ActiveVOICE
Chapter Scholarship Awarded to Nancy Weir
Each year our chapter sponsors a scholarship competition for students in the Technical and Professional Writing Program (TPW) at San Francisco State University. This year we awarded a $1,000 scholarship to Nancy Weir.
One of the judges commented that Nancy’s writing sample showed “how technical writers can contribute to an organization by providing instructions on how to use a general-purpose product for the specific needs of a company.” Another used a phrase we don’t often find associated with our writing: “elegant prose.”
I first met Nancy riding the N Judah from our jobs downtown just before she started the program at SF State. I’m glad the she is doing well in the program and that our chapter can provide support to writers like Nancy.
Chapter Elections
In May, we elected these officers for the year beginning July 1, 2004.
There were also changes in non-elected volunteers. Tim Bombosch took over as programs manager and Jeff Scattini as announcements manager in March. Arianna Dogil stepped down as newsletter editor with the April edition, and Marc Smircich has taken over that role with our new online ActiveVoice.
My thanks to our out-going officers, Reyn Johnson, Ben Johnson, and Joseph Fong, and to all the volunteers who worked so hard to make this a good year for the San Francisco chapter.
STC Continues Transformation Process
I had the opportunity to attend the Annual Conference in Baltimore, supported in part by chapter funds. The main buzz at the meeting concerned the Transformation. We heard more details about how the Society is changing to better serve the members, including plans for different levels of membership like “classic” and “e.” For a crash course in the transformation, you can read the two newsletters distributed at the Conference at www.stc.org/transformation.asp.
Annual Conference Hot, but Worth It
During the Conference this year, the temperature was in the high 80s outside, but pleasantly informative inside. Even if you didn’t make it, you can review many of the conference presentations at www.stc.org/51stConf/sesMaterials.asp.
I enjoyed attending several sessions on Usability and Information Design including “Guerilla Usability for Tech Writers: Lowering the Water Instead of Writing about the Bridge” by Steve Krug, author of the Web usability guide, Don’t Make Me Think. I learned that he doesn’t look like his illustration in the book! (View his cartoon self and real self on his web site, www.sensible.com, and judge for yourself.)
My favorite session was Ginny Redish’s “Applying Research to Practice: What's Relevant Today?” in which she provided research results that support some of the practices I follow on the job. Her article in the June issue of Intercom, “Writing for the Web: Letting Go of the Words,” covers many of these principles.
You can start planning now to attend next year’s conference on May 8-11 in Seattle. That’s much closer to home and quite a bit cooler! I hope to see you there.
Susan Becker is a technical communicator and online help developer. She has 16 years of experience working primarily as a contractor in software development for the financial services and human resources industries.
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