visual language: global communication for the 21st century ... · more. don’t pigeonhole...

October 1999

Membership Contact s ....................................................... 2

Chapter Cha t ...................................................................... 2

October Meeting Previe w .................................................. 3

Publication Informatio n .................................................... 3

About ST C ......................................................................... 4

Jobline Informatio n ........................................................... 5

Membership New s ............................................................. 5

Education Repor t .............................................................. 7

Public Relations New s .................................................... 10

Editor's Corne r ................................................................ 11

The Unfair Advantag e ....................................................... 4

Book Revie w ..................................................................... 6

Just Ask Sand i ................................................................. 8

Creatin g Your Career Path ............................................... 9

Upcoming Regional Event s ........................................ 8-11

Current Event s ................................................................ 10

STC Indexing SI G........................................................... 11

Calenda r .......................................................................... 12

Columns Features

Visual Language: Global Communication for the 21st Century, Author Robert Horn

Orange County Chapter

As part of our OCSTC Holiday Package-Part 1 series, plan on attending our November chapter meeting to hear our very specialguest speaker, Robert Horn, on November 10, at the Doubletree Hotel. Why? Because Robert Horn, the originator of InformationMapping® will be with us to discuss his new book, Visual Language: Global Communication for the 21st Century.

An entirely new language is emerging around the globe, a language that tightly combines works and visual elements. It’sbeen creeping into our magazines, newspapers, textbooks, presentations and other technical and business communications.And now it has reached critical mass. Your kids have already learned much of it. It’s global. It’s nothing less that a newinternational auxiliary language, one that we will use in addition to our native languages especially to handle the complexcommunication about technology and organizations that we are all faced with today. It has developed a syntax and semantics

and is composed of vocabularies as diverse as diagramming and cartooning.

In the next decade it will be vital to communicators,educators, or managers to understand and use this newlanguage.So says Robert Horn, speaker, author, scholar and CEO, in his new book, VisualLanguage: Global Communication for the 21st Century. Horn’s presentation willbe based on the book, and will give us new insight into the problems and oppor-tunities to communicate through the Web, where visual language has becomewidely used and misused. Horn’s talk is farsighted, profound, funny, andopinionated. Horn’s speech literally presents a picture of what is ahead incommunication and education.

Meet Robert Horn and enter the free raffle to win an autographed copy of hislatest book. Visit our website at: stc.org/region8/occ/www.ocstc.htm for moreinformation. Tickets for members are $25 and for non-members $30. Reservationsare required. Walk-ins $50.00, space permitted. There is a $3 fee for parking at theDoubletree, so carpool if you can.

Mark your calendar now for the OCSTC Holiday Package-Part 2 with BonniGraham on December 14th. You’ll hear more about Bonni in next month’snewsletter!

2 TechniScribe October 1999

Chapter ContactsChapter Web site: http:www.stc.org/region8/occ/www/ocstc.htmChapter Hotline (949) 863-7666Chapter Fax (949) 830-7585OCSTCPO Box 28751Santa Ana, CA 92799-8751

Mark Bloom, President(949) 823-4221 (w)(949) 823-4444 (fax)[email protected] (w)

Elaine Randolph, Past President(949) 583-9402 (h)[email protected] (h)

Carolyn Romano, Facilities(714) 894-9221 (h)(714) 896-3311 x67034 (w)[email protected] (h)

Bob Courtney, 1st VP Programs(714) 823-4222 (w)(714) 531-9607 (h)[email protected] (w)

Dennis Hanrahan, 2nd VP Membership(562) 691-1239 (h)[email protected] (h)

Jill Eisenbach, TechniScribe Editor(949) 417-6723 (w)(949) 645-5984 (h)[email protected] (h)[email protected] (w)

Kathey Hope, Secretary(714) 966-3913 (w)[email protected] (w)

Jeanette MacGillivray, Treasurer(714) 639-3512 (w)(714) 639-3547 (fax)[email protected] (w)

Bill Darnall, Education(714) 751-6007 (w)(714) 751-9115 (fax)[email protected] (w)

Jeff Randolph, Internet/Employment(949) 583-9402 (h)(949) 830-7585 (fax)[email protected] (w/h)[email protected] (w/h)

Pamela Coca, Public Relations(949) 495-5347 (w/h)(949) 495-5349 (fax)[email protected] (w/h)

Andrea Ames, Region 8 Director-Sponsor(650) 365-7520 (voice)[email protected] (w)

Chapter ChatBy Mark Bloom, OCSTC President

Do you limit yourself to what you can do professionally? Do you see yourselfas primarily an online help author, hardware writer, or FrameMaker expert? Ifyou do, you are limiting your options for the future.

Here’s a case in point. In my job as Documentation Manager for AmericaOnline, I’ve worked on such projects as creating online help files, writing usermanuals, you know, the usual software-related stuff. That was fine–writing isstill a challenging profession and I enjoy the work.

Just recently everything changed. My little team of writers became part of adevelopment group and no longer produces software tools. The group nowproduces integrated components that are assembled into larger units. Thedevelopment organization now devotes itself to digital imaging for AOL

products. My team will probably never write another450-page user manual. We might not even create an-other online help file. “What are we going to do?”That’s what I asked myself. That’s what I asked myboss.The answer was surprisingly simple. My team is now involved in the designprocess, working closely with developers, user interface experts, and graphicartists. We develop mockups and prototypes of developing products in HTML.We’ve become HTML and Java Scripting students, and eventually, we’ll be theexperts in our organization.

I am embracing this change, not only because to do otherwise would be thequickest way to the unemployment line, but also because the change representsa challenge and guarantees that I will learn new skills. I am eager to enter thenew paradigm.

I mention all this to show you how valuable it is for you to remain flexible inyour job, knowledgeable about your industry, and interested enough to learnmore. Don’t pigeonhole yourself. Don’t let your skills become obsolete. Learnsomething new.

My suggestion is to take advantage of our chapter’sexcellent Education program seminar series. I learnedHTML from one such seminar a few years ago. The seminars are inexpensiveand have received kudos from around the region. We started the trend ofchapter-sponsored seminars and workshops, and we have refined it over theyears. This year’s Education Committee has plans to put seminars online and/or CD. You should take advantage of these lessons, too, when they becomeavailable. Our chapter is providing you with the best way to keep up and breakthrough those limits you set for yourself. Sign up today. Do it for yourself.

Happy Halloween, from your Administrative Council.

October 1999 TechniScribe 3

PublicationInformation

The Orange CountyChapter of the Societypublishes the TechniScribe11 times a year. Articlespublished in this newslet-ter may be reprinted inother STC publications ifcredit is properly givenand one copy of thereprint is sent to theTechniScribe editor. Rightsto articles appearing inTechniScribe revert to theauthor upon publication.Reprinting articles in non-STC publications is subjectto the author’s approval.

Send articles to:[email protected]

Use Word and save files inRTF format (Rich-TextFormat). This will allowme to read all versions ofWord. You can also sendan article in the body of anemail message.

Subscriptions are availablefor $10 per year tomembers of otherchapters.

The deadline for submis-sion is the 10th of the monthprior to publication. Theeditor reserves the right todeny and/or deny publica-tion of any material.Submissions will be editedfor clarity, length, andappropriateness.

Please include a 25-wordbiography about yourself.

Associate Editors:Linda McPhersonCarolyn RomanoAnne Stratford

Technical Advisor, andCirculation: Jeff Randolph

Monthly advertising rates:

1/4 page $40.001/3 page $45.001/2 page $60.00full page $80.00

Printing services providedby Brea Printing, Inc.(714) 529-7334

When:

Tuesday, October 19 from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.

Where:

Wyndham Garden Hotel3350 Avenue of the ArtsCosta Mesa, CA(714) 751-5100

Cost:

◆ Members with reservations, $20

◆ Students with reservations, $15

◆ Non-members with reservations, $22

◆ All walk-ins, $30

◆ Note: November walk-ins, $50

◆ No-shows billed $10

Reservations:

Reservations are due by 5:00 p.m. Friday,October 15. If you call later, you will be billedthe walk-in fee, so make your reservation early.

You can register by any of the following means:

◆ Register online atwww..stc.org/region8/occ/www/dinres.htm

◆ Send e-mail to Jeff Randolph [email protected].

◆ Call the OCSTC hotline at (949) 863-7666

◆ Call Carolyn Romano at (714) 894-9221. Leaveyour name, membership status, and phonenumber.

Directions

From the 405 Freeway: Exit at Bristol. Go north toAnton Boulevard and turn right. Turn left ontoAvenue of the Arts (the second signal). TheWyndham Garden Hotel is about one blockahead on the right. The parking structure is thehotel driveway, on the left. Parking is free.

From the 55 Freeway: Exit at MacArthur Boule-vard, turn left on Flower, then right on Sunflower.Turn left on Avenue of the Arts and proceed oneblock south. The hotel will be on your left.

Information Pollution: WhatAre We Doing to OurReaders?By Bob Courtney

CD-ROM. Web pages. Desktop publishing.The means of publishing information areexponentially increasing and technicalcommunicators are enamored of these newtechnologies. Why then does the amount ofinformation actually acted upon by itsintended audience seem to be exponentiallydecreasing? This presentation explores whyand suggests ways that information designand development professionals can controlthe information pollution index.

Saul Carliner, our speaker, is an internation-ally known information architect,consultant, author and speaker. His clientsinclude BellSouth, Georgia-Pacific, GuidantCorporation, IBM, Lakewood Conferences,Microsoft Corporation, SOLUTIONS, 3M,and UPS.

Saul is also an Assistant Professor in theinformation design programs at BentleyCollege in Waltham, Massachusetts. Otherinterests include museum exhibit design (thesubject of his Ph.D dissertation), and train-ing entry and intermediate-level volunteermanagers in community organizations.

He is an associate fellow and past interna-tional president of the Society for TechnicalCommunication, and the past president ofthe Atlanta chapter of the InternationalSociety for Performance Improvement.

For more information about Saul Carlinerand other presentations that he gives, see hisweb site at http://saulcarliner.home.att.net/speechlist.


The Unfair AdvantageBy Bill Darnall

About STC

The Society for TechnicalCommunication (STC) isthe world’s largestorganization for technicalcommunicators. STC’snearly 20,000 membersinclude writers, editors,illustrators, printers,publishers, photogra-phers, educators, andstudents.

Dues are $95 per year,plus a one-time enroll-ment fee. Membership isopen to anyone engagedin some phase of technicalcommunication, orinterested in the arts andsciences of technicalcommunication, or inallied arts and sciences.

STC headquarters contactinformation:

Society for TechnicalCommunication901 N. Stuart Street,Suite 904Arlington, VA22203-1854

Phone: (703) 522-4114Fax: (703) 522-2075e-mail: [email protected]://www.stc-va.org

Part 3: Legal Marks and SymbolsThis column is about technical grammar,punctuation, syntax, and style. It is intended fortechnical writers and editors. Knowledgeableprofessionals enjoy a significant advantage overtheir less-informed co-workers, customers, andclients. Well-informed writers and editors havewhat I call the unfair advantage. Part 3 of thisseries is a brief introduction to legal marks andsymbols.

Do you know the difference between a trademarkand a service mark? Do you know when to usethe symbols (® or ©)? In addition to style, thereare legal considerations. As a professional writer,you should be able to answer the following fourquestions:

◆ What is a trademark?

◆ What is a service mark?

◆ What is a registration symbol?

◆ What is a copyright symbol?

Trademarks (TM)

Trademarks are words, names, symbols, devices,or combinations of these. Trademarks are used, orare intended to be used, in commerce to identifyand distinguish the goods of one manufacturer orseller from goods manufactured or sold by others.In addition, they may indicate the source of thegoods. A trademark is used to brand a product ora supplier of products. Note that the trademarkyou use (or fail to use) in a technical documentmay be the subject of legal action—if it can beshown to have prior use, or if it is alreadyregistered by someone else. Examples: Microsoft®

OutlookTM, Joe’s ComputerTM.

Service Marks (SM)

Service marks are words, names, symbols,devices, or any combination of these. Servicemarks are used, or intended to be used, incommerce to identify and distinguish the servicesof one provider from services provided by others.They may also be used to indicate the source ofthe services. A service mark is used to brand aservice or supplier of services. The use of (orfailure to use) service marks carries the samewarning as trademarks. Examples: AT&T®

TouchTone SM, Joe’s Computer Service SM.

Registration Symbols (®)

Registration symbols include notice to thepublic of the registrant’s claim of ownershipof the mark, a legal presumption of owner-ship nationwide. The owner of a registeredmark has the exclusive right to use the markon or in connection with the goods orservices set forth in the registration.Examples: Xerox®, SPAM®.

The registration symbol may be used onlywhen the trade mark or service mark isactually registered (not just applied for) inthe U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Copyright Symbols (©)Copyright symbols are used as a form ofprotection for authors of original works.Original works of authorship includeliterary, dramatic, musical, artistic, andcertain other intellectual works, both pub-lished and unpublished. The author’sexclusive rights include: reproduction of thecopyrighted work; preparation of derivativeworks; distribution of copies or phonorecordsof the copyrighted work; the right to performthe copyrighted work publicly; or, to displaythe copyrighted work publicly. Example:“The Unfair Advantage, Part 3” © 1999 bythe Society for Technical Communication.Note, authors normally assign the copyrightto non-profit publishers, in exchange forhaving their articles published.

Copyrights protect the form of expressionrather than the subject matter of the writing.For example, a description of an imaginarycomputer could be copyrighted. However,this would only prevent others from copyingthe description; it would not prevent othersfrom writing a description of their own, orfrom actually building and using the com-puter. Copyrights are registered by theCopyright Office of the Library of Congress.

ConclusionAfter reading this article, you should be ableto answer the original four questions. Look ata good software book and see how thepublisher handled the matter of trademarks.For your own use, consult a style guide foradditional details and for the placement ofmarks and symbols. Use the symbols (® or ©)only when you know they are legally justi-fied.


Society LevelJob Listings

The Society maintains joblistings on the Internet.You can download theselistings from the Society’sWeb site at www.stc-va.org.

Orange CountyJob Listings

Looking for a job?

Our job listing is entirelyonline at the OCSTC Website and is updated weekly.Look for the latestpostings every Thursday.For convenience, book-mark www.stc.org/region8/occ/www/employme.htm.

If you have an inquiry or ajob to post, send an e-mailmessage to Jeff Randolphat [email protected]

A limited number ofprinted copies of theJobline are available atmonthly chapter meet-ings.

Membership NewsBy Dennis Hanrahan

We had a nice jump in membership thismonth…we’re now at 426 members, whichis 15 more than I reported just a month ago.At this pace, the 500-member mark is withinreach this STC year. Are you up to thechallenge? Yes, achieving this goal dependson you. Tell your colleagues about thebenefits to be gained from STC membershipand bring them to a chapter meeting withyou. Once they see what we have to offerand how much it can benefit their careers, they’ll want to join, and then everybody wins.

Meanwhile, send them to our Web site where they can find the latest TechniScribe issues and ourbrand new chapter brochure. They can even download an application form, fill it out, and mail orfax it directly to the Society office. By the way, at the Society level, membership is now up to21,733.

This column isn’t just for new members, either. We want to hearfrom “old” members, too! E-mail me and tell me about that nicepromotion or new job. I want to share your excitement with thewhole chapter! And new members, when you complete your “profile” questionnaire, besure to tell me about your interests away from work. We don’t always have room for everything,but when we do, it makes for interesting reading!

Here are this month’s profiles:

Micky Tang joined us in April. He is very excited to be an STC member and is looking forward toall the benefits that come with it. He is currently employed at Raytheon Systems Company inLong Beach. The division he works for performs contract work for Boeing Aircraft and is anoffload company assisting Boeing with the preconversion of their old legacy system to the newProduct Data Management (PDM) system. He has been there approximately two years.

Micky’s previous employer was Continental Data Graphics (CDG) in Culver City. He worked as aparts lister for 10 years at CDG and was responsible for creating or revising the parts list sectionof an Illustrated Parts Catalog (IPC).

Micky says that what he likes most about technical writing nowadays is the job security. It giveshim great peace of mind that, as a tech writer, he can obtain employment almost anywhere. Hejoined STC for the networking opportunities and the training seminars that are available. He wasencouraged to join by one of our members, Hill Reus, a former co-worker and a classmate in thetechnical writing certificate program at Cal State Fullerton. Born in Los Angeles, he spends hisspare time investing in the stock market and rock climbing.

Tony DiSchino also joined us in April. He has been a technical writer at HNC Software Insur-ance Solutions in Irvine for over a year. His primary duties are to write and develop onlinedocumentation. He is also taking technical writing classes through Cal State Fullerton.

Tony was previously a copywriter, graphic layout artist, and designer. He wrote advertising,public relations, and marketing copy, and brochures and sales sheets.

Tony loves working with online help. He earned his B.A. in English from CSUF in 1998 andstarted a minor in computer science. When he was looking for his current job, several recruiterssuggested joining STC as a networking resource. His current manager also encouraged him tojoin. Born in Orange County, CA, Tony enjoys movie-going, cooking and using his home com-puter.


Book Review: Poor Richard’s Internet Marketing PromotionsBy Elaine Randolph

If you build it, they will come. Or will they? Giventhe constant expansion of the Internet, how can youpromote your Web site in such a way that you willreach your target audience? Peter Kent, author of thebest-selling Poor Richard’s Web Site, and TaraCalishain, Internet research expert, have combinedforces to tell you all that you need to know to pro-mote your site in the most efficient manner withoutspending any unnecessary dollars.

Kent and Calishain have organized the book in a very linear manner. First, they advise you tothink carefully about what you are promoting and who you are targeting (as well as how to findyour targets). Then they explain how to register your site with many search engines, includingmany valuable tips on preparing your pages to maximize hits. You will learn which engines lookfor META tags, which look for key words in titles, and which scan the content of your pages forkey words. Kent and Calishain also warn you what can happen if you try to “stack the deck” byoveruse of keywords and META tag abuse.

The rest of the book discusses the many ways that you can use the Internet as a low-cost means ofpromoting your site. The methods presented here are based on their own experience, not theory.The authors plainly state that such promotion takes time and effort, but that by using their advice,you can get results. Peter Kent used many of these ideas for promoting his self-published PoorRichard’s Web Site and was able to achieve record sales.

If you have a Web site that markets a product or a service, you needthis book. If you are just planning to set up a site to promote aproduct or service, you need this book even more.Kent and Calishain are down-to-earth authors who speak from experience but never patronize.They provide you with details about many sites, e-mail lists, and products that will help you withyour promotional efforts. Ken also provides a value-added service to readers by maintaining aWeb site that contains up-to-date links for the resources listed in this book, because as we allknow, URLs can change.

Poor Richard’s Internet Marketing Promotions is efficiently organized and laid out in a manner thatmaximizes scanning for information. It also contains a comprehensive index. You will find it to bea worthwhile addition to your collection of Internet books.

A Poem ofPonderingsBy Vince Francis

If your online helpproject is in progress,

Not complete - just areally big mess,

Does that make yourcurrent situation

In a manner of speak-ing, “helpless”?

If you have yourmanuals at the printer,

Getting printed andbound, in kind,

And the project getsdelayed,

Doesn’t that put YOU ina “bind”?

What of that really bigproject,

That for 6 months hasmade you feel aged?

When it’s finally doneand hard copy printed,

Doesn’t that mean thatyou have been“paged”?

What if our computersall broke,

And we had to usepencils to write?

Yes, we’d scream, andyes, we’d shout.

But does that meanwe’d get the “lead” out?

Poor Richard’s Internet Marketing and PromotionsAuthors: Peter Kent and Tara CalishainPublisher: Top Floor Publishing, 1999ISBN: 0-96610327-0; Price, $29.95Order online: http://PoorRichard.com/promo/Phone orders: (800) 247-6553Distributed in bookstores by Ingram and IPG


A DOCUMENTATION FACILITY & E MPLOYMENT SERVICE

exclusively FOR DOCUMENTATION SPECIALISTS

Technical Standards Inc.YOUR COMPLETE SOURCE FOR DOCUMENTATION SOLUTIONS

available jobs listed at:

www.tecstandards.com(800) 889-7116

- Temps, Perm, Contract, 1099s- On-Site, Off-Site- Adobe Software Sales- Training

OCSTC 1999 Seminar/Workshop:

October 2, Saturday, Adobe Acrobat 4.0

October 9, Saturday, HTML + FrontPage

October 16, Saturday, Intro to FrameMaker

Register online at http://www.stc.org/region8/occ/www/trsched.htm.

Charlene Dewbre is thegroup leader for thenewly formed TemeculaValley Macromedia UsersGroup.

Macromedia products arefrequently used in theproduction of computer-based instruction, i.e.Authorware,Dreamweaver, etc.

TVMMUG meetings takeplace on the secondTuesday evening of theeach month.

Contact Charlene [email protected]

NEW USERSGROUP

Education CommitteeReportBy Bill Darnall

Current Activities: Since the previous issue,there have been three well-attended classes.Jack Molisani presented his Career Makeoverseminar. Mary Ann Stacy presented AdobeAcrobat 4.0 and Introduction to FrameMaker.These classes are illustrative of an estab-lished process that is not broken andtherefore does not need to be fixed. Ingeneral, the only problem with our educationprogram is its popularity. The popularity isnot really a problem, it’s a challengingopportunity.

Anne Stratford, outgoing Education Chair,turned over her records on September 3. PatSilver will begin managing Education’sfinance and administration functions overthe next few weeks. We were able to get ourfirst class organized and presented onSeptember 11. Please bear with us as wework out the administrative and logisticbugs— which seem to be inevitable with newadministrations.

This was written in early September. TheSeptember 18th Intermediate FrameMakerclass has been full for weeks. There is awaiting list for the next BeginningFrameMaker class. The popularity of theseclasses illustrates the challenge we face.Thank goodness for Sony Trans Com. Sony’sfacilities make it possible to offer high-quality low-priced training sessions for ourmembers.

Future Activities: Your Education Commit-tee is working to meet the challenge ofover-subscribed classes. We plan to developintroductory and intermediate skill-basedtraining by using online and Web-basedmethods. Planning, content, and productionresources are being acquired. Several highlyqualified members have volunteered toassist. But just like you, all of Education’svolunteers have lots to juggle. Hopefully, weall have gainful employment. We all havepersonal lives. In addition, volunteers haveto find time to schedule the production ofonline training in the midst of live trainingclasses.

Reality: Live instructor-led classes will beoffered for the foreseeable future.

Other Training InformationThe new training schedule has arrived!

Technical Standards, Inc. provides affordable,career enhancement training. This quarter we areoffering classes in RoboClassic, RoboHTML, andFrameMaker 5.5.6.

For more information on dates and times, pleasetake a look at our website: www.tecstandards.com

Space is limited, so give us a call at1-800-889-7116 to reserve your seat today!

Technical Standards Inc is for DocumentationSpecialists. Visit the company's website at:http://www.tecstandards.com


Just Ask Sandi...About Employment MattersBy Sandi Giles

This column is dedicated to answering employment-related questions. If you have a question orconcern that you would like to clear up, you’ll find the “hows” and “whats" for submitting thembelow. Because I didn’t receive any questions for this month’s article, I would like to pass on toyou information I read recently in the OC Register, in the (It’s Your Business Section), regardingovertime.

New Overtime Law: The overtime law is changing in January 2000 to require employers to payovertime of time-and-a-half for work that exceeds eight hours in a single day. That will affectthose of us who are not considered exempt. The short version of whether you hold an exempt jobstatus in the field of technical communication depends on whether or not you are described assuch by the IRS. In one of my IRS booklets regarding employment, a person whose work isconsidered creative is exempt. In the technical documentation arena, our writing is typically notconsidered creative but the tools we use do lend creativity to it. Also, because our work is intellec-tual in nature, we fall into a gray area.

I realize this information may raise more questions than it may answer. Please keep in mind thatmy intent here is to make you aware that the law is changing. I could write a book on this subjectbut, for obvious reasons, I’ll abstain. I do, however, strongly recommend that you conduct re-search on this subject if you feel you or your employees are going to be affected by the newlegislation. For information specific to your work situation, the IRS has a Web site (who doesn’t)with a plethora of information. You can also contact them directly if you’re not prone to onlineresearch.

Background Information: Fours years ago I established a full-service technical communicationfirm called The Write Connection (TWC), see the ad below. Although I don’t have umpteen yearsof experience as an employer, I have some employment expertise. If I receive a question I don’thave an answer for, I will seek outside advice (within reason). With that said, I know you’ll doyour best to challenge me!

Questions: If you have questions to submit for the November issue of the TechniScribe, please e-mail them as a Word file attachment to [email protected]. I look forward to hearingfrom you.

UpcomingRegional Events

"Plain Languagein Progress"Conference

Host: Plain LanguageConsultants Network

See page 9 (sidebar) forcontact information.

February 25-27, 2000Houston, Texas

Program:Brushing up on funda-mentals, Plain Languageas a marketing tool

Developing and market-ing your Plain Languagebusiness

New developments inPlain Language

Economics of PlainLanguage

Experiences in writing andrewriting regulations inPlain Language

Nova Scotia’s Five-YearPlan

Plain Language design inall mediums

Carol Ann Wilson, PLIPConference Chair8902 Sunnywood Dr.Houston, Texas77088-3729

(281) 600-6000 phone(713) 462-7519 fax


Creating Your Own CareerPathBy Bill DuBay

In reviewing the literature on technicalcommunications, not much space is devotedto career tracking within organizations.There are lots of articles about how tomanage technical communicators, how toadvance your career by changing jobs orhow to become an independent contractor.There is, however, almost a completeabsence of articles on tracking your careerwithin an organization. It is easy to con-clude that, in most companies, technicalcommunication is a dead-end job, with fewopportunities for advancement.

Perhaps a good question toask when applying for yournext job would be: “What arethe opportunities for careeradvancement for technicalcommunicators in your com-pany?” If the interviewer seems to be at aloss for an answer, you might pose another

question, such as: “Isn’t it impor-tant to retain technicalcommunicators? The technicalknowledge and skills theyacquire are among yourcompany’s most valuableinvestments. Losing thosepersons means losing thatinvestment. It is always a veryexpensive loss.”As technical communicators exerciseleadership and take on new responsibilities,do you promote their authority to enhancetheir productivity and scope of influence?

"Do you know that technical communicatorsare valuable in other areas besides publica-tions, such as interface and product design,procedures compliance, product usability,knowledge management, business commu-nications, and information design?"

If you are not looking for a job and yourcompany does not have a career path fortechnical communicators, you might thinkabout creating your own.

Diane Beadle of Deloitte and Touche in Princeton,NJ gave a presentation at this year’s STC annualconference in Cincinnati, OH about creating anew position for herself. She said: “Documenta-tion must be acknowledged as an essential partof the product by upper management. This mayseem obvious, but in fact it is not always the case.When I started with this company in 1988, I washired as a senior technical writer, handling awide variety of projects, all print-based. In the sixyears I remained in that position, the fieldchanged gradually to include online help, andthen multimedia was introduced. As the depart-ment, my skills, and the corresponding number ofprojects grew along with the technology, I lobbiedfor, and eventually won, a promotion. Until thattime, my company had no career path spelled outfor documentation.”

Beadle later explained, “Because no one reallyunderstood what I did, they couldn’t imaginethat documentation could need a dedicatedmanager. All of my previous managers hadmanaged other groups or functions in addition todocumentation.”

Changing jobs to advance one’s career can bestressful and wasteful—especially if you cancreate new opportunities in your current com-pany. As the above example demonstrates, itmeans showing your company what technicalcommunication is all about and what valuetechnical communicators can bring to everysector of the business.

Bill DuBay is a technical writer at PhoenixTechnologies Ltd. in Irvine. Email:[email protected].

Registration can be madein US, Canadian, orEnglish currencies.Advance registration atreduced cost is availableuntil December 1. Seeinformation at http://plainlanguagenetwork.org/conferenceindex.html

Contact: Plain LanguageConsultants Networkthrough Cheryl Stephensat:P.O. Box 33813, Station DVancouver, B.C. V6J 4L6email: [email protected](604) 739-0443

Cheryl Stephens at:[email protected], The MarketingBrief

The Legal MarketingInstituteLaw Courts CenterVancouver

http://www.legalmarketing.com

150 - 840 Howe StreetVancouver, B.C. Canada,V6Z 2L21-604-739-0443 (phone)1-604-739-0522 (fax)


"Plain Languagein Progress

Conference",continued from page 8

New FrameMaker-SIG is here!!!Forwarded by Margaret Packman

Yes, it’s finally happening! The long-awaitednext meeting of the Orange County FrameMakerUsers Group!

When: Tuesday, November 23, 6:30 - 8:00 pmCost: free, refreshments will be servedFrequency: 4th Tuesday, every other monthLocation: Cisco SystemsUniversity Research Park at University ofCalifornia, Irvine121 Theory DriveIrvine, CA 92612

Contact: Marge Packman at email:[email protected] (email preferred)or (949) 823-1230 for meeting suggestions.

Marge wants you to know that there is nospeaker or topic for the November meetings yet.Does anyone want to volunteer?



Region 5 Conference“Hot Trends forCommunicators”

October 14-16, 1999Ahwatukee Grace InnPhoenix, AZ

Host: Phoenix Chapter

www.stc-phoenix.com

Contact: Amy ShoganPhone: (602) 494-8186E-mail:[email protected]

For additional informa-tion, you can view thePDF original on theOCSTC Web site athttp://www.stc.org/region8/occ/www/pdf/reg5conf.pdf

Region 7 Conference“Still Writing After AllThese Years: Redefiningthe Core Competencies ofTechnical Communica-tion”

October 14-16, 1999Bellevue, Washington

Host: Puget SoundChapter

www.stc-psc.org/region7/index.html

Contact: Teresa GoertzE-mail: [email protected]

Current Events: Plain Languagein Government WritingForwarded by Bill Dubay

Bill understands that theoriginal article was printedin the Salt Lake Tribune.Cheryl Stephens is in chargeof the Plain Languagenewslist. Bill highly recom-mends joining her newslist.It is not overly busy andoften lists great resources.

Plain Talk, Monday, June 7, 1999President Clinton’s directive last year for thefederal administration and its myriad agenciesand divisions to use plain language was toogood to be true. The purity of the presidentialintent notwithstanding, it has turned out to be amore arduous task than getting the InternalRevenue Service to be taxpayer-friendly.

Last year, Clinton issued a memorandum, “PlainLanguage in Government Writing,” calling on thebureaucracy under his sway to swear off argotand legalistic phraseology—indeed, the linguafranca of modern government—and use simple,direct wording in all documents to explain howto get benefits and services or how to comply

with rules. The idea is that plainly-written rights, duties and benefitsthat regular folk can understandare beneficial because they in-crease compliance, strengthenenforcement and reduce mistakes,inquiries and suspicion of govern-ment.This was to become effective Oct. 1 of last year.Needless to say, it did not and still has not.Annette Cheek, who heads the Clintonadministration’s clarity drive, admitted thelinguistic reforms constitute an uphill task.Although some agencies are making strides, sheadmitted many find the old ways congenial.Agencies like the Pentagon, the IRS and JusticeDepartment all tend to cling to the legalisticjargon they are familiar with.

Cynics will argue that there was never anyserious risk that government would adopt thespirit of the presidential memorandum. After all,the president who issued it did not exactlyemploy the clear language the memorandumcalled for when he was giving a deposition in theMonica Lewinsky affair.

PR – OCSTC StyleBy Susan Hennessy

Do you sometimes wonder what’s REALLYhappening at OCSTC—what’s going onbehind the scenes? Do you want to knowmore about your chapter, its people and itsprograms?

OCSTC has just what you need, an expand-ing Public Relations committee with a newChairperson, Pamela Coca, to let you and thepublic know more about your chapter!

Our PR committee (Pamela, Susan Hennessyand Maggie Rowe) will bring you and thepublic special promotions.

Look for your "OCSTC Holiday Package"postcard coming in the mail as a reminder forupcoming meetings. Use it to invite co-workers, and friends in the technical writingfield to attend our meetings.

Pick up an OCSTC Bookmark at the nextmeeting. This is a new creation by Pamela toremind you of meeting dates and all thebenefits of participating in OCSTC.

Special Projects: Volunteer to serve on a newPR Special Projects subcommittee.

The board has approved the formation of asubcommittee to bring in sponsors to assistour nonprofit organization. We often haveneeds that aren’t covered in our limitedbudget, and donations can fill those needs.

Help us to arrange for a donation of an LCDprojector for our chapter•. If you know of aresource for equipment and/or want tovolunteer for the PR Special Projects subcom-mittee, please contact Pamela Coca (see coversleeve under chapter contacts).

Get involved and get the answers to yourquestions about what is REALLY happeningat OCSTC. Call Pamela today. She welcomesyour support and ideas.

Despite the difficulties of carrying it out, thememorandum was and remains a worth-while goal. Queen Victoria was said to preferplain, straightforward talk from her minis-ters. The citizens of the United States deserveno less from their government.

Contact Cheryl Stephens at:[email protected]



Southern California Art,Online, and Publicationscompetitions.The competition entrysubmission deadline isOctober 15, 1999.

Contact Bonni Graham [email protected] call her at 619-291-0050.

Region 8 Conference“Driving Forces in TechnicalCommunication”

November 11-14, 1999Long Beach HiltonLong Beach, CA

Host: Los Angeles Chapter

http://www.stc.org/region8/conferences/www/index.html

Contact:Christine StevensPhone: (310) 216-0816Fax: (310) 216-0795E-mail: [email protected]

The preliminary programand registration informa-tion is online at http://www.stc.org/region8/conferences/www/R8_PrelimProgram.pdf

STC Indexing SIG at the 47thAnnual ConferenceBy Barbara E. Cohen, Public RelationsChair, STC Indexing SIG

As part of a session for the upcoming 47thAnnual Conference in Orlando, the STCIndexing SIG is examining how corporatestyle guides handle indexes. For this session,the panelists need to review as many in-house style guides as possible. This doesn’thave to be a formal document; the committeecan use any kind of style sheets or checklistsyour documentation team uses to improveconsistency (as long as it mentions theindex).

The final tabulation won’t mention anycompanies by name, but we will give yourcompany credit in the acknowledgmentswhen we write up the results of this re-search, and we can mask the company nameon any copies or leave it visible, as youprefer. (We will give credit where credit isdue, but there shouldn’t be any fear of“exposure” if you feel your style sheet stillneeds work. We guarantee the confidential-ity of all submissions.)

If you can help us, please contact BethHamilton at (205) 621-1628 [email protected]. We would likefour copies of each style sheet or checklist(one for each committee member), and wethank you for your help.

Results of this analysis (in the form of aproposed style guide for indexing technicaldocuments) will be published after theconference in an issue of “A to Z” (newslet-ter of the STC Indexing SIG). Participatingcompanies may request a complimentarycopy of this issue.

We hope to get a lot of style guides and drafta useful standard for STC members.

Editor’s CornerBy Jill Eisenbach

Our new administrative council plans areunderway for scheduled events for a dynamicnew season. Did you see that we now have aFrameMaker SIG starting up this fall?

Please send in your “Comments to the Editor”,regarding articles you would like to submit andarticles you would like to see. Your input andsuggestions are always appreciated. Remember,this is your newsletter!

Letters to the Editor...Congratulations on an excellent issue.

I particularly liked “The Unfair Advantage” byBill Darnall, and would like to add something toit.

I always use En-Dashes for minus signs, whichoccur very often in technical writing. There aretwo excellent reasons for this. First (though notthe most important) is the fact that the length ofthe horizontal stroke in a “plus” sign is aboutthe same length as an En Dash (not a hyphen).Secondly (most important) a word processor willbreak a line (if the end of the line is close by) at ahyphen, leaving one with the hyphen on oneline, the number on another. It is particularlyembarrassing when the negative sign is part ofan exponent, (this has happened to me), thatbecomes separated from the base number!

For those who wish to use the En-Dash, butdon’t wish to open the Insert menu, just press thehyphen on the number pad while holding downthe control key. (This is for Word; I’m not sureabout other systems.) Similarly, the Em-Spacecan be made by holding down both Control andAlt keys and pressing the hyphen key of thenumber pad.

Jay Goldberg, Associate Fellow, OCSTC


OCSTC Mailing Address

P.O. Box 28751Santa Ana, CA 92799-8751(949) 863-7666 (recorded info)

Address Service Requested

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Calendar of Events

October 2 Adobe Acrobat 4.0October 6 Administrative Council meeting at AOL 7pm.October 9 HTML + FrontPageOctober 16 Introduction to FrameMakerOctober 19 OCSTC Chapter meeting, 6:30 p.m.

November 3 Administrative Council meeting at AOL 7pm.November 10 Special "OCSTC Holiday Package, with Robert Horn", at the Doubletree HotelNovember 23 FrameMaker SIG, contact Marge Packman (see page 9), Cisco Systems, 6:30pm

In the surrounding area...October 21 IESTC Chapter meeting, Canyon Crest Country Club in Riverside, 6:30RSVP at www.iestc.org/this_month.html or by phone at 909-886-0715

REGIONAL CONFERENCESRegion 5 October 14-16 Phoenix, AZRegion 7 October 14-16 Bellevue, WARegion 8 November 11-14 Long Beach, CA

visual language: global communication for the 21st century ... · more. don’t pigeonhole...

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