Next Chapter Meeting; Friday, January 18th 11:30 to 1:00

Join us on Friday, January 18, 2008 from 11:30 to 1:00 for our next chapter meeting. Once again, a free lunch will be served. Please remember to RSVP — details on how to do so are listed below.

Our meeting will feature a presentation entitled, “Content Analysis: the Key to Reuse.”

Successful content analysis, tracking and reuse are critical to single sourcing and content management. This presentation discusses the process of analyzing content on conceptual, relational and structural levels. We also focus on ways to track the results of an analysis for use in FrameMaker single sourcing and in a content management system. We also identify some basic questions to ask during a content analysis and show a resulting content matrix with vertical and horizontal content patterns that support reuse and provide to structure.

Objectives:

To facilitate a discussion of proven processes used to analyze content that leads to reuse and, where appropriate, the criteria for rewrite that leads to reuse. Discuss rules and tools used for a case study to analyze, create, review/approve, highlight, archive and delete content in preparation for both single sourcing and content management system implementation.

Speaker Information:

Mollye Barrett has been a professional writer for over 25 years with experience as a technical writer and publications manager, content management and technical communication consultant. She is the president of ClearPath, LLC (www.clearpath.cc) in Milwaukee where she counsels clients in best practices for managing all types of written and illustrated information. Her work includes evaluating, selecting and implementing XML Content Management Systems.

Mollye is the Marketing Communications Director for Content Management Professionals (http://www.cmprofessionals.org/), Mentoring Program Manager for the Wisconsin Chapter of STC and the Immediate Past President of that chapter (http://www.stc-wi.org/).

When? Friday, January 18th, 2008 (networking from 11:30 to Noon; presentation from Noon to 1:00pm)

Where? The Great Dane, 2980 Cahill Main in Fitchburg

Who? All STC 4 Lakes members as well as potential members that want to learn more about STC and our chapter meetings.

How do I RSVP? Simply post a comment to this very blog entry (click the ‘Comments’ text in the lower, right-hand corner of this blog entry) by Wednesday, January 16th. When you RSVP, please indicate the following:

• Your first name
• One meal selection: Fish (New London Bridge Fish Fry), Vegetarian (Taliesin Vegetable Tart), Wrap (Prime Rib Wrap), or Pasta (Southwest Tortellini). You can find detailed descriptions of each selection in the Great Dane online menu (PDF). 

If you have problems RSVPing via the blog, you can also RSVP by emailing Chad: cbeery (at sign) us.ibm.com.

Chapter meeting presentation ideas?

Hello STC 4 Lakes,

Have a presentation idea for a chapter meeting? We’re currently investigating the possibility of having a podcasting-specific presentation for our January meeting; however, things are still in the works. Do you have any ideas on what you’d like to learn about? Can you recommend anyone that might be interested in presenting? Please let the STC 4 Lakes board know. You can either submit your suggestion as a comment to this blog entry, or email the STC 4 Lakes board.

Thanks!

Next Chapter Meeting; Wednesday, December 5th

UPDATE: Thank you to those who were able to join us for the December Chapter Meeting. The Salary Database is available on the STC website.

Please join us at Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation and Affiliates for an STC Live Webinar to find out if you are being compensated enough and how your salary compares to other industries. Rick O’Sullivan will walk participants through the different ways the data in the Salary Database can be used to assist in job searches, create budget projections for technical communication managers, evaluate the competitiveness of different regions for facility location, and provide estimates for technical consulting for different regional and industry clients. The STC 4 Lakes chapter will cover the cost of the webinar; we’ll also provide lunch.

When?Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 (networking lunch from 11:30 to Noon; Webinar from Noon to 1:00pm)

Where? Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation (2401 International Lane in Madison)

Who?All STC 4 Lakes members as well as potential new members that want to learn more about STC and our chapter meetings.

How do I RSVP? You will need guest security passes to attend this event, so please email Chad at cbeery@us.ibm.com with your first and last name no later than the end of day, Monday, December 3rd. After the RSVP deadline, someone from the STC 4 Lakes board will email directions about where to enter the facility.

Share Your Newsletter Content Ideas!

What would you like to read about in our chapter newsletter? Please share your ideas and suggestions!

Question #2; Telecommuting/Writing remotely

The following question was submitted for the panel discussion chapter meeting held at the end of September. However, due to time constraints, the question was not asked during the discussion. Instead, we’ve placed it here for online discussion. What do you think? Post your comments below in response to this question:

When looking to hire technical communicators, employers obviously have a huge list of skills they are looking for in an applicant. Based on your experience, do employers look at telecommuting (the ability/know-how to work remotely from a home or mobile office) as a desirable skill? Not everyone is cut out to work remotely, and I’m just wondering if a lot of companies realize that and seek candidates that can work remotely effectively.

Question #1; Corporate blogs and wiki usage

The following question was submitted for the panel discussion chapter meeting held at the end of September. However, due to time constraints, the question was not asked during the discussion. Instead, we’ve placed it here for online discussion. What do you think? Post your comments below in response to this question:

There are some new tech tools out there. What are your views on the use and effectiveness of corporate blogs? What about wikis?

Thanks for an excellent September chapter meeting!

A big thanks goes out to our panelists (Keith Hoffman, Annette Markham, Julia Stone and Mary Bertun (moderator)) for participating in the technical communication discussion during our September kick-off meeting. We had an excellent meeting, and another great turnout. Thanks everyone for attending and contributing to a lively discussion. However, we didn’t get through all of submitted questions, so we (the STC4Lakes Board) thought we post the remaining questions over the next couple of months on this blog.

Watch for the questions shortly!

Have any questions for the panel discussion?

As you probably already know, our kick off meeting will feature a panel discussion entitled, “From Writer to Communicator: The Future of Technical Communication.” Our three panelist include Keith Hoffman, Annette N. Markham and Julia Stone. (Take a look here for short bios of each panelist).

Do you have a question you’d like the panel to answer? Post your questions in the Comments section below. No need to leave your name — just your question. Our discussion will be quite broad and open-ended, so almost any question related to technical writing/communication is fine.

Remember, the deadline to RSVP for the kick off meeting is approaching; please see this posting for details on the meeting and how to RSVP.

Thanks!

The STC 4 Lakes Board

The new STC4Lakes chapter blog

Due to password issues and other technical difficulties with blogger.com, we’ve decided to use WordPress to host the Madison, Wisconsin STC4Lakes chapter blog. Please update your aggregators and bookmarks accordingly.