Newsletter of the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter
June/July 2006
| Newsletter of the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter June/July 2006 |
Editor's Note: Susan Becker, Patrick Lufkin, and Marc Smircich attended the STC's 53rd annual conference, which took place in Las Vegas from May 7-11. They have written articles describing their experiences for this edition of the ActiveVOICE. More articles about the conference are available at: www.stc-sf.org/newsletter/2006-jun/conference.html
The STC's 53rd annual conference was held on Sunday, May 7 through Thursday, May 11, in Las Vegas at Bally's Las Vegas Hotel and the Paris Las Vegas Hotel. About two thousand technical communicators from around the world attended. The article conveys some of my many experiences during those five eventful days.
I've heard a lot about single-sourcing and content management at STC chapter meetings. But I didn't realize what a big business it was until I got to the vendor show. It seemed like at least half the vendor booths were staffed by firms selling one or more of the following: single-sourcing, content management, and translation and localization services.
The three are tied together. Content management (often using XML to tag content) enables a company to have an orderly, structured way for creating and managing content. Single-sourcing enables reuse of the same content in various publications, such as a PDF manual, Help system, Web site, and training materials. Content management also makes translation projects easier to manage and less expensive.
I went to a variety of sessions at the conference. I was looking both for information that I could use at work, as well as hoping to learn about new things. Overall, I was quite pleased with the conference sessions. There were some time slots where I wanted to go to several of the couple dozen or so sessions offered, which is something I consider to be a sign of a good conference. As I expected, some sessions were better than others, but there were no real clinkers.
The following is a sampling of what I gained from the sessions that I attended.
In "Wikis: Quick, Free, and Ready-to-Use," Sissi Closs and Lisa Swallow revealed the magic behind wikis, such as Wikipedia. There are several ready-to-use kits for making wikis that require little technical expertise. Every technical writer has the skills needed to create a wiki -- the hard part (as with Web sites) is coming up with useful content and maintaining it. A company can build an in-house wiki to facilitate sharing of information, such as one allowing field workers to share their knowledge without having to constantly reinvent the wheel.
In "Challenges and Rewards of Lone Writing," I learned that I was not alone in my mixed feelings about working as a lone writer and got some tips on how to deal with being in that position. Al Hood echoed my sense of its advantages and disadvantages. A lone writer has more autonomy and visibility that one who is part of large staff, but that uniqueness also limits opportunities for advancement and professional development. There was a very lively discussion of how writers have responded to being asked to spend a lot of their time on clerical and administrative tasks. I gained a new insight: lone writers can exist in large companies if each department has its own writer who works in isolation. And I may even join the Lone Writer SIG.
In "Improving Product Documentation through Customer Contact Programs," I got a good reminder of how important it is to be in contact with customers. Fawn Damato and Sadie Lewis described the customer contact program at Cisco Systems. Customers fill in feedback forms, and a technical writer monitors the responses. There is also a site visit program where writers get to meet real live customers. This is a win-win situation. Writers are able to create documentation that meets the customers' needs, and customers are happier with the company's product.
In "Exploring and Implementing Embedded Help," Paul Meuller provided an overview of embedded help, which means that the user interface includes all the information users need and want (such as how TurboTax and TaxCut guide you through each step of preparing a tax return). Traditional help systems don't work, as people are reluctant to ask for help. In a usability study, Jared Spool found that 0 out of 10 people clicked a [Help] button, but 7 out of 10 people clicked a [Hint] button. Embedded help can take many forms and use different technologies. This approach requires that writers be involved in the design process and take ownership of the text in the user interface, which is something that developers are glad to relinquish in many cases.
In the information products review and index review, I brought samples of my work for review. It was very helpful to get first impressions from people who saw the work for the first time. I especially liked the index review, as I got some tips on how to improve my indexes that only a professional indexer could provide.
STC members can go to the STC Web site and download the handouts from many of the conference sessions.
A lot went on during the five days I was at the STC conference. As I reflect on the experience, several things stand out.
Was the conference worth it? Yes. I hope to take some lessons home and apply them. Even though there is no chance of doing the full-scale embedded help as described in Paul Meuller's session at my present job, I can apply those principles to the limited areas where I do have influence. Even though there is no formal customer contact program in my current job, I can be aware of the importance of customer contact, make the most of the limited opportunities that present themselves, and try to create additional ones. I hope that these lessons stick and that I keep doing what I can. As Voltaire reminds us in Candide, we do not live in the best of all possible worlds, but we can make the best of what is possible by cultivating our own gardens.
Perhaps more importantly, the conference provided a very strong reminder that XML, single-sourcing, and content management are things that I should learn more about now, instead of keeping them on my "maybe some day" list of things to explore. That's where the world is going. Dylan was right when he sang that the times, they are a'-chagin', and you'd better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone.
One of the most important reasons to go to the STC conference is that it's a lot of fun. After all, we humans are social creatures. There are many formal opportunities for socializing, such as receptions, dances, lunches, and banquets. There is also plenty of time for informal socializing between and after sessions.
I was able to renew old acquaintances and meet new people. During chance encounters, I saw people from other Northern California chapters whom I have worked with before, but have not talked to for a long time. I also got to meet people from all over the world. Sometimes I learned from them, and sometimes they from me. This year, I even skipped a session to hang out with someone I met at the conference and exchange ideas and experiences.
I left the conference with a very strong sense of just how monolingual Americans are. During the conference, I encountered people from all over the world who were able to communicate in clear, understandable English. Some were apologetic for their accent, but their English was a lot better than my Dutch, French, Italian, German, or Hindi. How many American technical writers could go to a conference conducted in French or German and fully participate?
This article has gone on long enough, but I can't resist ending with comments that have nothing to do with the conference itself. One prominent aspect of Las Vegas is the faux architecture in the themed casinos, such as Caesar's Palace, New York, Paris, the Venetian, Excalibur, and the Luxor. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.
The faux architecture in Las Vegas can be risible at time, such as a riverboat-themed casino south of Las Vegas along I-15. The casino and hotel are built in the shape of a very large riverboat, complete with a paddle wheel (no doubt a replica of the many riverboats that ferried passengers and freight through the deserts of southern Nevada in centuries past). At the entrance to the parking lot, a sign in old West style lettering informed me that there was a Burger King inside. As I approached the entrance to the casino, a Madonna song was blaring over the loudspeakers.
At times, faux architecture can create an enjoyable experience, such as the Paris and New York casinos. If the London Bridge can come to Arizona, why can't Paris and New York come to Nevada?
The Paris casino presents a very convincing Parisian street scene, complete with cobblestone streets, stone buildings, and signs in French. The presentation is quite dramatic. The entry to the casino is a narrow shop-lined street with a low ceiling. The passage leads to a large open area with the replica of the Eiffel Tower rising from the floor. This large space is the main casino, with the requisite banks of slot machines and tables for Roulette (with both 0 and 00), Blackjack, Craps, and various Poker games.
The New York casino has its restaurants in a street scene to the side of the main casino. I suppose it's a recreation of several blocks of Greenwich Village with two- or three-story brick buildings. If you can suspend disbelief, it is very much like walking through a city looking for a place to eat. It's a pleasant place to go out to dinner, and most of the restaurants are reasonably priced.
Copyright © 2006 by the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter (www.stc-sf.org). This article may be reprinted in another STC publication under the provisions of the chapter's copyright policy.