ocstc members say thank you to sony trans com · (cover story, continued on page 10) columns...

September 1999

Membership Contact s ....................................................... 2

Chapter Cha t ...................................................................... 2

September Meeting Previe w ............................................. 3

Publication Informatio n .................................................... 3

About ST C ......................................................................... 4

Jobline Informatio n ........................................................... 5

Education Repor t .............................................................. 7

Membership New s ............................................................. 9

Editor's Corne r ................................................................ 12

The Unfair Advantag e ....................................................... 4

STC Outreac h ................................................................... 5

Just Ask Sand i ................................................................. 8

August Meeting Reca p ................................................... 10

Upcoming Regional Event s ..................................... 10, 11

Spreading the Goo d Word ............................................. 11

(Cover Story, continued on page 10)

Columns Features

OCSTC Members Say Thank You to Sony Trans ComBy Anne Stratford, and Mary Ann Stacy

Present for the informal awarding of abeautiful commemorative plaque (createdby OCSTC Past President Elaine Randolph)were STC member and Sony seniortechnical writer Mary Ann Stacy, who hastaught this year’s Adobe FrameMaker andAcrobat classes; Anne Stratford, Sonytechnical publications editor and this year’sOCSTC education chair; and Jill Eisenbach,Sony technical writer and OCSTCTechniScribe editor.

Anne Stratford: Recently, Sony Trans Com employees (who also happen tobe OCSTC members) presented the Irvine company with an award in thanksfor the use of Sony training rooms for chapter seminars.

I began the association last fall when, needing a place to hold the two-dayInformation Mapping™ seminar, approached Tracie Caye to ask if thecompany ever made its facilities available for community events. The resultwas the beginning of a year-long partnership during which OCSTC membersmet in two well-appointed Sony Trans Com training rooms. The Demo roomin the main building was suited for groups of twenty or more, and Sony’snew computerized training room used by the technical training and publica-tions group was ideal for the smaller hands-on seminars.

Having the use of Sony’s centrally-located facilities increased the attractivenessof OCSTC’s volunteer-staffed events and contributed in no small way to thesuccess of the education program. In the past year, many other STC chaptershave been inspired to start their own education programs and have contactedme to find out how the Orange County has done it.

Having access to training rooms at Sony’s inflight entertainment systemsheadquarters has made a stunning difference in the success of these events.

The inscription on the awarded plaque, which now hangs in the mainbuilding reads, “President’s Award to Sony Trans Com: In sincere apprecia-tion for the use of company facilities for the education and technical trainingof our members and the community.”

Mary Ann Stacy: When Anne approached me last June to teach a class forSTC I was very skeptical and thought it a far-fetched notion. I had never

Orange County Chapter

Left-to-right, Mary Ann Stacy; Sony HumanResources representative Tracie Caye; AnneStratford; and Jill Eisenbach

2 TechniScribe September 1999

Chapter Contacts

Chapter Hotline (949) 863-7666Chapter Fax (949) 830-7585

Mark Bloom, President(949) 823-4221 (w)(949) 823-4444 (fax)[email protected] (w)

Elaine Randolph, Past President(949) 583-9402 (h)[email protected] (h)

Carolyn Romano, Facilities(714) 894-9221 (h)(714) 896-3311 x67034 (w)[email protected] (h)

Bob Courtney, 1st VP Programs(714) 823-4222 (w)(714) 531-9607 (h)[email protected] (w)

Dennis Hanrahan, 2nd VP Membership(562) 691-1239 (h)[email protected] (h)

Jill Eisenbach, TechniScribe Editor(949) 417-6723 (w)(949) 645-5984 (h)[email protected] (h)[email protected] (w)

Kathey Hope, Secretary(714) 966-3913 (w)[email protected] (w)

Jeanette MacGillivray, Treasurer(714) 639-3512 (w)(714) 639-3547 (fax)[email protected] (w)

Anne Stratford, Education (Acting)(949) 417-6231 (w)(949) 499-2583 (h)[email protected] (h)[email protected] (w)

Jeff Randolph, Internet/Jobline(949) 583-9402 (h)(949) 830-7585 (fax)[email protected] (w/h)[email protected] (w/h)

Pamela Coca, Public Relations(949) 495-5347 (w/h)(949) 495-5349 (fax)[email protected] (w/h)

Andrea Ames, Region 8 Director-Sponsor(650) 365-7520 (voice)(650) 365-1103 (fax)[email protected] (w)

(Chapter Chat, continued on page 9)

Chapter ChatBy Mark Bloom, President

September always fills me with a renewed vitality. The summer days arepast, the weather turns cooler, and darkness comes just a bit earlier. Thedaylight hours become more meaningful, as if they are more valuable nowthat there are fewer of them. I gear up for the autumn months every year ina way that I rarely do during the other seasons. I start new projects, finishold ones, and plan ahead.

You should, too, because your chapter officers and I are planning one heck ofa year. STC’s annual theme for 1999 is “Technical communication is seriousfun!” My theme for our chapter might be “Nothing is sacred!” We are going totry new ideas, pursue new projects, and change the way we have always donethings.

In July, if you missed it, we held an outdoor picnic in place of our normallyscheduled monthly meeting. It was fun, it was different, and we did it. InAugust, you saw the first issue of our redesigned newsletter. After years withthe same layout, you probably didn’t even recognize it when it arrived in yourmailbox.

But wait; we aren’t done yet.

The TechniScribe design is still evolving, thanks to Jill Eisenbach and JeffRandolph. And speaking of Jeff, have you checked out the chapter’s Web Sitelately? He’s doing a fantastic job, as usual, and you might see even moredevelopments in the coming months. If you know Jill and Jeff, you know theyare not ones to rest on their laurels.

I foresee lots of exciting news coming from Pam Coca and our Public RelationsCommittee in the next year, too. She is one steamrollering ball of energy. Iwouldn’t be surprised if she single-handedly gets the Wall Street Journal torun an article about our chapter. You just watch.

With a new Education Committee in place (thanks to Pat Silver, Bill Darnall,and Doug Owens), expect to see our famous Professional Seminar Seriescontinue and expand. They want to keep up the aggressive schedule that AnneStratford has put in place, and they have plans to do her one better. But you’llhave to wait on that news…

Since we’re on a “Nothing is sacred” kick, our Programs VP Bob Courtney haschanged plans we’ve already made. Mark your calendars for this change–our November monthly meeting is moving to Wednesday, November 10,right before the Region 8 Conference is set to begin. We’re changing themeeting date so we can book Robert Horn as the guest speaker. He’s apublished author and one of the few “names” in our field.

Membership VP Dennis Hanrahan has his mitts on a brand new chapterbrochure, so I suspect he will be circulating it from Long Beach to Oceanside.There won’t be a single technical communications student or a high-techcompany in the county that does not know who we are.

Jeanette MacGillvray as Treasurer has our budget under control and on track.Just so you know, the rebate check we are getting from the national office,though large, would barely cover our TechniScribe costs for the year. Beingtreasurer is not simply paying bills from a big pot of money. The chapter needsto be creative!

I can’t tell you that running the chapter is easy, but I can tell you that we are ingood shape as we enter the fall season. We wouldn’t be if it weren’t for theefforts of last year’s elected officers, so next time you see Elaine Randolph, Bob

September 1999 TechniScribe 3

PublicationInformation

The Orange CountyChapter of the Societypublishes the TechniScribe11 times a year. Articlespublished in this newslet-ter may be reprinted inother STC publications ifcredit is properly givenand one copy of thereprint is sent to theTechniScribe editor. Rightsto articles appearing inTechniScribe revert to theauthor upon publication.Reprinting articles in non-STC publications is subjectto the author’s approval.

Send articles to:[email protected]

Use Word and save files inRTF format (Rich-TextFormat). This will allowme to read all versions ofWord. You can also sendan article in the body of anemail message.

Subscriptions are availablefor $10 per year tomembers of otherchapters.

The deadline for submis-sion is the 10th of the monthprior to publication. Theeditor reserves the right todeny and/or deny publica-tion of any material.Submissions will be editedfor clarity, length, andappropriateness.

Please include a 25-wordbiography about yourself.

Associate Editor:Anne Stratford

Technical Advisor, andCirculation: Jeff Randolph

Monthly advertising rates:

1/4 page $40.001/3 page $45.001/2 page $60.00full page $80.00

Printing services providedby Brea Printing, Inc. (714)529-7334

When:

Tuesday, September 21 from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.

Where:

Wyndham Garden Hotel3350 Avenue of the ArtsCosta Mesa, CA(714) 751-5100

Cost:

♦ Members with reservations, $20

♦♦♦♦♦ Students with reservations, $15

♦♦♦♦♦ Nonmembers with reservations, $22

♦♦♦♦♦ All walk-ins, $25

♦♦♦♦♦ No-shows billed $10

Reservations:

Reservations are due by 5:00 p.m. Friday,September 17. If you call later, you will be billedthe walk-in fee, so make your reservation early.

You can register by any of the following means:

♦♦♦♦♦ Register online atwww.stc.org/region8/occ/www/dinres.htm

♦♦♦♦♦ Send e-mail to Jeff Randolph [email protected].

♦♦♦♦♦ Call the OCSTC hotline at (949) 863-7666

♦♦♦♦♦ Carolyn Romano at (714) 894-9221. Leaveyour name, membership status, and phonenumber.

Directions

From the 405 Freeway: Exit at Bristol. Go northto Anton Boulevard and turn right. Turn leftonto Avenue of the Arts (the second signal). TheWyndham Garden Hotel is about one blockahead on the right. The parking structure is northof the hotel.

From the 55 Freeway: Exit at MacArthur Boule-vard, turn left on Flower, then right on Sunflower.Turn left on Avenue of the Arts and proceed oneblock south. The hotel will be on your left.

The Pre-Broadband Era:Revolution, Evolution, andConvergence for InteractiveMultimediaBy Robert Courtney

If sound and video were digital, we wouldn’tbe able to hear or see them. Humans are onlyable to hear and see in an analog medium.The storage and transmission of these sensesis ideally handled in a digital domain.

John L.Sands presentation will offer aglimpse into the future of converging tech-nologies, the nature of interactivemultimedia, and its delivery using bothDigital Versatile Disc (DVD) and networkedbroadcast technologies. John will alsodiscuss a forthcoming digital agent, builtright into a typical family’s television set.

John is a dynamic speaker and is highlysought after by professional and tradeorganizations. He has presented papers onCD-ROM and the aspects of softwaremanufacturing at REPLItech and is a regularspeaker and moderator at their trade showsin Europe, Asia, and North America.

John was the Moderator of the DVD sessionsthis year at the National Association forBroadcasters convention in Las Vegas. Healso gave two presentations at REPLItechNorth America, and recently moderated theprofessional societies including the Associa-tion for Image and Information Management(AIIM), Society for Technical Communication(STC), and International Interactive Commu-nications Society (IICS). John is currentlyserving a second term as President of theOrange County Chapter of the IICS.


The Unfair AdvantageBy Bill Darnall

About STC

The Society for TechnicalCommunication (STC) isthe world’s largestorganization for technicalcommunicators. STC’snearly 20,000 membersinclude writers, editors,illustrators, printers,publishers, photogra-phers, educators, andstudents.

Dues are $95 per year,plus a one-time enroll-ment fee. Membership isopen to anyone engagedin some phase of technicalcommunication, orinterested in the arts andsciences of technicalcommunication, or inallied arts and sciences.

You can reach STCheadquarters by writingor calling:

Society for TechnicalCommunication901 N. Stuart Street,Suite 904Arlington, VA22203-1854

Phone: (703) 522-4114Fax: (703) 522-2075e-mail: [email protected]://www.stc-va.org

Part 2: ListsThis column is about technical grammar, punc-tuation, syntax, and style. It is intended fortechnical writers and editors. Knowledgeableprofessionals enjoy a significant advantage overtheir less-informed co-workers, customers, andclients. These writers and editors have what I callthe unfair advantage. Part 2 is an introduction tolists. The following types of lists are reviewed:

♦♦♦♦♦ Comma-separated lists

♦♦♦♦♦ Semicolon-separated lists

♦♦♦♦♦ Unordered lists

♦♦♦♦♦ Ordered lists

Each type of list has a purpose. Sometimes onetype of list is more appropriate than another.Sometimes there is no particular advantage toone or another; but always be consistent. Keepthe application in mind. For example, how manytimes have you seen numbered or bulleted lists ina novel? Learn the basics and the application isup to you.

1. Comma-Separated ListsUse commas to separate lists of short items inrunning text. For example, this article discussescommas, semicolons, bullets, and numbers.

Note the comma before the final connectingand. In your English writing class you may havebeen taught to drop the final comma. Somejournalistic style guides say to drop the comma.Always follow your organization’s style guide.However, technical writing is not journalisticwriting. I believe that journalist style guidessuch as the Associated Press Style Guide areusually not appropriate for technical writing.The Chicago Manual of Style recommends using acomma after the final connecting and.

2. Semicolon-Separated ListsUse semi-colons as separators in running text toseparate lists of items that contain commas or forlists of long items. For example, this article isabout using: commas, Section 1; semicolons,Section 2; bullets, Section 3; and, numbers,Section 4. Although the list items in this exampleare relatively short, the punctuating commasrequire something other than additional commasfor separation.

The following is a list of long items separated bysemicolons. Lists are used in many technicaldocuments, for example: an introductory list of

assumptions; a long list of reference docu-ments; a longer list of requirements; and, avery long list of acronyms and definitions.

3. Unordered ListsUse bullets or other identical symbols whenthere are only a few items in your list, orthere is no particular significance to theorder of the list items. Bullets can becircular, square, or have any shape. Usesimple bullet shapes in formal documents.

An unordered bullet list appears at thebeginning of this article. You can useuniquely shaped bullets for emphasis.Establish two or three project-specific shapesand use them consistently to call attention toitems of performance or quality or some otherfeature.

Please note that a continuous string of bulletitems is confusing. If you have many listitems, break the list into groups of five to nineitems. Use subheads to introduce each group.It is not uncommon to see continuous bulletlists that extend over several pages!

4. Ordered ListsUse an ordered list when you need to empha-size either sequence or relative importance.You don’t have to use digits to show order.You can use uppercase or lowercase letters orlowercase Roman numerals. The followingordered example shows the four mostcommon errors in a recent study of technicaldocumentation:

1. Spelling (50%)

2. Grammar (20%)

3. Punctuation (15%)

4. Passive voice (15%)

Apply the same length rule to ordered liststhat you use for unordered lists. Divide theordered list into groups of five to nine items.Employ subheads to divide information intomanageable (understandable) groups. If it isreally necessary for you to have two pages’worth of numbered items, subheads will helpyour readers keep track of where they are inyour document.

Conclusion

Have fun with lists. Readers will often scan alist of items when they do not plan to read anentire article. Learn to produce interestinglooking lists. You may inspire a browser tospend time actually reading your technicaldocument.


Society LevelJob Listings

The Society maintains joblistings on the Internet.You can download theselistings from the Society’sWeb site at www.stc-va.org.

Orange CountyJob Listings

Looking for a job?

Our job listing is entirelyonline at the OCSTC Website and is updated weekly.Look for the latestpostings every Thursday.For convenience, book-mark www.stc.org/region8/occ/www/employme.htm.

If you have an inquiry or ajob to post, send an e-mailmessage to Jeff [email protected]

A limited number ofprinted copies of theJobline are available atmonthly chaptermeetings.

STC Outreach–Where Do YouCome In?By Dana ChisnellManager of the Practical CommunicationCommittee

Wouldn’t it be great if more young peoplecoming out of high school had a better grasp ofcommunicating their practical knowledge andideas in ways that would help them in jobs, atuniversity, and in life?

Here’s a program that you can be part of to connect STC to your local schools.As part of the national standard, school districts are implementing “functional” communicationin their high school classrooms, and we can help. Inspired by this movement in education towardnational standards, the former Technical Literacy Committee was changed after the AnaheimConference to be the Practical Communication Committee and now focuses on functionalcommunication curricula in high schools. Part of STC’s Academic and Research Programs, itsmission is to “Explore, develop, and coordinate programs with schools, agencies, and STCchapters to help high school teachers develop and use functional, practical writing curricula.”

What is practical communication?Practical communication provides students with the language arts tools they need to describetheir interests and discoveries for a specific audience and the general public. It includes theability to read technical information with full understanding, and to write both technical andother information so that it will be coherent, cohesive, and readily understood by the reader forwhom it is intended.

How can you help? Be a school liaison.The Practical Communication committee is now pulling together a program to help chaptersreach their local schools and teachers. We’re creating a Web site where you’ll be able to downloadpresentation materials and handouts to help teachers teach technical communication in theirclassrooms. Eventually, we hope to have a few sample assignments.

Here are some activities you can set up now.STC teacher nights: Coordinate meetings with the program manager of your chapter meetingsabout what’s happening in technical communication education, and how members can helpcreate more space for technical communication in high school classrooms.

Invite local high school teachers and counselors to chapter meetings so they can learn about what we do fora living, and how that translates to skills that are useful for everyone, no matter what the job. Showsamples, talk about what might have been good for you to know in your first job (whether it wasin technical communication or not) that you had to learn on your own.

In-service days or career days: Call your local high school and make sure they know you would liketo be a part of teachers in-service days and career days for students. When we have them, you canuse presentations from our committee Web site. These template presentations give educators andstudents information about what we do every day and why it’s important to business andindustry. Presentations also include information about skills we have that every student shouldhave when they graduate, and the reasons why.

Tell us what you know.We’re looking for information about what is going on in your area high schools. Is practicalcommunication part of the English, science, or other curriculum? (It may be called “appliedlearning.”) Can students specialize in technical communication? Do you have other ideas abouthow STC can make a difference in schools?

Contact us at: [email protected].


A DOCUMENTATION FACILITY & EMPLOYMENT SERVICE

exclusively FOR DOCUMENTATION SPECIALISTS

Technical Standards Inc.YOUR COMPLETE SOURCE FOR DOCUMENTATION SOLUTIONS

available jobs listed at:

www.tecstandards.com(800) 889-7116

- Temps, Perm, Contract, 1099's- On-Site, Off-Site- Adobe Software Sales- Training

Education Report

Careers for the New MillenniumBy Bill Darnall

It’s a fact. Documentation, training, andonline media are converging. Another fact.Bill Darnall and Doug Owen volunteered toco-chair the OCSTC Education Committee.The “New Millennium” Education Commit-tee will continue the previous committee’shighly successful efforts that were managedby Anne Stratford. As a team we will suc-cessfully confront the challenges ofdocumentation, training, and online mediaconvergence.

The primary mission of the EducationCommittee is to enhance the professionalskills and knowledge of our members. Thecommittee’s approach is to provide economi-cal, skill-based training andknowledge-based education.

The 12-month goals are to

♦♦♦♦♦ Provide training that is timely andeconomical

♦♦♦♦♦ Develop a formal curriculum

♦♦♦♦♦ Develop guidelines for presenters

♦♦♦♦♦ Provide training and feedback forpresenters

♦♦♦♦♦ Sign formal contracts with all presenters

♦♦♦♦♦ Develop two or more online courses

The committee expects to meet theseobjectives—at a profit for our chapter andwith equitable income for the presenters.The committee needs the help of manyvolunteers to meet these objectives. Thereare currently two identified subcommitteesand chairs. Pat Silver will manage Financeand Administration. Brian McCaleb willmanage Online Media. Anne Stratford hasagreed to act as interim Facility Coordina-tor with Sony Trans Com.

Other members have expressed interest injoining the team. All OCSTC members areencouraged to consider the educationalopportunities. You can become a committeemember. You can become an instructor,without joining the committee. You can makesuggestions for courses. You can attendclasses.

Upcoming OCSTC 1999 Seminars/Workshops

September 11, Saturday 9-4, Introduction toFrameMaker

September 18, Saturday 9-4, IntermediateFrameMaker (templates)

October 2, Saturday, Adobe Acrobat 4.0

October 9, Saturday, HTML + FrontPage

October 16, Saturday, Intro to FrameMaker

Register online at http://www.stc.org/region8/occ/www/trsched.htm.

There are short-term and long-term positionsavailable in the following areas:

♦♦♦♦♦ Curriculum development

♦♦♦♦♦ Instructional design

♦♦♦♦♦ Instructor

♦♦♦♦♦ Instructor training

♦♦♦♦♦ Classroom assistance

♦♦♦♦♦ Publicity

♦♦♦♦♦ Facility coordination

You are invited to join the education team.Together we will help shape careers for the newmillennium. To inquire about profession-enhanc-ing opportunities or to offer suggestions forcourses, please send your e-mail messages [email protected] or [email protected].

Send payment (checks) to:DARCOM, INC.Attn: "Class Name"PO Box 27610Santa Ana, CA 92799-7610

Address e-mail to:"class name" <[email protected]>

Charlene Dewbre is thegroup leader for thenewly formed TemeculaValley Macromedia UsersGroup.

Macromedia products arefrequently used in theproduction of computer-based instruction, i.e.Authorware,Dreamweaver, etc.

TVMMUG meetings takeplace on the secondTuesday evening of theeach month.

Contact Charlene [email protected]

New User’sGroup


Just Ask Sandi...About Employment MattersBy Sandi Giles

This article is the first in a monthly series dedicated to answering employment questions.Consider it a forum for you, the readers, to ask employment-related questions that have youconcerned or baffled or both. Each month I’ll attempt to answer as many questions as spacewill allow.

As the owner of a technical communication firm, I hire contract writers, editors, and illustra-tors to create and publish technical documentation for clients who prefer to outsourcedocumentation projects. In addition, my company places contract and direct-hire documenta-tion specialists at client companies. This is my roundabout way of trying to convince you that Ihave a background in the employment arena and, therefore, have some expertise to answeryour questions. With that said, I know you’ll do your best to challenge me.

Although I’m not a labor law expert, I deal with employment issues on a daily basis. When anew topic comes up, it usually pertains to an issue of concern or misunderstanding. Almostinvariably, inquiries have to do with how to interpret an ambiguous IRS ruling or a legislativematter. In instances like these, if I don’t know the answer, I call our labor law attorney or HRspecialist. Questions of this nature that you send to me will provide both of us with an oppor-tunity to learn.

With that said, I didn’t receive any questions for this month’s article but I’m sure I will for nextmonth’s column. For this month, I thought I’d share some interview humor that appeared inthe Orange County Register, “It’s Your Business” Section, on August 2, 1999:

Prospective hires say the darnedest things in interviewsAsked what his ideal job would be, one interviewee said “to lie in bed all day, eat chocolate,and get paid.” Another prospective hire, when asked about her proficiency with varioussoftware programs, pulled out a photo of herself standing next to a computer and said: “Thisshows my familiarity with office equipment.” A candidate had a beeping noise coming fromhis briefcase. He opened it, switched off a timer, and announced that he could answer onemore question before leaving for his next interview. Go figure.

If you have questions to submit for the October issue of the TechniScribe, please e-mail them asa Word file attachment to [email protected].

I look forward to hearing from you.

Be glad you area Technical

Writer

A banker is a fellow wholends you his umbrellawhen the sun is shiningand wants it back theminute it begins to rain.(Mark Twain)

An economist is an expertwho will know tomorrowwhy the things hepredicted yesterday didn'thappen today.

A statistician is someonewho is good with num-bers, but lacks thepersonality to be anaccountant.

An actuary is someonewho brings a fake bombon a plane, because thatdecreases the chances thatthere will be anotherbomb on the plane.(Laurence J. Peter)

A programmer is some-one who solves a problemyou didn't know you hadin a way you don'tunderstand.

A mathematician is a blindman in a dark roomlooking for a black catwhich isn't there.(Charles R. Darwin)


Membership NewsBy Dennis Hanrahan

First of all, congratulations to Jill Eisenbachand the other members who helped her getthe “new look” TechniScribe off the groundlast month. Isn’t this new layout a refreshingchange? I’m proud to have a monthlycolumn running in this excellent publica-tion!

OK, here are the statistics for this month. Ourcurrent membership stands at 411, and theSociety overall now numbers 21,397. Wel-come to the following new members whojoined us in July: Jane W. Baker, Sue E.Knight, Mary Ann Lee, Marianne D.Roberts, and Jon Witcher.

Among chapters with more than 300 mem-bers, we now rank 16th. The largest chapterin the Society is still Silicon Valley with 1,294members, followed by Boston with 1,024. Atthe time these statistics were compiled, wehad 406 members, including 1 Fellow, 6Associate Fellows, 117 Senior Members, 257Members, and 25 Student Members.

Now for some new member profiles:

Jasmah Pierstorff joined us in March. Shehas been a Children’s Center assistant atOrange Coast College (OCC) for three years,and is attending OCC as an undergraduate,preparing for a degree in sociology. Sheexpects to complete her degree requirementsat Cal State Long Beach in two years.

Previously Jasmah was a dentist at QueenElizabeth Hospital, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,Malaysia. She got her dental degree atMalaysian Dentistry School in Penang,Malaysia.

The thing Jasmah likes best about techwriting is that it teaches clarity of thinkingand offers exciting employment. Her hus-band, OCSTC Associate Fellow DonPierstorff, encouraged her to join STCbecause she does translations for his com-pany, The Amplified Quill, from English toMalay, and vice versa.

Jasmah, who was born in Sandakan, NorthBorneo, enjoys reading, writing, traveling,and psychology.

Carey Furlong also joined us in March. Hehas completed his 13th year working atUnigraphics Solutions. His job title isAdvanced Engineer, but he has been strictlya software technical writer for the last 16years, including 2-1/2 years with Com-

puter Sciences in El Segundo. Prior to that, hewas a data processing supervisor for ItelCorporation.

Carey likes preparing graphics and writing andediting end user descriptions, but he says hedoesn’t enjoy dealing with uncommunicativeprogrammers and developers. He has a Bachelorof Arts degree in English and Creative Writingfrom California State University, Long Beach, andan AA degree in Architectural Drafting fromGolden West College in Huntington Beach.

Carey says he joined STC to get to know his peersfrom other companies a little better. He’s a PCenthusiast who regularly builds and upgradeshis own systems. He likes to read, mainly historyand science fiction. He also has a passion for theearth sciences, geology, and astronomy.

Joseph Reyes also joined us in March. Hediscovered STC while taking a writing class. Hehas been writing documents and procedures for anumber of years, but was not aware of an organi-zation for technical communicators. He has over10 years of experience in writing administrative,human resources and employee relations policiesand procedures. In addition, he has four yearsexperience in contract development and legisla-tive analysis.

Joseph is a native Californian with a BA inAnthropology and an MS in Public Administra-tion from Cal State Los Angeles. He is interestedin learning more about software program manualdevelopment.

Courtney, Jill Eisenbach, Bob Easley, or MaryHudson, be sure to thank them.

While we’re off to a good start, don’t assume wedon’t need your help. I’m looking for a bright,sensitive, caring person to lead the ScholarshipCommittee. If you are a graduate of a technicalcommunication certificate program, give some-thing back by organizing our effort to give a fewcurrent students a big wad of cash! (Well, OK, it’sreally a check.)

We also need people to help our committee chairsdo their jobs well. If you want to get involvedwith the ongoing redesign of the newsletter,contact Jill. If you want to join the PR Committee,call Pam. If you want to help the EducationCommittee prepare for the next century, contactBill or Doug. I’ll be calling members I know andintroducing myself to those I don’t know when-ever there’s a need to be filled. There are lots ofopportunities when nothing is sacred.

Chapter Chat(continued from page 2)

Be glad you area Technical

Writer

A topologist is a man whodoesn't know the differ-ence between a coffee cupand a doughnut.

A lawyer is a person whowrites a 10,000 worddocument and calls it a"brief."

A psychologist is a manwho watches everyoneelse when a beautifulwoman enters the room.

A professor is one whotalks in someone else'ssleep.

A schoolteacher is adisillusioned woman whoused to think she likedchildren.

A consultant is someonewho takes the watch offyour wrist and tells youthe time.

A diplomat is someonewho can tell you to go tohell in such a way that youwill look forward to thetrip.

A technical writer is theone who tells you tohyphenate "anal reten-tive."


Enter the SouthernCalifornia Art, Online, andPublications competitions.

The competition entrysubmission deadline isOctober 15, 1999.

Contact Bonni Graham [email protected] call her at 619-291-0050.

Editor’sCorrection

The June Recap article inlast month’s edition,August, 1999, pointedreaders to the wrong Website for Sharon Burton-Hardin’s presentation.The correct address iswww.anthrobytes.com,not www.iestc.org.

UpcomingRegional Events

to Keep YourEyes On

August RecapBy Jonathan Cohen

Showering his audience with wisdom andcandy projectiles, Jack Molisani gave anenergetic and engaging talk on “The10 MostCommon Mistakes Writers Make WhenLooking for a Job” at the Orange Countygeneral meeting on August 17th. His themewas that technical recruiters—the source ofmany of the best technical writing jobs—areextremely busy people who often receivehundreds of resumes in a week, and thatthe more one can do to meet or exceedexpectations, the more successful the jobsearch will be.

To tell us what not to do, Jack set out hisdecalogue of doomed job-seeking techniques:

1. Not following submission directions

2. Not building personal relationships

3. Bad manners

4. Applying when you’re not evenremotely qualified

5. Not summarizing skills vs. requirements

6. Misnaming your resume

7. Poorly writing or formatting your resume

8. Mis-evaluation of importances

9. Not anticipating and answeringquestions

10. Not keeping your skills current

Of course, the point in setting out these tennegatives was to encourage job-seekingtechnical writers to do the exact opposite andsucceed in their search for a job.

See the full article on our Web site. You cansee Jack's outline in HTML format at http://www.claritytechnical.com/html/references.html.

Jonathan Cohen, a recent member of STC, hasbeen in the technical writing field for threemonths. He is currently employed at Geotest Inc.

taught a class of adults anything, and the ideaof teaching my peers job-related skills were anespecially scary idea. What if someone askedme something I didn’t know? Worse, what ifsomeone actually knew more than I and ex-posed me contemptuously as a fraud and acharlatan? And, what about all that work ofgetting the lessons together? I would neverhave the time. Anne calmed all my fears, Iwould be teaching newbies all the things I wascomfortable with as the book and templatedesigner at Sony. And the class wouldn’t beuntil November. Well, that settled it. Novem-ber! That was months away! It might as well bein the next millennium. However, Novemberdid eventually come around and I had to liveup to my promise, for the class was advertisedin the TechniScribe and on ’the Web site.

Putting the lesson plan together and writing thetraining material took longer than I thought. Iwas up very late the week before finishing up, sothe day of my first class I was exhausted. But as Imet my students and started into the lessons, Iwas somehow charged up too, and I found Iloved teaching the class.

My favorite part is meeting and working with mystudents. Each person comes from such a differ-ent background and brings something differentinto the class. It is so interesting how differentpeople work: the freewheeling artist’s approach,the precise engineer’s approach. And most of mystudents feel just as vulnerable and shy as I do. Ihave never had an unpleasant experience withanyone in my classes. My students are alwayssupportive, even when I don’t know all theanswers. Without exception, I have enjoyed allmy classes and all the people I have met. Iencourage any STC member to give teaching a try.Consider the rewards:

♦ You will deepen your knowledge of the skillyou are teaching.

♦ You will be giving back to your community.♦ You will meet a lot of really nice people.♦ You will give your ego a boost.♦ It will look great on your resume!

Cover Story(continued from page 1)


UpcomingRegional Events

to Keep YourEyes On

Region 8 Conference“Driving Forces in TechnicalCommunication”

November 11-14, 1999Long Beach HiltonLong Beach, CA

Host: Los Angeles Chapter

http://www.stc.org/region8/conferences/www/index.html

Contact:Christine StevensPhone: (310) 216-0816Fax: (310) 216-0795E-mail: [email protected]

The preliminary programand registration informa-tion will be mailed inSeptember, 1999.

Region 5 Conference“Hot Trends forCommunicators”

October 14-16, 1999Ahwatukee Grace InnPhoenix, AZ

Host: Phoenix Chapter

www.stc-phoenix.com

Contact:Amy ShoganPhone: (602) 494-8186E-mail:[email protected]

For additional informa-tion, you can view thePDF original on theOCSTC Web site athttp://www.stc.org/region8/occ/www/pdf/reg5conf.pdf

Spreading the Good WordBy Pamela Coca

Well, I think I am beginning to get the hang ofthis new position as chair of the Public Rela-tions Committee. I was confused at first. Whatneeds to be done? How should it be done?Where do I start?

I attended my second board meeting the othernight and guess what my job description is: I amto spread the word that OCSTC exists and thatit is the very best way for technical writers tonetwork and learn and grow in their chosen field.Duh! I thought everybody knew about theadvantages of membership in STC. Well,evidently there are a few souls left who haven’tbeen properly advised. It is my job to let themknow that the doors are always open and that itis time to “come on down.”

I guess I also need to make sure that those whoalready attend the meetings are familiar with thebenefits of belonging to such a great organiza-tion; namely our classes, our SIGs, our awardwinning TechniScribe, and our Journal. Ah, somuch to learn, so little time!

I will be promoting our monthly dinner meetingsthrough various newspaper and Internet noticesbecause if an upcoming technical writer doesn’tknow when, where or why we meet, he or shewon’t be likely to join us.

We just received the new OCSTC brochures andwe will be handing these out every chance weget. I will be sending them to the technicalwriting departments at local universities.

At the Region 8 Conference in November, weneed to make the presence of OCSTC known toone and all. For this, I definitely need ideas andvolunteers to help me spread the word. Leteveryone who is anyone know that we are here.Our words are the future.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me. See mye-mail address and phone numbers the coversleeve under chapter contacts.

Is There an Artist in theHouse?By Jill Eisenbach

Can you guess who this caicature is? If youwere at our last month’s meeting, it wouldbe easy to tell. Yes, it is Jack Molisani, ourlast month’s speaker, and candy lover…

Our artist, David Hernandez, is one of ournewest members to the chapter, and aren’twe lucky? It was such a pleasure meetingDavid, and seeing him in action.

David is currently enrolled in DonPierstorff’s Technical Writing course atOrange Coast College.

David has been drawing before he was born,doodling farm animals and stickmen on theinterior walls of his mother’s stomach. Hisillustrations have been published in numer-ous literary magazines around the country.

Check out his web site to see his incredibleartwork he has been creating at http://members.brandx.net/websites/syrup.


OCSTC Mailing Address

P.O. Box 28751Santa Ana, CA 92799-8751(949) 863-7666 (recorded info)

Address Service Requested

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDSANTA ANA, CAPERMIT NO. 1767

Calendar of Events

September 1 Administrative Council meeting at AOL 7:00 p.m.September 11 Introduction to FrameMakerSeptember 18 Intermediate FrameMaker (templates)September 21 OCSTC Chapter meeting, 6:30 p.m. Speaker/Topic: John

Sands, “The Pre-Broadband Era” (see page 3)

October 2 Adobe Acrobat 4.0October 6 Administrative Council meeting at AOL 7pm.October 9 HTML + FrontPageOctober 16 Introduction to FrameMakerOctober 19 OCSTC Chapter meeting, 6:30 p.m. Speaker/Topic: Saul

Carliner, “Information Pollution: Going BeyondDangling Participles and Subject-Verb Agreement”

In the Surrounding Area...September 16 IESTC Chapter meeting, Canyon Crest Country Club,

Riverside, 6:30 p.m.September 28 LASTC Chapter meeting, Wyndham Garden Hotel,

Culver City, 6:30 p.m. Speaker/Topic: Kate Harper, “TheWeb in 2005: Writing for the Net”

October 21 IESTC Chapter meeting, Canyon Crest Country Club,Riverside, 6:30 p.m.

RSVP IESTC www.iestc.org/this_month.html or by phone at 909-886-0715RSVP LASTC www.stc.org/region8/lac/www/lahome.htm or by phone at

213-896-2982

Editor’s CornerBy Jill Eisenbach

Our local SIG groups need resurrection.The Online SIG, and the RoboHELP (aka-RUG) currently need new hosts and aplace to meet. We are looking for strongleaders. Marcia Couey, past host for bothgroups, has suggested that we need to findout what people want, for both groups.

There will be a survey at the Septembermeeting for the purposes of gatheringinformation on the direction to take for thefollowing year, and possibly beyond.Please contact Mark Bloom with yourcomments, suggestions, and of course,interested hosts.

ocstc members say thank you to sony trans com · (cover story, continued on page 10) columns...

Documents