proceed with the project confident that you are using competent outside resources.

Michaels, Sherry, Maggie Haenel, Ann Backhaus. STC Proceedings (2004). Careers>Project Management>Consulting

Avoiding Disasters with Better Communication  

Many of the memoranda and letters related to the Chicago flood, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident and the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters that warned of impending disasters went unheeded. The reason: the writers failed to properly use various rhetorical features and conventions. They failed to include necessary information, omitted unnecessary detail, placed important information in inappropriate locations, used qualifiers to reduce perceptions of the consequences of actions, and failed to follow organizational conventions related to transmission of information. Their lack of knowledge of rhetorical strategies exacerbated the problems associated with the contexts in which the various documents were written, resulting in misunderstandings.

Boiarsky, Carolyn. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Scientific Communication>Risk Communication

Avoiding the Content Silo Trap™, Enterprise Content Management  

Organizations frequently fall into the content silo trap, multiple authors creating similar information, in many areas of the organization. Authors rarely share their information (they work in silos) or are even aware that this information already exists elsewhere in the organization. Technical communicators have been single sourcing for years, this session looks at how to move beyond technical publications to assist your organization with enterprise content management. This session includes a case study from Eli Lilly.

Rockley, Ann and Jodee Clore. STC Proceedings (2002). Design>Content Management>Content Strategy