April 30 is the deadline for earning volunteer recognition points. Volunteers with the most points will earn a polo shirt, which will have the NEO STC logo embroidered on the left side. One point is awarded for each volunteer activity, with the top 15 members in points overall receiving a shirt.
The goal of this program is to encourage chapter participation by recognizing volunteer efforts with a keepsake. Members can show their chapter pride by wearing the shirts in the workplace and to STC events. Sizes will be requested at the May 19 meeting, and the navy blue shirts will be presented at the first meeting next fall.
Currently, the top 15 in points are:
Sarah Burke
Bob Young
Jeanette Evans
Sherri Henkin
Kim Lindsey
Rebecca Martin
Lisa Mileusnich
Stephanie Webster
Barbara Philbrick
Heidi Emhoff
Jill McCauslin Namrata Malik
Tricia Spayer
Angela Dianetti
Candace Wintering
4/1/2006: Online Help: Trends, Tips, and Tools (joint meeting with Pittsburgh chapter), presented by Char James-Tanny. Boardman, OH.
4/12/2006: Webinar: Software Simulations: Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices. Parker Hannifin is hosting this seminar. You must pre-register by contacting Kris at khenige@parker.com.
5/7 to 5/10/2006: STC's 53rd Annual Conference and Exhibition at the Paris and Bally's Las Vegas hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada. Conference registration costs are now posted online at www.stc.org/53rdConf/53confRegInfo01.asp.
5/19/2006: Mike Bates on Usability; also, Changing of the Guard & Volunteer Recognition. Holiday Inn, Rockside Rd., Independence.
Reminder: If you RSVP but do not show up for a meeting, it costs the chapter money — we have to pay upfront for meals. Please remember to let the Programs Committee (programs@neostc.org) know in advance if you have registered but cannot make it to a meeting.
Are you interested in learning more about the Northeast Ohio companies who employ technical communicators like you? Have you ever sought out employers who are closer to home? Or, have there been times when you wanted to identify staffing firms that you could contact about contract work?
If so, the new NEO STC local employer directory — recently posted to the premium pages of the NEO STC Web site — may provide you with just the answers you have been seeking.
After logging into the premium pages at http://www.neostc.org/premium, you can view the employer directory by choosing "Employer directory." This directory lists 65 area companies by name, by location, and by employer type. Click the column heading to sort by that attribute.
The Employment Committee, along with help from the Membership Committee, compiled this directory using the companies that members work for, as well as those companies who have posted jobs on the NEO STC Web site. If your company hires technical communicators and you want your company name added to this list or you work for a company not currently listed in the directory, e-mail the Employment Committee.
Check out the NEO STC employer directory today — to get a leg up on the competition, to better understand the Northeast Ohio job market for technical communicators, or out of the sheer curiosity of seeing where your fellow NEO STC members work.
It is that time of year to renew your STC membership. The actual deadline for renewals was at the end of February, but if you missed that deadline, you only really missed out on the opportunity to vote for officers at the international level. You can still renew your membership now, and it will not be considered "lapsed" by the society. I will be receiving a list of current members who have not yet renewed soon. If your name is on this list, someone from the chapter will be contacting you to find out if:
You have already renewed but the list was printed and sent to me after your renewal was processed.
You are planning to renew, but just have not gotten around to it yet.
You are not planning to renew. If this is the case, please take this chance to tell the chapter your reason for discontinuing your STC membership.
Remember that the chapter relies on dues reimbursements from your membership dollars to continue to operate, so if you have not yet done so, please renew your membership now.
Other membership reminders from the international office:
People often contact the membership office because they used to be a member, they let their membership lapse for a few years, and they are now planning to renew. They contact the office because they want to know if they will receive credit for past membership activity, such as attainment of Senior Member status. If you contact the STC office about past membership activity, please have the estimated year that your membership lapsed. The archived membership files are grouped according to the year the membership lapsed. Also, if you got married during the time your membership was lapsed, let the office know your maiden name. This will help with the search.
If you move, please change your address with the office as soon as, if not before, you change it at the post office. Countless amounts of publications are returned or thrown out by the post office because the recipient moved but did not change addresses. Members then contact the STC office with complaints they are not receiving their publications, and the office must replace them. This can get a costly.
If you change your e-mail address, please change it with the office to make sure you continue to receive publications and notices from STC at the national and local level.
Relationships with family and friends provide balance: support in the bad times and sharing in the good times. Friends also provide tips and information that open doors to new ideas and opportunity.
This month we celebrate a tradition with a partner whom we have shared many good moments: The Pittsburgh STC chapter. Much has been said and written in recent weeks about the Saturday, April 1, joint meeting at the Boardman Holiday Inn. Both committees from their respective chapters have done an excellent job preparing for this full-day seminar, which features online Help expert Char James-Tanny. If you want to know the latest trends in online Help systems or need an answer to a software question for AuthorIt, Doc-To-Help, Flare, RoboHelp, or WebWorks, this is the place to be.
But aside from the planned activities and presentations, this "mini conference" is a reaffirmation of the bond between our two chapters that is very important. We collaborate on projects and share speakers to offer events that benefit our STC members at reduced cost. NEO senior member Lori Klepfer presented one of her STC Conference topics at a meeting of the Pittsburgh chapter this year. In turn, our successful Software Saturday that was conducted in January on FrameMaker was instructed by Alan Houser, a senior member from the Pittsburgh chapter. Alan shared his knowledge on the subject at little cost to the chapter because he was simply serving his STC colleagues and neighbors to the north.
Lori also is the president of American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), which has been a good friend to us. And, Kim Lindsey is our delegate to Cleveland Technical Societies Council (CTSC). There are many other groups — such as the Usability Professional Association (UPA) — that have provided different avenues on meeting topics and ideas.
NEO STC recently forged another relationship that could be as fruitful. We are now among 26 organizations comprising Northeast Ohio Communication Affiliates (NOCA). This partnership is timely and opportunistic because we both have similar goals: Improving our identity in the northeast Ohio community and fostering educational opportunities.
Jim DiFrangia, who was my guest at the NEO STC March meeting, is helping NOCA put together a series of training sessions to help organizations operate more efficiently. The plan is for separate sessions per month on such areas as setting a financial budget, recruiting new members, overseeing multiple committees, improving public relations efforts, and so forth. In general, these are valuable training opportunities that help all non-profit organizations, like us, who rely on volunteers from year to year with little time to train on chapter tasks. Incoming chapter president Stephanie Webster plans to offer these training sessions to our officers and committee chairs.
As a collection of professional communicators, NOCA also is an outlet for educating the northeast Ohio community what we, as technical communicators, offer in talents as writers, editors, illustrators, and trainers. We have made positive gains this year toward increasing corporate sponsorships and bringing public awareness to our sustaining organizations. Now we have another opportunity to promote our technical profession so others throughout Ohio know that "STC" stands for Society for Technical Communication.
A reminder that the May year-end meeting is Friday, May 19, at the Rockside Road Holiday Inn. The meeting, featuring a usability presentation by NEO senior member Mike Bates from Intuit, was moved to a different location due to construction plans at the AmeriSuites Hotel.
The date was also changed so that officers and members attending the STC Conference May 7 to 10 in Las Vegas would be back home for the final meeting. The evening will include presentation of awards for chapter service, welcoming incoming officers, and the announcement of members earning polo shirts in recognition of their volunteer efforts during the year. We hope to see you there!
STC's Instructional Design and Learning SIG hosted its first one-hour webinar on March 15th, titled "Successful ID: Where Theory and Practice Meet." Mr. Michael Tillmans focused on the five most common types of learning situations and the events that take place during their instruction. The types of learning situations discussed were information, concepts, principles and problem solving, procedures, and attitudes. All of these learning situations can be taught using the same teaching method. This teaching method is comprised of the following instructional events:
arousal of interest and setting expectations
recall of prior learning
presentation of new content
practice for skill strength and transfer of learning
summary and closure
Since each learning situation can be taught using the same teaching method, is there a way to customize this teaching method to ensure that learning takes place? Research has shown that a specific instructional event should be emphasized for each type of learning situation. Thus, each learning situation has a "critical" instructional event. Listed below are the learning situations and their corresponding critical instructional events. Mr. Tillmans also identified the important factors that take place during each critical instructional event.
Learning Situation
Critical Events
Most Important Factors
Information
Summary and Closure
Organization
Concepts
Presentation of new content
Examples and non-examples
Principles and Problem Solving
Recall of prior learning
Presentation of new content
Practice
Component concepts
State rule
Varied
Procedures
Presentation of new content
Practice
Know steps and order
Spaced and distributed
Attitudes
Arousal of interest and setting expectations
Summary and Closure
Knowing why
For those attendees who are involved in instructional design, the learning situations, teaching method, and instructional events presented in this webinar were familiar. However, the key research findings that were presented gave us not only something to think about, but specific techniques we can use in our instructional design to achieve learning objectives. We learned that although all instructional events take place during every learning situation, there is a specific instructional event that is critical for each different type of learning situation. By matching learning situations with their critical instructional event, teaching templates can be designed.
Did you ever get the feeling that you are lost in translation? Well, you are not alone. We share this uneasiness with many of our clients.
In today's ever-expanding global marketplace, the demand for multi-lingual versions of our documentation is exploding. Today, producing convenient, useable content tailored to the targeted audience is not enough. Customers also require that we communicate this information in multiple languages.
At first the answer seems easy — hire a translator. One catch, translation service rates are based on the number of words translated and that can lead to staggering production costs.
This month, Alan A. Horvath, managing director for Star Group America, presented one possible solution to this problem — Translation Memory software (TMS).
TMS is an application that offers an alternative to high translation costs. A translator fluent in the target language imports the source document into the application. It displays the first sentence in the document for translation and the translator converts it from the source language to the target language. The system then stores both sentences as a translated pair into an internal database. This process continues until the user translates the entire document.
Once the translator converts an initial document into the target language, he/she can apply that database to future translation projects (much like a template) to automatically translate many of the common words in those documents.
Each time the application reads a source sentence, it compares it to the translated pairs in the database and performs one of the following actions:
If it finds an exact match, the source sentence is translated automatically.
If it finds a similar source sentence (also known as a fuzzy match), the application presents the translator with a suggested translation. This process is very similar to a spell check program. The translator then has the option to accept the translation or correct the sentence as necessary.
If it cannot locate the source sentence, it informs the translator that the sentence needs to be translated.
This reusability feature lowers production costs by significantly reducing the number of words that must be translated.
Alan suggested that there are three basic components to an effective translated document:
high quality source document
translation memory software
translator fluent in the target language
He created a simple Flash document with singing spaghetti and meatballs and imported it into TMS to demonstrate the application's effectiveness. Alan translated the first sentence and then showed us how the application used this translated sentence pair to reduce the translator's tasks on the remainder of the document.
Alan reminded us that TMS is only a tool and it requires a skilled translator fluent in the target language to accurately translate any document. Similar words/phrases have vastly different meanings in different languages and if translated incorrectly, can produce catastrophic results.
In addition to Alan's marvelous presentation, we also presented awards to the winners of the NEOSTC Online and Technical Publication competition.
Receiving awards in the Technical Publication division are:
Maria M. Hlas and Stephanie Mohar from National City Corporation, Award of Excellence, National City Home Equity Broker Web Site Quick Reference. (Award being presented by Competition Chair Candace Wintering.)
Tricia Spayer from Pressco Technology Inc., Award of Merit, Intellispec System Manual. (Award being presented by Competition Chair Candace Wintering.)
For the Online Competition, the award recipients are Tom Hudson and Meloyde Khattak from BMC Software, Inc., Award of Excellence, MainView for OS/390 Interactive Guide.
It was well organized — and well-sponsored. Naturally, the title sponsor was Adobe, who now owns Macromedia products. Don't tell those folks, but their registration fee is a steal at $25. Pound for pound, that price is an order of magnitude better than the STC Conference. For that cost, attendees got the same quality presentations, a choice of three tracks for each of five time slots, free lunch, and plenty of door prizes. As if that weren't generous enough, they make most of the conference proceedings available on the Web sites of the user's group http://www.seomug.org/sessions.cfm and of the presenters.
Among the hitches was an imperfect online registration (promptly remedied by phone), confusion when every online mapping utility (e.g., MapQuest) offered conflicting directions (I-71 or I-77 were equally good), and a keynote speaker whose vocal range was too dynamic for the microphone (OK, he mumbled a bit).
By the way, <br /> is an HTML tag meaning a line break, so this is their annual Spring "Break" Conference (http://www.seomug.org/conference.cfm). If you get the pun, you belong in the conference! With the students in recess, the OU lecture halls, computer labs, and parking were available for anyone willing to make the drive.
After a keynote speech, I attended seminars on AJAX, e-mail deliverability, and a couple in the user experience track.
Keynote. Media wonk Jeremy Geelan http://java.sys-con.com/author/3geelan.htm gave the keynote address, in which he urged attendees that day to loosen their loyalties while avoiding marketing buzz — good advice at any such conference. Blind loyalty to platforms and techniques (e.g., "Firefox rules!") closes the mind when the alternative may be better, transformation notwithstanding. Yet marketing buzzwords (e.g., "Web 2.0") have names which are much more compelling than their meaning.
AJAX 101. Bob Gonda presented AJAX, a new moniker for old technology gaining real popularity this year. In a nutshell, it's a way to make Web applications behave more like client-server apps: Less Back button, less full-page flicker, smoother interaction. He not only explained what AJAX is, but also when it is appropriate to use it, what it is made up of, and what tools are emerging to harness it.
Freeing the flow. Joe Lowery demonstrated how to design a Web site layout — a comp — in Macromedia Fireworks, and export that layout to Macromedia Dreamweaver, where regions become CSS-based < div >s. He explained the advantages of this approach over using Dreamweaver alone, and the difference between absolute and relative CSS positioning.
Usability testing. Carolyn Snyder, an STC member from New England, spoke on how to perform tests and studies. She detailed why people do and don't test usability, what phases make up a study, and how to avoid pitfalls to get the most out of your study. Among her links, she included STC's Usability SIG.
Finding a balance. Programmer Phillip Kerman presented a series of proverbs that could have been aimed at Consultant and Independent Contractor's SIG-gers. One that resonated with me is this: "Just as real selling starts with the first 'no,' real programming starts with the first bug."
E-mail deliverability. People like me who not only publish e-newsletters, but also administer and troubleshoot other business-critical communications, have doubtlessly encountered problems getting legitimate bulk mail to our recipients because of overzealous anti-spam software. Gary Kraeger had some very actionable, though technical, tips for success.
All-in-all, Spring <br /> was a conference that STC members should consider and organizers should learn from.
Zoom Search Engine is a tool you can use to create a search on your Web site, intranet, CD, or DVD. It indexes your Web site with a desktop application called the Zoom Indexer. You download the Zoom Indexer onto your PC; then you set up your configuration and index your site. Once indexing is complete, you upload the search files to your Web server and the search is ready to run. (The software automatically creates a search page for you to place on your site. You can also create your own search form if you don't want to use the provided search page.)
Zoom provides four types of scripting platforms for you to choose from: ASP, PHP, CGI, and JavaScript. The platform you choose depends on the capabilities available on your Web server. The JavaScript version has some limitations that the others do not, but it is considered a good option for CD-ROM or other offline distribution.
You can easily customize the search page to match your Web site. Zoom creates an HTML file that serves as a search page template. You can update the Cascading Style Sheet included in the template to use your fonts, colors, images, and everything else that makes your site unique.
Even though the search runs from a script, you don’t have to learn a fancy scripting language. Rather, you configure the Zoom Indexer to create the search exactly the way you want it, and the application generates the search files and any necessary code. Zoom's configurable features include:
Skip options to select pages, folders, and words that should not be indexed or included in the search
Word boosting, or adjusting the importance of words depending on where they are found (page title, filename, heading, etc.)
Search results layout – you can pick and choose the elements that appear
Highlighting of words matched – in search results and/or on the actual site page
Options to specify word synonyms and common misspellings and map them to equivalent words in the index
Plug-ins to index files such as PDFs or Word documents
A free version of Zoom is available that will index up to 50 site pages. Zoom Standard Edition ($49) indexes up to 100 pages. The Professional Edition ($99) does not have an indexing limit. Paying for the Standard and Professional versions also gets you a higher level of tech support.
Zoom maker Wrensoft also has a discussion forum on its Web site. You can post questions and receive answers from tech support and other Zoom users, even if you are using the free version or have not actually purchased the software.
With Zoom Search Engine, my department's documentation users can search across 15 help files at once from the company intranet. Previously, the users had to open each help file separately to perform a search.. We have been running Zoom for about a month now and are very satisfied with the software.
Paulette Henning spent the last seven years earning her master's degree from Kent State University. She earned this degree the hard way, while still working full-time as a technical communicator at Rockwell Automation. Paulette writes about Distributed I/O products and develops online help for a range of profiles for one of Rockwell Automation's primary customer software applications.
As she puts it, her thesis "concentrates on older adults and the information age. Older adults have unique learning needs. They generally show a decline in information retrieval skills, hearing, sight, reaction time, and physical agility. All these special needs may make it difficult for older adults to learn computer skills. A task such as double-clicking with the mouse may be more difficult for older adults to perform than younger adults.
"These unique learning needs are best addressed by adopting strategies to help older adults learn. Some of these strategies include being specific about tasks that will be taught, providing a learning environment in which older adults can openly talk with others, providing an atmosphere in which they can feel free to share their ideas, letting them express what they hope to learn about the computer, encouraging them to think about ways they can expand what they learn outside of the classroom, and allowing them to assess their own level of competence at the end of the training.
"In essence, older adults tend to want to direct and control their own training. They simply need an instructor to help them with the specific tasks they wish to learn at the pace they wish to learn it."
Originally from Beachwood, Paulette
recently married and now lives with
her husband in Huntsville, Alabama. Paulette was also active with the Professional Women's Council and ergonomics team at Rockwell. She worked with elementary school students, teaching them math and reading skills in the Bedford Heights school system, as part of the No Child Left Behind initiative.
One of my tasks this year, as Immediate Past President, is to complete our application for STC's Geographic Community Achievement Awards (GCAA). These awards are designed to recognize chapters that "demonstrate outstanding, innovative, and sustained performance in advancing the goals of the Society."
The things STC is looking for are not just arbitrary — many times they are based on actual programs and activities offered by chapters (including
ours) in the past that have been successful and have provided members with solid benefits.
I'm happy to report that we have a very good chance to receive Geographic Community of Excellence for the year. The form asks for information on at least three new or continuing initiatives, and we have eleven! This year's updated criteria have also worked in our favor.
Yet I wonder, in completing the form, if I've only scratched the surface of contributions made to the profession by our chapter members.
Have you given a presentation at another chapter's meeting this year, or for another professional group? Have you been published in a journal other than an STC publication, or in another chapter's newsletter? Are you working with students at one of our local colleges as a mentor or advisor, or even teaching a class? Have you spoken about technical communication for "career day" at a local high school or middle school? Are you active in STC at the international level, even though we don't see you often at chapter meetings? Did you present at last year's STC conference in Seattle? Judge a competition at the international level?
Although your leadership team does see most of our members at some point during the year (which is extraordinary in itself, compared with other chapters!), we know that many of you aren't able to attend meetings and other networking events. But just because you don't, is no reason for you not to get full recognition for your achievements from your peers and colleagues!
April 1 marks the start of a new year, for our next GCAA application. Make sure you keep your chapter leadership posted on what you're up to: Next year we're pushing for Geographic Community of Distinction!
When copying data from other programs to a Microsoft Excel 2003 spreadsheet, you might see data delimited by commas, spaces, tabs, or other characters.
For example:
1,9,5,2,11
54.23 23.11 -93.49 88.42
Rather than copy each piece of data to individual cells, you can paste in the entire series of data and have Excel move the data into separate columns. To do so:
Paste your data into a cell.
Select the cell.
Click Data>Text to Columns.
Follow the prompts in the Convert Text to Columns Wizard to determine the delimiter character, column size, and other characteristics. Once you complete the wizard, Excel will split your data into multiple columns.
Once you complete the wizard, Microsoft Excel will split your data into multiple columns.
JTech Staffing seeks a Technical Writer/Business Analyst (Contract) for an Erie, PA, contract position documenting business processes, creating functional requirements, and preparing technical specs (direct employer submittal).
More information
Hyland Software, Inc. of Westlake seeks experienced and entry-level Technical Writers to join its industry-leading documentation team. Documentation specialists research product functionality for the Hyland OnBase software and write content for online help files and user manuals.
More information
Pneumatic Scale
Corporation of Cuyahoga Falls, a leader in the design, manufacture, and integration of high-speed packaging machinery, is looking for a Technical Writer to create operating manuals and assist sales, customer service, and plant personnel with supporting technical information.
More information
Web design and development
Case Western Reserve University seeks a Web Master to create, manage, and maintain Web sites for the School of Medicine, including the School of Medicine home page, eCurriculum, and kiosks.
More information
Penton Media of Cleveland is looking for an eMedia Production Coordinator to carry out production tasks related to e-newsletters, promotional e-mail deployment, reporting, and Web site administrative systems.
More information
Training and instructional design
Philips Medical
Systems seeks a Technical Train Instructor 3 to provide quality technical training on computed tomography to classes of 20-55 service engineers. Position requires superior presentation skills, exceptional PC skills, and the ability to teach electro-mechanical principles.
More information
Progressive of Mayfield Village seeks an Instructional Designer IV to determine training needs; create, design, develop, implement, evaluate, and maintain new training materials; and mentor developing instructional designers.
More information
Graphic design and technical illustration
The Sherwin-Williams Company of Cleveland is looking for a Graphic Production Artist to create and manage newspaper and direct mail promotional advertising for Paint Store Grand Openings and provide related production support.
More information
Lachina Publishing Services of Beachwood is seeking a Medical/Scientific Illustrator for its art department to produce top-quality 3D illustrated imagery and to fulfill other production needs.
More information
Editing
HVACR News magazine of Middleburg Heights seeks a B2B Editor to manage and execute an editorial strategy to attain the number one readership position in the heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration industry. Duties involve developing and editing articles; working with editorial contributors; developing the annual editorial calendar; building and maintaining solid relationships with all major industry associations; and traveling throughout the U.S. to develop articles and attend major industry meetings.
More information
The Nonprofit Management and Leadership journal which is part of the Case Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations) seeks a Managing Editor to work with authors and reviewers, edit manuscripts, oversee the organization and production of the journal for the publisher, and represent the journal at major research conferences and professional gatherings.
More information
Marketing communications
Invacare Corporation of Elyria seeks a Manager, Marketing Communications to develop and implement effective marketing communications strategies, manage the design of marketing communication products, lead the planning and execution of trade show activities, manage the ongoing maintenance of ICCG Web sites, and develop the annual marketing communications budget.
More information
Arrow International of Cleveland is looking for a Marketing Communications Coordinator to design catalogs; lay out special design projects; produce tradeshow posters, displays and point-of-sale materials; and assist the Marketing Communications Manager and Marketing Communications Specialist as needed.
More information
If your company has a job opening, please contact any member of the NEO STC Employment Committee:
