An official chapter of the Society for Technical Communication

Contents

Lines and Letters

Volume 26, Issue 8, June 2010

Have a great summer!

This is the last newsletter for the 2009-2010 year.

Watch your e-mail for summer NEO STC events!

The newsletter will be back in September — enjoy the summer!

Upcoming events

NEO STC events

Unless otherwise noted, see NEO STC calendar for details about an event.

  • 6/17/10: Networking lunch. Casa D’Angelo’s, 893 E. Aurora Rd., Macedonia, 330-467-9699.
     
  • 7/14/10: Networking lunch. Don’s Pomeroy House, 13664 Pearl Rd., Strongsville, 440-572-1111.
     
  • 8/19/10: Networking lunch. Fox & Hound English Pub, 1479 SOM Center Rd., Mayfield Hts., 440-646-9078.
     

Other events of interest

NEO STC leads the way to an all-Ohio scholarship

By Denise Kadilak

This year marked the first All-Ohio Academic Scholarship for Technical Communication. The successful effort was the idea of NEO STC member and Academic Relations Committee co-chair Sarah Burke.

A former STC student scholarship winner herself, Sarah wanted to ensure the chapter-level scholarship continued in what was an economically turbulent year for the Society, so she and fellow committee co-chair Jeanette Evans contacted the other two Ohio STC chapters and pitched their proposal. Although both chapters thought it a great idea, only the Southwestern Ohio chapter had the resources to participate.

Sarah and Jeanette next created posters, drafted the application, and arranged telephone conference meetings, leading the project to its successful conclusion with the awarding of a $1,000 prize in April. The All-Ohio Scholarship went to Rachel Thompson, a Technical Communication major at Cedarville University.

Sarah and Jeanette were also recognized this month by the NEO STC chapter with a Committee of the Year award for the hard work of taking the chapter scholarship state-wide. Upon hearing of the committee award, Sarah said, “It was a pleasure being able to serve the chapter in this way, and as Jeanette always says, awarding scholarships is the fun part!” Jeanette responded, “Sarah deserves so much of the credit. Making this an all-Ohio event was her brainchild. Plus, she did so much of the grunt work. She contacted the people in the other chapters. She also drafted both the promotional poster and scholarship application.”

Sarah and Jeanette hope the scholarship can continue next year and both have once again volunteered to co-chair the Academic Relations committee. A decision on the scholarship funds should be made by the end of this summer.

Special thanks to our scholarship sponsors, Radcom, Inc., Star Group America, and Neil Perlin at Hyper/Word Services. We couldn’t do it without you!

What are the duties of a Director-at-Large?

By Tricia Spayer (tspayer@yahoo.com)

I’ve been elected Director-at-Large for STC for the 2010-2011 year! Sounds impressive, but what does it mean?

Tricia and Monty at 2010 Summit

The at-large part means that a director is a representative of the Society membership as a whole, not a representative of any geographic sector. Also, the board acts as a collective — no one board member makes decisions that affect the Society. There are currently 12 board members, who work along with the STC staff to provide strategic direction and governance for the Society. For biographies and more information about the board members, see http://www.stc.org/about/board-of-directors.asp

Here are the official duties of a director:

  • Define the mission (of STC) by providing direction through planning
  • Establish policy
  • Ensure the financial integrity of the Society
  • Choose and evaluate the executive director
  • Oversee programs
  • Ensure compliance with the law
  • Keep the best interests of the Society over all others

What do we do during board meetings? Committee heads and liaisons present reports to the board for discussion and questions. Every board member is allowed to express his or her opinions. If there’s a need, someone makes a motion to approve the report, and then someone seconds it. The board votes to approve or not approve. Committees include certification, recognitions, community funding and support, and so on. I was recently asked to participate on the Community Advocacy Committee, which should prove interesting over the next year!

There have been two directors previously elected from the NEO STC. I have the privilege of following in the footsteps of Mike Bates and Bob Dianetti.

My experience so far has been positive. Soon after I was elected, I was placed on a group e-mail list where the board members hold discussions. New president Mike Hughes immediately started us on a discussion to test our protocol. Issues are presented, and every board member is allowed to present pros and cons for a solution, as well as alternate solutions with pros and cons. Decisions are made rationally — every possible crack is inspected before we’re allowed to vote on anything.

At the STC 2010 Summit where I was sworn in, I got to participate in several board meetings, along with a workshop, where I got to know my fellow board members, as well as “how to be a board member.” While the meetings are held in rather a parliamentarian fashion, discussions are open. There’s always someone questioning the rationale behind something, which should make you feel good that members’ needs and feelings are being taken into account. Also at the Summit, I felt treated like a VIP by everyone, especially the STC staff — each one of whom I found delightful!

If you want to contact the board, send an e-mail to board@stc.org. We welcome your comments and feedback, and like to know what you think!

Congratulations to our members who were honored in Dallas!

The Northeast Ohio chapter is proud to say we have two members who were honored at the Awards Banquet at the Dallas Summit: Angela Dianetti and Tricia Spayer.

Angie was awarded an Associate Fellow, “For sharing best practices of technical communication, steady leadership, and continued devotion to the Northeast Ohio STC community.”

The rank of Associate Fellow is conferred upon Senior Members who have attained distinction in the field of technical communication. They must be nominated by a committee composed of Fellows and Associate Fellows.

Tricia was awarded the Distinguished Chapter Service Award, “For continued exemplary service and dedication to the Northeast Ohio chapter and your many years of leadership on the NEO STC board.”

The Distinguished Chapter Service Awards acknowledge the work of chapter members who provide exemplary service to the Society through their dedication to the chapter and its activities.

Thank you both for your work and continued dedication to our chapter!

The talk of the town: Kim Lindsey completes e-learning instructional design certificate

Kim Lindsey has recently completed a certificate program from ASTD in “E-Learning Instructional Design.”

Handy hint: Acrobat: The Reader can do more than what you might think it can!

By Paulette Mitchell Henning (pmhenning@ra.rockwell.com)

Adobe Reader is free, but has limited editing capabilities. With Adobe Reader, you can browse, print, and interact with PDFs. With Adobe Acrobat, on the other hand, you can create, enhance, and edit PDF files. But, is Adobe Reader as limited as you think it is?

If an author enables Adobe Reader capabilities from within Adobe Acrobat, then Adobe Reader becomes more than just a read-only file. To do this, from Adobe Acrobat, choose: Advanced>Enable Usage Rights in Adobe Reader....

A message displays that lists the capabilities that become available in Adobe Reader. They include:

  • save form data (for a PDF form that can be filled only)
  • commenting and drawing mark-up tools
  • sign an existing signature field
  • digitally sign the document anywhere on the page (only supported in Adobe Reader 8)

The message also informs you that some capabilities, such as editing document content and inserting and deleting pages, become restricted in Adobe Acrobat for this file when you enable capabilities in Adobe Reader.

Click the Save Now button to enable Adobe Reader capabilities for this file. The Save As dialog box opens, which means you can save the enabled Adobe Reader file under a different name and also retain the original Adobe Acrobat file with the full editing capabilities intact.

So, when an author enables Adobe Reader capabilities in Adobe Acrobat, that file becomes more than just read-only for anyone who opens it in Adobe Reader. Authors of documents that are sent out for review should add this procedure to their process just in case there are reviewers who have access to only Adobe Reader.

Handy hint: Export Microsoft autocorrect entries

How can you import and export all AutoCorrect entries so they can be transferred to another machine? See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/ExportAutocorrect.htm.

STC reminders

Are you following STC on Twitter yet?

Amazon.com helps fund STC

Reaching Amazon.com through the portal on the home page of STC’s website (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.

Join NEO STC on LinkedIn

Our chapter now has a group on LinkedIn named Northeast Ohio STC Community.

Join us on http://www.LinkedIn.com (you must be a member of LinkedIn, which is free for a basic membership). To join the group:

  1. In the left navigation, click Groups or User Groups.
  2. In Group Directories box on the right, click Find a Group.
  3. In Search Groups, enter Northeast Ohio STC Community.
  4. Click Search.
  5. Select Join this group (under the group description).
  6. Follow the instructions. There will be waiting period while your membership is approved.

NEO STC listserv

To subscribe or change your settings for the Northeast Ohio STC listserv, see http://mailman.stc.org/mailman/listinfo/stcneohio-l.

Please let Kris Henige, the NEO STC Listserv Administrator, know if you have any questions.

Premium pages for members

NEO STC has some Premium pages for NEO STC members only. These pages include links to our very own Wiki, an Employer Directory — a listing of businesses that hire technical communicators — and more.

To enter the Premium pages, you will need a user name and password — this is different from the STC International site. Please contact our Webmaster for password information.

Change of address? Remember to tell the STC office

Send new addresses to the STC office to avoid interrupted delivery of Intercom and Technical Communication. Some members assume that informing the post office of their new address is enough to ensure that all of their mail is forwarded. However, the United States Postal Service forwards only first-class mail, not publications such as Intercom and Technical Communication.

Members may also update their contact and mailing information on the STC website.

Lines & Letters information

Editors and contributors

Managing Editors: Barbara Philbrick (BarbPhilbrick@caslonsvcs.com), newsletter co-chair

Jeanette Evans (jeanette.evans@sbcglobal.net), newsletter co-chair

Additional editors and contributors:

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