Aiessa Moyna, candidate for STC Treasurer, offers the following information about her candidacy:

STC 2009 Election
Statement from Aiessa Moyna, Candidate for STC Treasurer

When I was asked to consider running for STC treasurer several months ago, the outlook for our global economy was uncertain. Today, it seems downright bleak. Then, layoffs were rare and shocking. Today, they seem to be commonplace. Then, the stock market was down. Today, the market is at the lowest point in a decade. Then, employers might pay annual STC dues as a professional development expense. Today, some members have had to choose between paying their own dues and paying a utility or grocery bill.

The environment around us has changed, and the next two years will be a challenging time to serve as treasurer of a nonprofit professional association. Still, my commitment and my reasons for running have not changed.

I want to serve STC as treasurer to help ensure the continuing success of the Society, which has contributed so much to my professional and personal development. I want to give back, and I want to help ensure that others who follow me will be able to benefit from STC in the same way.

I joined STC as a college freshman 25 years ago. (Go ahead; do the math. I’m running for treasurer, after all.) As a student member, STC offered me opportunities to grow as a technical communicator through exposure to educators and professional mentors, plus the chance to assume chapter leadership roles. As a new professional, STC offered me employment opportunities, ongoing education and volunteer roles in which to broaden my technical skills and gain leadership experience. As a seasoned communicator, STC today offers me a network of other professionals with whom to share experiences and lessons, as well as volunteer roles in which to sharpen my project management and leadership skills.

Serving as treasurer would give me a chance to return the favor, helping to ensure the ongoing financial viability of the Society. In this way, I hope to help ensure that STC continues to serve other technical communication students, professionals, educators and leaders for years to come.

My experience in STC and the field of technical communication has prepared me for this role. I’ve served STC in a variety of roles at the community, regional and Society level. As treasurer for two STC communities, I learned the Society’s required processes for budgeting, managing expenses and reporting within the rules for nonprofit tax-exempt organizations set by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. I also learned the importance of following these practices to ensure the financial security of the local community and avoid jeopardizing the tax-exempt status of the entire Society.

I currently work as a communications director at American Express Company, supporting the Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer. In this and previous roles, I’ve managed and tracked spending for projects with multiple work streams. I’ve also gained experience in public affairs, compliance and technology development for a financial services corporation, which has made me comfortable with providing fiscal transparency under scrutiny by business, industry and regulatory entities.

To learn more about me, my involvement with STC and my career as a technical communicator, read my biography on the STC Candidates’ page at http://www.stc.org/candidatesFAQ/. When you vote in the coming weeks, I hope you’ll consider me for treasurer.

JustSystems and The Gilbane Group have now consolidated all the ROI Blueprint for Structured Content resources for your convenience. Download any of the resources to help you better understand how structured content can be used across key organizational functions with highlights including:

• How a sales team at a high-tech manufacturing firm increased their revenues by producing standardized proposals in a systematic fashion
• How a documentation team at a software firm reduced their translation costs
• How you can improve the accuracy of your policies and procedures documents
• ...and more!

To learn more, take advantage of all the comprehensive resources that this initiative has produced:

• ROI Blueprint for Structured Content - Interactive guide on how different departments grow revenue, reduce cost, and mitigate risk
• On-Demand Webinar Series - Three webinars each based on one of the graduated maturity levels of the ROI Blueprint
• Narratives - Complimentary papers to the webinars that go more in depth with examples of how companies are using structured content
• Podcast - Extensive podcast that covers the importance of structured content in today’s economic climate

Visit http://na.justsystems.com/ROIblueprint to access the resources today!

STC Office Will Move in March
STC’s lease in Arlington, VA, has expired and in March 2009 the office will move to Fairfax, VA. STC’s rent costs will drop by almost two-thirds, saving more than $200,000 annually. The new office will be located nine miles from the current location, a 10–15 minute walk from the nearby Metro station. There will be minimal disruption to operations as the staff is planning to move over a weekend.

Still Shopping? Amazon.com Helps Fund STC
Reaching Amazon.com via the portal on the home page of STC’s website (http://www.stc.org) contributes to funding programs that have no direct revenue stream, such as committee work. STC receives a small percentage from every purchase made through the portal. Purchases can include almost any item available from Amazon.com.

One Login for Website and Journal
There is now seamless access to Technical Communication with your STC password. Until recently, members had to first log in on the STC site, and then again as they navigated to the Ingenta website where Technical Communication is archived. Members log in only once to access members-only areas of the STC website and the current or back issues of the journal.

New STC Logo = New Merchandise
Sweatshirts, T-shirts, coffee mugs, teddy bears, dog shirts, and other merchandise with the refreshed STC logo are now available on http://www.cafepress.com/stcmerchandise.

Renew Now—Membership Year Ends 31 December
2008 memberships expire at the end of the year. Renew now to avoid any interruption in 2009 membership benefits. The Member-Get-a-Member Challenge also ends 31 December.

Summit Registration Opens in January
Make plans to attend STC’s Technical Communication Summit 3–6 May in Atlanta, GA. Online registration opens in January. More than 110 sessions in seven areas of interest are detailed on the STC website. NEW THIS YEAR: STC will capture the content of more than 100 speaker presentations (audio and PowerPoint) and make them available online to attendees following the conference at no additional cost. Don’t miss out on subject matter that is important to you because of overlapping sessions, or simply refresh your memory of the sessions you did attend. Details will be announced on the STC website.

Intercom Seeks Ideas for New Columns
Intercom features columns written by recognized experts in all fields related to technical communication. Columns are intended to provide comprehensive coverage of the most important issues, concepts, definitions, trends, and techniques in the field. To this aim, Editor Liz Pohland is looking for member suggestions on new topics and potential columnists. Send your ideas to .

Deductibility of STC Dues
US Members: If you pay your dues by 31 December, you may claim a deduction for the tax return filed for the year in which they were paid. In other words, dues paid in 2008 may be deducted only on 2008 tax returns. Therefore, if you pay your 2009 dues on or before 31 December 2008, these dues can be deducted only on your 2008 return. Members with questions should contact their local IRS office or their tax advisor. The portion of 2009 dues not eligible as a charitable deduction is $45.

Warm Wishes for 2009
Executive Director Susan Burton and the STC staff send all STC members our best regards with fervent wishes that 2009 will be a healthy, peaceful, and prosperous year.

NOTE: All STC members must have paid their dues by 28 February 2009 to vote in the election.

For President: Cindy Currie will automatically succeed from first vice president.

For First Vice President: Mike Hughes will automatically succeed from second vice president.

Candidates on the slate for the 2009 STC election:

For Second Vice President:
Hillary Hart and WC Wiese

For Treasurer:
Brian Lindgren and Aiessa Moyna

For Director (two positions to be elected):
Joaquim Baptista, Karen Baranich, Lori Corbett, and Makarand Pandit

For Nominating Committee (two positions to be elected):
Suzanne Guess, Sandra Harner, and Garret Romaine

The 2009 Society election is scheduled to run from 10 March through 9 April 2009 at noon EST (-4 GMT). Please watch the STC Website for detailed information about the candidates and to access a Q&A area where you can ask questions of the candidates. The election Website will go live after the first of the year. 

It’s that time of year again—STC has officially issued the Call for Proposals for the 2009 Technical Communication Summit!

You may submit more than one proposal, but each must be submitted separately. Proposals may be submitted and updated online until 10:00 AM (GMT -5), Monday, 20 October 2008.

STC’s 2009 Technical Communication Summit will be held 3-6 May at the Hyatt Regency Downtown, Atlanta, Georgia. The pre-conference sessions will be held on 2-3 May 2009 and Leadership Day will be 3 May 2009.

Should you have questions about your proposal content or format, contact a Track Manager—their contact information can be found in the Call. For all other inquiries regarding the Call or the system in general, please contact Lloyd Tucker, Director of Education & Membership, STC.

For the most complete submission information, please visit the Summit Call for Proposals website: http://www.softconference.com/subs/stc/2009/.

Wednesday, 1 October
1:00 - 2:30 pm Eastern (GMT-5)
Members: $79 USD, Nonmembers: $149 USD

Printed Books and Online Help Using a Wiki
This is a case study of a successful migration from a FrameMaker-WebWorks based authoring and publishing system to a Wiki-based mechanism to produce printed books and context-sensitive help. It describes how 20,000+ pages of software documentation were moved while keeping to a quarterly update and release schedule. You will hear about how we figured out what to do, what we changed, how simple it is to implement, why we will not be going back to our old ways anytime soon, what your plans will need to include, and how you can avoid the pitfalls that came our way.

Presented by Rahul Mehrotra
Rahul Mehrotra has created manuals, online help, and multimedia tutorials for more than a dozen cross-platform software products—from graphics utilities to object-oriented databases and development environments in C and BASIC to simulation and engineering tools. His current focus is information architecture and search optimization of large documentation sites, and machine translation for multilingual authoring.

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Thursday, 23 October
1:00 - 2:30 pm Eastern (GMT-5)
Members: $79 USD, Nonmembers: $149 USD

Task Support Clusters: A Focused Architecture for Practical User Assistance
A task-support cluster is a group of help topics that meet the specific information needs of a user who is currently working within the user interface. It is designed to answer the most likely questions first and then let the user drill down to more detailed, elementary, or advanced information if needed. This presentation shows detailed architectural patterns aimed at meeting domain expertise needs of users (versus interaction-intensive procedures) within a DITA model and demonstrates how Task Modeler, an open source tool, can be used to quickly design task support clusters and convert them into DITA maps. The architectural principles, however, can be applied outside of a DITA context.

Presented by Michael Hughes
Michael Hughes has a PhD in Instructional Technology, a Masters in Technical and Professional Communication, is a Fellow with STC, and a Certified Performance Technologist through the International Society for Performance Improvement. His professional focus is supporting user experiences that accommodate the “user as learner.” Hughes works for IBM Internet Security Systems as a User Assistance Architect identifying tools, methods, and standards to integrate the content and delivery of user assistance, including documentation, help, e-learning, and training.

Meet the STC: Round-table Discussions

Like writing? Like the theatre? Like writing about the theatre? Want to try, even if you haven’t done either?

Smaller Indiana is looking for some writers (any experience level welcome) to write about their experience at the Indy Fringe Festival, an independent theatre festival going on at the end of the month (Friday, August 22 - Sunday, August 31).

We’re giving two free press passes to the first or second showing of any show, but there are only two passes per show, so this is a first come, first served sort of thing.

If you’re interested in one of the shows, contact amanda -at -starcrossonline -dot - com.

Remember, you don’t have to be writer or someone who likes theatre. We’re just looking for people to write about their experience, not critique the play.

After learning the results of the Knowledge-Based Governance Survey completed just prior to the May meeting, the STC Board of Directors voted unanimously to make the entire Salary Database available to members without charge.

The Salary Database is information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which collects data on 801 occupations and professions from 1.25 million business establishments in all fifty states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

In 2007, the Salary Database was offered to members in a free summary version that included a portion of the data available in the full version. Members could purchase the full version as a PDF for a nominal fee.

For 2008, the entire Salary Database will be available to members at no charge. The Board considers it to be a benefit of membership.

The Salary Database allows for more meaningful comparisons of salary information across geographic areas and industries due to the increased amount and granularity of the data. The BLS data for technical writers covers eighty-four industries, all 11 combined statistical areas, and 153 metropolitan areas. Previous STC salary surveys provided no comparison of salary information across industries.

The survey BLS uses to gather data is considered more reliable than STC’s earlier surveys of its members because the BLS data come from company Human Resources departments. The BLS survey also focuses on duties and job functions of employees, not on their titles, since titles can be misleading because they do not consistently reflect responsibilities. The data show how other employees with similar duties are compensated, and therefore provide a more effective basis for comparison. The BLS data also include information only on salaries and wages with both annual and hourly salary information provided. Data on benefits and other compensation, which might skew results, are not included.

“I really wish the survey could include data on technical communicators in other countries, but, with only one or two exceptions, their government agencies typically do not separate technical writers from other writers and poets, making a clear understanding of wages impossible,” explained STC President Mark Clifford, based in the United Kingdom. “The survey has valuable information for 86 percent of our members and someday we hope it will include all.”

A 2020 Vision of the Future
Cedarville University, Cedarville, OH
November 8, 2008
www.cedarville.edu/stc

For the first time in sixteen years, Cedarville University’s STC Student Chapter is proud to be hosting an STC One-Day Conference. Since the role of technical communication is rapidly increasing and changing, we will focus on the future of the profession. Our conference title, “A 2020 Vision of the Future,” portrays our desire to catch a glimpse of what technical communication will be like in the next decade.

Our keynote speaker will be Mark Clifford, STC President, and special guest speaker Dr. Carolyn Rude, chair of the English Department and Professor at Virginia Tech. We are looking for other speakers for our breakout sessions. We welcome proposals on all subjects, but we especially welcome those that focus on where the world of technical communication is heading. Some suggested topics include the following:

• Innovations in technical communication
• New and current programs
• Technical communicators and future technologies
• Repercussions of increasing technology
• Engineering’s role in technical communication
• The role of user-centered documentation in an online world
• Changing roles and expectations for technical communicators

All proposals will be reviewed, and we will inform you of our decision by September 30, 2008.

Please send your submissions via email to harners@cedarville.edu or submit them on our website www.cedarville.edu/stc. Word documents or PDFs are preferred. The deadline for all proposals is September 15, 2008. 

The Indiana chapter of the STC on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at the DocTrain Life conference. Ten chapter members were in attendance.

The meeting began with chapter business and the passing of the gavel to Amanda Cross, the new president of the chapter. New officers taking office tonight include:
Nathan Packer - Proceeding to Immediate Past President
Amanda Cross - Proceeding to President
Terry Farley - Elected to Vice President
Linda Sanning - Continuing as Secretary
Lori Lambert - Volunteered to take on the role of Treasurer during the meeting

Nathan Packer recognized the effort of the volunteers. In addition to the officers, he mentioned Virginia Spencer, who’s efforts kept our chapter programs going throughout the 2007-2008, and Jill Burton, who served our membership as the Membership chair.

After chapter business, Joe Gollner took the stage. His initially planned session, “Ensuring Information Quality: Leveraging Intelligent Automation” turned out to be more of a jumping-off point for Joe’s conversation with the chapter. He talked about using software to automate processes to reduce the load for writers and improve content quality.

The STC office is sending this message on behalf of Suzanna Laurent, manager of the Nominating Committee.

Hello STC Members!

This message is intended to serve as written confirmation of the results of the Society for Technical Communication elections that ended on April 14, 2008. In accordance with STC’s Bylaws, the results will become official when announced at the next annual business meeting in Philadelphia on Monday, June 2.

The eBallot election platform detected zero attempts of third party interference by rogue visitors. All online ballots were cast during the election period by eligible voters (only) using valid usernames and passwords. These votes were cast using Votenet Solution’s SAS70 certified system, eBallot. The certification and accompanying examination was done in accordance with the standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Votenet technical officials have verified the vote collection and data storage algorithms that are a part of the eBallot election platform and have determined that the results are accurate.

Out of the 1,134 votes cast, 57 were paper ballots. 12.67% of eligible members voted. A breakdown of the votes cast is listed below. The names of those elected are highlighted.

To fill the vacancies on the Board of Directors caused by the midterm resignations of STC directors Jeff Staples and Mike Murray, members elected five directors. The top three vote-getters among the director candidates will serve full three-year terms (from June 2008 through May 2011). Asterisks indicate those who will serve the remainders of Staples’s and Murray’s terms (until May 2009).

Second Vice President
Michael A. Hughes 54.51% - (586 votes)
Lawrence D. Kunz 45.49% - (489 votes)

Secretary
Sharon K. Garrity 38.87% - (412 votes)
Char James-Tanny 61.13% - (648 votes)

Director
Suzanne E. Guess 9.60% - (448 votes)
*Rob B. Hanna 12.78% - (596 votes)
*Hillary Hart 14.15% - (660 votes)
Judith M. Herr 14.38% - (671 votes)
Linda S. King 9.58% - (447 votes)
Rich Maggiani 14.41% - (672 votes)
Lisa R. Pappas 15.67% - (731 votes)
Garret H. Romaine 9.43% - (440 votes)

Nominating Committee
Dia H. Burroughs 16.15% - (310 votes)
Carolyn Kelley Klinger 28.33% - (544 votes)
Carolyn Luttrell 25.05% - (481 votes)
Thea Teich 30.47% - (585 votes)

The Content Wrangler Community is the new social network dedicated to people who value content as a business asset, worthy of being effectively managed. This is the place where technical communicators, medical and science writers, marketing pros, content management gurus, indexers, online community managers, document engineers, information architects, localization and translation pros, e-learning pros, taxonomists, bloggers, documentation and training managers, and content creators of all types hang out. It’s much more than a blog. It’s a place to join peers, to share, to collaborate, to contribute, to find information.

Join the community (it’s free!)

April 14, 2008
Alumni Center, Ball State University
Registration begin at 8; lunch at noon; networking reception 5-6:30
cost: $50 for professionals, with discounts for multiple attendees from the same organization; $10 for students

Save the date for this content rich conference. We want to encourage women in the multitude of technology careers to achieve success and enhance their performance by ensuring full utilization of current and future resources. The event will be a forum for discussion and development of a culture and environment in which women have opportunities to grow, add value and succeed within the world of technology through the many transitions and phases of life.

We will bring together a cross-section of people (men and women) who can benefit from - and add value to - an agenda for opportunity and growth. The agenda is packed full of speakers delivering key messages, discussion panels and development articles. You will not be sitting listening to speakers you will be involved in the day and gain concrete useful information to take back to your work and your life.

CONFERENCE BENEFITS
• Gain a greater understanding of women’s role in technology careers and the opportunities to grow;
• Become engaged and excited about the future roles and opportunities;
• Be inspired and motivated about reaching full potential with confidence;
• Have established stronger networks;
• Be energized to continue the WWiT movement

For more information and registration, visit Women Working in Technology Conference

Dear STC Colleague,

I’m a candidate for second vice president in this year’s STC election, which begins on March 12. I hope you’ll give me your vote.

The person you elect as second vice president will help guide STC through an exciting time. We’ll seek to define technical communication as a profession, in which people with specialized skills and knowledge provide bottom-line value to companies and customers, and not merely a commodity, for which services are often obtained by choosing the lowest-cost alternative.

As an STC member, you’ve already taken a stand in support of the profession. You understand that technical communicators add real value.

If you entrust me with your vote, I’ll work hard to shape STC into what it can and should be. STC can be the organization that takes the lead in defining our profession. STC can be the authoritative voice in technical communication. STC can be the place where people come together to build the profession while enhancing their own professional lives.

For more, I invite you to check out my campaign Web site: lk81924.googlepages.com/home

Human Factors International Inc. (HFI) offers four in-depth user interface training courses held in Columbus in March and April. This training addresses both essential and advanced
topics for designing today’s corporate Web sites and applications. If you are a manager or design professional responsible for any aspect of your company’s Web site or software applications, these courses are for you!

Through dynamic interchange with experts in the field, case studies, and group exercises, you will learn the latest skills and methodologies in user interface design and testing. This knowledge is the basis for becoming an HFI-Certified Usability Analyst.

“User-Centered Analysis and Conceptual Design” March 10-12, 2008—3-day course
User-centered analysis is the basis for designing effective Web and application interfaces. Learn the methods for analyzing user-centered requirements, and transitioning to design.

“Practical Usability Testing” March 13-14, 2008—2-day course
This course presents practical techniques to help move the design into compliance with users’ needs, mental models, and cognitive styles. Rich functionality is worth little if the user can’t access it.

“Science and Art of Effective Web and Application Design” April 21-23, 2008—3-day courses
Learn to create interfaces that make sense to users while providing an enjoyable experience. HFI’s user-centered design process allows you to create usable and useful Web sites and applications.

“Putting Research into Practice” April 24-25, 2008—2-day course
This course provides an engaging review of foundational and recent research with a distinct “How can I use this?” focus. Learn to effectively apply exploratory research to real-world applications.

You can register for all four sessions at a substantial discount.

For course brochures, fees, discounts, and online registration:
http://www.humanfactors.com/training/schedule.asp

Free white paper on certification for usability practitioners.
http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/documents/certification.pdf

Visit HumanFactors.com for more information.

Global Ideas & Global Information:
Creating Content for a Worldwide Audience

Sign up for a webinar with industry leaders Adobe and SDL
Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Do you sometimes find ensuring consistency of style, language and terminology in your documentation is difficult to achieve? Do you wonder about the best strategies for authoring, be it structured or non-structured?

Information being created by today’s technical documentation departments is inherently global information. Applying global authoring best practices however, is a challenge for many organizations.

Attend this webinar to learn about best practices and the integrated solutions from Adobe and SDL that facilitate authoring for a worldwide audience, including:

* Structured versus unstructured authoring, XML and DITA
* Automatically checking for linguistic and style issues from your corporate style guide
* Improving authoring consistency, quality and efficiency

REGISTER NOW for this rare opportunity to hear from market leaders, Adobe and SDL together in one webinar

This email is being sent on behalf of Suzanne Guess candidate for STC Director-at-Large.

Iowa rarely makes national headlines with the exception of every four years, when the first U.S. presidential caucuses are held. This year, despite stiff competition from the Orange Bowl, record numbers of Iowans turned out to make their voices heard. As a precinct caucus worker, I was energized by the conversations between my friends, neighbors, and colleagues about the issues important to them.

As a candidate for Director-at-Large, I was shocked to learn that less than 20% of our membership vote in the annual election. This means approximately 80% are not voting to help determine the direction and vision of this organization. STC faces a number of challenges:

* declining membership
* delivering value to our members
* identifying our Body of Knowledge
* distinguishing our profession to demonstrate our value in the workplace, and
* improving our business model

This year, use one of your member benefits: vote. Visit the STC Candidate Homepage. http://www.stc.org/candidatesFAQ/index.asp Read the candidate biographies. Ask questions. Let’s make it a record election turnout.

The Indiana UPA meeting for February 11 was postponed due to snow. The tentative reschedule date is February 25, so if you can’t get to the west side of Indy for the Indiana chapter STC meeting, maybe you can drop in on them. Final details on the rescheduled meeting haven’t been announced yet, so if you would like me to pass along the details when I get them.

The LavaCon conference on Advanced Technical Communication and Project Management and the DocTrainEAST conference on Advancing Your Career in Technical Communications will feature speakers from the leadership of the Indiana chapter of the STC.

Hear How Sterling Commerce’s Successful DITA Project to Tailor Content Improves Customer Experiences

Local Indiana STC member, Scott Abel, is appointed Executive Director of Content Management Professionals, and will oversee its expansion in new markets in the EU, Asia, and beyond.