ocstc 2008 scholarship— apply now! · 2020. 8. 25. · a hard-core grammar book entitled english...
TRANSCRIPT
Orange County STC Newsletter
www.stc.org January 2008 Vol. 47, No. 1
OCSTC 2008 Scholarship—Apply Now!By Betsy Malone, OCSTC Secretary
The OCSTC scholarship award is com-ing soon!
Be sure to pass this information along to fellow students, friends, and coworkers. Help spread the word, especially if they know any Southern California college students who are currently enrolled and will be enrolled in a degree or certificate program dur-ing fall 2008 that is preparing them for a career in technical communication. Winners of the annual student scholar-ship competition could receive up to $500 to apply toward tuition and other fees!
BenefitsThe many benefits of entering the contest include:
Money
Award for portfolio and résumé
Visibility among area employers
Recognition and dinner at the OCSTC awards banquet
Constructive analysis of your work by a panel of local technical communication professionals
How to ApplyApplying for the scholarship is easy! Submit the scholarship application form, a sample of your work, and other information per competition rules. To request the entry form and competition rules, contact Betsy Malone at [email protected].
The deadline to return the requested materials is March 22, 2008.
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This Issue:
OCSTC 2008 Scholarship—Apply Now! 1
President’s Message 2
Next Meeting 3
2008 Speakers and Topics 3
Editor’s Desk 4
EduNotes 6
November Meeting Review 7
December Meeting Review 7
Open Source Corner 8
Society Pages 10
OCSTC Employment Information 10
Orange Juice— Membership News 11
Orange Slice— Calendar of Events 12
January Meeting Topic 12
2 • TechniScribe • January 2008
Chapter Contacts
OCSTC P.O. Box 28751 Santa Ana, CA 92799-8751
Chapter Fax: 949.830.7585
Web site: http://www.ocstc.org
Administrative CouncilPresident, Bruce Giddens, [email protected]
Past President, Jeff Randolph, [email protected]
1st Vice Presidents, Programs, Jeff Randolph and Sima Staav, [email protected]
2nd Vice President, Membership, Jane Baker, [email protected]
Treasurer, Linda Phillips, [email protected]
Secretary, Betsy Malone, [email protected]
AppointeesTechniScribe Managing Editor, Michael Opsteegh, [email protected]
Public Relations, Open
Education, Bill Darnall, [email protected]
Education, Brian McCaleb, [email protected]
Webmaster, Jeff Randolph, [email protected]
Employment Manager, Betsy Malone, [email protected]
Committees Nominating Committee :
Chair, Suzanne Madison, [email protected]
Carrie Damschroder, [email protected]
Bill Darnall, [email protected]
Larry Lockie, [email protected]
President’s MessageBy Bruce Giddens, OCSTC President
As we start the New Year and we complete our rounds of employer reviews, it’s a good time to assess our train-ing and educational needs. If you find yourself in a situa-tion in which you’re asking friends and colleagues basic questions, it’s time to think about taking a refresher course.
The local community colleges and universities offer some excellent courses at reasonable prices.
Saddleback College offers an excellent suite of classes geared for the Internet, including CSS, .NET, JavaScript, and Java, taught by a highly competent faculty.
Golden West College offers a class in Frame-Maker covering the major features of the ap-plication. You can even take it online.
Depending on what fits your needs, you can choose from classes in 8-week chunks, full 16-week semester classes in the classroom, or classes online. For many of the classes, instructors have recorded their lectures! Check out Jane Baker’s Orange Juice column (page 11) for a detailed list of classes that might interest you.
If you need to work on online help, you can attend the WritersUA Conference in Portland, Oregon from March 16-19 to learn about from March 16-19. Our January speaker, Joe Welinske, is the president of WritersUA and you can attend our meeting and get more detailed information about the March confer-ence. Joe’s sessions are always top-notch, at first-class facilities, and at reasonable rates. As of this writ-ing, there are some particularly good air fares from Ontario to Portland on Southwest Airlines for $141. If you have time to burn, Amtrak is half the fare of any airline (one-way is $80!). You can see the full suite of sessions and programs for WritersUA at http://www.writersua.com.
Finally, there is the STC Conference, June 1-4 in Philadelphia. For the first time in recent memory, the Conference does not conflict with Mothers Day. Did anybody make reservations when the non-stop, round-trip fare was $206 to Philadelphia? While air fares and packages vary almost weekly, as of this writ-ing, the cheapest plan is to fly to Washington, DC or Baltimore, and rent a car, though you will not neces-sarily need one. Use your imagination for the package that fits your situation. To find the latest information, go to http://www.stc.org/55thConf/.
My e-mail address is [email protected], and I’d like to know what you think!
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January 2008 • TechniScribe • 3
Next MeetingTopic: Write More, Write Less: Embracing the
Value of Crafted Words and Images
Speaker: Joe Welinske
When: Tuesday, January 15, 6-9 p.m.
Where: DoubleTree Club Hotel 7 Hutton Centre Drive Santa Ana, CA 92702 714.751.2400
Cost: Members with reservations . . . . . . . . . . . $24
Students with reservations . . . . . . . . . . . . $18
Nonmembers with reservations . . . . . . . $29
Walk-ins, or those registering after the deadline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $33
No-shows billed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24
Reservations:
Due by midnight, Friday, January 11
Registration:
Online at http://www.ocstc.org/dinres.asp
Directions to the DoubleTree Club HotelMap of the I-405 and SR-55 area. The star below indi-cates the hotel location. Parking is FREE.
Date Speaker Topic NotesJanuary 15 Joe Welinske
President of Puget Sound Chap-ter and President of WritersUA
Write More, Write Less: Embrac-ing the Value of Crafted Words and Images
February 19 Frank Reynolds Past President of Orange County Chapter of PMI
Guerilla Networking: Attain, Retain, and Gain Professional Success Through Extensive and Intensive Networking
March 25 R. J. Jacquez Senior Product Evangelist Adobe Systems, Inc.
Preview of RoboHelp 7 and Single-Source Integration with FrameMaker 8
OCSTC meeting moved to the fourth Tuesday to avoid con-flicting with WritersUA.
April 8 Michael Opsteegh TechniScribe Managing Editor Orange County STC
Creating a Newsletter Using Adobe InDesign
Meeting will be held at a North Orange County location
April 15 TBD — Save this date
May 13 Sharon Burton Product Manager for MadCap Software
Madcap Software’s Blaze Meeting will be held at a North Orange County location
May 20 Sue Fisher Project Management Professional
Creating a Flexibility Matrix
June 17 Jack Molisani and Jim Desmond
Alternate Career Paths for Tech-nical Communicators
July 15 TBD — Save this date
August 19 Saul Carliner STC Fellow and STC Past Presi-dent
Testosterone Technology
2008 Speakers and Topics
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Publication PoliciesTechniScribe is published 12 times a year as a benefit to the members of the Orange County Chapter of the Society for Technical Communi-cation. The goal of the publication is to reflect the interests, needs, and objectives of OCSTC members. TechniScribe strives to be an advocate for, and an inspiration to, technical communica-tors by keeping them connected to each other and to opportunities for professional growth.
Articles published in this newsletter may be re-printed in other STC publications if permission is obtained from the author, credit is properly given, and one copy of the reprint is sent to the TechniScribe managing editor.
Submission InformationThe editorial team retains and exercises the right to edit submitted and requested material for clarity, length, and appropriateness.
When submitting material, please remember to:
Include a 25-word biography about yourself.
Send articles in Word (doc, docx), Rich-Text Format (RTF), ASCII (txt), or in the body of an e-mail message.
Send material to the managing editor ([email protected]) five weeks before the date it will be published.
Editorial StaffManaging Editor . . . . . . . . .Michael Opsteegh Copyeditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Teresita del Sol Copyeditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anne Stratford Copyeditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Barbara Young Proofreader . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jennifer Gardelle Proofreader . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Suzanne Madison Proofreader . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sima Staav Web Version . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jeff Randolph
Monthly Advertising Rates1/4 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $40 1/3 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $45 1/2 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $60 Full page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $80
Subscriptions$10 a year to members of other STC chapters.
PrinterPrintWorks, Irvine, CA
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Editor’s DeskBy Michael Opsteegh, TechniScribe Managing Editor
Last month, I recommended a hard-core grammar book entitled English Review Gram-mar by Walter K. Smart, and I also outlined a few of the lesser-known grammatical errors that present them-selves in our everyday lives, in an effort to remind you to be aware of the rules before you break them.
By no means do I advocate an overly conservative approach to writing or editing. After all, if nobody knows that a sentence is grammat-ically incorrect, is it really incorrect? But, at the same time, our grammar affects the accessibility of our text, which means these so-called rules help improve read-ability and a structure through which the reader is accustomed to gathering information.
The question then becomes, where to draw the line? Personally, I still struggle with these issues every day and sometimes even agonize over them.
The English language, by its very nature, is always changing and evolving. If enough people use a particular word or even bad grammar, it becomes so commonplace that it is acceptable in written commu-nication. For example, the word data is technically the plural of datum. But nowadays, most everybody uses and accepts data to represent both the singular and plural form.
This widespread use does not always lead to accep-tance in written communication. For example, the word ain’t has been widely used for nearly two centu-ries, but is not, and may never be, accepted in written communication.
If you choose to be more liberal in your writing and editing, you risk alienating most or all of your audi-ence by defying their expectations of your text. If you choose to be more conservative in your writing and editing, you risk alienating most or all of your audi-ence because your text will come off as stiff or preten-tious. What are we to do?
Submit your newsletter inquiries, articles, and ideas to Michael at [email protected].
January 2008 • TechniScribe • �
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6 • TechniScribe • January 2008
EduNotesThe Proposal Process (Part 1)By Bill Darnall, Cochair OCSTC Education
IntroductionA proposal is a targeted selling document. A proposal promises the customer a solution to specific require-ments. As a user-centric nonfiction writer, you may be interested in proposal writing. However, be prepared to shift mental gears. Ordinary technical writing is primarily informational. Proposal writing, on the other hand, is primarily persuasive, although it has informational content. However, writing a winning proposal is not the first step in the proposal process.
An effective proposal is the culmination of extensive preliminary effort. Such effort may include sales pre-sentations, demonstrations, verbal agreements, per-sonal relationships, and arrival at tacit understand-ings. An effective proposal meets customer require-ments at a reasonable cost and in a satisfactory time frame. A winning proposal should be 100% mutually beneficial.
Everyone likes to be part of a “win-win” project. You and your customer are comfortable with the promised deliverables. You and your customer expect the requirements will be satisfied in the mu-tually-agreed time frame. You and your customer are comfortable with the payment terms and conditions. Adversarial relationships are less likely to develop when a project kickoff meeting emphasizes a win-win agreement.
Preliminary ActivitiesWriters seldom meet the prospective customer. This is nothing new. How many users have you met for the various products you have documented? In fact, many of the preproposal activities are outside of the informational writing environment. For example, your sales and marketing personnel may have spent months cultivating a particular prospect. Their objec-tive is to “sell” the prospect before the request for proposal (RFP) is issued. As writers, we hope the mar-keting people are doing their job. Sometimes we get to help in the presales area by writing white papers.
Although you may never meet the customer, you can stay in touch with your in-house customers, particularly those in sales and marketing. Make it a point to be aware of expected proposal activities. Stay
informed and you will be able to “hit the ground run-ning” when the expected RFP appears.
The Proposal Document ArchitecturePrevious EduNotes articles outlined three design methodologies for creating effective user documenta-tion. Writers can apply these same design methodolo-gies to proposals:
Information Architecture
Information Design
Content Management
Information Architecture for ProposalsDesign for effective information architecture en-ables proposal evaluators to easily find information
they are looking for in your proposal. The most effective proposal infor-mation architecture is one that duplicates the layout and structure of the RFP. Proposal evalua-tors will be familiar with the structure of the RFP. Each proposal evaluator, or team of evaluators, will be assigned specific sections of the proposal to evaluate. If your proposal does not duplicate the original layout, it may seem out-of-sync and may be discarded. In summary,
keep the topical order and numeric designations in your proposal the same as in the RFP.
Information Design for ProposalsDesign for effective information design enables pro-posal evaluators to easily understand the information in your proposal. Respond fully to every item in the RFP. Use terminology that is familiar to the evalu-ators. Make a strategic decision to either duplicate the RFP’s style, or not. Do not take exception to any requirement. Do not volunteer incidental information not requested.
Content Management for ProposalsDesign for effective content management results in an easy-to-use topical information storage and retrieval process. The process stores and retrieves preproposal trip reports, presentations, notes, and white papers. Other content includes company boilerplate, résumés, and a glossary of terms.
To be continued in the February 2008 issue…
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November Meeting ReviewBy Michael Opsteegh, TechniScribe Managing Editor
December Meeting ReviewBy Jack Molisani, Associate Fellow
The topic of December’s meeting presentation was, “What Do Your Manuals Say About Your Company? A Survey of Home Electronics Consumers.”
In this informative and entertaining presentation, re-turning speaker Bonni Graham shared research data on how users of consumer electronics are affected by the product documentation. While everyone knows that consumers hate poorly written product docu-mentation, what may not be as widely known is the direct affect that documentation experience has on current and future sales for a company.
The data presented came from a research project Bonni initiated to discover how users view product documentation, how their perception of the products’ usability and durability is swayed by their out-of-box documentation experience, and finally (and perhaps most importantly), how did that out-of-box experi-ence (positive or negative) affect the consumers’ deci-sions to buy the product, return the product, and/or buy other products from a company (brand loyalty).
The data was prefaced with the caveat that the data came from an anonymous Internet-based survey of
In November, Barbara Giammona gave a lively and informative presentation on what technical communi-cators must do to survive and advance in the contem-porary business environment. She began the presenta-tion by asking everyone to think of one person whom he or she knows personally and considers successful. The question isn’t as easy to answer as it sounds. More to the point, where do you consider yourself successful, and where are you failing?
As an industry, technical communication must overcome some stereotypes and make advances in creating awareness of our profession. Some of the stereotypes include the misconceptions that the field is full of whiners and that we don’t fully appreciate the financial burden we place on our employers. Bar-bara suggests that technical communicators improve their societies, create a public relations campaign, and become better business people and managers.
Barbara offers the following advice to technical com-municators:
Become an industry expert.
Understand what skills your company values and get them.
Remember that your skills are transferable to other corporate roles.
Don’t be a whiner.
Make sure you have a passion for your industry and your company; if your passion is for technical communication, you should work for a technical communication service provider.
Become familiar with content management systems.
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Loosen your death-grip on formatting, punc-tuation, and perfection.
You’re a professional, so make sure your work attire and cubicle reflect your professionalism.
In addition, technical communicators, like you, must exude the following characteristics:
Understanding of your real customers—in-side and outside of your company
Ability to manage projects and multitask
Ability to speak in public and speak up at meetings
Acceptance of the fact that your career ad-vancement is your responsibility
You can view Barbara’s presentation online at http://www.ocstc.org/meeting_archive.asp. You can reach Barbara at [email protected].
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OCSTC president, Bruce Giddens, thanks Barbara Giam-mona for her informative presentation.
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8 • TechniScribe • January 2008
Open Source CornerEasyPHPBy Will Kraft, OCSTC Student Member
A Crash Course on Server FunctionsA significant portion of the Internet runs on LAMP servers, which are regular computers equipped with four important tools: Linux operating system, the Apache Web server, the MySQL database, and a PHP (or Perl) interpreter. The acronym, LAMP, comes from the names of these important tools. In a typical scenario, a document written in PHP may be stored on a Web server. When called by an external user request, the document goes through the PHP inter-preter before it ever leaves the server (the interpreter may interact with MySQL during this phase to fetch or save data). The interpreter executes any PHP code in the document and reformats the output as standard HTML. Apache takes that output and sends it from the server to the user’s browser. Meanwhile, all of this is running on an operating system, usually Linux.
On a production Linux server, each of these four components must traditionally be installed and configured separately for everything to work prop-erly, thereby requiring several hours and vast exper-tise, making the LAMP server solution impractical for short-term deployment. Fortunately, there is an alternative that allows you, the savvy tech writer with modest server setup experience, to set up a function-ing LAMP server in minutes.
A Portable Web ServerEasyPHP (http://www.easyphp.org) is free, general public license (GPL) software that gives you every-thing you need to quickly set up a WAMP (basi-cally the same thing as a LAMP, only with Windows instead of Linux). Once EasyPHP is downloaded and installed on your Windows computer, you can in-stantly deploy a full server environment just by start-ing the program. There may be other interpreters on a
real server to handle such languages as Ruby or ASP, but this application only focuses on PHP. Everything usually works out of the box, so very little system administration training is required for regular use. As an added bonus, EasyPHP includes the PHPMyAd-min front end by default. This feature allows you to work with MySQL databases and configure your PHP settings over a simple Web interface.
EasyPHP is ideal for development purposes, because it allows you to perform client-side testing and debug Web applications that would normally not run under Windows due to the lack of an interpreter. EasyPHP can also act as a normal Web server and handle Web traffic, (you must first configure your router to accept incoming HTTP requests) which makes it ideal for use as a portable or emergency Web server. However, EasyPHP advises temporary use as a live server for security reasons.
Using EasyPHPEasyPHP works out of the Program Files folder, and uses the www subfolder in its installation folder as the server root directory. Any file or folder placed in this directory will be available in the server environ-ment. You may access your server environment and any files hosted on it by typing http://127.0.0.1/ into your Web browser while EasyPHP is active.
So, if your employer or client requests documentation for a new Web application, consider using EasyPHP as a simple and quick solution for turning your work or home computer into a Web server for testing the software.
January 2008 • TechniScribe • �
U.S. consumer electronics audiophiles. However, Bonni stated that additional surveys indicate that the response trends discovered in the survey may hold just as true for other types of consumer products (such as software).
Bonni’s background as a trained improv comedic performer enabled her to make what could have been a boring presentation about statistical data into an entertaining and informative presentation on not only how consumers view user documentation, but what the effect of those views are down the road (brand se-lection while comparison shopping, product returns, future purchases, etc.). I was also impressed that the graphs displayed in her presentation were gener-ated directly from the underlying tabulated data, so Bonni was able to drill down into the data to answer questions from attendees who wanted more detailed information after the presentation.
If you missed the meeting (and it was a good one!), I recommend you view the presentation at http://www.ocstc.org/meeting_archive.asp. It is a gold mine of data you can cite when trying to convince your company of something that might seem obvi-ous to us—that spending a little money on the front end to increase the usability of documentation saves far more on the back end in terms of increased sales, decreased returns and support calls, and preserved brand loyalty.
Bonni Graham is the CEO and President of Manual Labour and teaches technical communication at University of California Riverside. She can be reached via her company web site: http://www.manuallabour.com.
December Meeting Review< Continued from Page �
Bruce Giddens thanks Bonni Graham for her entertaining and insightful presentation.
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• Developing with Mif2Go• Content Management Systems• Technical Communication Suite
OCSTC Employment InformationOur job listing is entirely online at the OCSTC Web site. Pages are updated as jobs are submitted.
Staff Jobshttp://www.ocstc.org/employme.asp
Contract Jobshttp://www.ocstc.org/contractme.asp
Free Job Postinghttp://www.ocstc.org/jobsubmit.asp
InquiriesIf you have an inquiry, e-mail our employment manager, Betsy Malone, at [email protected].
A limited number of printed copies of the OCSTC Web site listings are available at monthly chapter meetings.
Society-Level Job ListingsSTC maintains job listings on the Internet. You can download the listings from the STC web site at http://www.stc.org/jobsdatabase.asp. 10 • TechniScribe • January 2008
Society Pages
STC Mission StatementSTC advances the theory and practice of techni-cal communication across all user abilities and all media.
Positioning StatementSTC helps you design effective communication for a technical world through information sharing and industry leadership.
The Society for Technical Communication (STC) is the world’s largest organization for technical communicators.
Its more than 14,000 members include writers, editors, illustrators, printers, publishers, photog-raphers, educators, and students.
Dues are $55–150 per year. Membership is open to anyone engaged in some phase of technical com-munication, interested in the arts and sciences of technical communication, and in allied arts and sciences.
Society for Technical Communication 901 N. Stuart Street, Suite 904 Arlington, VA 22203-1822
703.522.4114 (voice); http://www.stc.org
TechniScribe Copyright and Trademark Statement
OCSTC invites writers to submit articles that they wish to be considered for publication. Authors retain copyright to their work and implicitly grant a license to this newsletter to publish the work once in print and to publish it once online for an indefinite period of time. In your cover letter, please let the editor know if this article has ap-peared elsewhere, and if it has been submitted for consideration to other publications.
The design and layout of this newsletter are copy-righted as © STC, 2008.
Some articles might refer to companies or prod-ucts whose names are covered by a trademark or registered trademark. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Reference to a specific product does not constitute an endorse-ment of the product by OCSTC or by STC.
ColophonTechniScribe is written using Microsoft Word, and laid out using Adobe InDesign CS2 for Macin-tosh. Gill Sans and Palatino Linotype are used for heading and text fonts. PDFs are produced using Adobe Acrobat Professional 7.
TechniScribe relies on the following editorial references for style: American Heritage Dictionary, Chicago Manual of Style, and Words into Type.
January 2008 • TechniScribe • 11
Society Pages
Orange Juice: Membership NewsBy Jane Baker, OCSTC 2nd Vice President, Membership
OCSTC: 299STC: 14,831Now that the holidays have passed, and we’re in the new year, it’s time to renew your STC membership. Renewal may have slipped your mind until now because we haven’t been bombarded this year with the flurry of renewal forms in our mail-
boxes. Your membership, however, is just as impor-tant this year as it was last year. If you haven’t done so already, go to http://www.stc.org and renew today.
The following folks have joined OCSTC within the last few months:
Belinda Falk
Kathie Farrell
Elaine Jordan
Rachel Khim
Patti McCarthy
C. M. Neff
Veronica Rey
James Rushton
Michael Spaulding
Please join these new members by renewing your membership.
New Year’s ResolutionsHave you decided on a new year’s resolution yet? One of the best resolutions you can make is to enrich yourself personally and professionally by taking a class. Whether it’s a six-week online course offered through Ed2Go or a graphic design course at Golden West College, you have the power to expand your knowledge and make yourself more valuable to your current employer and more attractive to prospective employers.
It’s also a good time to brush up on the skills you already have or complete that degree you started so long ago. It’s never too late.
The table in the next column lists local classes that re-late directly to technical communication. Check your local college catalog for additional classes that may interest you.
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Advanced Technical Communications
CSUDH Online 2/11/08–4/12/08
CSUDH Online 4/21/08–6/21/08
Critical Reasoning and Writing for Science and Technology
OCC MW 10a–12:20p 1/28/08–5/24/08
English Grammar
CSULB MW 10a–11:50a 1/28/08–5/24/08
CSULB MW 2p–3:50p 1/28/08–5/24/08
CSULB TTh 4p–5:50p 1/28/08–5/24/08
Fundamentals of Technical Writing
CSUDH Online 2/11/08–4/12/08
CSUDH Online 4/21/08–6/21/08
CSUF Th 7p–10p 1/14/08–3/22/08
Information Design
CSUDH Online 2/11/08–4/12/08
CSUDH Online 4/21/08–6/21/08
Proposal Writing
CSUF T 7p–10p 2/4/08–4/19/08
CSULB Th 6:30p–9:15p 1/28/08–5/24/08
Technical Communication
CSULB MW 9:30a–10:45a 1/28/08–5/24/08
CSULB TTh 9:30a–10:45p 1/28/08–5/24/08
CSULB T 6p–8:45p 1/28/08–5/24/08
CSULB Th 6p–8:45p 1/28/08–5/24/08
Technical Editing
CSULB MW 7p–8:45p 1/28/08–5/24/08
Writing Online Documents
CSUF Th 7p–10p 4/7/08–5/31/08
College and University InformationCSUF: California State University, Fullerton Extension
2600 Nutwood Ave., Fullerton, CA 92834-6870 714.278.2611 http://www.csufextension.org/
CSULB: California State University, Long Beach 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90840-2403 562.985.4223 http://www.csulb.edu/
CSUDH: California State University, Dominguez Hills 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson, CA 90747 310.243.3730 http://www.csudh/extended/
OCC: Orange Coast College 2701 Fairview Rd., Costa Mesa, CA 92626-5563 714.432.0202 http://www.orangecoastcollege.edu/
Thinking about joining OCSTC? Contact Jane at [email protected] for membership information.
Postage Due Trust Acct. No. 95120-000
Santa Ana P&DC, CA 92799-9702
OCSTC Mailing AddressP.O. Box 28751Santa Ana, CA 92799-8751
Address Service Requested
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PAIDSANTA ANA, CA
PERMIT NO. 1767
January Meeting TopicWrite More, Write Less: Embracing the Value of Crafted Words and ImagesDocumentation teams often spend too little time writing well, and too much time writing little-used information.
Research and professional observation suggest that not enough time is put into crafting the right text for a particular context. And writing resources for doing “agile” user assistance would
be more available if writers prioritized topic writing based on user need. “Writing More while Writing Less” results in better utility for users and reduces the load on the overall documentation development process..
About the SpeakerJoe Welinske is the president of WritersUA, a company devoted to providing training and information for user assistance professionals. Joe has been involved in the development of software documentation since 1984. The focus of his work is producing high quality seminars and conferences for the user community. Joe is also in his second term as President of the Puget Sound Chapter of STC.
Orange Slice: Calendar of EventsJanuary 8 OCSTC Council Meeting. Airport Executive Suites, Irvine, 6 p.m.January 15 OCSTC Chapter Meeting. Joe Welinske, “Write More, Write Less: Embracing the Value of
Crafted Words and Images.” DoubleTree Club Hotel, 7 Hutton Centre Dr., Santa Ana, CA, 92707. 714.751.2400. 6 p.m.-9 p.m.
February 5 OCSTC Council Meeting. Airport Executive Suites, Irvine, 6 p.m.February 19 OCSTC Chapter Meeting. Frank Reynolds, “Guerilla Networking: Attain, Retain, and Gain
Professional Success through Extensive and Intensive Networking.” DoubleTree Club Hotel, 7 Hutton Centre Dr., Santa Ana, CA, 92707. 714.751.2400. 6 p.m.-9 p.m.