August-September 2010          

President's Message

Jessie Channey, STC Alberta President

It may have been a short summer, but be assured that we've been busy the entire time! STC Alberta has been ramping up its affiliations with nearly 20 related professional associations so far. We plan to continue building our own contacts so that we can provide our members with an expanded network and an opportunity to attend each other's events (at member rates!).

We've also had a lot of volunteer interest. I'm proud to announce the following new additions to our Council:
-Namgyal Damdul, User Experience on Web Team
-Kathy Gerritsen, Copy Editor
-Pia Kerber, Copy Editor
-Harmit Brar, Copy Editor
-Zubeida Kudoos, Copy Editor
-Tanya Mahmutovic, Editorial Assistant

And some of our Councillors are now wearing multiple hats:
-Richard Metcalfe, Copy Editor and Jobline backup
-Brian Thompson, Secretary and Web Team

Welcome aboard, everyone!

Our new website, being built in WordPress, is coming together quickly. In August, we held a testing session organized by our new User Experience specialist, Namgyal. Along with Ruth Maryniuk and Ian Hawkins (members of our Web Design committee), we each spent about 45 minutes going through typical user scenarios to test out the new site. I'm extremely proud to see the results and look forward to our official launch in the Fall. A clean, simple, modern design will be appreciated by all of us who have struggled with finding information on our old site: Our patience will be rewarded very shortly! A round of applause for our stellar Web Team: Brian Thompson, Janice Liwanag, and Namgyal Damdul.

June was an eventful month with an educational seminar, a serious strategic planning session, and a casual BBQ.

New Heights, held in early June, was a grand success and it's no surprise. Mellissa Ruryk did a fantastic job last year so naturally everything would be even better the second time around. We had super attendance with 33 registrants. NH was also the perfect opportunity for several STC-only members to upgrade to an STC Alberta membership without paying more and several people took advantage of this opportunity. Special thanks to everyone that helped pull things together, including Ken Schatzke and Rosalinda Hernandez for keeping track of registrants, and Alex Kelly for managing the promotions (and getting Bernard Callebaut door prizes!). A big thanks and 'see you later' to our organizer extraordinaire, Mellissa, who is moving to Vancouver soon. We'll miss you! In mid-June, several members of the Council got together in Edmonton for a Strategic Planning session. It was a valuable discussion opportunity with Deanne Wilson, Annette Wierstra, Mitch Willis, Alex Kelly, and Janice Liwanag. Thanks for spending a sunny Saturday with me discussing STC Alberta's future plans.

Later in June, we held the 2nd Annual All Associations BBQ and it was a hit with over 150 people attending the event. Despite the rainy weather that day, the sun came out just in time and people enjoyed the burgers and hot dogs inside the CTI atrium. And since I was helping with Registration, I was able to spot many of our members and greet them personally. Thanks to everyone who came out! It was a great social event and if you're looking forward to the next one, then mark your calendars, because our 30th Anniversary Galas will be big! The events will be held on September 30 in Edmonton and November 4 in Calgary and will commemorate 30 years of the Alberta Chapter!

With the usual anticipation surrounding salary information, our ever-popular Salary Survey was published in May. Have you been looking for it on our website? The Salary Survey results are now contained within the members-only area of our website. If you didn't get our email announcement, just contact us and we'll let you know how to access it. Many thanks to our Director of Edmonton Operations, Deanne Wilson, who also took on the role of Salary Survey Manager this year. Job well done!

Don't forget to check out our Event Calendar, we've got lots more coming up!

Upcoming Events

STC Alberta's 30th Anniversary

September 30, 2010, Edmonton | November 4, 2010, Calgary
On January 30, 1980, the first six members applied for and received branch status. By April, there were 18 members and STC Alberta had achieved full chapter status. We’ve come a long way since then and we would like you to help us celebrate our growth and achievements. Bring a guest if you’d like, and come for a drink and some refreshments

XML Basics

October 21, 2010 | Calgary
Presenter Peter Zaborski will be discussing the basics of XML including syntax, schemas, the difference between XML and HTML.

In The Beginning

Doug Hare, STC Alberta Senior Member
Taken from the February 2000 issue of SuperScript

A number of people have asked recently just how our chapter started and for some information about the technical communicators who brought it together. Late in 1979, I received a call from Marion White, a technical editor for the ERCB (Energy Resources Conservation Board—now the EUB) about meeting with some other editors, writers, and educators to see if we would like to form a professional association under the umbrella of STC.

Shortly, six of us began meeting and on January 30, 1980, we applied for and received branch status (membership under 15). The other four members were Susan Noble, a freelance technical editor, Maria Fogarasi, an instructor in Chemical Engineering at the University of Calgary, Vic Humphreys, editor of Oilweek, and Marten Bot, President of his own company specializing in industrial photography.

We limited our membership to southern Alberta, started to hold monthly programs and by early April 1980, had added 12 more members and applied for full chapter status. The new members were Judy Arnett, Anne Capune, Sheila Ward, Virginia Mackay, J. LaPoint, Bruce Irons, Lionel Munn, Alex Rankin, Les Rowland, Randy Scotland, Jennifer Spencer, and Tom Sigurdson.

We set out to establish a bank account (annual dues were $25.00US), hold monthly business meetings, invite speakers to talk about a variety of new areas (to us in 1980) such as the use of SI in Canadian documents and the new world of word processing. We also set up an employment referral service and of course started SuperScript. The newsletter was initially typed, then printed offset and photocopied at SAIT for distribution. It was exhilarating to know that we were now part of an organization of 5500 members and several of us made plans to travel to Minneapolis for our first convention on technical communications. We weren’t alone anymore.

Our first annual meeting disclosed $116.11 in operating funds and also the knowledge that ours was a transient occupation, as many of our charter members either moved on, changed occupations, or retired. However, our hopes for a vibrant chapter remained and although there were some low spots during the turbulent eighties, the Calgary chapter (now Alberta) continued to make significant contributions to the field of technical communication in Alberta.

As far as I can tell, of those initial 18 pioneers in 1980, only one has continued with the chapter for the entire 20 years. As I noted earlier, change was the steady constant with our chapter. Fortunately, new members kept appearing and we carried on. We have seen great changes occur in our chosen field during these 20 years, and I anticipate that the next 20 years will continue to demonstrate further advances along with the continued growth of the Alberta chapter.

STC Alberta Recognizes Student Achievement

“It’s very important that STC Alberta continues to support the technical communication students in Calgary and Edmonton because they are the future of our profession,” said Wilson.

She added that “by supporting the students and celebrating their achievements, we help to provide them with the tools, knowledge and guidance they need to be successful in their chosen career.”

Technical writing instructor and STC Alberta MacEwan Liaison, Annette Wierstra, then proceeded to hand out awards to the following students:

1. Janelle Beblow, a recent 2 year diploma graduate, received a $500 scholarship. She said she’ll put the scholarship money towards attending STC Alberta’s New Heights conference in Calgary in early June. She was described by Wierstra as “very dedicated and deserving of this award.”

2. Lindsey Emes a 3rd. year student was awarded a one-year student STC membership. “Lindsey is really hard working,” said Wierstra.

3. Martin Bijeau, a 3rd. year student was awarded a one-year student STC membership. Bijeau was described by Wierstra as possessing “a good blending of practical and technical skills.”

After the awards were presented, the evening shifted to a panel discussion of what it’s like to work as a technical communicator in Edmonton. The panel was comprised of Deanne Wilson, Help Development Team Lead at GE Intelligent Platforms, Laurie Rae (STC Alberta Edmonton Events Manager) and Serena Beck, technical writer with Haemonetics Software Solutions Division.

Wilson gave an overview of her role at GE and spoke about her use of DITA, an XML based standard, which allows “writers to focus on writing.”

Beck spoke fondly of her association with the STC, citing the salary survey as a benefit she uses.

“It’s helpful to have an organization to back you,” she said.

Rae spoke about her diverse experiences in the technical writing profession, ranging from contracting, to the use of XML and the challenges of collaborating with other authors.

Congratulations to the students and thanks to the panelists, presenters and everyone who attended.

For more information on Professional Writing at Grant MacEwan University, go to www.macewan.ca/web/pvca/boacpw/home/index.cfm.

STC Summit Report: Certification for Technical Communicators

Some of the next steps will be to form the certification committee (Steve Jong will chair it), define the business case (e.g., price, schedule), obtain underwriting, develop evaluation criteria, and recruit evaluators. Steve mentioned that he hopes everything will be in place by January 2011.

Points from the Task Force were that certification needs to be consistent with STC principles, and that the program would certify knowledge that cannot be assessed by employers. (Employers can assess things such as work history and education.)
The six broad categories on which to certify will be user analysis, document design, project management, authoring, delivery, and quality analysis.

The process will be:

1. A person will submit the certification package – fee, CV, statement from client or boss (depending on whether employee or contractor), a signed Code of Ethics, portfolio and work artifacts, and accounts (stories) of projects.
2. The package will be screened by the STC office.
3. The portfolio will be examined by three “judges” (the term is not decided yet).
4. The person’s certification application is accepted or rejected.

An alternative path for a person who has, e.g., “never designed a style guide because my company has one”, will be to write an essay about how to do the task. The person might want to assess the company’s style guide, pointing out that X is better than Y in the company’s style guide.Certification will be an on-going process. The initial certification will be for three years, and then the candidate can apply for a renewable certificate every three years. Certification will be maintained by such things as continuing education, being active in the field of technical communication, learning new skills, and providing user evaluations.
Some future possibilities are to have a test-based recertification assessment (every three years), sub-certifications in specialties, perhaps every four years; and certification internationally, perhaps in other languages.

Some questions from the audience, and their answers:

• Will there be grandfathering? – No, no one will be certified automatically.
• What will the cost be? – To be decided, but in the range of $US 450 to 650. The recertification fee will be less than the initial cost.
• Will this be for members only? – No.
• Will members get a discount then? – Yes, amount to be decided.
• How are we going to get the original reviewers? – STC has been running technical communication competitions for years, so we do have experienced people. Everyone needs to apply to be a reviewer, but we have a large base of experienced judges from which to work. Each applicant’s material will go to three judges (who will receive an honorarium for doing the job), and each judge will look at three candidates.
• What is the process? – The judges will evaluate the material against established criteria, return it for clarification if necessary, and certify or reject the material.
• If I am rejected, what can I do? – You can reapply, with a fee and, if necessary, proof of course attendance and a new or expanded portfolio.
• Will this be for entry-level practitioners? – No, this is for experienced people.
• Will this be for the USA only? – No. For now though, it will only be in English. About 100,000 technical communicators in the world work in English.
• Will the STC cross-recognize other countries’ certification? – We will look into it; Switzerland and Germany might have similar programs.
• What if I don’t know an area? – If you cannot demonstrate an area, you can do case study, or take a course.
• Why not interview a candidate? – The method of three judges can work remotely and is much cheaper than having judges and applicants meet in Virginia (or wherever) every three years.

FINALLY, will this really make a difference? – Why not? It has for everyone else.

STC Summit Report: Motivating Without Authority (LEGO SERIOUS PLAY)
Presenter: Renee Shull, Integrated Play

Sandy Gough, STC Alberta Member

Picture this: 10 technical communicators sitting around a table playing with LEGO®. What’s going on? Are they researching LEGO® construction techniques for a daycare operator’s guide? No, they’re attending the Motivating without Authority (LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®) session at the 2010 STC Technical Communication Summit.
The session was presented by Renee Shull, a Certified LEGO® Serious Play partner and president of Integrated Play. Renee acted as the facilitator and guided us through the session while we did all the work. This wasn’t a traditional conference session; attendees sat at round tables in groups of 10. Each table had a leader, and each participant was given a page of questions and a small pack of LEGO® pieces.
One of my tablemates said, “my five-year-old son couldn’t believe it when I told him I was going to play with LEGO® today.” Not a routine day at the office, but maybe it should be. The idea behind LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® and Renee’s consulting practice is that play can be used to access creative thinking in a business setting.
The questions we were given explored the theme of “motivating without authority,” a situation most technical communicators are familiar with. Often we are given responsibility for completing a project, and need input and cooperation from our colleagues, but we don’t have the authority to compel them to give us what we need. So, we have to communicate, negotiate, nag, beg, and bargain—as required.
Renee’s questions inspired us to think through aspects of motivating without authority: How does it feel? What inspires you? What do you need from others? We had about 10 minutes to think about each question, construct a model, and explain it to each other. The table leader was tasked with keeping us on track and on time.
As we shared our models, I found it intriguing that even though we all used the same LEGO® pieces and answered the same question, each person came up with a very different response, and a unique model. Figuring out how to express my response using a three-dimensional model, rather than words, forced me to really think through the experiences and reactions evoked by the question. But, because the results were expressed in LEGO®, they couldn’t help but incorporate a sense of humour. This injected a sense of fun into the process and allowed us to gain insight into each other’s challenges in a fun, non-threatening way.
Visit Integrated Play online to learn more about LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® http://www.integratedplay.org/Home.html

STC SIGs: How Popular Are They?

Jessie Channey, STC Alberta President

STC's Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are composed of STC members with common experiences and interests who share their skills and knowledge with each other and with other STC members. Some of these interests are based on the type of work members do. In other cases, the interests pertain to the nature of members' employment situation.

Each SIG fosters an environment that:

• Offers its members a basic understanding of the special interest area and its effect on their role as technical communicators.
• Encourages member-to-member dialogue as well as dialogue with other professional organizations in order to broaden the range of members' technical knowledge.
• Offers its global members a platform from which to demonstrate and share information, especially with a view to educating novices.
• Keeps members abreast of new developments in the special interest area.

On February 13, 2010, STC Member Paul A Bernstein created a blog post that outlined the figures for SIG membership during 2009. The full blog post is here: http://stcideas.ning.com/forum/topics/sigs-and-chaptergeograpical. (Note: You must be registered with Ning to see this link. To connect with "STC Ideas" on Ning, click here: http://stcideas.ning.com/.

2009 Figures of SIG Membership count:

Academic 577
Consulting & Independent Contracting 1480
Information Design & Architecture 1788
Lone Writer 963
Online 956
Quality & Process Improvement 643
Single Sourcing 1114
Technical Editing 1958
Usability & User Experience 1587
AccessAbility 146
Canadian Issues 174
Emerging Technologies 1102
Environmental, Safety & Health 316
Europe 209
Illustrators & Visual Designers 433
Instructional Design & Learning 1442
International Technical Communication 748
Management 1043
Marketing Communication 762
Policies & Procedures 610
Scientific Communication 588

As you can see, SIGs are a popular method for connecting with others doing the same type of work. To learn more about SIGs, or to join one, visit http://www.stc.org/membership/sig-list.asp

Editing Tip of the Month

Zubeida Kudoos, STC Alberta Member

E-mails: To reference or not to reference?
Have you ever quoted from an email in one of your written works (or edited a work that does so), and wondered about the proper reference format?
APA and Chicago recommend not referencing it in your bibliography, but rather in your text as emails are considered a form of personal communication:
In an email from Paris Hilton she stated: “I love my dog.”
MLA advocates referencing it as an interview type:
Hilton, Paris. E-mail interview. 25 June 2010.
Interestingly, Editing Canadian English, 2nd Edition identifies a reference format to use for emails:
Author
Subject line of message
Descriptive identifier
Name of recipient (if appropriate)
Date sent
Access date*
Email address of sender (if appropriate)
Etcetera*

*Not essential

So, keep these in mind next time you run across a quote from an email

Putting the User in User Assistance

Anne Gentle via WritersUA

Introduction
People on today's social web are accustomed to participating in conversations, having a voice, giving opinions, offering reviews, and generally interacting with content and with each other like never before on the web. How can we enable users to respond to or contribute to user assistance? The answer could be a wiki, but a wiki is not required to enable more interaction with users. Here are some specific techniques, starting with the simple and moving towards the more complex, including wiki implementation practices.

Embedding Comments
While the simplest techniques have low barriers to entry, they also have low commitment levels from users. Comments in social media are powerful conversation feedback loops. Your business goals may differ in the level of engagement you expect to need with customers. While blogs offer comments naturally, your help site may not contain a comment system. To enable customers to give feedback, you can offer comments on each help topic. Comment forms give users the opportunity to respond to the topic in addition to striking up conversations with each other. Some commenting systems are as full-featured as a forum.

If you want to encourage conversations on your HTML-based help site, you can embed a comment form at the bottom of help articles using a product like JS-Kit ECHO, which has a low entry-level price of $12 annually. In addition to online identity and comments, JS-Kit ECHO also offers methods for people to share the content on different platforms. With Echo Pro, you can even support an existing login, such as for your customer support site. Once you register a domain name to use JS-Kit, you'll get Javascript code that you embed on topics where you want to enable comments. Here is an example:

<div class="js-kit-comments" permalink=""></div><script src="http://js-kit.com/for/www.domain.com/comments.js"></script>

Figure 1: JS-Kit ECHO comment form

A nice feature of this example is the ability for commenters to identify themselves with different accounts. Online identity matters to people who comment, to your company, and to you as a help writer. By offering an online identifier, you will encourage good behavior online. Anonymous commenting systems do not offer as useful feedback, and are prone to spam. This system also avoids the "Yet Another Login" syndrome that might deter people from registering to comment.

A similar comment form offering comes from Disqus, and there is no charge to use the service. Even bloggers as well-read as Robert Scoble are substituting their "out-of-the-box" comment systems with Disqus for its additional identity, threaded conversations, and moderation features. Once you register for a Disqus account, you can enter the help site address that you want to have embedded comments. Drop in the customized "embed code" anywhere on your help page and configure some settings.

Figure 2: Disqus comment form (no styling)

You can use CSS styles to make the form adhere to your site's look and feel standards. Disqus and other commenting systems offer threaded discussion, which helps users follow back-and-forth discussions about the content.

Some traditional user assistance tool providers such as MadCap Flare offer a ratings system and comment capability called a feedback form on each topic. You install additional server-side applications to collect the data yourself.

Disqus and JS-Kit store the comments for you, but JS-Kit offers a way to host your own comments if you are concerned with security. For all of these implementations, the site must be available on the Internet.

Benefits:

• Conversation goes back and forth for all to see, and users can get to know you and each other through comment threads.
• Ratings help you make strategic decisions about content - what needs improvement, what is doing well without further revision.
• Comments can offer readers more in-depth explanation.

Cautions:

• Comments are only useful to those who speak the language a comment is written and displayed in.
• Comment threads can be long, so long that the critical nugget of information can get buried in a thread.
• Negative comments must be addressed and handled with care.

For more from this article, find it online at http://www.writersua.com/articles/user/index.html

Handy hint: Acrobat: The Reader can do more than what you might think it can!

Paulette Mitchell Henning
Originally published in NE Ohio STC Chapter Newsletter

Adobe Reader is free, but has limited editing capabilities. With Adobe Reader, you can browse, print, and interact with PDFs. With Adobe Acrobat, on the other hand, you can create, enhance, and edit PDF files. But, is Adobe Reader as limited as you think it is?

If an author enables Adobe Reader capabilities from within Adobe Acrobat, then Adobe Reader becomes more than just a read-only file. To do this, from Adobe Acrobat, choose: Advanced>Enable Usage Rights in Adobe Reader.

A message displays that lists the capabilities that become available in Adobe Reader.

They include:

• save form data (for a PDF form that can be filled only)
• commenting and drawing mark-up tools
• sign an existing signature field
• digitally sign the document anywhere on the page (only supported in Adobe Reader 8)

The message also informs you that some capabilities, such as editing document content and inserting and deleting pages, become restricted in Adobe Acrobat for this file when you enable capabilities in Adobe Reader.

Click the Save Now button to enable Adobe Reader capabilities for this file. The Save As dialog box opens, which means you can save the enabled Adobe Reader file under a different name and also retain the original Adobe Acrobat file with the full editing capabilities intact.

So, when an author enables Adobe Reader capabilities in Adobe Acrobat, that file becomes more than just read-only for anyone who opens it in Adobe Reader. Authors of documents that are sent out for review should add this procedure to their process just in case there are reviewers who have access to only Adobe Reader.

Past Events

Minimalist Documentation

June 2, 2010 | Calgary, June 3, 2010 | Edmonton
In this evening program, Bernard Aschwanden of Publishing Smarter summarized ideas from a two-day course on Minimalist Documentation (and yes, Bernard is aware of the irony of a two-day course on minimalism). Geared towards people who need to reduce the volume and complexity of content, Bernard provided a top ten list to cut the time and effort needed to reduce the volume, and improve the quality of what you create.

New Heights 2010

All Associations Bar-B-Q

There were 150 people in attendance. Five dollars from each admission was collected allowing 'All Associations' to raise $750.00 for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. We must give special recognition and thanks to the Alberta ICT Council for their event sponsorship. Also, while there were 26 organizations involved, we would like to give specific thanks to those volunteers from the following associations that really rolled up their sleeves and made this event happen. They are: Calgary Marketing Club, Calgary Arts Development Authority, iPhone Dev Camp, STC Alberta, AMPIA, WiTEC, Banff New Media Institute, Creative Calgary, Society of Graphic Designers of Canada and Digital Alberta.

To grow from five participating associations last year to 26 this year is indeed impressive. We recognize the importance of working together in the best interest of our memberships. This event will continue on next year, to grow even more. It was suggested that each association have their own table or booth space (almost like a trade show--but fun!) so that they are clearly identifiable and the event will be even more beneficial to participants. While the dust has not quite yet settled, any profit realized from this event will be set aside to seed the 3rd Annual All Associations Bar-B-Q coming to you June 2011.

Thank you to everyone that participated!

Rene Smid, Executive Director, Digital Alberta

Membership Update

Raylene Hawrysh, Membership Manager

We have ten new members joining us this summer. Welcome everyone!

Carol Balogh - High River
Paulette Bouchard - Calgary
Diane Cook - Calgary
Nelson Milum - Calgary
Janet Richter - Calgary
Eric Duerksen - Calgary
Adriana Harper - Calgary
Diane Laverty - Edmonton
Sarah Lockwood - Calgary
Jean Raymond - Calgary

If you would like to recommend a friend or colleague to the benefits of STC, encourage them to review our website, particularly our profile under About STC Alberta. Better yet – pass along this edition of SuperScript for their reading pleasure, and invite them to join you at our next program night!

In Memorium

Quotes and Quips

SuperScript Editors

“…most technical communicators didn’t know about Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)”- Mark Fidelman at mindtouch.com

“Breathe. Know that the Internet has no eraser.”- Liz Strauss, at successful-blog.com

“The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.”- Edwin Schlossberg

Links Compilation

SuperScript Editors

The following is an assortment of information of broad interest. Please feel free to send more great finds to newsletter@stc-alberta.org.

STC

• Intercom is Now Fully Online
• New Webinars Announced
• Exec Direct: Blogging with Susan Burton
• Official Photos of the May STC Summit
• How Have You Used STC’s Salary Database?
• A Monumental Day Dawns for Technical Communicators: Certification!
  

Professional

• How much does social media matter for the oilsands industry?
• Avoiding Ambiguity: Understanding the Need for a Controlled Vocabulary
• Punctuation in Dates
• My First WordPress Newsletter
• Verbs: Where the Action Is
• 5 High-Paying, Low-Stress Jobs
• The Top 10 Best Technical Documentation Sites of 2010
• The Tech Comm Manifesto
• Technical Writing Tips You Learn from the World Cup

Fun

• Deep Leap
• Wordnik: Dorktacular
• Typos -- no big deal? Think again
• A True Interactive Connection
• List of magazines currently available on the iPad
• WordFest
  

Submitting to SuperScript

Advertise to Our Members

Jennifer Burgess, SuperScript Editor

Target your advertising to our entire membership base for reasonable rates. Contact newsletter@stc-alberta.org for more information.