Contrary to current techie mythology, it IS possible to uninstall Microsoft’s ‘mandatory’ web browser. For those of us who are addicted to Firefox or other browsers, this is welcome news. TechRepublic contributor, Mark Kaelin, explains:

How do I… Uninstall Microsoft Internet Explorer 7?

Referrals are the one of the best ways to build a freelance career or a small business. This US News and World Report article by John Jantsch, a veteran marketing coach, award- winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide, describes the four key issues for getting referrals.

Frame of Reference – US News and World Report

Made your New Year’s Resolutions, yet? Or aren’t you going to bother this year?

Every year, I make resolutions.
Every year, I set ambitious professional goals.
Every year, I keep up with them for a while.
Every year, one by one, they fall by the wayside. Something else always comes along that has a higher priority or greater urgency.

This year, I want to try something a little different. Instead of big, ambitious goals for myself and my freelance business, I’m going to try baby steps. Instead of a two-page list of annual resolutions, I’m going to try a trimmed-down list of four manageable daily commitments.

Just for today:

• I will be pleasant and welcoming to each caller on my business phone, rather than resenting the interruption or assuming that the call is from a telemarketer.
• I will set and meet a mini-deadline for each client project, aiming at finishing each project ahead of schedule.
• I will spend an hour on marketing my business, whether it’s designing a new brochure, seeking out networking opportunities, updating my website, staying in touch with former clients, or brainstorming with a colleague about new seminar ideas. One hour—even if I have a project deadline. One hour—even if I’m tired.
• I will read something that will improve a skill or push my mind in a direction it doesn’t normally go: a book on PHP programming, an issue of Technical Communication or Intercom, a few articles from Arts and Letters Daily , or that art history article that a friend forwarded—anything to jumpstart the creativity that happens when I move outside my standard routine.

  How about you? You can use the Comments feature to share your resolutions—or lack of them—with your Rochester Chapter colleagues.

  Kat Nagel
  Proof Sheet editor

You’ve wanted one for years, but thought you couldn’t justify the expense for “just a toy.”

Well, Larry Walsh, editor of Baseline magazine, gives us “Five Legit Business Reasons for Buying an iPod in this article from Baseline’s web site.

APEX 2008 NOW OPEN FOR ENTRIES

The 20th Annual APEX AWARDS FOR PUBLICATION EXCELLENCE is now accepting entries for APEX 2008 (Entry deadline: MARCH 17, 2008). The APEX AWARDS recognize excellence in graphic design, editorial content and overall communications effectiveness. Communicators can choose from 110 different categories under 11 headings, including:

1. Newsletters,
2. Magazines and journals,
3. Newspapers,
4. Annual reports,
5. Brochures, manuals and reports,
6. Electronic and video publications,
7. Web and intranet sites,
8. Campaigns, programs and plans,
9. Writing,
10. Design and illustration, and
11. One-of-a-Kind publications.

For a list of new and revised categories, see the Apex Awards web site.

The competition’s entry deadline (postmark) is MARCH 17, 2008.

APEX is sponsored by the editors of WRITING THAT WORKS, a newsletter for writing, editing and communications professionals. The contest is open to corporate, nonprofit, freelance and agency communicators. Entrants do not have to be WRITING THAT WORKS subscribers. Entry fees are $69 per entry for WRITING THAT WORKS subscribers; $89 per entry for non-subscribers.

CALL FOR ENTRIES information, brochure and entry form are posted at
http://www.ApexAwards.com/apexawards.htm.

To download the APEX Call for Entries brochure, go to:
http://www.ApexAwards.com/apex_broch.pdf..

Just need the APEX Entry Form? Go to:
http://www.ApexAwards.com/apex_entry_form.pdf.
You can fill out the PDF Easy Entry Form right on your computer screen. (No need to find a typewriter or fill out the form by hand.) Then just mail it with your entries and payment.

Also see the APEX FAQ page for tips and advice on entering, at
http://www.ApexAwards.com/apex2008faqs.htm.

We no longer need to agonize over increasing poundage and decreasing muscle tone when we’re dealing with a project crisis or overlapping deadlines. A new product from Steelcase, developed with researchers from the Mayo Clinic, combines a computer workstation with a treadmill. While it’s a bit pricey for the average freelancer, Steelcase is hoping that the productivity increase and improved morale of healthier employees will be worth the estimated $4000 price tag to corporate employers.

(submitted by Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler)

DocTrain East
Thursday, October 18 & Friday, October 19, 2007
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you’re not able to attend Documentation and Training East 2007, don’t fret. The organizers will be streaming two days of original programming over Internet radio. All you need is a web browser, a computerwith some speakers, and a connection to the internet.

Made possible by the folks at MyTechnologyLawyer.com, the DocTrain East radio shows take place October 18-19, 2007 (schedule below) and will be broadcast live from the event venue. Listeners will be able to ask questions of the guests via email or phone (toll-free in the U.S.). The shows feature interviews with experts attending the conference who will discuss a variety of hot topics in the technical communication and training arena. MyTechnologyLawyer’s Scott Draughon will co-host the show along with Indiana-based technology journalist, Diane Wieland.

To listen to the live broadcast visit the radio show website. Click “Listen Now” to hear the audio. If you’d like to ask a question of the guests, call-in toll free at 866-685-7469 or send an email to radio@mytechnologylawyer.com.

Show Schedule, Thursday, October 18, 2007——-

• 10:00-11:00am ET - “Why Software Sucks” with guest author and keynote presenter, David Platt, Rolling Thunder Computing, and “Changing User Expectations” with guest Kelly Stirman, MarkLogic.
• 11:00-12noon ET - “Convergence and the new Adobe Technical Communication Suite” with RJ Jacquez, Adobe Systems, and “Content Component Management” with Chip Gettinger, Astoria Software.
• 2:00-3:00pm ET - “Why Content Management” with Mary Laplante, Gilbane Group and “What is Dynamic Publishing?” with Joe Gollner, Stilo International.
• 3:00-4:00pm ET - “Localization and Translation” with Christine Fidura, SDL, and “Controlled Vocabularies” with Kent Taylor, Acrolinx.

Show Schedule, Friday, October 19, 2007——-

• 9:00-10:00am ET - “DITA Storm: The DITA Wiki” with Alex Karezin and “DITA in Technical Publications” with Harvey Greenburg, XyEnterprise and Peter Vellikin, PTC.
• 10:00-11:00am ET - “Getting Writer’s To Adopt Structured XML Authoring” with Amanda Cross; “Change Management Challenges” with Emma Hamer, Strategy A; and “Content Management Options” with Dan Dube, DocZone.com.
• 11:00-12noon ET - “XML Authoring in an MS Word Environment” with Michael Boses, Invision Research and “Cool Tools for Tech Writers Under $100 Bucks” with Nicky Bleiel, Component One.

A few months ago, I made an error in editing the Proof Sheet template that caused the Proof Sheet posts from January through the end of June to disappear. All the Proof Sheet posts from January through early March have now been restored, and I hope to have the rest available by the end of October. New articles, held until the database problem was resolved, will start appearing in October. I have also put in place an automated backup system that will make it easier and faster to recover from any future problems.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Kat Nagel,
Proof Sheet Editor
(Note to self: Never mess with a line of code containing “php?” unless you are absolutely sure what it does.)

AIIM Wednesday Webinar
Produced By: Association for Information and Image Management – The Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Association

TIME: 2:00-3:00 P.M. (EASTERN), 1:00-2:00 P.M. (CENTRAL), 12:00-1:00 P.M. (MOUNTAIN), 11:00 A.M.-12:00 P.M. (PACIFIC), 7:00-8:00 P.M. (GT)
Speaker: Christine Pierpoint, Welchman Consulting

Your company’s image is often defined by how customers perceive the quality of the communications they receive. But today that means more than just batch statements and policies. Customers are becoming more sophisticated, with increasing demands for real-time information. How can you create, maintain, and deliver this content and make it available in email, fax, print, Web, or SMS – for all of your brands – from a single template?

Attend this Webcast to learn how to:

• Launch new products faster & capture more business by providing personalized quotes, applications, agreements and other critical documents in real time
• Improve efficiency by empowering business users rather than IT to manage document generation
• Reduce operational risk by standardizing communication templates and automating exception management
• Save on total cost of ownership by taking advantage of service-oriented architecture (SOA) and XML to drive your business communications

For further information contact:
Kelly Markiewicz
Phone: 301-587-8202

=====
AIIM is the international authority on Enterprise Content Management (ECM) – the tools and technologies used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM enables four key business drivers: Continuity, Collaboration, Compliance, and Costs.

For over 60 years, AIIM has been the leading non-profit organization focused on helping users to understand the challenges associated with managing documents, content, records, and business processes. Today, AIIM is international in scope, independent, implementation-focused, and, as the representative of the entire ECM industry – including users, suppliers, and the channel – acts as the industry’s intermediary.

Consider attending AIIMexpo
April 16-19, 2007
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Boston, MA

AIIM Conference & Expo is the largest and most important annual gathering of information management professionals, featuring an educational program covering the breadth and depth of enterprise content and information management issues, while providing face-to-face access to nearly every major solution provider in the space.

The 2007 conference program has been expanded to 14 tracks, offering several new conference themes that address the needs of senior-level information management professionals. Tracks and themes covered include:

* Compliance & Risk Management
* Digital Rights Management
* Document and Records Management
* ECM Fundamentals
* Information Infrastructure
* Information Classification, Taxonomies & Metadata
* Managing Unstructured Data
* Organizational Management
* Product Selection and Implementation Best Practices
* Publishing Automation
* Search and Text Mining
* Web Content Management/Portals
* Web Services
* Workflow/Business Process Management

According to Tom Bliss, Group Conference Director – AIIM and ON DEMAND Conferences & Expos, Questex Media Group, “This year’s program is designed to show business and IT professionals how to manage enterprise content in a way that puts mission-critical information in front of the people who need it, when they need it. Here they’ll learn how to automate business processes and improve decision making by rethinking the way enterprise information is created, organized, accessed, analyzed and used.”

“The volume of content and information being created today far exceeds our ability to consume it. And for most organizations, that gap is growing quickly. The AIIM conference sessions will cover the breadth of information management issues and provide valuable solutions,” John Mancini, President, AIIM – The ECM Association.

For additional details on the conference tracks, go to http://www.aiimexpo.com/aiimexpo2007/v42/index.cvn?ID=10011.

Pre-conference workshops include:
• The ECM Practitioner Training Program session presented by AIIM -The ECM Association will focus on ECM components and technologies for managing information throughout its lifecycle.
• A half-day tutorial on ECM Product Selection presented by ECM guru Alan Pelz-Sharpe of CMS Watch.
• The Developing Enterprise Taxonomies: A Practical Guide, a half-day workshop presented by noted taxonomy expert, Theresa Regli of CMS Watch.

For additional information on the pre-conference sessions, go to: http://www.aiimexpo.com/aiimexpo2007/v42/index.cvn?ID=10027

To register to attend, call 888-824-3004 or visit www.aiimexpo.com.