Toronto STC Newsletter

Our last blog entry!

2010-09-26T06:53:00.000-07:00

As of this entry, we will no longer be updating this blog. We've replaced the blog with a free, new monthly e-newsletter, which you can sign up for here.

The newsletter has the latest STC Toronto news, programs, and events. (You can view the first issue here.)

It's a great way to stay up-to-date on what's happening in our community.

You can also follow us on our website, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Meet Your Career Day Speaker: Andrew Brooke

2010-09-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

The STC Toronto Career Day is quickly approaching. In the days leading up to the event, we’d like to introduce you to our panel of guest speakers who will help you realize, plan and prepare you for your career goals in the field of technical writing. On Saturday, September 25, they will share their expertise and industry knowledge with us at Seneca College (York University Campus), 70 The Pond Road, and we hope to see you there. In addition to the many great reasons mentioned, here’s one more reason why you should attend.

Andrew Brooke, Vice President, STC Toronto

Andrew is the Toronto STC Vice‐President and a Senior Technical Writer at Oracle. He has been a technical communicator since 1998. Prior to that, he worked in technical support, as well as in the printing industry. Andrew blogs regularly on the art, science, and philosophy of technical communication in his Writer's World column, which recently received an honorable mention on Mindtouch's list of the most influential technical communicator bloggers.

Leave your questions for Andrew in the comment section and join us on September 25 at the Career Day to have it answered.”

Meet Your Career Day Speaker: Michele Marques

2010-09-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

The STC Toronto Career Day is quickly approaching. In the days leading up to the event, we’d like to introduce you to our panel of guest speakers who will help you realize, plan and prepare you for your career goals in the field of technical writing. On Saturday, September 25, they will share their expertise and industry knowledge with us at Seneca College (York University Campus), 70 The Pond Road, and we hope to see you there. In addition to the many great reasons mentioned, here’s one more reason why you should attend.

Michele Marques, Volunteer Manager, STC Toronto

Michele is a Lead Information Developer and corporate blogger at BMC Software. Throughout her 15+ years as a technical communicator, she has always sought to build and maintain connections with her professional network. She started making online connections before "the web." She is active in the STC Toronto chapter and is currently serving as Volunteer Manager.

Leave your questions for Michele in the comment section and join us on September 25 at the Career Day to have it answered.”

For more on Michele Marques, visit developer.bmc.com.

Meet Your Career Day Speaker: Pamela Patterson

2010-09-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

The STC Toronto Career Day is quickly approaching. In the days leading up to the event, we’d like to introduce you to our panel of guest speakers who will help you realize, plan and prepare you for your career goals in the field of technical writing. On Saturday, September 25, they will share their expertise and industry knowledge with us at Seneca College (York University Campus), 70 The Pond Road, and we hope to see you there. In addition to the many great reasons mentioned, here’s one more reason why you should attend.

Pamela Paterson, Senior Member, STC Toronto

Pamela Paterson has over 10 years of experience writing and managing documentation projects. She works as part of a team or as a lone writer for local and international projects.

Pamela is very active in the technical writing community and the Society for Technical Communication. For several years, she has helped writers find jobs in her role as the Toronto STC's resume and career coach.

Leave your questions for Beth in the comment section and join us on September 25 at the Career Day to have it answered.”

For more on Pamela Paterson visit writertypes.com.

Meet Your Career Day Speaker: Beth Agnew

2010-09-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

The STC Toronto Career Day is quickly approaching. In the weeks leading up to the event, we’d like to introduce you to our panel of guest speakers who will help you realize, plan and prepare you for your career goals in the field of technical writing. On Saturday, September 25, they will share their expertise and industry knowledge with us at Seneca College (York University Campus), 70 The Pond Road, and we hope to see you there. In addition to the many great reasons mentioned, here’s one more reason why you should attend.

Beth Agnew

Beth Agnew is a veteran technical communicator and the Coordinator of Seneca's Technical Communication postgraduate certificate program. She has worked with numerous high tech companies to create effective documentation, usable interfaces, and outstanding user experiences. She is a senior member of the Society for Technical Communication and has been a popular speaker at their annual conferences.

Leave your questions for Beth in the comment section and join us on September 25 at the Career Day to have it answered.”

For more on Beth Agnew, visit bethbuzz.blogspot.com and senecatechcomm.com.

Meet Your Career Day Speaker: Rob Hanna

2010-09-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

The STC Toronto Career Day is quickly approaching. In the weeks leading up to the event, we’d like to introduce you to our panel of guest speakers who will help you realize, plan and prepare you for your career goals in the field of technical writing. On Saturday, September 25, they will share their expertise and industry knowledge with us at Seneca College (York University Campus), 70 The Pond Road, and we hope to see you there. In addition to the many great reasons mentioned, here’s one more reason why you should attend.

Rob Hanna, Mentor Program Manager, STC Toronto

Rob is a former director and board member of the STC and a past president of STC Toronto. Rob is currently serving on the STC Certification Committee and Body of Knowledge Task Force.

Rob Hanna is a leading expert in structured authoring and content management. He is the proprietor of ASCan Enterprises (est. 1991) specializing in DITA/XML, knowledge management, content management, structured authoring, and single‐source publishing.

Leave your questions for Rob in the comment section and join us on September 25 at the Career Day to have it answered.

Visit Rob Hanna on LinkedIn.

Upcoming FrontRunner Courses

2010-09-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Content Reuse: From Idea to Implementation
Thursday, Sept. 23
Reusing content makes sense on so many levels. It's efficient; content is written once and used wherever it is required. It increases usability; content is consistent wherever it appears. It improves quality; analysis helps to ensure you are reusing the right content, and writing it the best for its intended uses and users. And, it facilitates translation; reused content is written, reviewed, and translated once.

This practical session aims to answer questions our clients ask us all the time, including: What do we look for in analysis? How do I get started with content analysis? What does a reuse strategy look like? Once we have a strategy, what’s next?

See full details and where to register.

STC Toronto's Career Day
Front Runner is proud to sponsor STC Toronto's Career Day to be held on September 25, 2010 from 9:30 until 4 p.m.; great topics, great speakers. It is a unique opportunity to take a day off from everyone's busy life, come and relax, learn about job search concepts, techniques and tools and exchange ideas with colleagues.

We would like to thank Uri Galimidi, MBA, ACC, Executive Coach and the keynote speaker of Career Day for his article on Competitive Job Hunting.

Knowledge Workers Toronto
On November 2nd, the Content Reuse team will be the only speakers at a Knowledge Workers Toronto evening. If you missed last winter's STC Toronto Management Day, it is a great opportunity to come and learn about Content Reuse.

Location: Verity, 111D Queen Street East, Toronto Room (on 2nd Floor) Toronto, ON M3H 6A7
Tel: 416-368-6006.
View further information and registration. Please contact us if you have any questions.

RoboHelp Essentials
Front Runner in association with the STC Alberta chapter is offering a two day RoboHelp Essentials course provided by Neil Perlin from Hyper/Word Services Inc.

Adobe RoboHelp 8: Essentials: October 25th and October 26th
Alastair Ross Technology Centre 3553 – 31 Street NW, Calgary, AB

This two-day, hands-on course is aimed at developers who need to understand RoboHelp from the basic level to some of the more advanced features, and quickly get up to speed on how to use them. There are no prerequisites. There is a requirement to bring your own laptop. (Don't forget your power cord!)

View course outline.
View details and registration.

Meet Your Career Day Speaker: Ruth Parker

2010-09-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

The STC Toronto Career Day is quickly approaching. In the weeks leading up to the event, we’d like to introduce you to our panel of guest speakers who will help you realize, plan and prepare you for your career goals in the field of technical writing. On Saturday, September 25, they will share their expertise and industry knowledge with us at Seneca College (York University Campus), 70 The Pond Road, and we hope to see you there. In addition to the many great reasons mentioned, here’s one more reason why you should attend.

Ruth Parker, B.Sc, MBA

Ruth has over 25 years of experience in teaching and in providing career, work and academic counseling to students at the University of Waterloo. Ruth is a qualified MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) practitioner and has developed and delivered team‐building workshops in industrial settings. In addition, she has given workshops on change designed for women facing change in their personal or professional lives.

Leave your questions for Ruth in the comment section and join us on September 25 at the Career Day to have it answered.”

For more on Ruth Parker, visit RedClawPress.com.

Meet Your Career Day Speaker: Uri Galimidi

2010-09-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

The STC Toronto Career Day is quickly approaching. In the weeks leading up to the event, we’d like to introduce you to our panel of guest speakers who will help you realize, plan and prepare you for your career goals in the field of technical writing. On Saturday, September 25, they will share their expertise and industry knowledge with us at Seneca College (York University Campus), 70 The Pond Road, and we hope to see you there. In addition to the many great reasons mentioned, here’s one more reason why you should attend.

Uri Galimidi, MBA, ACC, Executive Coach

Founder of The Will To Change Inc., an Executive, Career, and Personal Coaching practice, Uri is a certified coach and a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF). Uri is also a member of the board of directors and treasurer of the Toronto chapter of the ICF.

In the area of Career Coaching, Uri has developed a Career Strategy Framework, which includes a range of tools and techniques to help his clients to position themselves in the best possible situation to secure their target careers and jobs.

Leave your questions for Uri in the comment section and join us on September 25 at the Career Day to have it answered.

Get "Twisted" At Our Next Social !

2010-09-10T13:51:00.000-07:00

Join us for our first Toronto Chapter social for the 2010-2011 year!

This social is open to members and non-members alike. There's no cost other than whatever you pay for food and drink.

Details:

Date: Thursday, October 14th
Time: 6 p.m. until 10 p.m.
Location: The Twisted Kilt, 1954 Yonge Street, upper level

Join Us For Career Day!

2010-09-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

STC Toronto is proud to offer a Career Day that addresses strategies, tools, and guidelines for planning your Technical Communication career.

Put some quality time and resources into planning a career path that matches your interests, aptitudes, and skills and then translate that information into a resume stamped with your personal brand.

View complete event details and registration information.

American Medical Writers’ Association - Canadian Chapter Conference

2010-09-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

The Canadian chapter of the American Medical Writers’ Association welcome STC Toronto members to a day of networking and professional development in Hamilton, Ontario, on Saturday, October 16.

There will be several workshops of interest to technical writers and editors who work in scientific and medical fields.

For more information, please contact:

Carolyn Whiting, Member-at-Large
Phone: 416-271-1983
c.whiting@atwhiting.com

STC Breakfast Social - Sat. Aug 28th

2010-08-24T06:28:00.000-07:00

This month's STC Breakfast Social will be at Panera Bread in Mississauga. The event is open to all whether you are a STC member or not.

Please RSVP by Thursday Aug 26th, 2010 to stctoronto.membership@gmail.com.

Details:

Panera Bread (near Square One), 55 Square One Drive Unit #1, Mississauga, Ontario LSB OE2
Tel: (905) 897-5505
Website
Time: 10am - 12pm on Saturday, August 28th
Directions: Map (next to LCBO near City Centre Drive & Rathburn)
Parking: Free
Transit: Buses available from Islington subway to Square One (extra fare required)

Most Influential Technical Communicator Bloggers

2010-07-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

MindTouch Inc., described by CrunchBase as "an open source software company that develops an enterprise content management system", recently announced on its blog a list of the Top 25 Most Influential Technical Communicator Bloggers. You can read more on their blog about who made the list and how it was compiled. Bill Swallow, one of the bloggers honoured, says on his blog that he'll be working on a post regarding the rating criteria, so stay tuned for more details.

From Toronto, DMN Communications partners Aaron Davis and Scott Nesbitt made the list at #7. Two STC Toronto members made the list of honourable mentions: Keith Soltys (Core Dump) and Andrew Brooke (A Tech Writer's World). Overall, STC head office is pleased at how well the Society is represented on the list.

One of the things that we should all consider is that, whether or not we think social media is useful for doing technical communication work, it may be quite useful for making the voices of technical communicators heard outside our own profession. Social media can also be a means by which we can more easily hear the voices of those outside our profession whose opinions and knowledge nonetheless matter a great deal -- users and other professionals with whom we work in tandem.

Set aside some time soon to visit the blogs and bloggers honoured on the list. Also be sure to drop in on Aaron and Scott, Keith, and Andrew to let them know their colleagues in the Toronto tech comm community have taken notice of their achievement.

Additional reading

CMS Wire: The Top 25 Most Influential Bloggers in Technical Communications

Cloud Ave: The Most Influential Technical Communicator Bloggers

Communications from DMN: On being influential

STC Breakfast Social - Saturday, July 31st

2010-07-27T06:21:00.000-07:00

This month's STC Breakfast Social will be at the Pickle Barrel. The event is open to all whether you are a STC member or not.

Please RSVP by Thursday July 29th, 2010 to stctoronto.membership@gmail.com.

Details:

* Pickle Barrel Restaurant, Sherway Gardens, 25 The West Mall, Etobicoke

* Tel: 416.621.4465

* Website: http://www.picklebarrel.ca/content.php?page=34

* Time: 10am - 12pm on Saturday, July 31st, 2010

* Parking: free outdoor mall parking
* Transit: Hybrid TTC Map

Reservations have been made under then name STC.

STC Dinner and Social - July 22

2010-07-02T07:22:00.001-07:00

Join us for a fun evening of dinner and networking. Open to both members and non-members.

Details

Date: Thursday, July 22, 6PM
Location: Elephant and Castle Restaurant and Pub, 212 King Street West (near King and University Ave., across from the St. Andrew subway)
Cost: Whatever you pay for food and drink!

2010 AGM A Resounding Success!

2010-06-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Toronto STC AGM (Annual General Meeting) was a great success!

Over fifty members enjoyed a delicious indoor BBQ dinner at the beautiful Madison Pub. Led by Community President Anna Parker-Richards, the Executive Council presented various reports on activities at both the chapter and international level. Winning entries of our recent STC Toronto competition were on display.

At the awards ceremony, we recognized various individuals and organizations who have made meaningful contributions to the chapter. Mona Albano was presented with an STC Fellowship award for her tremendous contribution to the chapter since its inception.

The presentation closed with a look forward to our various upcoming events. Many people stayed on after to network and enjoy the party.

STC Breakfast Social - June 19, 2010

2010-06-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

This month's STC Breakfast Social will be at the Pickle Barrel. The event is open to all whether you are a STC member or not.

Please RSVP by Wednesday June 16th, 2010 to stctoronto.membership@gmail.com.

Details:

Pickle Barrel Restaurant, 2300 Yonge Street, Toronto (Yonge Eglinton Centre)‎
Tel: 416.485.1244
Website: http://www.picklebarrel.ca/content.php?page=28
Time: 10am - 12pm on Saturday, June 19th, 2010
Directions: http://tinyurl.com/stcbreakfastsocialmap
Parking: 2 hours free underground parking. Parking validation can be done at the restaurant. The underground parking entrance is on Orchardview Blvd., one Block north of Eglinton Avenue. Transit: Eglinton Subway

Reservations have been made under STC. We normally hold the breakfast socials on the last Saturday of each month, but due to the G20 conference at the end of June and the expected traffic delays the event is being held one week earlier.

STC Breakfast Social

2010-05-26T06:26:00.000-07:00

This month's STC Breakfast Social will be at Whistler's Grille. The event is open to all whether you are a STC member or not.

Please RSVP by Friday May 28th, 2010 to stctoronto.membership@gmail.com.

Details

Time: 10am - 12pm on Saturday, May 29th, 2010
Whistler's Grille - 995 Broadview Avenue, Toronto, ON M4K 2S1
Tel: (647) 260-0810
Website: http://www.dine.to/whistlers
Directions: Map (Major Intersection: Danforth Avenue / Broadview Avenue)
Parking: Free
Transit: Broadview subway

Toronto Job Bank is working again

2010-05-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

Or rather, the Toronto Job Bank is letting the Job Bank Manager work again. After I changed my default e-mail address, a technical glitch kept me from seeing behind the scenes to review and publish jobs that had been entered.

Our former Webmaster, Robert Milkovich, took on the tangled skeins of .PHP scripts and found the problem. Now, jobs will be reviewed and published quickly and you will find the job bank much more useful. I may even find a few jobs from obscure sources and add them.

Members, you know of a job that you don't want, feel free to submit the details or a link to the source and give your colleagues a chance at it!

Employers and agencies are reminded that job listings are free. They normally stay visible for three weeks; if you want to extend them longer or take them down sooner, let us know.

STC AGM for Members - Tuesday, June 15th

2010-05-11T09:59:00.000-07:00

All Toronto STC members are invited to join us for a free indoor BBQ dinner at the beautiful and world-famous Madison Pub!

The event takes places Tuesday, June 15th, starting at 6:30PM.

Dinner includes burgers, veggie burgers, chicken and other delicious fare. A cash bar is available if you want to buy drinks, but the food is on us!

More details re: elections and agenda coming soon!
Please RSVP by June 8 using our registration form.

Location: Madison Pub, 14 Madison Avenue - Bloor St. West and Spadina near the Spadina subway station

Note: This event is for members only. Not a member? Join now!

Get yourself "in a pickle" at our next social!

2010-05-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

STC Toronto Social

Monday, May 10th, starting at 6:30PM

Location: The Pickle Barrel at the Yonge Eglinton Centre
20 Eglinton Avenue West, just west of Yonge street - view a Google map

Members and non-members are invited to join us to hear about the STC Summit in Dallas and our plans for the Annual General Meeting! We'll also talk about the professional development topics and logistics that you want to see next year. (There's no cost to attend except for any food or drink you wish to purchase.)

Please RSVP to Jennifer Paton Smith - stctoronto.socials@gmail.com

Upcoming FrontRunner Training Sessions

2010-05-03T07:14:00.000-07:00

For anyone who is working during the week, Front Runner Training is providing Saturday FrameMaker Essentials training:

Saturday May 8th
Saturday May 15th
Saturday May 29th
Saturday June 5th

Training takes place at 21 St. Clair Ave. E, Suite 504 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. each Saturday.

Regular price is $1,290, Our special STC rate is $967.50 - that's a 25% savings! Save on the HST: take your training now!

To register please call 416-515-0155 or visit FrameMaker page and a book course form to register.

Veronica Kütt, President
Front Runner Training
416-515-0155
Toll-free: 1-877-999-0155
veronica@front-runner.com
www.front-runner.com

STC Breakfast Social

2010-04-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

This month's STC Breakfast Social will be meeting at Panera Bread in Mississauga. The event is open to all whether you are a STC member or not.

Please RSVP by Thursday April 22nd, 2010 to stctoronto.membership@gmail.

Details

Panera Bread (near Square One), 55 Square One Drive Unit #1, Mississauga, Ontario LSB OE2
Tel: (905) 897-5505
Website
Time: 10am - 12pm on Saturday, April 24th, 2010
Directions: Map (next to LCBO near City Centre Drive & Rathburn)
Parking: Free
Transit: Buses available from Islington subway to Square One (extra fare required)

Breakfast Social - March 27, 2010

2010-03-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

Join us for our next breakfast social:

Muddy Duck Restaurant - 2200 Dundas Street East, Mississauga
Saturday, March 27th, 2010 - 10am to 12pm
Website: http://www.muddyduck.com/breakfast_buffet.html
Directions: Google Map / (Kipling Subway TTC)

Join us for our social In Mississauga - our "most excellent" next event!

2010-03-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

Our next event is only a week away!

Join us at the West 50 Pourhouse Bar and Grill in Mississauga on Thursday, March 25, beginning at 6:30pm, but you can come later if you want!

View the complete event details here.

Flare and RoboHelp Consulting and Training

2010-03-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

Neil Perlin is a Madcap Certified Flare Instructor and an Adobe Certified RoboHelp and Captivate Instructor (ACI).

Neil will be in the Toronto area in April for the STC Education Days. He is available for Flare, RoboHelp, and Captivate training or consulting on April 21 and 22.

Please email him at: nperlin@nperlin.cnc.net or call 978-657-5464 if you are interested.

Management Day - User Centred Development

2010-03-10T15:14:00.000-08:00

User Centred Development (UCD) and Technical Communication - Stephen Chalastra

Introduction

Despite the challenging weather, our STC Toronto Management Day was a huge success! Over 70 people attended the event, hosted by FrontRunner Training, in the beautiful and spacious main hall of the Estonian House in downtown Toronto.

As everyone enjoyed their delicious continental breakfast, STC Toronto Community President Anna Parker-Richards welcomed all our guests, and introduced the first speaker, Stephen Chalastra, who spoke about User Centred Development or UCD.

Stephen Chalastra is Manager of User Experience at Qualicom Innovations. He has over 30 years experience in the IT industry and a rich history in technical communication. This was his first time presenting this topic to technical communicators!

Defining UCD
Wikipedia defines UCD as: “A design philosophy and a process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of the end user of an interface or document are given extensive attention at each stage of the design process.” However, it's more accurate to call UCD user-centred development. To successfully implement UCD, you need to be able to convince management of it advantages.

Many different phrases have described UCD throughout the years, including

GUI design
UI design
Interaction design
User-centred design (UCD)
User experience (UX)

However, the user experience is more than just usability. We need to remember that the user's goal is to perform a task, it is not to simply use your software. For example, users do not buy drills because they want the drill - they want the hole. That is, they want what the drill can give them, and not the drill itself.

Therefore, design by itself is not enough, and has to be more than just functional. It must be easy to use, or you end up with something like a teapot with its handle and spout on the same sides. A case in point is Microsoft Word, which is often a struggle to use. By contrast, Madcap Flare was relatively well-designed.

UCD - Putting Lightning in a Bottle
UCD involves the challenges, goals and needs of both the business and users. It means designing a solution that will fulfill those goals efficiently and innovatively. You need to ensure the project is technically feasible, and validate the design with users at strategic intervals. The UCD process, when done correctly, is like putting lighting in a bottle. It is the "magic" that results in products and documentation that are easy to use and navigate.

Unfortunately, it's easier to say how not to do UCD than how to do it. In a non-UCD environment, a single Business Analyst will ask users their requirements, and then give these requirements to developers who then create the software and pass it on to QA to test. The problem with this traditional process is that there is little collaboration amongst the all the players and the end users. There needs to be more than just one person (the BA) in contact with the user. Instead, with UCD, there is communication across disciplines, and users are involved at all stages, not simply at the beginning.

UCD and Tech Comm
UCD is not just about code development. Technical communicators need to create added‐value documentation, and not just document the basic UI. Because users are often involved only at the start of the development process, by the end of the process, an intuition gap exists in the documentation. Technical communicators need to close that gap and create documentation that actually adds value to the user experience. We can do this by focusing on users and asking who are they and how will they be using the documentation.

Unfortunately, the technical communicators are often brought in too late into the process, with management stating the infamous phrase: “we can't involve tech writer yet – the code isn't ready”. UCD encourages technical communicators to be brought in as early as possible, in order to identify potential problems.

As an example of this: to delete the excess styles formed in Word, the online help only explains what you already know. To find the solution, you have to go on the Internet. Technical communicators are in a particularly good position to find usability and design problems.

UCD @ Qualicom
In Qualicom's UCD process, the BA works with the interaction designer employing usability principles; both work in synergy together. Technical writers are a valuable resource because they help document meetings between these two people. An interaction designer produces design guidelines, wireframes, storyboard and UI specs. All of this information is then passed on to the developers.

The Qualicom UCD road map involves several stages including: requirements planning and elicitation, analysis, UI design guidelines and functional specifications, and usability testing.

Requirements Elicitation
This stage involves understanding the business's challenges and goals, constraints and assumptions. The users’ challenges and goals, needs, and their capabilities are also all explored and defined. The BA works with a usability designer. They must understand what is most important to users. Less frequently used modules of the application must be easier to use than the more frequently used ones, where the user will quickly become an expert. Requirements for documentation at this stage include asking how do users get their information now, how would they like to get it, what do they know, and what do they need to know.

Requirement elicitation tools and techniques include: focus groups, contextual interviews, requirement surveys, documentation reviews, task analysis, competitive analysis, and a glossary. For all these things, one can get value to or from the tech writer. The tech writer can help “step in” for the designer long after they are gone. Note that this stage captures information; it does not dwell on the value of it. That is done in the next stage.

Requirements Analysis
In this stage, you validate, prioritize and document the requirements. Validation involves confirming the support for the business goals and project scope and evaluating the level of detail of user tasks. Prioritization involves determining resources and funding, and balancing the development effort against the perceived benefits. Documentation at this stage involves categorizing information into related functional areas, and ensure that the wording is positive and testable.

In this stage, you must avoid scope creep. Otherwise, it is like giving a user many complex remote controls, instead of the single simple unified one that they wanted. You need to document requirements using user personas. The technical communicator can design a requirements documentation template to help facilitate this.

Requirements analysis also includes using uses cases, usage scenarios, a business data model, visualization and requirements specifications. There must be sign off at all stages. Missing, incorrect or misunderstood requirements are responsible for bulk of software project failures. People who are too technical write requirements that are too technical. Quality requirements documentation that is meaningfully written leads to better user comprehension, more effective reviews, and better quality requirements.

UI Design Guidelines
In this stage, you need to know the business context of the product, and the company's corporate standards. If you don't know your users, you can't design or write for them. It is like the moose flying a plane with controls designed by raccoons – the moose can't use his hooves! You need to define expanded user roles using user profiles. Accessibility needs and usability principles are therefore critical at this stage.

UI Functional Specification
In this stage, you assess the use cases and begin to develop a vision of the user's interactions. You need to determine which requirements are most relevant, which users will be impacted, and if the requirements fit naturally into the design model. You begin to develop a navigation flow which asks: Where am I? What else can I do? How can I get there?

Later, you can start to design prototypes. Wireframe prototypes are a virtual mock-up of the UI, and act as a blueprint for construction that you can use and test. A dynamic wireframe gives a preview of the product's interface where you can enter data into fields, and can generate a Word document dynamically from the wireframe. Code prototypes are used to test proof of concepts.

Design Reviews
In this stage, you review the design for feasibility and develop prototypes. It is an essential element of UCD, and keeps the users involved and engaged. You need to ensure that the design is on track, that all the required functionality is included, and that the navigation is clear and intuitive.

Development
In the actual development stage, you involve the key developers early. The designs are reviewed for feasibility, and developers work with interaction designers to develop prototypes. Technical communicators can create the message text for the application, such as on-screen text and error messages.

Summary
The better the interaction and the interface design, the less need there will be for documentation fixes and band-aids. Technical communicators need to focus on creating added‐value help. To do this, we need to be involved as early in the development process as possible before the code is written. Involvement in design activities will lead to better documentation. Both technical communicator and trainers can be involved in integrating help into the interface, ensuring consistency in the UI, creating understandable message text, producing better project documentation, and testing the implementation against design.

The end result is "magic" - intuitive, comprehensive and meaningful products and documentation that are easy and fun to use.

Management Day - The Agile Process

2010-03-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

Presented by Mike Sahota

Michael Sahota is an Agile/Lean coach, consultant,and trainer and an advocate of the Agile development process. He has been adopting Agile and Lean practices for over 8 years and has been in leadership roles such as Vice President, Director, and Team Lead.

Agile describes a newer, more innovative way to develop products, especially software. The goal of the agile process is to make peoples lives more humane, and help companies succeed. Although agile applies mainly to software, it can be used anywhere, in almost any type of project where requirements can quickly change.

What Is Agile?

The agile process involves people closely collaborating to produce a high quality product. It's about working together as a team to deliver value. The goal of the agile process is to improve the information flow: the rate at which valuable information is passed from one group member to another. To improve this flow, people need to work closely together. Ideally, this involves actually working together in a large team room, rather than sitting in individual cubes, cut off from each other in their own "information silos". The goal of agile is to reduce the intuition gap and the need to read large complex specifications, which are often simply ignored.

Many studies have shown that the agile process leads to better productivity, better products and a much better work environment. Many companies and organizations are now embracing this process. In fact, the U.S. Defense Department, the largest procurer of software in the world, uses the agile process. Other major agile companies include Yahoo, Microsoft, Oracle and Google. It used in everything from cell phones to websites.

Main Principles

The main principles of the agile process are: individuals and interactions, working software, customer collaboration, responding to change and craftsmanship. All of this is in sharp contract to traditional development methods, which emphasize processes, tools, complex specifications, contract negotiations, and following a rigid plan.

Traditionally, detailed specification and functional reports describe the project. In the agile process, a more relaxed approach is taken. A specific requirement should be able to fit on one card. Whiteboards are used constantly to allow for the free-flowing of ideas. People generally feel freer to comment on sketches rather than on fixed diagrams and formal looking reports, which have an aura of "unchangeability" to them.

There are many types or "flavours" of agile, the most popular being "scrum". Unfortunately, many places have not practiced scrum agile, but a false version nicknamed "Scrum, but”. That is, companies say they are practicing scrum "but" with some exception to the process. "Scrum, but” is actually the most popular flavour of agile, but is not true agile because it does not follow one or more of the agile principles stated above.

Agile Project Cycle

In the agile project cycle, the development team writes stories; these can be considered as "light" use cases. The cost of each story is estimated, and the cards are arranged by

by price. In this process, the business value is decided by the business, and not by the engineers. As a result, the engineers lose much of the power they had, and are therefore resistant to it. The key point is that decisions are made not by any one person or group, but by the entire team.

Summary
Agile is very different from the traditional "waterfall" type development process, and it can take some getting used to. However, the end result is a product that is better designed, and easier to use. Individuals become empowered because they know they are true stakeholders in creating the product.

Management Day - Content Reuse

2010-03-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

Content Reuse

Pamela Kostur is a partner at Parallax Communications and a recognized content management expert.

Why Reuse?

There are many reasons to reuse content in your documentaiton. It's efficient, it eliminates duplication and inconsistency, its frees you from having to create content that already exists, it allows you to spend more time creating unique content, and it can enable you to improve your content.

Reusing content also saves money because it reduces writing, review, and translation costs. It can also save money indirectly by reducing calls to support centres, and preventing legal problems. One medical company was succesfully sued because of inconsistencies between their printed guide and website.

Information Nightmares

There are many examples available of content not being reused, and the unfortunate results. These include inconsistenices in product descriptions, food recipes, and technical instructions. Inconsistency is to be avoided at all costs, because it makes the user have to work to understand the information by forcing them to "rewrite" it in their heads. Also, users may not interpret the information correctly, leading to chaos and confusion.

Implementing Reuse

To begin to implement a content reuse strategy, you compare potentially common content and determine the differences. You identify the common elements, then design the element so that it will fit with your information requirements. An information element (or module) can be any size from a step to a chapter. Note that the modules are ultimately based on the user's needs, not the writers!

Structure

Structure refers to how the various information products are assembled. You carefully document the structure, describing what components a module requires and any variations depending on how the information is delivered, for example printed vs. online. You can assign rules and conditions for what each module can contain. Consistency is the key in developing and managing proper structure.

Usability

Note that reuse does not equal "usable". Reusing unusable content simply makes it consistently unusable! You still need to put the content in your structure consistently and use detailed writing guidelines. Standards need to be commonly understood and shared by all the writers.

Summing up, writing for reuse doesn’t just happen; you have to plan for it. The effort and cost required may be large, but so is the payoff. Documentation is produced more quickly and consistently, and at a higher quality.

Management Day - A Content Reuse Strategy / SmartDocs

2010-03-10T12:11:00.000-08:00

Content Reuse With SmartDocs

Bryan Lynn is the founder of ThirtySix Software in Indianapolis, makers of SmartDocs.

A content reuse strategy need to be well planned, otherwise it may not succeed. You need a need technology that effectively supports the strategy, as well as sufficient training and deployment time.

Picking a Tool

There are many content reuse tools to choose from, so you need to carefully analyze the current state of your documentation system. To narrow down the field of tools you need to ask what capabilities your reuse strategy needs. These can include conditional text, text chunking, variables, document types, change notification, and XML authoring. Of course, your budget is also a large factor. Some solutions have an low initial cost and can then grow organically, others have a high upfront cost right away.

Ease of Use and Deployment

The tool you choose must make reuse easy, ideally integrating directly into main authoring tool. The reuse function must always be accessible. There should be a single point of entry to access reusable content. The content should be intelligent and not force user to do manual. Also, the tool should not force you to change your DMS (document management system). You want to make it easy on your IT dept, so the tool should work with your existing file infrastructure.

Growing the Tool

The tool should support organic growth. The problem with large (big bang) implementations is that if they fail, you have wasted much time and resources. You need to pilot a reuse strategy and technology with a team to demonstrate ROI. Start with a small product that has a small documentation set. Apply what you've learned, get buy in from management and expand the tool only when you are ready.

The solution should also support legacy content. If it does not, you can either not use older content or convert it to the new format.

Summing up, implementing a successful content reuse strategy requires careful planning and analyses of your reuse needs. When you finally do select a tool, you need to carefully monitor its implementation, to verify that it has actually done what you had expected.

(After the presentation, Bryan gave a demonstration of SmartDocs, a content reuse tool for Microsoft Word. Jacques Fauteux from Front Runner provided the hands on training for participants to try the software.)

Nicky Bleiel is running for STC Director

2010-03-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

Nicky Bleiel is running for STC Director. Her website -- www.nickybleiel.com -- contains information about her service to STC, her bio, endorsements from members, and more.

The STC polls open March 9; please make sure to vote!

Management Day A Snowy Success!

2010-02-27T06:25:00.000-08:00

Despite the challenging weather, our STC Toronto Management Day was a huge success! Over 70 people attended the event in the beautiful and spacious main hall of the Estonian House in downtown Toronto.

Everyone enjoyed the dynamic presentations on making you and your team more efficient through user-centred development (UCD), the agile process, and content reuse.

View more information about this event, its topics and speakers, and the PowerPoint files here.

View detailed reports of all the presentations here .

Special thanks to Veronica and Zvi of FrontRunner for hosting this event and providing the delicious meals and snacks!

Thanks to all the speakers and to everyone who attended this most successful event.

See you at Education Day!

Canadian Questions Posed to STC Election Candidates

2010-02-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

Read questions that were asked of the STC Election candidates.

Education Day(s) Coming Soon!

2010-02-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

Our education days are coming this April.

We have two days of learning:

Day 1: Tuesday, April 20, 2010: Neil Perlin - Topic Based Writing and Structured Writing
Day 2: Wednesday, April 21, 2010: Bernard Aschwanden - A Hands-on Introduction to DITA

More info is coming soon. Check out our Education Day page for event costs and the lastest updates!

Management Day - Feb. 26, 2010

2010-01-11T08:34:00.000-08:00

Management Day event details are finally here!

View the website for complete details.

Attend Our Jan. 19 Book Swap Social!

2010-01-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

Please join us Tuesday, January 19 at 6 PM in the lower lounge of Moxie's Classic Grill in the Madison Centre (indoor walkway from Yonge-Sheppard subway) for a social and book swap.

This event is open to all STC members, non-members and their friends. It's a great opportunity to network with other technical writers and share some good books.

For more information about Moxie's, visit www.moxies.ca.

Please RSVP to Jennifer Paton Smith at stctoronto.socials@gmail.com to let us know you'll be there!

And don't forget to bring your books!

Steven Jong, Candidate for STC Secretary

2009-12-31T06:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks for your consideration! I'd like to tell you a little about my background, describe the secretary's role and why I'm a good fit for it, and list what I see as the Society's issues and my ideas to help.

My BackgroundIn 30 years as a technical communicator, I've done a little bit of everything, including editing, illustrating, and training, but mainly writing and managing. Currently I work as a documentation manager.

Outside of work I've written professional papers, magazine and newspaper articles, fiction, poetry, and a trade paperback. I've designed and delivered courses, seminars, and workshops, in the US and Europe, on technical and professional subjects. I've been a law-school instructor, a freelance proofreader for the Dummies Press, and a compositor for an academic book. Finally, I've led three other non-profit organizations (including a stint as secretary).

I'm an active member of the Boston chapter. For nearly 20 years I've served the chapter competitions as a judge, lead judge, best of show judge, and judge trainer. In 2001 I was elected to Boston's administrative council. Then in 2002 I was elected second vice president, and served in automatic succession as first vice president, president, and immediate past president. During that time Boston won three chapter Awards of Distinction. I was given Boston's Landers/Carbrey Spirit of Volunteerism award in 2007. I also belong to the Northern New England chapter, the Management SIG, and the Information Design SIG.

At the Society level, I am in the final year of my term on the Board of Directors. I am the chair of the Certification Task Force. I've participated in the International Technical Publications Competitions as a judge, lead judge, and best-of-show judge. And I've presented at eight annual conferences.

The Secretary's Role

Unlike other Board positions, the Secretary must be highly organized and detail oriented. The Secretary assembles and distributes the agenda and materials before meetings, and of course takes minutes. But a good secretary also keeps the group on agenda, manages time, and reminds people of previous actions and decisions.

Additionally, the Secretary is a voting board member, and as such must have a strategic focus. Not everyone can think strategically. You can't micromanage; you have to set goals and directions for the good of the Society a whole, and leave implementation to the staff or volunteers.

Society Issues

I've seen enormous changes in the field. Today we may be called upon to create documents, Web content, video, or podcasts. We do so much more than writing! Yet the core skills of technical communication have not changed at all: we still learn a technical subject, determine our target audience's needs, and communicate just what they need to know as clearly and concisely as possible.

Today, STC's biggest issue is existential: will we be around next year? We've taken huge steps, and I think the answer is yes, but we're not out of the woods yet. We need to rebuild our membership base, and to do that we need to tap into new demographics and new areas of practice.

I think there's a communication gap between the Society, chapters, and members that needs to be addressed. Our relationships need repair.

Finally, we need for STC to set the standards in the field for everyone â€” practitioners, clients, and consumers alike.

I have a three-prong platform:

Speed: I want to collect and post information faster, both before Board meetings for directors and afterwards for members.

Transparency: I want to share as much information with members as we can within the legal constraints on an association.

Communication: I've seen first-hand how messages can be both miscommunicated and misinterpreted. I want to ensure that we send out a steady, clear, and consistent message on multiple channels, including our Web site, our blog, and appropriate social media. Also, I think community secretaries need the same kind of support that community presidents and treasurers get now, and I'll work to establish that channel.

Summary

I have a great deal of relevant experience, not just at the chapter and Society level but also in other non-profits. I've worked with good secretaries and bad, and I know what's important in the role. I am a process- and detail-oriented person, which are critical traits in a secretary. And I've been able to observe the excellent example set by Char James-Tanny, so I already know what to do.

For more information, go to www.StevenJong.net. When you vote in March, please cast your vote for me. Thanks in advance!

Free STC Membership Offer from Madcap

2009-12-14T07:57:00.000-08:00

The message below is on behalf of MadCap Software, an STC Corporate Value Program member, who is offering this special promotion to STC members and nonmembers.

MadCap Software and the Society for Technical Communication (STC) team up to pay for a full year of your STC membership dues. Whether you are a new member or renewing your STC membership, act now and save!

Purchase Flare and/or MadPak with any maintenance plan and MadCap will pay
for a full year of your STC membership dues and fees.

This offer is for a limited time only.

Click here to email us for more info.

Renewing Your Membership

2009-12-12T18:18:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season to renew your STC membership. This message addresses the increase in membership dues, what's in it for you, and provides a report on what your Community Council has been working on in 2009, and what to look forward to in 2010.

What's in it for me?

Over the past few months, I have been privy to many discussions regarding, "what's in it for me if I renew my STC membership?" And—typical for our field—the answer is, "it depends on who you're talking to." For some, the publications, job bank, and resources on the www.stc.org and www.stctoronto.org sites represent the value. For others, the value is intangible and provides a sense of community, professional identity, and opportunity for learning and discourse. Personally, I enjoy the camaraderie of fellow technical communicators because we are a unique bunch. Also, the STC Toronto network has been the source of my employment for over 12 years and has kept me up-to-speed on current industry trends, technologies, methodologies, and innovations. Here is a summary of benefits we've posted on our website: http://www2.stctoronto.org/get-involved/join-stc/benefits.

Community membership

For 2010, there will be no pass through funding for any chapters, and it will be revisited in 2011. This means that when you renew, if you choose to pay the $25 to be affiliated with the STC Toronto chapter, chapters will not see that $25, but your name will land on the official chapter mailing list. We may see pass through funding again in the future, but that depends on the financial outcome for STC in 2010. 2009 has been a tough year and STC international is dealing with the repercussions as best as they can.

From an STC Toronto chapter perspective, our pricing model for professional development events has three tiers: Student, STC Member/Affiliates, and Non-Member. As long as you have your membership number, we will charge you the membership fee. The price difference between Member and Non-Member is double.

Increase in membership dues

STC has announced its dues structure for 2010, and for many of us it amounts to a significant increase. STC offers some points worth considering at http://www.stc.org/membership/. They have added new membership benefits recently, so you may want to check them out.

To help fit STC into your budget, STC has provided a basic membership that includes online publications but no affiliation with a chapter or SIG. Hard copy publications represent a large expense for STC, so you have to pay a lot extra to receive them. STC provides a plan that enables you to pay for your membership in four monthly installments.

STC has also set money aside from one of their scholarship funds to help a limited but substantial number of underemployed members renew. They have not yet posted the details of these "recovery packages" on www.stc.org, so keep your eyes open for that.

If you don't rejoin, you'll have to pay extra to attend professional development events, but you are still part of our community. You don't have to be a member to receive announcements. A good network is especially important during hard times, so please stay connected by letting us know that you'd like to stay on our email distribution list and do keep coming to our professional development and social networking events.

How is STC Toronto doing financially?

Since Bernard Aschwanden, Immediate Past President, introduced the 5 Events/5 Socials model and initiated partnerships with local vendors, our operating budget has been breaking even. These numbers heavily depend on professional development event attendance. If we make money on an event, we turn around and apply it as a subsidy to the next event.

We have approximately $5000 which we keep as a reserve for down payments on venues for bigger events and to be prepared for miscellaneous and unplanned costs.

Report on 2009

In September, we hosted a successful Career Day at Seneca College at York with over 50 attendees, free to members and students, sponsored by Seneca College and Mimic Print and Media Services. Our social event in October took place downtown at The Pilot in Hazelton Lanes. In November we hosted our Tech Trends event at Front-Runner's conference room at Yonge and St. Clair, which focused on translation strategies, and was sponsored by Able Translations. This month, we have opted not to have a social event since we will host one in January.

We also continue to work diligently towards keeping our website current, using modern technologies and social networking strategies for communications above and beyond mass emails and our blog.

2009 brought significant focus to the administration of STC Toronto as a whole, as mandated by STC international. We are in the process of becoming an incorporated non-profit organization and aligning our bylaws with STC international, ensuring they follow Ontario laws as well. We have been working closely with the STC Southwestern Ontario Chapter, who were able to secure pro-bono legal advice. A very warm thank-you to Fei Min Lorente and her council for all their support in this process.

Professional development events in 2010

Looking ahead to 2010, our first professional development event is Management Day, scheduled for Friday, February 26th. We have three fantastic speakers booked to provide us a "fly-on-the-wall" perspective on how companies are achieving success with User Centred Development, Agile Process, and Content Reuse. Stay tuned for more details, we are ironing them out right now.

For our final professional development event, Education Day, we are looking into the logistical possibilities of making it a joint venture with our colleagues at the STC Southwestern Ontario chapter. As you have seen in a recent email, we are looking to you to determine the content and location for the event; your feedback will determine the viability of a joint venture. This event is tentatively slated for April 19 to April 20.

Don't forget about the STC Toronto/Soutwestern Ontario Regional Technical Communication Competition. Judging for that starts in January! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact our Competition Manager.

Nurturing the network

STC Toronto is a community that overlaps with many others that all land under the umbrella of technical communications. It is our goal to nurture our existing network and to expand our network to connect with other organizations. This is why we offer membership rates to affiliated organizations. It is with this frame of mind that we host our socials. Our next social is scheduled for January 19th. It offers an excuse and a location to get together to enjoy the company of fellow technical communicators. It is also an opportunity for newcomers to the field—who are not necessarily members—to ask questions of more seasoned members and for folks who are looking for employment to let it be known.

I'd like to conclude this note with a warm thank-you to our Community Council for all their volunteer efforts this year. I would also like to share that our membership count is 358. As always, if you are interested in joining the Community Council or wish to volunteer, or have suggestions or constructive criticism, please do not hesitate to contact anyone on the Community Council. You have an open invitation to attend any of our meetings.

Best wishes to all of you during the holiday season.

Anna Parker-Richards
STC Toronto Presiden

STC’s Education Evening - University of Waterloo

2009-11-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

Learn how to reuse content and get free software to boot!

It’s true: you’re tired of writing the same content, over and over again, simply because you can’t locate the version you need. It’s painful to discover that you just spent two hours writing a product description that someone else wrote last week. Relief is available, and it’s called reuse.

Join us at the STC’s Education Evening at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 1, at the University of Waterloo, where you will learn how you can reuse your content and free up time for more rewarding activities. You’ll also receive a free trial copy of SmartDocs, an MS Word add-in that integrates the power of content reuse in the Word environment.

Space is limited, so register now for an Education Evening that will change the way you work.

For more info and to register, visit the Southwestern Ontario STC website.

Tuesday, December 1, 6:30-9:00 p.m. (doors open at 6:00)
Arts Lecture Hall, University of Waterloo

STC/Seneca Breakfast Social

2009-11-23T12:59:00.000-08:00

This month's STC/Seneca Breakfast Social will be meeting at the Prairie Ink Restaurant & Bakery. The event is open to all whether you are a STC member or not. The restaurant is located within The Shops at Don Mills plaza, and on the second floor of McNally Robinson Booksellers.

Please RSVP by Thursday, November 26th, 2009 to stctoronto.membership@gmail.com

Details:

10am – 12pm on Saturday, November 28th, 2009
Prairie Ink Restaurant & Bakery
Website
Menu
Directions
Parking: free outdoor plaza parking
Public Transit: The Shops at Don Mills is located at the corner of Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East. It is accessible via the following bus routes: 25 Don Mills; 54 Lawrence East; 162 Lawrence. Visit ttc.ca for route maps and schedules.

Reservations have been made under STC. If you have any questions please let me know.

Noor Hussain
STC Toronto Membership
stctoronto.membership@gmail.com

Support the Front Runner CP24/CHUM Christmas Wish

2009-11-09T10:38:00.000-08:00

For the fifth year in a row, Front Runner Training is proud to support the CP24/CHUM Christmas Wish!

To help support our efforts, we are collecting new, unwrapped toys for boys and girls until December 19th!

Help give a kid a Christmas! Drop off toys at our office, 21 St. Clair Ave. E, Suite 504, or at any one of our upcoming events!

Thanks for your support!

Veronica Kütt, President
Front Runner Training

FrameMaker User Network (FUN) Meetings

2009-10-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

Find out more about the tools you love to use.

Kitchener-Waterloo FrameMaker Users Network Meeting

Tim Grantham will discuss DITA and FrameMaker 9. Tim Grantham is an award-winning writer, instructional designer, and technical trainer, and an active member of the OASIS DITA Enterprise Business Documents Sub-committee.

Mark James from Adobe Systems Canada will provide a high level overview of
Adobe Acrobat 9 3-D and it's use of Multi-media and be on hand to answer any
product questions you may have...

F.U.N. review by Milan Davidovic from our September F.U.N. event

Toronto - FrameMaker User Network Meeting
Wednesday December 2nd, North York Memorial Hall, Gold Room B, 6 to 9 p.m.

Front Runner is pleased that Ann Rockley, from The Rockley Group accepted our invitation to present at our F.U.N. meeting to offer you a presentation 'Analyzing content for structure'. Mark James from Adobe Canada accepted our invitation for our F.U.N. to present more exciting features of Adobe's latest software.

A chance to win door prizes....you must be there to win!
Excellent opportunity to network with other FrameMaker and DITA users in your area...

Register at our site today!

We look forward to seeing you there.

Seneca College Technical Communication Co-op Graduate Certificate Program

2009-10-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

What is co-operative education?

Co-operative education works as a three-way educational partnership with Seneca, you and the student. The Seneca College Technical Communication Co-op Graduate Certificate Program's goals are:

to provide skilled, enthusiastic and productive employees to meet your specific needs

to give our students maximum opportunity to apply classroom studies in meaningful work placements

Employers can also benefit from participating by applying for the Ontario Co-operative Education Tax Credit (up to $3,000.00).

What makes these students great candidates for your company?

Top calibre, effective writing and communication skills

The ability to understand and explain how things work

An affinity for technology

The skills needed to make a valuable contribution to your organization

Academic credentials in sciences, technology, humanities and the arts

What do these students learn?

Students further develop professional writing skills

To design user-friendly information and documentation for every industry from software development, banking and engineering to telecommunications and health

To produce reference manuals, templates, on line help files, web pages, instructional and procedural documents as well as marketing materials

Skills on the latest industry technology (Adobe FrameMaker, HTML, Visual Basic)

Who has hired Seneca's co-op students?

Canadian Standards Association

CIBC

Longview

Quest Software

Research in Motion

Royal Bank

Siemens Milltronics

Who can I contact to find out more?
Yvonne Gilbert
416.491.5050, ext. 3764
Yvonne.Gilbert@senecac.on.ca

AIIM Event: Social Media, ECM & SharePoint

2009-10-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

AIIM, the Association for Information and Image Management (also known as the enterprise content management (ECM) association) is holding the following event:

Social Media, ECM & SharePoint
Networking Breakfast and Presentation

Case Study: How ING Leveraged Social Computing and ECM to Improve Customer Delivery and Reduce Costs

Ask the average customer what they value most when it comes to banking online, convenience would most likely top the list. Since 1997, ING Direct Canada has been catering to more than 1.6 million customers who prefer to bank directly by Internet or phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Not content to rest on its laurels as a leading direct savings bank, ING Direct is always looking to grow its client base and enhance its competitive edge in the industry. Within 8 weeks, ING delivered an entire Intranet branded as Orange Grove (The OG) and Orange Spark innovation center projects on Microsoft SharePoint Server. Learn how ING leveraged a combination of informal communication like Twitter and formal information management to improve customer engagement AND corporate compliance. Presenter: TBA

The Balancing Act of Social Media and ECM with SharePoint 2010

IM managers are continually working to streamline processes associated with line-of-business applications and centralized document management. As the cost and complexity associated with managing records increases, many organizations also struggle with user adoption. Emerging trends like social media present many new opportunities. What are the implications to traditional ECM and RM? Rather than treating collaboration, information capture, discovery and retention as isolated challenges, learn how to encompass the whole continuum of information management through a single, strategic approach. Be among the first to experience SharePoint 2010! Learn how SharePoint Server 2010 can help you cut costs, gain greater business insight, and rapidly respond to your specific needs. Join us as we explore the future of business productivity.

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Wednesday, November 18th 2009
8:00 – 8:30 a.m. Registration & Breakfast
8:30 – 10:30 a.m. Program

Cost: $29 AIIM Members/$39 Non-Members plus GST
(includes speakers, continental breakfast)
Early discount of $5 when register by November 6th.

Location:
The National Club
303 Bay Street (on the East side, between King and Adelaide Streets)
Toronto
www.thenationalclub.com

Online Registration
Contact: Winnie Tsang, Chapter President.
Winnie.Tsang@teranet.ca
416-348-0311 x4023

DRESS CODE: The National Club requires business casual dress.

Bring your colleagues!
We’ve booked a large room to accommodate this popular session.

SPREAD THE WORD!
If you know others who would be interested in receiving this invitation, please forward it to them. Alternatively you can email us their contact details at sonyagoldman@yahoo.com, and we will invite them.

See more information about AIIM Toronto here.

Career Day Report

2009-10-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

Our Sept. 29 Career Day was a great success! Held in a modern presentation hall at Seneca@York, attendees were treated to a wide variety of topics and speakers.

Self Directed Development
After chapter President Anna Parker Richards welcomed everyone, Milan Davidovic began the first presentation on Self Directed Development. This is the process by which we make ourselves into technical communicators, and then later "grow" that role.

Exploring the definitions of develop and directed, we see how self-directed learning is really about self-development and therefore requires knowledge of self. Development actions include asking questions when learning a new tool or subject. Note that the learning must be driven by you, not the other person. With a provocative quote from Stalin, “The writer is the engineer of the soul”, Milan explored the idea of manipulation and how writers can "manipulate" users for good, not just evil.

To grow in your profession, you need to question assumptions and established ideas. To keep your current job, you must meet expectations from customers, managers, and co-workers. However, these groups also have their own expectations that may relate to yours. The challenge is that people are not always honest about describing their expectations, so you need to confirm their answers, and find out how meeting your expectations serves these other people . Ask the classic "who, what, where, when, and how" questions. Think about yourself and your peers. Understand that questions are objects in development, and that they often lead to even more questions. Finally, it's important to understand that development is not a one-person show - you need to collaborate with others on your own development. In turn, you can help them with their growth.

Personal Branding
After a coffee and snack break, Michael Barwick led a lively presentation on Personal Branding. Michale noted that he was channeling Carloyn Watt, and using her slides. Carolyn asked Michael to present on her behalf and he did an outstanding job with tremendous energy.

All major corporations (such as Dell, IBM, Ford, and Apple) use branding to identify and distinguish themselves in the marketplace. Brands and logos can evoke a wide variety of emotions and reactions. But what exactly is a brand? Essentially, a brand is a set of promises that reflect your values. It's about hearing your customers describe you in the way you want to be remembered, and is therefore much more than simply a logo or slogan.

To develop your own brand, you have to ask yourself some tough questions. How do you want to be known? Are you reliable? Organized? Thoughtful? Honest? What are you core values? What do people say about you? What are the behaviours related to your brand? For example, if you call yourself reliable, a behaviour for this would be that you always deliver your documentation on time.

There are many aspects to a brand. Your organization drivers include your mission statement, representing your values and telling your story. Your brand drivers are your brand principle, personality, and associations with others. Your brand conveyors are the ways you communicate or position your brand: these include your resume, business card, and elevator pitch.

There are many tools for promoting yourself and your brand: your resume, articles, speeches, and volunteer work. Note that professionals are constantly developing, evolving and refining their brand; Madonna being an excellent example.

Remember that you control your brand. It's all about what you want others to think about you, and the promises you make. A brand is like an iceberg - it must be built from ground up.

Ultimately, a brand is about relationships and the hopes and dreams of your customers. It's not simply a set of problems to be managed. You must take great care not to damage your brand, because it is not just a separate part of you - it is you, a co-created reality, and it must be honest and authentic.

Job Hunting Secrets That Might Surprise You
After lunch, Jack Molisani gave a dynamic presentation on Job Hunting Secrets That Might Surprise You.

A resume is a vehicle that shows whether an applicant matches what the reader is looking for. Therefore, the reader must clearly be able to see that there is a match between the applicant and the job - that is the resume's one and only purpose. The scary truth is that most people only scan resumes; they usually don't read them in full. Also, people are never hired because of their resume; they are only rejected. The longer the resume, the greater chance of rejection, so be as brief as you can. The reader often has a short attention span; this is another reason to have a short resume, ideally two pages.

Managers often read only the first part of the resume: the summary. You must therefore have a detailed summary section with matching relevant information. Recruiters assume that you're not qualified for the job, so you must prove you are. The first page must show that you have what the reader is looking for. Companies want you to be doing what they want now, so your summary must show this.

Feel free to add to your job title if it more clearly indicates your duties, for example: Technical Writer/Courseware Developer. But remember that what you do is more important than your job title. Your stated accomplishments must therefore match what the company is looking for. Finally, you must have someone else review your resume - errors and improvements will always be found.

A cover letter has the same purpose as the resume: it shows how the job requirements match your experience, but in a brief list format. Include the cover page with the resume as one document; don't separate them into two. The first sentence of the cover letter must match the job.

To find out areas that may be hiring technical communicators, look at the industries that are hiring now or will be hiring in the future. These include health care and "green" jobs.

To sum up:

find out what the hirer is looking for and include that information
make sure this information is clear and easy to find
be brief
don't give people ammunition to reject you
make sure your accomplishments appear early on
keep what works, discard what doesn't

What Makes an Excellent Résumé?
Finally, Pamela Paterson gave the final presentation on What Makes an Excellent Résumé? She discussed interviewing strategies, explored ways to set your resume apart and ensure that it will float to the top of all human resources filters both online and offline, starting us off with an important note for the day, "Always use your own judgment, take what is relevant to you, and leave the rest."

As a recognized senior member of the STC Toronto community, Pamela has helped many tech writers with career coaching and resume reviewing, and has gleaned a lot of experience in the craft of resume writing. Her workshop reminded us all that our resumes are like any other document we write in that it must focus on a specific target audience. One resume does not fit all; it must be modified for each job opportunity.

Pamela took us through examples of targeted writing and had us working in groups to review each other's resumes. At the end of the day, Pamela left us with the following nugget of wisdom, "Using the most appropriate and strategic words in your resume - for your goals and audience - is your best change at getting an interview. If you market to everybody, you are marketing to nobody. You need focus.

Anna closed out the day with a thank you to everyone in attendance.

FrameMaker Users Network - 24 Sept 2009

2009-10-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

There was a time when a Google search for DITA had to specify at least a couple of the words from the acronym to avoid getting hits for a certain American contemporary burlesque artist who used to be hooked up with a certain American musician who derives his stage name from a film actress and a convicted murderer (also Americans).

Recently I did the search and the result for the Darwin Information Type Architecture comes in ahead of that other one, so searching from a work computer for information on DITA is a little safer than it used to be.

DITA – or more accurately, Adobe FrameMaker and DITA was the subject of the first half of the latest FrameMaker Users Network (FUN) meeting held on September 24 at Front Runner. This portion was presented by Tim Grantham, Front Runner’s DITA Program Manager and a long-time participant in the Toronto technical communication scene.

Per FM’s Wikipedia entry, Version 9 was released in January 2009 and, among other things, brought with it full support for DITA and a new user interface that’s aligned more closely to those of other Adobe applications such as Photoshop and Illustrator.

Tim introduced himself and took us through Front Runner’s DITA curriculum and some background of DITA and what’s happening with it currently. He then gave us a tour of FM 9, highlighting some changes from the previous version as well as talking in more detail about the enhanced support for DITA.

Tim was followed by Mark James from Adobe Canada, whose portion of the evening focused on the latest version of Adobe Acrobat 9.

While text and graphics are familiar features within a PDF document, Acrobat 9 now has the ability to display – and allow you to interact with – 3D models and Flash animations directly inside the PDF.

Mark also introduced us to Acrobat Portfolios the Packages feature in Acrobat 8, used for combining PDFs into a single document. Acrobat 9 gives you more ways to organize and present the PDF documents in a user-friendly way.

I checked in with a couple of other people at the FUN meeting (thanks Kimberley and Mary Ellen) and asked them for their impressions of the event. They thought the following points were particularly valuable:

Upcoming releases for DITA 1.2 and 1.3.

The inclusion of more topic types in the upcoming releases

Caveats and workarounds re: getting PDF output from FM 9 and DITA.

How you can incorporate 3-D models within PDF documents.

The Portfolio feature, which looks particularly useful for RFPs and presenting information to senior management.

The ability to incorporate Adobe Flash material in PDFs.

They said the presentations would have been of particular interest to technical communication practitioners and managers who are:

familiar with DITA and/or FrameMaker, especially those considering the upgrade to Version 9.

looking for new ways to use Adobe Acrobat to present technical information in structured, accessible, and interactive ways.

Based on the evening’s content, they were interested in finding out more about:

Front Runner’s DITA training.

cross-platform capabilities with the Flash and Acrobat Portfolio options, particularly how to incorporate these “wow” features to “wow” audiences.

Thank you to Tim, Mark, and the Front-Runner team for another FUN evening.

Website problem

2009-09-30T08:46:00.000-07:00

We are aware that some of members are reporting seeing a security warning when trying to access our website. The problem does not seem to be occurring with Internet Explorer.

We are working to fix this problem, but rest assured that our website is safe and contains no malicious code. You can disregarding this warning and proceed to our website.

We will update you when this problem has been resolved.

Thank you for your patience!

STC Southwestern Ontario Chapter Event

2009-09-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

Hobgoblins, Salad Forks, and Hard and Fast Rules: An English Usage Guide for Writers and Editors

Presented by Alan Yoshioka, PhD (University of Waterloo alumnus, Chair of the Toronto Branch of the Editors' Association of Canada)

When is it okay to boldly split an infinitive? To use a sentence fragment? Even if you were lucky enough to be taught much grammar in school, you might not know which rules are still considered current and which have gone the way of the rotary phone. Sometimes there are several correct ways to make a point, and the choice between them is just a matter of emphasis, while at other times the main concern is to maintain internal consistency within a document. Then there are usages that are unsuitable for a given context and audience.

Learn to distinguish matters of editorial taste from rules that should really be followed all the time. Also get tips for dealing tactfully with team members when there’s a usage point on which they’re dead certain, and dead wrong. Come with questions about the rules you’re anxious about—or about which you’re anxious.

Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Time: Presentation begins at 7:00 p.m. / Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for networking

Where: Room DC1304 at the Davis Centre, University of Waterloo

Cost: Free

View details.

STC/Seneca Breakfast Social - Sat., Sept 26

2009-09-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

This month's STC/Seneca Breakfast Social will be at the Muddy Duck Restaurant in Mississauga. The event is open to both STC members and non-members.

Please RSVP by Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 to stctoronto.membership@gmail.com

Details:

Location: Muddy Duck Restaurant - 2200 Dundas Street East, Mississauga (near the Kipling
Subway TTC) - Tel: 905.275.9430

Date and Time: 10am - 12pm on Saturday, September 26th, 2009

View location on Google Maps.
View the restaurant buffet menu.

Career Day and Resume Workshop

2009-09-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - 8:00am - 4:30pm

STC Toronto hosts this event to provide opportunities for professional development, create a sense of community, promote technical communication and technical communicators, and communicate professional opportunities to its members. (Download the flyer with details from our Community Docs page.)

Registration and Welcome 8am – 9am

Self Directed Development 9am – 10 Start Career Day with questions about how we make ourselves into technical communicators (or information developers, content strategists, and so on.) To what extent do we make it happen ourselves? To what extent does it just happen? And to what extent do others make it happen? And if we are in charge of our own development, what can we do about it?

Personal Branding 10:15am – 11:30 It’s obvious that we live in a world inundated by corporate and product branding. But what is personal branding? What does it mean? Do you know what it can do for you? Have you invested time to define your own brand? Personal branding is a way of communicating your core values to the world and serves as a guide to your professional behaviour.

Job Hunting Secrets That Might Surprise You 1pm – 2 For years I resisted speaking about resumes, thinking everything that could be said has already been covered. After seeing candidate after candidate rejected based on what they had—or didn’t have—in a resume, I realized it’s time to step up and share what I have observed over the years: Job hunting secrets that might surprise you.

WORKSHOP: What Makes an Excellent Résumé 2:15pm – 4:30 What puts your resume to the top of search engines or in front of HR managers? What sets you apart? This seemingly simple document is really a marketing tool that capitalizes on usability, technology, and psychology to be truly effective. Participate in an interactive workshop to build a winning résumé to identify you as the best of the best. Bring along and update your current resume or create one during this interactive session.

For more information or to register, please visit our website.

FrontRunner FrameMaker User Network

2009-09-10T07:11:00.000-07:00

Join the next F.U.N. (FrameMaker User Network) meeting at FrontRunner.

Date: Thursday, September 24th, 2009, 6:30pm-8:30pm
Place: Front Runner Training Conference Room, 21 St. Clair Ave E.

Topics:
Tim Grantham will discuss DITA and FrameMaker 9. Tim Grantham is an award-winning writer, instructional designer, and technical trainer, and an active member of the OASIS DITA Enterprise Business Documents Sub-committee.

Mark James from Adobe Systems Canada will provide a high level overview of Adobe Acrobat 9 3-D and it's use of Multi-media and be on hand to answer any product questions you may have.

This is an excellent opportunity to network with other FrameMaker users in your area. There's also a chance to win door prizes, but you must be there to win!

Refreshments will be served.

See the website for details or to register.

STC/Seneca Breakfast Social - Free Magazine Giveway!

2009-08-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

We'll be meeting at Milestones this month. The event is open to all whether or not you are a STC member or a Seneca Student or Alumni.

Free Giveway! Chapter Vice President Andrew Brooke will be donating back issues of Intercom, the STC monthly magazine, to those in attendance!

Please RSVP by Wednesday August 26th, 2009 to noorhussain1@gmail.com.

Date: Saturday August 29th, 2009 - 10am – 12pm
Location: Milestones - 5095 Yonge St Toronto, ON (Yonge between Finch/Sheppard, Toronto - North York TTC Subway) - Unit A13 - Tel: 416.225.2552
Brunch Menu

Upcoming Front Runner Training courses

2009-08-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

For over 12 years, Front Runner Training has provided technical writers and documentation specialists the skills to work efficiently - saving both the writers and their companies time and money. Our instructors are from various fields such as; desktop publishing, XML/DITA development, graphic design, where they work and teach the software on a daily basis.

Last Chance to Register Deal
Act now and you can receive up to a 25% discount on selected courses in August and September (some restrictions apply)...

Here are courses scheduled at Front Runner Training in Toronto, Canada.

Microsoft Project Introductory
Monday, August 31st, 2009
$350 CDN per person

Adobe Acrobat LiveCycle Designer
Tuesday September 15th
$390 CDN per person

Adobe Structured FrameMaker version 9: EDD Development
Wednesday September 30th to Friday October 2nd $1,690 CDN per person

Note: For our American and European friends, please note that the above prices are in Canadian dollars, therefore you will enjoy an additional cost savings due to the current exchange rate. (Actual $USD price will be determined at time of invoice.)

Please register for any of our courses using our online registration form.

Please call if you have any questions and are ready to register.

We look forward to helping with your training needs.

Sincerely,

Veronica Kütt
President
Front Runner Training, a Div. of Front Runner Publishing Solutions Inc.
416-515-0155
Call Toll free: 1-877-999-0155
veronica@front-runner.com

CSS Webinars

2009-08-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

MadCap Software is running free tools-neutral webinars.

They are doing a five part series on CSS Cascading Style Sheets. Part 3 us next! Here is the info:

Title: Cascading Style Sheets (Part 3): Images
Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Time: 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM PDT
Presenter: Mike Hamilton, VP MadCap Software
Signup link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/634573130

AGM - A Great Meeting!

2009-07-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

Our AGM (Annual General Meeting) was a resounding success!

Over 60 people were in attendance at the Mandarin restaurant in the Yonge and Eglinton area on Tuesday, June 23, 2009. Vice President Anna Parker Richards (who is now the President) led the event. Everyone enjoyed a sumptuous "all-you-can-eat" buffet. Community President Bernard Aschwanden gave an informative summary of last year's events, and spoke about the challenges the STC faces and how we, as a community, are working hard to address them. Blog Editor Andrew Brooke (who is now the VP) gave a visual tour of the newly redesigned website. This was followed by the treasurer's report, leadership nominations, elections and the introduction of the new community council.

Competition and chapter leadership awards were presented to various individuals and a special award was presented to Ralph Robinson by Ann Rockley for his many years of service. The event closed with a review of our exciting plans for the upcoming year.

We thank everyone who attended and look forward to seeing you all at the next STC event!

Looking for others who are also looking for technical communication work

2009-06-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

Hi -- those of you who know me probably know about this by now. And those of you who knew me before I got that job may remember that one of the things I did as part of my first job search was to put together a group of fellow seekers to exchange information and ideas, provide mutual support, and share in a common cause.

Interested in putting together a new group with me? Drop me a line at milan.stc.toronto@gmail.com and let's talk.

By the way, my area of operations is pretty central: if I can get to it from Yonge & Bloor by TTC within an hour, it'll work for me.

Looking forward to hearing from someone...

2009 STC Summit in Atlanta – My Top 10 List

2009-06-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate this year to attend the STC Summit in Atlanta this year. Attendance this year was much lower than last year, due to the economy, but somehow the experience seemed much more intense than last year's. Here were some of the highlights for me, in no particular order:

The Opening Keynote Speaker, David Pogue. He’s perhaps the most famous tech writer, a reviewer of gadgets for the New York Times. His talk was hilarious, inspiring, and useful all at the same time. His basic message was that simplicity sells. This is an important lesson for us writers, who often get caught up in the jargon that surrounds us. Here’s his list of jargon that we should avoid in our documentation: content, dialog, enable, user, support (verb), and URL. You can see a similar presentation to the keynote at: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/david_pogue_says_simplicity_sells.html.

The Usability and User Experience SIG lunch. I was fortunate to sit with a bunch of interesting people, including Whitney Quesenberry. She was full of good ideas of how to do usability testing when you don’t have access to your audience. Later in the day she gave a presentation about choosing the right usability techniques filled with lots of practical information. Her site is http://www.wqusability.com.

A presentation about game-based learning. This was presented by Mark Oehlert, who develops game-based learning for the American Department of Defense. I’ll admit it: I picked this session for non-professional reasons -- my 7 ½-year-old son aspires to being a game developer one day, and he is already developing his own games. But the session was fascinating. And we learn best when we don’t realize we’re learning. Here’s a good learning game that illustrates this: http://itmanager3.intel.com/en-us/default.aspx.

A presentation about comics. Continuing with the youthful theme, I went to an interesting presentation by Alan Porter, VP of Quadralay (publisher of WebWorks) about what tech docs can learn from comics. It turns out that in addition to his day job, Alan is an accomplished comic writer. WebWorks came out with its own comic book at the conference, and Google’s Chrome comic is also well known. I co-authored a comic about technology, which you can see at http://www.sericontech.com/solution/read-the-autossl-comic.

A fun workshop. By far the most fun education session I went to was one where I wasn’t allowed to talk. (My husband will be very surprised.) This was called Building Cardboard Castles, and it was organized by leaders of the North East Ohio STC chapter. We divided into teams and built cardboard castles (supplies provided) without talking with our teammates. It was lots of fun, and taught us that there are other ways to communicate. In my opinion, we made more progress this way than if we’d actually been discussing everything first. Did I mention I was on the winning team? The picture at the top of this post has our winning entry, me (in the middle), and some team members.

Facebook time. The Summit was full of education sessions about Web 2.0 and related topics. I got a bit overloaded. I enjoyed a refreshing presentation by 2 student members about the benefits and pitfalls of social networking sites. It was educational and full of practical tips for using these sites to your personal and professional advantage. I’ll admit I have some interest in this topic. A recent venture is http://www.testfacebook.com.

A presentation about Amazon.com. One of the best sessions I went to was “Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon,” an amazing presentation by Jared Spool, a leading UI designer. He talked about why Amazon is so successful, how they have managed to create a community, and how they test new ideas. If you ever feel that your creative writing talents are slowly draining out of you as you document boring technical stuff, then take a break, go to http://www.amazon.com, search for “Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz.”, and read some of the 1,076 reviews. This will inspire you and wake you up. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Useful info about topic-based authoring. I went to a session by our own Rob Hanna full of practical tips for getting started with topic-based authoring. Rob’s presentation was excellent and full of useful information.

Knowing that I'm not alone. Meeting and talking to other writers all day long was great! Working as the lone writer on a project, where documentation is forgotten by my colleagues or at best an afterthought – it’s so good to be able to connect with so many other people who face the same issues. It’s like going to one of our chapter socials but on steroids.

New ideas. Getting energized by hearing new ideas about how other people are organizing information, and solving the problems that we all encounter everyday.

And though I'm through my top 10, on a more personal note... when I was in Atlanta I had some free time to connect with an old friend and colleague from my days at Mercury. This was great.

My only regret was that I was so busy with the conference was that I didn't have a chance to see Atlanta. Next time.

Our new website!

2009-05-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

We have completely redesigned our website, currently in beta at:
http://www2.stctoronto.org

We hope you like our new look and welcome all feedback!

Please send your comments using this form.

(Our current website will stay up for a while.)

Our New Website!

2009-05-23T12:20:00.001-07:00

We completely redesigned our website and hope you enjoy our new design!

Please see the new site at here.

We've developed the site using Google Sites and some of the bells and whistles that go with it. One of the reasons we moved to this tool is for the collaborative authoring capabilities. This way mutiple members of the community council can update their own content rather than depending on the webmaster.

One of our goals is to keep our website current from a content, technology, and social networking perspective. If you have any ideas for services we can provide our members or nifty web-based tools that would benefit our membership, please take initiative and volunteer your services.

We want your feedback and ideas. Please email our chapter president.

Staying Employed--What I've Learnt

2009-04-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

Intro
Times are tough for all. Especially for Lone Technical Writers in small-to-medium sized companies. We are most vulnerable in these times and also when the management is deciding on their next budget. I am the only technical writer at my current company and I work within the Product Development team. I’ve been here as a sub-contractor for almost ten months now.

The Story
At the beginning of March my client informed through my agent that they’ll not be able to extend my contract beyond March 31 due to budget shortages. They were kind enough to give me a month’s notice and also there were pending items to be completed for which a month’s time seemed right.

But something happened last week in regards to my contract that made me decide to write this article to tell other technical writers that there are ways to find to keep yourself employed, either contract or full-time. During the last ten months as always I’ve used all my skills both as a writer and a self-marketer to do a good job and to keep myself in the light of all groups. I did this by always talking to people from all groups both formally in meetings and informally in hallways.

By now, most of them knew me by face and name, and that I was the technical writer in the Product group. I’ve helped other groups even in areas that were unrelated to writing, Once, I had called upon my previous experience as a database programmer to help a QA person. I wrote a code snippet to help her with tallying pass/fail test cases in an Excel spreadsheet.

The Surprise
So, coming back to what happened last week, it was business as usual and I was at the printer picking up a document I had just printed and there was the Implementations and QA group’s manager standing beside me and to my surprise he asked if I was available to work for a month for their group. Since, I hadn’t really found anything concrete elsewhere I said “yes”. He smilingly said that he had already spoken to my agent and was initiating an extension.

It was a pleasant surprise that all that work during the last ten months did get noticed and they didn’t want to lose a resource unless they really had to.

Story Continued …
Meanwhile, my current manager wanted me to create a New Employee Orientation presentation which we had been talking about for a while. I had suggested some reading material and using that as a starting point I began creating the presentation.

During this process I had to talk to managers of different teams to identify:

The various processes/procedures specific to their team.
Any applicable training their team had to go through.
If they had any reading material that was provided to the new employee within their team.

What this process revealed was that each team had certain amount of content or processes that were either not documented anywhere or not current. I conveyed this information to my current manager who in turn told me that she will do her best to keep me longer there and see if the other groups want use my skills to get their documentation up-to-date.

Conclusion
Well, I know what you are thinking “what has this got to do with my situation, right?” But, as a technical writer I am sure you understand many of the points I mentioned above. My concluding points to my fellow technical writers are:

Don’t throw away your skills you earned before you were a technical writer. They can earn you bonus points.
Always make yourself visible to the whole company or as many teams as possible.
Have lots of informal conversations and ask curious questions regarding their documentation and just hint that you can help them out with these documents, procedures, etc.
Try to find out through formal or informal means if any of the other teams need help with their documents.
And last, hang in there.

Southwestern Ontario Chapter's Annual Wine & Cheese Party

2009-02-18T06:04:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't like a good party? There's lots of food and drink. You get to meet new people. You make connections.

The Southwestern Ontario Chapter's annual Wine and Cheese is no exception. In fact, there is all the usual fun of a party plus so much more.

When: Tuesday, March 3, 2009 from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.

Where: University of Waterloo, Davis Centre, Room DC 1301.

Cost: Free, just like any good party

Activities
We will be presenting some awards to celebrate the success of many people; however, unlike the Oscars, there is no red carpet and everything is informal. The rest of the time will be spent socializing.

Reason to Attend
If you ever wondered about the Society for Technical Communication or even just the field of technical communication, then this event is something you don't want to miss. For those of you already in the field, you can meet new people and see old friends.

Survey and RSVP
To help us finalize our food and drinks for the evening, please complete a survey on our home page to let us know what you would like to drink.

Publish Post

Also, to give us a general idea about how many people are attending, please send Debbie your RSVP.

More Details
For more details, go to our website. If you have any questions, contact Debbie Kerr.

Technical Communication studies now back on at George Brown College

2009-02-05T17:28:00.000-08:00

Way back when, after I got back from Japan and decided to take up studies in technical communication, I went to George Brown College and took classes to get their Certificate in Technical Communication. A few years after, the program seemed to have disappeared.

Now, however, it's back. At the end of November and in early December (yes, I've been slow getting this onto the blog) I exchanged a few email messages with Lynne Kurylo of GBC and Scott Bootes, the lead instructor in the program. My first conversation was with Lynne:

Milan Davidovic: I see at your site that you are offering a "Revised" Technical Communications Certificate. Can you tell us about the "Revised" part?

Lynne Kurylo: We are introducing a certificate program consisting of six new courses which focus on the principles of technical communications practice and address current specializations or market niches. The courses are short (21 to 36 hours) and designed so that students can build a portfolio as they progress through the program.

MD: So would it be fair to say, then, that the course has been revised to be shorter and more concentrated?

LK: You are correct, the courses are slightly shorter and more concentrated, most are 36 hours in length with a couple at 21 hours (versus the previous 42 hours). The other difference is that all 6 courses are compulsory, no electives. The courses are structurally aligned so they fit together and address the use of multiple media. There is an additional pre-requisite now, students must be familiar with the use of Microsoft Word.

MD: Judging from the courses listed at the site, the certificate program doesn't require students to take classes in specific tools, such asFrameMaker, InDesign, and so on. This is a departure from the past,but an interesting one. Can you tell us about it?

LK: The tool requirements are integrated into each course. Courses will take place in labs using the appropriate tools as needed.

MD: What would you say differentiates GBC's Technical Communications Certificate program from other similar offerings in the GTA?

LK: This is a part-time study program offered in a classroom setting. The core courses can be completed in six semesters. The courses offer a broad exposure to important topics including managing and consulting.

MD: When I looked, I saw that half the compulsory courses are "under development". Can you tell us when you expect these to be ready?

LK: We are rolling out the first three courses between January and June, 2009. The remaining three courses will be offered between September, 2009 and April, 2010. Details of the three remaining course dates will appear in the 2009-10 Continuing Education Calendar, available in early July.

MD: Of the three courses that are ready, can you tell us about who is teaching them?

LK: Scott Bootes, our lead instructor, will teach COMM 9093 Technical Writing and Analysis starting in January. He is an experienced teacher and a practicing technical communicator. We are in the process of recruiting additional instructors.

MD: Is there anything else you'd like us in the technical communication community about this program?

LK: We are confident that this new program presents an up-to-date introduction to the key principles and skills required for planning, developing and producing publications. It is intended for those at entry level and for those who want to develop existing skills and knowledge.

My second conversation was with Scott Bootes:

MD: How is this new program different from past offerings?

SB: The new program takes a generalist approach so that learners are exposed to technical writing in a variety of markets beyond just software. The core structure has four required courses that integrate concepts and practice in a clear progression from writer, to compositor (or designer), to editor, to manager. The "focus" courses are offered to help students acclimate to specialized roles. Business process and software writing are currently offered but more specialties may be offered depending on how the program goes.

MD: How does this program seek to differentiate itself from similar offerings by other institutions (Seneca, Humber, et al.)?

SB: The George Brown program is organized for learners who want part-time studies that provide the structure and interaction of in-class experience. Some blended and on-line activity will be used to complete the learning but the focus is on face-to-face communication. Humber's program is now run entirely on-line while Seneca is a full-time program. However, no one else offers "focus" courses to orientation students into specific markets.

MD: What do you see as the most important aspect of educating new technical communicators?

SB: Production ability is the "technical" skill that new communicators learn as they go along. While it can be picked up anywhere, the core courses of this program cover skill development in a comprehensive manner. At the same time, we offer them a chance to "live the experience" so that these skills can be placed in context. Covering both dimensions helps students learn what it is they want to get out of the profession and how to negotiate for what they want.

So, if you're in the market for technical communication classes, go give these ones a look. And if you're in any of these classes, leave a comment on this blog post and share your thoughts.

More jobs for the job bank

2008-12-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

The STC Toronto job bank has been getting low lately, so I searched out some job openings online and added several. I've marked them as being added by the job bank manager so you don't take them as a sign of sudden prosperity in the job market.

Most of the jobs are permanent. I've added one contract and one volunteer position that gets you nothing but experience.

Most of the jobs are in Toronto. One is in Waterloo. I skipped over jobs in places like Fort Saskatchewan, Montreal, and Ottawa. You can find them if you look around. I also left off some jobs that some of us could probably do—business analysis or web design opportunities that need other areas of expertise. Look around for writing or content or design: under different job titles you may find a place to put your communication skills to work. Good luck!

OK, we're all judged up...

2008-12-04T15:09:00.001-08:00

...but if you want to leave your name with me as a backup (in case someone falls ill or drops out), you can still do so (competition2008 at stctoronto.org).

Thanks...

Competition update – still looking for judges

2008-11-26T19:07:00.000-08:00

We’re still in the market for competition judges. If you’re a past award winner, past judge, or experienced (say, 5+ years) technical communicator and are interested in gaining more experience at:

evaluating and providing feedback on materials that are new and unfamiliar to you

discussing your evaluations with fellow technical communicators

then please get in touch with me (competition2008 at stctoronto.org).

Thanks in advance for your interest.

Competition update

2008-11-20T17:17:00.000-08:00

OK, a couple of things to tell you...

First -- and I've been a bit slow to announce this -- we once again are partnering with the Southwestern Ontario chapter. We've been working together on getting judges and entries.

And speaking of entries, you should have noticed that the entry deadline has now passed. If you've already contacted me about entering, then we can continue the conversation and get your entry in (but soon, please). Otherwise, there's always next year.

And for those of you who are entering this year, I'm sorting out your entries and getting them matched up with judging teams.

More later...

Of Mountains and Snowflakes

2008-11-13T07:55:00.000-08:00

What do mountains, snowflakes, trees and other things have in common with modern documentation? Find out here.

Competition deadline is fast approaching!

2008-11-05T19:54:00.001-08:00

So, we're getting close to the deadline for entries in this year's competition -- but there's still time to get an entry in.

If you've got a piece of work that you'd like to get some outside feedback on and you think it may have a shot at winning an award, go over to the STC Toronto site, click "Competition", and find out how to enter.

Content Reuse: Is It Harmful?

2008-10-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

Check out this interesting article by Richard Hamilton in The Content Wrangler blog. Hamilton argues that reusing content isn't always the ideal solution.

Why enter the STC Toronto competition?

2008-10-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

Here's what Fei Min Lorente of ON Semiconductor has to say:

I entered the 2007 STC technical publication competition because I wanted to see how our manuals compared to an international standard for good technical writing. Operating as a lone writer who has to depend on the subject matter experts to do most of the writing can make one nervous about quality. I was pleased to discover that we met the standard; it validated our documentation process.

Interested in entering? Go over to the STC Toronto site, click "Competition' in the navigation bar on the left, and find out more.

Tales from the front lines of the CMS revolution

2008-10-22T19:51:00.000-07:00

OK -- the details for the STC Toronto November event are out. Go over to the STC Toronto site and see 'em.

Political Interchange

2008-10-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

Still recovering from the election? Check out my latest article on what we can actually learn from politicians.

Socials - recent and future

2008-10-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

The social on October 15 was pretty good -- we got about 16 people out, including a few faces I hadn't seen before. Too bad my digital camera is lousy at low-light indoor shots. Maybe next time...

...and speaking of next time, if you can get out to Mississuga for a social in January, keep Tuesday the 20th open. More details later.

Interviewing for the Job and on the Job - Part III

2008-10-10T13:43:00.001-07:00

Last in a series of three articles describing the basic principles of both job and informational interviewing.

Read the article.

Interviewing for the Job and on The Job - Part II

2008-10-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

Second in a series of three articles describing the basic principles of both job and informational interviewing.

Read the article.

Coming up in November: Tech Trends Day

2008-10-08T04:31:00.000-07:00

We're planning our November event; keep Thursday, November 13 open if you're interested in an evening of discussion about implementing content management systems and structured authoring.

Watch this blog and our site for details.

Competition -- accepting entries, seeking judges

2008-10-08T04:28:00.001-07:00

In case you've missed it, STC Toronto is again holding a local technical publication (print, online) competition, and we're accepting entries until mid-November. We're also looking for judges to help assess the entries and provide feedback to the entrants.

Entering the competition gives you a chance to get feedback on your work from peers working outside your context -- a fresh set of eyes can reveal things about your work that you might otherwise not see.

Judging in the competition is a chance to help your colleagues by providing that fresh set of eyes. As well, it gives you exposure to work done by your peers as well as a chance to discuss it.

Full details can be found on our site -- click "Competition" in the navigation bar on the left to get to the Competition page.

This time next week

2008-10-08T04:18:00.000-07:00

Next Wednesday is our October Social, which we're holding at Jester's (Yonge & St. Clair). It's a chance for STC members and other like-minded professionals to get together over food and drinks to talk over the topics of the day -- professional and otherwise.

There's no fee to get in -- just whatever you care to spend to eat and drink.

Full details on the front page of our site. We're asking people to RSVP so we have an idea of how many people are coming.

Interviewing for the Job and On The Job - Part I

2008-10-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

First in a series of three articles describing the basic principles of both job and informational interviewing.

Read the article.

Know Thyself ... Know Thy Audience: Reflections on STC's Career Day

2008-10-03T11:03:00.000-07:00

By Wolf DreamWalker

Two major themes permeated STC's Career Day: first, know you audience; second know yourself.

The answer to "Who is our audience?" is ... everyone. The beauty of being a technical communicator is that the opportunities for work are virtually limitless. Clarity of thought and action are crucial to unravelling and understanding the exponential complexities of today’s technology. Everybody needs us - even those in non-technical industries.

Knowingly or unknowingly, every one of us has embraced the role of a technical communicator at least once. This role is not related to any job title, such as Technical Writer or Information Officer. Rather, it is an extension of what we are and do. As, Stacey, one of my fellow students put it so succinctly “We take complicated stuff and turn it into simple stuff."

The question, then, is not whether we are or should be technical communicators but how can we be more effective. As one of our speakers, Rob Hanna, clarified, we need to develop the seven habits of a highly effective communicator, namely: confidence in ourselves, passion for our work, an undying curiosity of the world around us, creative problem solving, non-stop growth in skills and knowledge, and comfort in the midst of chaos.

Networking, résumé writing, and interviewing are excellent activities for developing and enhancing these seven habits since they necessitate developing a deep understanding of ourselves and the needs of our audience.

The primary purpose in networking according to Patrick McCormack is to “.... embody the potential of a positive experience;" that is, for our audience. And the only way to do this is to get to know the people we are talking to, talk their talk, and develop an affinity with their view of the world.

Hanna’s seven habits are also revealed in the use of key words in our résumés, according to Pam Peterson. Key words let our audience know that we are attuned to their needs while enticing it to prevue illustrations of how we have met similar needs in the past.

Furthermore, Andrew Brooke stressed that these habits are exhibited in how we prepare for a successful job interview. We need to be proactive in finding everything we can about our audience's values and needs. The interview, itself, is simply the arena in which we reveal our understanding of that audience and demonstrate how our skills, knowledge and background can meet its needs.

Know myself ... know my audience. Enough already! I got the message.

Report on STC Career Day 2008

2008-10-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

By Stacy Donaldson

The day began with Alan Wilson taking us on a canoe ride…into the river of planning. He introduced the technical writing diagnostic and expressed the importance of continuous education: be a lifelong learner. As a technical communicator, it is important to look after yourself and keep up-to-date with innovative technology. Wilson stated “with a bit of intelligence, imagination and nerve, you can do anything.”

After we “dried off”, we learned that technical writers come from diverse backgrounds and end up in various roles and companies. Beth Agnew told us to “be bold, be aware of things you can do, even if you think you can’t.” Rob Hanna discussed seven habits or traits that technical writers possess –or should possess: be confident, be passionate, explore you subject matter area, can problem solve, professional development, technical aptitude and comfort with chaos.

All of the presenters reiterated that it is important for technical communicators to take advantage of their unique skills and interests and look for opportunities inside their comfort level. Leverage your technical abilities. Focus on the word communication. You do not have to be an expert in the field you are/or will be working in; you simply must be able to communicate and write intelligent subject matter.

As for networking skills, Patrick McCormack reminded us of proper dating etiquette. Barbara Stuhlemmer discussed the 300 Rule and key online networks: Linkedln.com, Plaxo.com and thecontentwrangler.com. When networking, stay positive, give a handshake, and have a business card ready to give out. McCormack maintains that performance comes first and credentials come second. Be memorable and compelling. Study the vocabulary of the industry and know acronyms. Once you have impressed potential employers, show how you will benefit their organization.

Pam Patterson reminded us that a resume is the most important document we will ever write. When writing your resume, think of yourself as a product: Sell yourself. Be flexible. Investigate the company you are applying to work for and find out who is going to interview you. A reoccurring theme of the day was audience analysis: every presentation and discussion included these two words. Andrew Brooke explored interviews in more detail, as it is the interview that will get you the job. There were six points that Brooke addressed: know your audience, know yourself, be honest, be proactive, get another job (e.g. tech communicator, tech writer, info developer) and go to 11 (give 110%).

Overall, the seminar was very informative for anyone interested in a career as a technical communicator. All of the presenters gave beneficial advice and information. Bernard Aschwanden and Ana Parker-Richards did a fantastic job organizing the day; and provided great food, which is always a bonus. From this seminar it is evident that the STC is a positive organization that motivates and supports technical communicators.

2008 Competition now on

2008-09-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

It's competition time again... I've been a bit slow getting things rolling again, but now they are.

A couple of things we're doing differently this year:

Entries from Ontario only: last year it was interesting getting entries from all over the place (even as far away as South Korea), but this year we're putting the focus squarely on home-grown talent and thereby better serving what we see as our role in the Ontario technical communication community.

Asking entrants to contact the Competition Manager first: last year we had a bit of confusion around things like payment of entry fees, categorization of entries, use of correct entry forms, and so on. Our best idea for making it easier to do things the right way is to provide more guidance to the entrants. Therefore, we'll be having the entrants contact me before sending in their entry.

For more details about entering or judging, go to the STC Toronto site and click "Competition". Entries are being accepted until November 14.

Second thoughts are often best

2008-09-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

Your first thought is a first draft. That's especially true with Web pages, where whoever suggests the first information structure was likely influenced by the paper version. On reflection, you can start using the power of links. Here's an example:

Formats: paper-based vs. online:

Secrets of Graphic Art

2008-08-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

I learned this several years ago in a graphic arts seminar given by the Editors' Association of Canada.

It's not always easy to choose attractive, coordinating colours for an expensive graphics project. Directors of a prosperous company publishing their annual report want their report to be give an impression of quality and perfection. One of the ways to do that through colour is to choose a combination from nature or art. Take a beautiful image from nature and pick three or four colours from it.

Or take a harmonious painting and borrow its colours.

The result should be professional and pleasing.

Grammar checkers: StyleWriter

2008-08-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

This looks like a fascinating product! StyleWriter is a sophisticated grammar checker that looks at your writing and gives a many-dimensioned diagnostic:

Words: 93
StyleWriter suggested improvements 17:
· 6 wordy phrases
· 2 complex words
· 3 business clichés
· 5 passive verbs
· 1 long sentence
· 1 grammar error (by yourself)
· 1 hyphenation error (follow-up)

Thank you

2008-08-01T08:03:00.001-07:00

To the Administrative, Community Councils, and Membership,

Thank you for awarding Front Runner Training for our long-standing support of the STC Toronto Chapter. We are happy to accept the recognition and display the plaque.
We look forward to continuing our successful relationship with the STC.

Sincerely,
Veronica Kütt
President
Front Runner Training, a Div. of Front Runner Publishing Solutions Inc.
416-515-0155
Call Toll free: 1-877-999-0155
veronica@front-runner.com
www.front-runner.com
"Learn what you wish you'd known yesterday!"®

Shlomo Perets workshops in Toronto!

2008-08-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

Front Runner Training is hosting Shlomo Perets in Toronto to deliver his highly sought after FrameMaker to Acrobat Advanced Techniques workshop and two Advanced Acrobat workshops!

Bring your laptops, bring your files, bring your questions!

FrameMaker to Acrobat Advanced Techniques
Monday September 22nd & Tuesday September 23rd
$1,240.00 (General public)

Designing Access to Information & Testing Your PDFs
Wednesday September 24th
$540.00 (General public)

Creating PDF Forms

$540.00 (General Public)

9 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day
Continental breakfast included

Take advantage of our Early Bird Special for STC Members Only - until August 15th, 2008
SAVE $150.00 on the FrameMaker to Acrobat course and lower the fee to $1,090.00 per person, plus GST.
After August 15th, the fee for STC Members is $1,140.00 per person, plus GST Payment and STC # (if applicable) required at time of registration.

Save $75 on the Designing Access to Information & Testing Your PDFs and Creating PDF Forms and lower the fee to $465.00 per workshop, per person, plus GST.
After August 15th, the fee for STC Members is $490.00 per workshop, per person, plus GST

These discounts cannot be combined or offered with any other promotion or discounts.

Please contact Front Runner to register for your workshop.

Sincerely,
Veronica Kutt
President
Front Runner Training
A Division of Front Runner Publishing Solutions Inc.
416-515-0155
Call Toll free: 1-877-999-0155
veronica@front-runner.com

Labels and other dogs

2008-07-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

Are your docs going to the dogs? Find out here.

Beta-test the TTC's new Web site

2008-06-10T08:34:00.002-07:00

The Toronto Transit Commission's new Web site is in beta test, which means it's not in production but we can visit it and the TTC wants our feedback to finalize the design. You'll be doing yourself and myriads of TTC users a favour.

The Toronto Star reports that the TTC's new home page is still a work in progress:

—Tess Kalinowski, Transportation Reporter
Now there's a better way to navigate the TTC online but the transit agency isn't home yet when it comes to its new website. The TTC previewed its long-awaited homepage today to replace the version it's been running since 1998. With new easy-to-read graphics and search engines for bus and streetcar routes, it nevertheless doesn't yet have a trip planning tool or up-to-the-minute service updates for the system. Those features, along with an e-commerce function, will be added by next year, said the TTC's marketing manager Alice Smith. Eventually the TTC's site will function like the Chicago transit system's where users can actually watch the buses and see delays, said commission chair Adam Giambrone.

A quick look at the old site

This is the TTC's old home page. It's quite long. Notice the link at the top to the new site.

The badges in the old page are links to sub-pages. Those might be in the TTC's own Web site. This is the result of clicking "TTC Service:"

Or they might go to a page in the extensive City of Toronto Web site:

The new site

The new site has an introduction. It uses a lot of abstract nouns and needs a plain-language rewrite.

Then you click "Continue" to get to the new home page:

This new web page is quite wide, about 960 pixels. People with older monitors might not realize that there's a far right-hand column with more choices unless they have horizontal scrolling turned on and they look at the horizontal scroll bar.

The new site looks pretty. It uses the streetcars' colours of red, black, and white. But close your eyes half-way and squint at the screen. You'll see that the heavy black bar across the top is the strongest visual element. It pulls your eye away from the more important text below.

Because of the strong horizontal elements, It took me a while to realize that the menus should be read vertically from the heading above the line.

Four topic areas are headed by a red line faintly divided by grey bars, and with a dot like a station on a route map. To me, the dot separated the menus from their title rather than connecting them.

The site is divided logically into four main topic areas

Schedules & Maps
Fares & Passes
Riding the TTC
Service Alerts

This is the Schedules & Maps area.

It was not obvious to me that the three symbols along the top stand for the three kinds of routes. Perhaps the symbols could be placed vertically with their descriptions beside them. Also, there's lots of room to write "Rapid Transit" or "Rail Transit" instead of the cryptic "RT." When in doubt, spell it out.

There's a place-holder for a link to the future trip planner. I hope that it will allow you to say when you want to arrive will tell you when you have to leave, instead of just asking you when you want to leave. Or perhaps it will even ask you which kind of planning to use.

To get to a schedule, click in one of Subways, Buses, or Streetcars. If you know your route number, such as 501C, you can type it instead of searching through the schedule menus.

I chose Streetcar Routes. You go to a second-level menu of major routes.

Select a route. (I chose 501 Queen.) The white-on-black text at the top of the route tells you that this is for eastbound streetcars. Many people can't read reverse video easily and will read "Westbound" more clearly than "Eastbound."

The schedules have the very nice feature of showing the next vehicle scheduled to go by in each direction. (In future, you may see real-time results.) The next scheduled arrivals appear at main intersections for active routes.

If you select a sub-route, you get a more detailed schedule:

Unlike the Streetcars menu, the Service Alerts menu is scattered over the page:

The Service Alerts menu makes your eye rove around to see all the choices. This seems like an attempt to use up all that horizontal white space. There's nothing wrong with the old, vertical format:

If drill down a level in the new Web site, you'll find that warnings such as Construction Projects are unfinished.

Until the Web pages are are complete, I think that they should link to the updates on the City of Toronto site, as the old Web site does.

The Star is correct: it's a work in progress. Take time to visit the new site and leave your feedback. We can help the TTC to improve their user experience if we act now.

First, go and roam around the TTC beta site. Then return to its home page. At the bottom is a link to a survey. Follow the link and fill out the survey.

Putting out fire with (pricey) gasoline

2008-06-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

Do high gas prices make you want to explode? Find the cure here.

Southwestern Ontario Chapter Movie Night!

2008-05-29T07:20:00.001-07:00

Everyone loves a movie night - especially a free one! To end the STC-SOC general meetings on a fun note (although you still can learn), they have decided to offer you the movie Helvetica.

Helvetica, a documentary film by Gary Hustwit, is about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007) and how it and other types affect our lives. The film explores urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them. It also contains discussions with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.

When: Tuesday, June 3 from 6:00 until 8:30 (movie starts at 7:00).
Where: Princess Twin Cinema, King St., Waterloo
Registration: Please register with Ted Edwins, STC-SOC Public Relations Manager, by May 30 at noon.
Food: You can purchase food before the movie. Come early to make your purchases and to spend some time networking.

You can see more details about the movie and about registering to see it.

Questions?
Contact either Ted pr@stc-soc.org (STC-SOC Public Relations Manager) or Debbie Kerr president@stc-soc.org.

The council of the Southwestern Ontario Chapter looks forward to seeing you there!

Debbie Kerr
President
Southwestern Ontario Chapter STC

Simple & free screen-capture software

2008-05-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

As a technical writer, I often have to take screen captures or "screen shots" to illustrate a software application or system. A convenient and perfectly adequate tool for the job is the freeware program ScreenHunter from WisdomSoft. It's currently up to version 5. If you're willing to pay, you can have a much more versatile version.

Thanks to STC member Ed Beliczynski of ExtendMedia, Inc., who originally recommended ScreenHunter to me and who is a fount of information on low-cost software tools.

Documenting Brenda Martin

2008-05-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

Lessons from Ms. Martin's Mexican ordeal.

Learn about the power of podcasts on May 13

2008-05-10T16:57:00.000-07:00

Podcasts are seen as a platform for reviews, opinions, and polemic. But they can do much more. This presentation helps you discover how valuable podcasts can be.

Podcasts are the next step beyond blogging. But they are also a powerful platform for training and user assistance. They are useful whether you're a technical writer explaining how an application works or a marketer expounding on product benefits.

Aaron Davis and Scott Nesbitt will examine how you can tap into the power of podcasts. First, they'll explain what podcasts are and how to create one.

You'll learn how podcasts

Can help maintain an ongoing dialogue about a domain or topic

Are a great way to disseminate new developments

Serve the users's convenience by being available anytime, and anywhere

Make supplementary material more interesting

Aaron and Scott will

Outline the mechanics of podcasting

Point out some of the popular training and educational podcasts on the Web

Analyze why these podcasts are successful

Tell how you can use the same techniques with your audio materials

About the presenters: Aaron Davis and Scott Nesbitt are partners in DMN Communications, a technical communications consultancy in Toronto. Since 2006, their podcast, Communications from DMN, has been entertaining, informing, and occasionally annoying a diverse global audience.

The meeting will be held in the Burgundy Room at the North York Memorial Hall, 5110 Yonge Street, concourse level, at 7:00 p.m. General Admission is $5; STC Members attend for free.
For directions, visit STC Toronto and click on "Meetings."

(This was based on the meeting announcement on the STC Toronto web site.)

Workshop on user experience design of web site information architectures

2008-05-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

ToRCHI, the Toronto chapter of ACM SIGCHI, is organizing a one-day workshop on the topic of user experience (UX) design of web site information architectures (IA).

This workshop examines the design of web site organization and information architecture with a focus on user experience and usability considerations. Workshop activities will consist largely of analyzing and critiquing existing sites, discussing underlying design principles and guidelines, and completing design exercises and critiquing the results.

For complete information, view the workshop details.

The Ten Plagues of Technical Communication

2008-04-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

Think your life is hard? Be glad your not a slave in ancient Egypt but avoid these plagues.

Thinking of hiring a tech writer? Check out these articles

2008-04-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

I have links to three online articles over on my own blog.

If you have a bit of time, have a look at one or more of them and then leave a comment here on the STC Toronto blog telling us what you think -- or write your own blog post, if you've got plenty to say. I'd be particularly interested in opinions from anyone who has hiring experience.

The Rennie Charles Award

2008-04-16T07:36:00.000-07:00

I did not know Rennie Charles, but from numerous accounts, he was a special person who gave a lot of himself to the STC Toronto chapter. A number of years ago, our chapter created an award in his memory and the cut-off date for recommendations for the award is 30th of April.

Please consider nominating someone from within our chapter - I can think of several candidates myself.

What qualities are needed in order to be recommended? Since I cannot improve upon the sentiments from the February 1998 article in Communication Times, I am having it republished here in a slightly edited form. It explains it all.

--by Sara Durning, Carla Salvador, and Kim Van Rooy

"Once again, we invite all members to make recommendations for the Rennie Charles Award.

It takes many dedicated and creative volunteers to make a chapter as strong and vigorous as the Toronto chapter, and every June we formally recognize those who have contributed to our growth and success during the previous 12 months.

For more than a decade, we have presented the Rennie Charles Award to one or, occasionally, two members who have made an “outstanding contribution” to the Toronto chapter in the current year or over the past several years. Every member is eligible for consideration, except those who have already won, and all members are welcome to make recommendations.

Rennie Charles is remembered by long-time STC members as a “dedicated leader and a good friend” and as a “sweet, delightful gentleman” who was cherished for the “ideas, support, patience, advice, and mirth” he shared with the Toronto technical writing community. He was twice the President of our chapter, an STC Associate Fellow, our director-sponsor, an STC board member, and a proud Canadian. Rennie was also one of the leaders who reenergized the Toronto chapter in 1985.

Rennie was known for constantly giving of himself to make things happen in the STC. If this reminds you of someone who has made an outstanding contribution to your STC experience, perhaps you could recommend them. Mention one or two specific reasons why you chose this person and submit your recommendation by April 30.

We will review all your suggestions and present a short list to the Toronto executive. The person or persons selected will be announced at the June meeting."