Ars Communica

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

Societies typically seek a stable and sustainable balance between two basic long-term objectives: to promote and develop a particular field of knowledge by widespread dissemination of high-quality publications in that field, and to sustain themselves as organizations by supporting various other beneficial activities besides publication. As the editor for STC and a member of the Project Phoenix team, I am looking for ways to achieve this balance with STC publications and seeking advice on three proposed content solutions for 2011.

STC Publications—Current Content Strategies

With the continued popularity of Web-based publishing, 2010 has been a year of transition for STC publications as the Society shifted from print to online publishing as its primary delivery system. Current STC member publications include:

• Intercom—a monthly magazine with articles focused on practitioners’ professional education needs, provided in multiple formats (e.g., PDF, HTML, FlipDoc).
• Technical Communication—a peer-reviewed academic journal, published quarterly, that concentrates on expanding the body of knowledge for the profession (also provided online and through Ingenta [for institutional subscribers]).
• STC’s Notebook—a blog offering information, announcements, and advice with opportunities for readers to comment.
• News and Notes—a monthly summary, sent by email to all members, of the most important announcements, email messages, and blog entries.

The deliverables for Intercom and Technical Communication were intended as intermediary content strategies that would provide members with multiple ways to access the publications, moving away from the expense and lengthy production times of print. For 2011, Project Phoenix is investigating our options for publication strategies that will provide more open access with new features (e.g., public discussions and video content) and products (such as mobile editions).

Future Content Strategies

STC is exploring providing some or all of Intercom and Technical Communication content openly to the public so that the publications can be used to build substantial brand equity for the Society, including search engine optimization and social media integration. New features for the publications will also include interactive capabilities, such as searching and commenting on content.

Three Content Strategies

For the two primary STC publications (Intercom and Technical Communication), three potential content strategies have been discussed: closed, semi-open, and open.

Both publications are currently using a closed strategy model that requires paid membership and logging in to access full content. Nonmembers and the general public can currently read abstracts or “teasers” of content, but they must become members or subscribe to see full publication content. This strategy has two primary advantages—content is “exclusive” to members and STC controls content delivery and pricing. However, disadvantages include a small subscriber base, restricted advertising and non-dues revenue, and limited brand recognition outside of membership.

A semi-open or progressive content strategy would allow members and nonmembers to access content “for free,” with some restrictions. For example, this strategy would offer members access to all content, but nonmembers would be restricted to limited access or a limited view of content (e.g., they could download one article for free, but they would be required to pay for an entire issue. Some engagement would be obligatory, such as registering to comment or providing an email address or other contact information (for increasing membership). Another option would be to allow all visitors to view content on the publication website freely, but to require purchase of all other formats for downloading or storing content. Examples of magazines and journals that have adopted a semi-open or progressive strategy include IEEE Spectrum, McKinsey Quarterly, and The Economist.

Some of the advantages to a semi-open strategy include exposing STC and its members to a larger audience of technical communicators (without giving away all content for free), generating significant new subscription-based revenues (with an appropriate pricing structure for nonmembers), and increasing advertising opportunities. However, a semi-open content strategy does not drive as much use and engagement as an open strategy.

An open content strategy would allow members and nonmembers alike to access all content “for free,” without much restriction. This strategy would offer the public open access or a wide view of content with a minor engagement required by the reader to continue, such as registration to comment or providing contact information or readership data (i.e., a cost that is not financial). Examples of magazines and journals that have adopted this strategy include First Monday and Kairos.

Advantages to an open strategy are that it exposes STC and its authors to a larger audience of technical communicators, promotes discussions between members and nonmembers around the advancement of the theory and practice of technical communication, brings in more non-dues revenue from advertising, and increases membership through member recruitment ads (including video) and visitor data (i.e., potential members). A possible disadvantage to the open content strategy is that subscription and membership revenue may be reduced.

Further Discussion

Having provided these three strategies, I’d like to open the topic for discussion. What strategies would you like STC to consider for Intercom and Technical Communication? What advantages and disadvantages do you see in the content strategies above? Should the strategy be the same for both publications, or should they be treated differently? I look forward to your suggestions and feedback.

Original link: http://notebook.stc.org/upcoming-webinar-on-17-november-measuring-productivity/

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

For years, software training was mainly text-based—write a description and instructions in a Word document, paste in some screen shots, and voila! The result worked, but think how much more effective it could be to have someone actually “walk you through the steps” on the screen. That’s where Captivate comes in, letting you create that someone.

Continue reading »

STC-Montreal needs your input to plan workshops for the coming year. We need to know a bit about what you do, how we can improve our services, and what tools, skills, or technologies are most important to you, so we can offer workshops that are relevant to your career.

Continue reading »

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

Is your fear of public speaking hurting your career? Do you want to overcome this fear? You develop content plans and apply methodology to crafting your technical communication—do the same for your speaking skills.

Continue reading »

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

STC has announced the 2011 slate of candidates for Society office. Please note that the election slate presented below is based on the changes to the composition of the Society Board of Directors made in August 2009 as reflected in the Society’s Bylaws. These are available for review at http://www.stc.org/PDF_Files/bylaws.pdf.

Congratulations to all of the candidates, and thanks to everyone who expressed interest in running for office.

Continue reading »

Toronto STC’s tech writing competition is now open, and you’re invited.

We’ve joined with the Toronto chapter to compete for Canada’s best technical publications and online communications. The categories include:

• Informational Materials
• Instructional Materials
• Promotional Materials
• User Support Materials

Continue reading »

The November 2010 workshop, “Content and Form: Writing with Reuse in Mind” was a tremendous success for both STC-Montreal and Frontrunner Training. Following below are the presentation slides from each of the four presenters, and some additional information from Saul Carliner.

Continue reading »

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

Documentation managers struggle to quantify the productivity of team members. How can you tell which writer is overloaded and which could take on more? How do you know when work is fairly distributed among the team members? How do you quantify a suspicion that one writer needs a promotion and another needs coaching?

Continue reading »

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

STC’s Certification Committee met at Stately STC Manor in Fairfax, Virginia, last weekend for further discussion and planning for certification. While in Fairfax, Steven Jong (chair of the certification committee) and Buck Chaffee (an expert in certification with 30 years of certification experience) sat down for the cameras to share their thoughts. Enjoy!

Continue reading »

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

Did you know that STC has 21 Special Interest Groups (SIGs)? Do you know what they do? Some are large, some small. The popularity and relevance of SIGs naturally waxes and wanes over the years as technical communication evolves. How do you know which ones are right (or wrong) for you today?

Continue reading »

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

“Hey, we bought a CMS, let’s put some content into it, and we’ve even adopted DITA!” Is this really content management? Join STC and Pamela Kostur for a lively presentation that puts content in the spotlight, as Pamela leads the live web seminar Content Management as a Practice on Wednesday, 10 November, from 1:00-2:00 PM EST (GMT-5).

Continue reading »

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

STC Vice President Hillary Hart took a closer look at the results of STC’s Brand Perception Survey; her thoughts on a few subjects that intrigued her are below. View the survey results here (PDF).

The results of STC’s recent Brand Identity survey, while not based on a large enough sample to be statistically significant, point to interesting dichotomies and discrepancies in the workplace role of technical communicators and in their perception of STC. The self-reporting questionnaire was given to five groups of technical communicators (not all of them members of STC) in September 2010. About 50 respondents filled out the 33-question web-based form, and lots of them made perceptive and constructive suggestions/comments. The summary report itself is here.

These are the findings I found most revealing in terms of future direction for STC (something I do have to think about).

The job title Technical Writer is still the most popular, but when the same list of titles was offered as a second question, about job functions, there were discrepancies. Only one person reported having the title Information Architect/Usability , but for 5 people that is their main job function (respondents could only pick one). No one reported the title Instructional Designer, but that is in fact three people’s main job function. These discrepancies tell me that even in this group of mainly veteran technical communicators, titles are not keeping pace with what many TCers actually do, which tells me in turn that STC is not doing a good enough job of educating those who hire TCers about all that technical communication is. For sure, the planned TC Body of Knowledge (BOK) web portal better be very attractive and useful to HR managers, product managers, upper management … not just to technical communicators themselves. Fortunately, the STC BOK team is well aware of potential employers as an important audience for information about the value-add of technical communicators and are designing the portal accordingly.

Moving on to the survey’s more qualitative questions, I am fascinated by the polarization around the issue of whether STC is perceived as “an authority in the field of technical communication” (question 22). The choices for response were “Absolutely,” “Yes,” and “ No.” Almost as many respondents felt that STC is not an authority as felt that STC is “Absolutely” an authority (24 vs. 20). Only one person out of the 50 said simply “Yes.” This result tells me that many TCers are passionate about their chosen field and about whether it, and therefore they, are being well served by their main professional association. I would love to slice up this set of data and see whether the dramatic difference in perception breaks across educational, job function, or other categories/lines. In fact, I’ll do that, in between classes this week.

But my favorite finding is that these technical communicators’ favorite non-STC publication is Wired magazine. It’s their favorite by a wide margin, more than 2 to 1 over the next most-read magazine, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. Way to go. This result tells me that TCers value creativity, innovation, and state-of-the-art. All good qualities for surviving and thriving in the information economy of the 21st century.

Original link: http://notebook.stc.org/inside-the-board-hillary-hart-on-stcs-brand-perception-survey/

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

Whether it’s across town or across the globe, many businesses today have virtual teams—colleagues in different buildings, different cities, or even different countries that must work together. Miscommunication in the workplace can occur when face to face, and the risk is even greater with virtual teams.

Join STC and Dr. Pam Brewer for a webinar on implementing successful virtual teams across organizational and national cultures.

The webinar, Communication and Miscommunication in Virtual Workplaces, will take place on Wednesday, 3 November, from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT (GMT-4). The topic can be helpful to people who currently work in virtual teams and those who would like to implement new and successful virtual teams in the global marketplace. Using the results of recent research, the speaker and participants will discuss factors that cause miscommunication, typical patterns of communication, factors of success, and solutions to common problems.

Original link: http://notebook.stc.org/upcoming-webinar-on-3-november-communication-and-miscommunication-in-virtual-workplaces/

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

Technical communicators use focus groups to understand the issues and needs of audiences, users, and customers. But if you don’t fully understand the purpose, design, and use of focus groups, the information you get from them may not be everything you want.

Continue reading »

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

As announced previously, Project Phoenix has begun. We’ve received the results of our initial survey and have spent some time reviewing what was said. STC President Michael Hughes will have a blog post soon with a link to the results and an explanation of what we’re doing with them. But I wanted to touch on one specific way Project Phoenix is already bearing results for you!

The survey results—combined with many individual communications through phone calls; emails; postings on Ning, Facebook, LinkedIn, and STC’s Notebook; and leadership input—tell us members want:

• Value for their money
• Practical information for their jobs
• Access to top-level educational opportunities
• The ability to connect with each other, virtually and in person

Members want STC to be a voice for the profession. They want STC to create a climate where technical communicators are valued—and hired—for their expertise. And members want a sense of passion—of caring about the profession and each other as professionals.

The communities suggested the Basic membership package should include one chapter and one SIG membership. Others suggested added value, such as the new Gold membership package introduced in 2009 with a host of benefits bundled into the dues.

As a result we have new and exciting Basic and Gold membership packages for 2011.

The Basic dues will remain the same for 2011 as in 2010. For $250, the 2011 membership package will include:

• One Chapter membership ($25 value)
• One SIG membership ($10 value)
• Two free archived seminars ($98 value)
• Electronic version of Technical Communication
• Electronic version of Intercom
• STC’s Notebook blog (open to all for public access)
• Free Basic listing in the STC Buyers’ Guide to Products and Services ($100 value)
• 10% discount on select MadCap products and 15% discount on select ComponentOne products
• Advance viewing of jobs posted on the STC Career Center
• Preferred pricing on live web seminars, online certificate courses, Technical Communication Summit, and SUMMIT@aClick

(The STC Board remains committed to choice in dues for the Basic membership package. While this package includes community membership, members can choose to opt out when renewing.)

The Gold Membership package is a bargain at $395—for a package worth more than $1,200. You save over $800 and get everything in the Basic package (including Chapter and SIG membership), PLUS:

• Five free live web seminars ($395 value)
• 50% off one online certificate course or SUMMIT certificate course ($298 value)
• Free Premium listing in the STC Buyers’ Guide to Products and Services ($250 value)
• Free access to the STC Salary Database and sortable spreadsheets ($30 value)

The renewal period starts on 1 October and we have a host of new and exciting developments to unveil in 2011 with Project Phoenix.

Original link: notebook.stc.org/exec-direct-blogging-with-kathryn-burton-3/

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

Managing documentation projects has changed little over the last few decades. You’re used to long development cycles in which you gather information from disparate parts of the enterprise to create static documentation products. The traditional methods, however, are being upended by community-based authoring and Agile. These two trends are revamping the way you manage documentation projects.

Continue reading »

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

When you start a new software documentation project (whether a truly new project or “new to you”) most people want to begin writing immediately. Is that the best way to do things, though? Stepping back and doing a bit of project analysis will go a long way toward making the project successful.

Continue reading »

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

What is the Community Affairs Committee?

STC President Michael Hughes is striving to ensure effective communication between STC community leaders, Board members, and the STC staff. At the 2010 Summit he announced the reinvigorated Community Affairs Committee (CAC) and appointed Judith Herr as CAC chair. Mike offered the following CAC Mission:

Continue reading »

Reposted from notebook.stc.org.

Technical communication is changing. Are you changing with it, and are you communicating and leading that change in your organization?

Continue reading »