Society News

Touchstone is the Northern California Technical Communication competition, sponsored by five STC chapters: Berkeley, East Bay, North Bay, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley.  It is currently accepting submissions of print communication, online communication, and technical art for the Touchstone 2009-2010 competition.

Links to the submission form are available on the stc-touchstone.org web site.

Can’t get to the Summit this year? You can still get a taste of it here at the Proof Sheet. I’ll be reviewing the sessions I attend, Rochester Chapter member Beth Noble will be contributing at least one session review, and I hope to convince a few other attendees from other chapters to do the same.

Look for today’s session reviews:
Summit Keynote (David Pogue)
Accessibility SIG networking lunch
Documentation with Blogs, Wikis, and Online Communities
Selling Yourself and Your Skills
Social Networking
STC Annual Meeting
Communities Reception

Omar Terrie has joined the STC staff as assistant manager for community
relations. He has strong communication and customer service skills and
was formerly the outreach manager for a US Congressman. He will be the
primary contact in the Society office for chapter and SIG leaders, and will
coordinate timely responses required of other staff departments.

Contact info:
Omar Terrie
+1 (571) 366-1918 (direct)
omar.terrie@stc.org

information provided by stc@stc.org

submitted by Elaine Lanni
DocTrain East, Oct 29 – Nov 1, 2008 – Susan Burton, STC.
“The Changing Face of TechComm and the Society for Technical Communication”

Susan Burton, the executive director of the STC, was quite the dynamic speaker. She began by explaining that, although she’s not very technical herself, she appreciates that technical writers are out there to assist those who are technically challenged.

While in Kampala, Uganda, a few years ago, working for a nonprofit, she took the time to sit down with a homeless man who had a regular spot outside the gates of her hotel. He shared his history with her. Orphaned at a young age, he was forced to quit school because he could not afford the tuition. However, he proudly exclaimed to her that he had managed to learn how to use a computer — by having only a manual to read!

Shortly after becoming the director of STC, Susan discovered that the deadline to change an official “job description” for the US government’s Bureau of Labor had recently expired. With the assistance of a friend with government experience, she succeeded in acquiring an extension and began her work to redefine the profession of Technical Writer. Part of this effort involved consulting with the European Union. In doing so she learned about the German association, Tekom, that has 50,000 members and oversees the technical writing profession in that country. By law German companies are required to have a prescribed number of technical writers. This ensures consistency in documentation and accuracy, thus reducing risk where consumer safety is involved.

As a result of Susan’s efforts, the US Bureau of Labor has added safety implications to this job description and moved it out of a grouping that included journalists, weathermen and poets! They are considering putting us into a classification that is a new field. Here’s the current definition and the proposed definition.

Current definition of Technical Writer: Write technical materials, such as equipment manuals, appendices, or operating and maintenance instructions. May assist in layout work.

Recommended Definition: Develop and design instructional and informational tools needed to assure safe, easy, proper and complete use of technical goods and services. Combine multi-media knowledge and strong communication skills with technical expertise to educate across the entire spectrum of users’ abilities, technical experience, and visual and auditory capabilities.

This effort is just one of the 5 strategic goals of the STC. Here’s a synopsis of the other four.

• Communicate the Value. This is done through the STC publications and website.

• Improve the Practice. Through the annual STC conferences, our society provides an opportunity to network and learn. The upcoming STC Summit is in Atlanta, GA, May 3-6, 2009. There will be more than 100 sessions organized in seven tracks, and certification programs will be available. Additionally, we should all take advantage of STC’s live web seminars that are only $79 per site – not per person!

• Expand Our Partnerships. The STC has formed partnerships with numerous organizations such as The Content Wrangler, INTECOM, WritersUA, Writing Assistance and more.

• Ensure the Viability of the Organization. Says John Hedtke, STC Fellow, “Active Membership in STC is your best insurance policy against unemployment.” Some benefits of STC membership include a 14-day advance look at new job postings online, access to salary databases, and discounts on software purchases.