ISTCNewsletter January2008 - istc.org.uk · TheNewsletterfortechnicalauthors,technicalillustratorsandinformationdesigners ThisNewsletterispostedat

The Newsletter for technical authors, technical illustrators and information designersThis Newsletter is posted at www.istc.org.uk/Publications/Newsletter/newsletter.htm

1© ISTC January 2008

ISTC newsISTC president reveals plans for2008By Simon Butler FISTC MBCS, ISTC President

It’s the time of year again when my thoughtsturn to a reflection of what I have achieved inthe past year and to my plans for theforthcoming year. I didn’t quite get round tomaking New Year’s resolutions. I learnt a longtime ago that they rarely last beyond about thesecond week in January!

To this end, I would like to take thisopportunity to reflect on what we, as aninstitute, have achieved recently. I inherited anISTC in a very much better shape than the oneI knew five years ago. We are strongerfinancially and our annual conference hasgrown from an informal event to one thatattracts some of the biggest names in ourprofession. We have also launched the ISTCOpen Learning Course which has proved to befar more popular and successful than any of uson Council even dreamed about. In addition,we have a vibrant Business Affiliates schemewith some very large and importantorganisations among our supporters.

As we enter what will be our 60th year, thetime has now come to look to furtherdevelopment and growth, rather than justworking to ensure the ISTC survives. With thisdevelopment and growth, we can offer greaterbenefits to you – our members.

I intend to establish, maintain, and growaffiliations with other professionalorganisations (such as the British ComputerSociety) with a view to increasing the range ofbenefits available to us all and to raise theprofile of the ISTC. I will be appointing aliaison officer to manage these relationships.

We will also be launching a ContinuingProfessional Development (CPD) scheme. Wehave negotiated with the Open University (OU)to give our members a discount on the OU’sCPD courses. We are also forging affiliationswith the CPD Institute to further demonstrateour commitment to CPD. As part of this CPDscheme, we will also be looking to trainingcourse providers to supply our members withapproved courses in the use of the varioustools that we all use.

In conclusion, there are great things plannedfor 2008 and I hope that, this time next year,I can report continued growth and furthersuccesses. Here’s to a busy (and rewarding)2008!

ISTC Newsletter January 2008

The ISTC is the United Kingdom’s professionalassociation for technical authors, technical illustrators,and information designers.

ISTC Office: PO Box 522, Peterborough, pe2 5wx.Tel: 01733 390141. E-mail: [email protected]: www.istc.org.uk

This monthly Newsletter is e-mailed to about 1500 people.As well as ISTC news, the Newsletter aims to coveranything of interest to the profession. To subscribe,contact the Office.

Advertising: Felicity Davie or phone 01344 466600.Editorial: Newsletter Editor. Letters: Letters Editor.Events: Events Editor.

If you’re reading a printed copy of this newsletter, go towww.istc.org.uk/Publications/Newsletter/newsletter.htmand open it online to explore the links mentioned.

Affiliate news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Industry news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Software news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Training news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Training courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Events news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Events listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Back page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

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Providing in-depth and unbiasedinformationBy Marian Newell, Journal Editor,Communicator [email protected].

Communicator will continue at 60 pages in2008, thanks to growth in both content andadvertising. Our range of content contributorsis extending in various directions, includingboth commercial organisations and academics,and we are reliably booked a quarter inadvance. We are providing more advertisingoptions, from the cover-mounted CD inAutumn 2007 to ideas now coming fromadvertisers. By distributing copies througheducators, trainers and event organisers, we'veestablished ourselves as one of the industry'sleading periodicals and we intend to build onthat reputation.

Our main challenge is to provide in-depth andunbiased information about every facet oftechnical communication, and the tools andtechniques used in it. We ask all Newsletterreaders to consider whether they can writesomething pertinent for us in 2008. It needn'tbe long: an interesting letter is just as valuableas a four-page feature. The main stipulation isthat it's a fresh piece written specifically for ourreadership. If you have ideas or information ona topic we haven't yet covered, we definitelyneed to hear from you.

A specific requirement at present is for striking,high-resolution photographs of informationproducts in use. This arose out of a search for

a cover image of an interactive electronictechnical manual alongside the productdescribed. However, any good photographs ofdeliverables in action would be welcome tocreate a stock of images that we havepermission to use when a suitable contextarises.

We set out to make each year the best year yetfor the journal. Please help us achieve that goalin 2008.

Engaging in interculturaldialogue in 2008By Theresa Cameron, Internationalrepresentative of the ISTC.

2008 is the European Year of InterculturalDialogue and there is a wealth of activitiestaking place during the year, right acrossEurope. These links are useful starting points:

• ec.europa.eu/news/employment/071204_1_en.htmfor information about the launch

• www.interculturaldialogue2008.eu/for the dedicated website.

TCeurope, the umbrella organisation fortechnical communications associations inEurope, is holding its annual colloquium inBologna, Italy on 14 April 2008. The focus forthis, its 8th colloquium, is on user-friendlyproduct information. The programme will beposted as soon as it is finalised early in theNew Year.

INTECOM, the international umbrella fortechnical communications associations, isrevising its constitution to allow us to functionin a more streamlined and efficient way. Votingfor this will take place at the INTECOM annualgeneral meeting, which is the ProfessionalCommunications’ branch of the IEEE(IEEE-PC), has kindly offered to host during itsconference in Montreal in July.

But “international” is not only aboutconferences. It is also about all our members,wherever they are located; whether they work ininternational environments or are simplyinterested in international technicalcommunication.

To join the ISTC International Steering Groupor to share any international news orexperiences, all you have to do is contactTheresa Cameron: [email protected]'s communicate – internationally!





http://www.interculturaldialogue2008.eu/

http://ec.europa.eu/news/employment/071204_1_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/news/employment/071204_1_en.htm


Conference 2008 venueannouncedWith the ISTC Conference 2007 anoverwhelming success, conference organisersare already working on making Conference2008 an even bigger event. If you enjoyed theISTC Conference in Liverpool in 2007, youmight like to make a trip to Nottingham thisSeptember. This year’s conference will be heldat Eastwood Hall, Nottingham on 23 – 25September. To learn more about why EastwoodHall will make your ISTC Conference 2008 thatlittle bit extra special, please visitwww.hayley-conf.co.uk/eastwood_hall.asp.

Delivering fresh views andpractical newsBy Kathryn Valdal Fourie MISTC,ISTC newsletter copyeditor,[email protected].

In 2007, the ISTC newsletter grew anddeveloped both in terms of content andadvertising. In 2008, we plan to bring you morefresh ideas from interviews with industryplayers, while still keeping you up-to-date withthe exciting developments within the ISTC andthe technical communications industry as awhole.

To help us achieve these goals this year, weinvite you to contact us to discuss potentialeditorial ideas. If you or your business can offer

any insight into an element of the industry orhas news to share, please contact us. We arelooking for new ideas so that in 2008 the ISTCnewsletter can help its members to take aninvigorating approach to their work andcontinue to drive our industry forward. We arelooking to further develop our newsletter tocater for the needs of communicatorsapproaching the millennium and a new era inwriting.

To deliver news and information that hits thespot, we want to chat more with you. If youwould like to see more (or less) of somethingin the newsletter, please feel free to fire off ane-mail. We’d love to hear from you.

While it is important to keep a finger on thepulse of our industry, we also need to take abreak for a bit of inspiration andentertainment. The newsletter tries to offer thisto readers through its back page. However, weare often unable to obtain therights/permission for the use of certainmaterial. This means that we cannot includemany of the funny items we come across.

To help us gather entertaining material whichwe can obtain permission to reproduce, pleasethink of sending us the funny errors intranslation, amusing signs or confusing uses ofEnglish that you encounter each day. Not onlydo we look for entertaining errors or uses ofEnglish but also clever ones too. So please dosend us the fun bits and bobs that make yousmile from time to time.



Can you tella good story?If you are an experienced technical writer with journalistic �air, we may have just the opportunity for you at tes.

We have a range of experienced technical and marketing communication specialists working for clients such as Shell and Schlumberger and we need additional technical writing expertise to enhance our established team.

Can you write for a variety of media, particularly the scienti�c and engineering press; deliver to tight deadlines; interview the top man and get the story; and take your editorial to the �nal product? Would you like to travel worldwide, to live and work in the beautiful heart of Cheshire and to be paid a salary appropriate to your high-level skills? If the answer to these questions is yes, then we are very keen to hear from you.

For further information, please contact [email protected]

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http://www.hayley-conf.co.uk/eastwood_hall.asp

You say lexicography,I say terminologyAlan Fisk FISTC represented the ISTC at theannual meeting of the Association forTerminology and Lexicography (ATL)www.batl.org.uk on 1 December at theUniversity of Surrey in Guildford. The theme ofthis year's meeting was “You say lexicography,I say terminology: description and prescriptionin working with words for translation andtechnical writing”.

Alan was one of four speakers who gavepresentations. Alan spoke on “Choose YourWords Carefully”, giving an overview ofterminology issues in technicalcommunication. Alan has been asked to writeup his presentation as a short article for thebulletin of the Institute of Translation andInterpretation www.iti.org.uk.

Photo: Alan Fisk at the ATL annual meeting

Forgotten to renew yourmembership?The ISTC office reopened on 2 January and youstill have a bit of time left to renew your ISTCmembership, if you haven’t done so already.Payments are due before 31 January. ContactCarol Hewitt for more information [email protected].

Affiliate newsAn inside look at dynamicpublishing at PTCBy Kathryn Valdal Fourie MISTC.

“Why should writers and illustrators have to beexperts in extensible markup language (XML)or other emerging technologies”, asks DieterWeidenbrueck, Publishing Solutions VP at PTC.PTC is a product lifecycle management (PLM),content management and dynamic publishingsolutions company well known amongcommunicators for its enterprise softwareproduct Arbortext.

“I want technical writers and illustrators to beable to focus on creating content for thebenefit of their readers” and not on changingtechnologies and standards. This is why PTC is“aiming to make products more accessible andeasy-to-use for smaller- and medium-sizedcompanies,” explains Weidenbrueck in anexclusive interview with the ISTC about hisvision for the future of PTC dynamic publishingsolutions.

Increasingly writers and illustrators need toimprove their technical skills, knowledge ofsoftware applications and standards.“Standards are moving targets. Almost as soonas a standard is released it changes.” Currently,communicators have to maintain pace withthese changes and new technologies. For



Communicator:Article of the Year 2007Please return the form enclosed with the Winter 2007Communicator by 31 January to vote for your favouritearticles. As well as providing recognition to our mostvalued contributors, this is a great help to the Editorin evaluating which content best meets readers'needs.



http://www.iti.org.uk/

http://www.batl.org.uk

example, Weidenbrueck says today in theaerospace and defence industry, illustrationsmust be S1000D compliant. To achieve this, anillustrator must read a 1000 page specification,even though s/he might only need to becomefamiliar with a small part of it for the task s/heis working on. To enable writers and illustratorsto focus on their core role, “we have builtcompliant products.” But this is only the first

step, says Weidenbrueck, and “we are nowtrying to create another layer to shield usersfrom ever growing complexity. Our strategy isto take responsibility for keeping pace withissues relating to regulations and standards bycreating products that require only minimalconfiguration when installing.”

Integrating businesses and products

“PTC owns the technologies to meet theseneeds” in the dynamic publishing market,following a series of acquisitions:

• In July 2005: Arbortext

PTC acquired the leading supplier of dynamicpublishing software, Arbortext. With thisacquisition, PTC expanded the definition ofPLM to include a critical component indelivering products to market, theaccompanying technical publications.

• In October 2006: ITEDO

PTC acquired leading technical illustrationsoftware provider ITEDO. Following theacquisition, ITEDO solutions became animportant part of PTC’s Arbortext productfamily, providing extensive 2D and 3D technicalillustration capabilities and further enhancingPTC’s 3D interactive content for technicalpublications.

• In November 2007: Logistics BusinessSystems (LBS)

PTC acquired LBS, an integrated logisticssupport (ILS) solutions provider to the

aerospace & defence (A&D) and civil aviationindustries.

Weidenbrueck is the former owner and founderof ITEDO. He joined PTC when the companyacquired ITEDO and leads the research anddevelopment of publishing solutions at PTC.He is currently working on the integration ofLBS into the PTC suite of products. “I amexcited about integrating LBS following theacquisition and expect that integrating thecompany will go smoothly. I went through theacquisition process with PTC’s acquisition ofITEDO and I know what went well and wherewe could improve.” Weidenbrueck says he canapply his experience and knowledge from theprevious acquisition to this one. “I ampersonally responsible for the LBS integrationand expect this to go smoothly.”

LBS solutions are already integrated with PTCArbortext and together offer turn-key solutionsfor S1000D-compliant technical publications,provisioning, training and e-learning, andlogistics support analysis. The LBS solutionswill be branded as part of the Arbortext productfamily. As a result of the acquisition, PTC saysit is now the only PLM provider to offer acomplete solution for ILS.

The combination of PTC and LBS will facilitatethe reuse of product design and configurationdata such as CAD, bill of material (BOM),change management information and logisticsinformation. As a result, A&D and civil aviationorganisations will be able to deliver standards



Photo: Dieter Weidenbrueck


compliant product support information in theform of technical publications, illustrated partscatalogues and training materials.

Customers can also take advantage of theexisting integration between PTC’s Arbortextand LBS’ products to meet S1000D and otherILS requirements. S1000D, a standardisedapproach to dynamic publishing, is mandatedfor all defence contracts in Europe and manylarge defence contractors and civil aircraftprograms in the US and Asia have alsoadopted this as a requirement. With LBS, PTCwill additionally be able to support other keyprocesses compliant with industry regulationsincluding provisioning compliant withS2000M, training and e-learning compliantwith sharable content object reference model(SCORM), and logistics support analysis (LSA).

"This acquisition is consistent with PTC’sprevious acquisitions of Arbortext, for dynamicpublishing, and ITEDO, for 2D and 3Dtechnical illustrations, and creates theindustry’s most comprehensive publishingsolution for technical documentation,regulatory compliance and aftermarket supportin the A&D and civil aviation industries,” saidJim Heppelmann, executive vice president and

chief product officer of PTC. “The increasinglyglobal nature of the A&D and civil aviationindustries is prompting organisations torethink and optimise aftermarket support andlogistics. With LBS, PTC will be able to providea more complete solution to organisations thatwould like to use ILS to improve informationquality and time-to-market throughrepurposing product and logisticsinformation.”

PTC plans to offer the LBS solutionsstandalone or with the PTC ProductDevelopment System and aims to maintaininteroperability and integration with variousCAD and PLM solutions.

What you can expect from PTC in future?

As PTC expands its product line throughacquisitions and R&D, “we are well positionedto build the best S1000D solution in themarket,” says Weidenbrueck.

Over the next 12 months, he says that we canexpect new releases of all major PTCpublishing products:

1) Major revisions to the Arbortext ILSsolutions.

2) Additional releases in the Arbortext suite ofproducts, including Arbortext IsoDraw withnew features and support for additionalCAD formats for easy integration.

“We plan to continue increasing the integrationin and between products and applications,” he

says. For instance, the integrated graphics viewin Arbortext graphics editor, IsoView, candisplay fully integrated graphics and 3Dgraphics. Arbortext Publishing Engine offersprintable documents or documents integratedusing Adobe PDF. In the next release ofArbortext, “you will be able to link text parts toobjects inside graphics to simplify navigationbetween text and graphics for the reader. Wewill also intensify integration efforts betweenthe newly acquired products from LBS and withArbortext IsoDraw.”

To stay informed visit www.ptc.com orsubscribe to the newsletter, atwww.ptc.com/community/email_newsletters.htm.



Hyperlinks disclaimerThe appearance of external hyperlinks does notconstitute endorsement by the ISTC of the linkedwebsites, or the information, products or servicescontained on those sites. All external hyperlinks wereaccurate and working at the time of writing. However,the ISTC does not exercise any editorial control overthe information you may find at these locations, sothe ISTC cannot be responsible for changes tocontent found at these locations or any material onthose sites that may be inaccurate, misleading oroffensive to you.

All links are provided with the intent of meeting themission of the ISTC and its Newsletter, and the ISTCdisclaims any responsibility for the accuracy,completeness and availability of any linked site.

Please let us know about existing external links whichyou believe are inappropriate or inaccurate and aboutspecific additional external links which you believeought to be included.

For a full list of the ISTC’s current BusinessAffiliates, see www.istc.org.uk/Business_affiliates/ba_home.htm.

You can read more about the scheme atwww.istc.org.uk/Membership/business_affiliates.htm.

http://www.istc.org.uk/Membership/business_affiliates.htm

http://www.istc.org.uk/Membership/business_affiliates.htm

http://www.istc.org.uk/Business_affiliates/ba_home.htm

http://www.istc.org.uk/Business_affiliates/ba_home.htm


http://www.ptc.com/community/email_newsletters.htm

http://www.ptc.com/community/email_newsletters.htm

http://www.ptc.com

AST launches new websiteISTC Business Affiliate Authors ServicesTechnical (AST) has launched a new website.To explore AST’s new site and view thetechnical author job vacancies now listed,please go to www.astauthors.co.uk.

Developing an automatedpublishing strategy with DITAThis month JustSystems is launching XMetaLAuthor Enterprise 5.1, which further advancesthe market leading structured authoring andpublishing solution. XMetaL and xfy are thefoundation for JustSystems’ structuredauthoring and document-based compositeapplication solutions. These solutions providea basis for both structured content creationand a new class of dynamic documents thatcombine the rich context and persistence ofdocuments with the live data and interactivityof a traditional business application. With xfydocuments come to life and the document isthe application.

One of the major themes of XMetaL Author 5.1release is support for the latest version of theDarwin Information Typing Architecture, DITA1.1. Building on its pioneering and industry-leading support for DITA, XMetaL Author 5.1will be the easiest to use and most robustauthoring and publishing solution on themarket for DITA 1.1. In this two part article,Bret Freeman from JustSystems examines how

DITA is bringing new advantages for technicalcommunicators and authors.

For most organisations, documentation aroundproducts and services is crucial to success.Unfortunately, publishing is not a corecompetency for most companies and sopublishing processes evolve out of necessity.Ultimately, they become a disjointed collectionof procedures aimed at getting information outthe door within relative product release timescales.

There have been many approaches topublishing automation over the several pastdecades and some organisations have becomefairly proficient “accidental publishers”. Theyachieve their publishing goals and meetdeadlines. However, there have been many newfactors introduced in recent years, such as thebirth of the internet, delivery to multipleplatforms, and global reach to name a few.Publishing is no longer one set of informationdelivered to one set of customers in oneformat. One global software manufacturer forinstance is now responsible for delivering anentire suite of information products to 17different output formats in more than 50languages. In recent years, this has become therule rather than the exception and so solidautomated publishing strategies are anecessity.

Darwin Information Typing Architecture orDITA is fast becoming a means of automatingmany of the traditional cumbersome manualprocesses within a publishing cycle and in fact

brings with it many advantages that previousstandards have not. DITA considers manycommon information challenges and providesmechanisms to facilitate things likeinformation re-use, information sharing acrossmultiple business units, informationconsistency across deliverables and has one ofthe largest and most active user communitiesBret has seen in the past several years aroundany standard.

All of this makes DITA one of the mostimportant information managementdevelopments in recent history. But what doesDITA actually do? DITA all by itself doesn’treally DO anything. DITA is merely the shape ofthe box in which you will place yourinformation. Initially, when DITA wasdeveloped by the information architects at IBM,it was designed to work without a contentmanagement system and so has much of whatwould be considered content managementfunctionality built into the data model. DITAallows you to build intelligence into yourinformation and your information becomesmore portable as a result.

To read part two of this article don’t miss theFebruary edition of the ISTC newsletter. Parttwo will discuss various automation pointsusing best practices around DITA and howappropriate XML tools can accelerate peerreview techniques.

For your free 30 day trial of XMetaL 5.1, visitwww.testdrivexmetal.com or call 01753 607650.




http://www.testdrivexmetal.com

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UK PTC World attracts morethan 260Two hundred and sixty people attended the UKPTC World event in November. The globallytouring programme of events represents animportant forum for dialogue between usersand manufacturers. The event saw users ofPTC products, Pro/ENGINEER, Windchill,Arbortext, IsoDraw, while other attendeesgathered to listen to the ‘view from the top’from Dick Harrison, PTC’s Executive Chairmanand CEO, and glimpse into the future of thePTC product set from Brian Shepherd,Divisional Vice President, ProductManagement.

Industry news

Who’s writing in Plain English?The Plain English Campaign Awards 2007 tookplace in London on 11 December. Here are thewinners:

“Plain English” category(for the year’s clearest documents)

• Liverpool Housing Trust for their PictorialTenancy Agreement

• Stockport Women’s Aid for their Advicebooklet

• CO-Awareness for their Carbon MonoxidePoisoning leaflet

• The Prostate Cancer Charity for twoinformation booklets

• Alistair Macintosh for A guide to surveyorsjargon’

• Chancery Group for the Cephalon employeebenefits booklet

Inside Write category(for clear internal government documents)

• Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory(MOD) for the Distil newspaper

• Department for Children, Schools andFamilies for feedback magazine

• National School of Government for theirJoining the Civil Service handbook

• Forestry Commission for the OperationalGuidance Booklets

• DVLA for Licence magazine

• Driving Standards Agency for the Make adifference conferences 2007 booklet

Media Awards

• Best National Newspaper: The Sun

• Best Regional Newspaper: Western MorningNews

• Best National Radio Programme: The MiddayNews on Radio 5 Live with Aasmah Mir

• Best Regional Radio Station: BBC RadioDevon

• Best National TV programme: Panorama

• Best Regional TV programme: Anglia TV LocalNews West

• International Media Award: Bruce Hill, PacificBeat, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

• Web Award: beat for b-eat.co.uk

• Osborne Award: Teletext for their contributionto plain English.

To read about those who won awards for notgetting Plain English quite right, please visit theback page.



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Best practise intranet recognisedin CiB awardsStyleTech Solutions Ltd, based in Hull, haswon the Best Intranet award from the BritishAssociation of Communicators in Business(CiB) for an intranet system developed for IdealStandard UK. The same system won “TheCeramic Industry Pledge Promotion Award2007” for Ideal Standard in October.

StyleTech’s tailored intranet was awarded thetop prize because in the judges’ opinion it wasan “an outstanding system, a best practiseexample that delivers real value to the clientorganisation”.

Usability and accessibility are crucial factors inthe success of any intranet and StyleTech’sbrief was simply to get the system in front of asmany employees as possible. Tackling this

issue amongst a diversely skilled and dispersedstaff, from computer literate office based staffwith PC’s on every desk through to employeeswithin the factory areas whose work does notordinarily call for IT skills, has taken aparticularly creative approach. StyleTech’ssolution uses a “portal café” approach withtouch-screen kiosk technology installed intocanteens and walk-ways.

The system gives quick and easy access toinformation on product standards, operatingprocedures, health and safety updates andonline training courses. The information isupdated daily and available 24 hours. The newintranet, installed in April 2007 receives morethan 5,000 hits a week and Ideal has reported a400% increase in training course take-up.

Participate in navigation surveyIf you are involved in document creation, youmight be able to provide valuable input in asurvey on navigation and search in complexdocumentation.

Dirk Reinhold, a Business InformationTechnology student at the TechnischeUniversitat Dresden (tu-dresden.de) inGermany is conducting this survey.

Dirk's survey aims to:

• Identify problems in complexdocumentations in terms of handling,usability, technology, navigation and speed,

• Draw an overview of correlations betweenthese problems,

• Identify opportunities for new approaches,

• Run a benchmarking between differentbranches and

• Develop directives to enhancedocumentation support.

You can download and complete the “expertinterview” questionnaire fromsurvey.unbounded.de/expert_interview_tud.doc.

Please return your questionnaires, and addressany other questions you may have, directly toDirk Reinhold at [email protected] before31 January.



Left to Right is Lee Larkin, Solutions Architect (StyleTech)and David Scotney, Managing Director (StyleTech).

Left to Right is Lee Larkin, Solutions Architect (StyleTech),Paul Bayley, Information Communication Manager (IdealStandard) and David Scotney, Managing Director(StyleTech).



http://survey.unbounded.de/expert_interview_tud.doc

http://survey.unbounded.de/expert_interview_tud.doc

http://tu-dresden.de/

Software newsLearn about Adobe’s TechnicalCommunication SuiteBy Amanda Bates MISTC

Tech Writer Voices has a podcast interviewwith a senior Adobe employee, discussing thecompany's Technical Communication Suite.Tech Writer Voices say:

” RJ Jacquez, senior product evangelist atAdobe.com, talks about the new TechnicalCommunication Suite from Adobe, whichincludes RoboHelp 7, Captivate 3, Acrobat 3Dversion 8, and FrameMaker 8. Topics wediscuss include the following:

• What the Technical Communication Suiteincludes and how each product interacts

• Integration of Captivate with RoboHelp

• Integration of Framemaker with RoboHelp

• Support for 35 plus languages

• Ability to embed flash in Acrobat 3D PDFs

• Experience with the Tech Comm blog

• Roadmap for the Technical CommunicationSuite

• Adobe’s emphasis on suites”

You can find the Podcast (a 22 minute MP3) at:tinyurl.com/2cfprs.

National Magazine Companyselects Fluid Mask 3Luxury consumer magazine publisher, theNational Magazine Company, has purchased asite license for Vertus’ Fluid Mask 3. This willallow every designer on staff to access theprogram, strengthening their image editingtoolbox and optimising workflow, quality andefficiency. The award-winning software willenable the photographers and artists to quicklyand easily create seamless cut-outs. They’llspend less time editing images and more timefocused on the overall publication.

The National Magazine Company, whichcurrently publishes 19 magazines in the UK,including Good Housekeeping, Country Living,Harper's Bazaar, Esquire and Cosmopolitan,maintains a rigorous publication schedule. Thecompany plans to deploy Fluid Mask 3 to helpease the production staff’s workload.

Fluid Mask 3 is a digital imaging tool used forremoving objects from their backgrounds byadapting complex algorithms that mimic theway the human eye and brain see edges andobjects. The software identifies the outline ofthe various colours, textures and shades, andseparates them into individual puzzle-likepieces. Through the use of this technology,Fluid Mask 3 enables fast and accurate cut-outs, expediting workflow and opening the userto new heights of creativity, layout and design.

XyEnterprise and NGRAIN formpartnershipXyEnterprise, the developer of award-winningextensible markup language (XML) contentmanagement and multi-channel deliverysolutions, and NGRAIN, a provider of 3Dperformance support solutions, have formed astrategic partnership. Through this partnershipthey aim to provide an integrated rich mediadelivery solution which combinesXyEnterprise’s ContentaView with NGRAIN’sinteractive 3D equipment simulations.Together, the solution will

• enhance learning

• reduce error frequency and associated costs

• improve user performance by acceleratingequipment and

• allow end users to practice procedures withinthe simulation

Both ContentaView and NGRAIN are web-enabled to allow users to access technicalinformation at home, in the classroom or inthe field. In addition, 3D capability allows rapidcreation of new 3D content or easy repurposingof existing 3D assets (such as CAD and otherengineering schematics) for rich media display.As an example, a mechanic can view a 3Danimation to learn a new repair procedure, or asoldier can follow step-by-step maintenanceprocedures in the field for repair aided by a 3Dvirtual model of the engine.




http://tinyurl.com/2cfprs

Training newsSheffield Hallam opportunity inNew ZealandThe Open Polytechnic of New Zealand is aboutto sign an agreement with Sheffield HallamUniversity in the UK, regarding an option tostaircase straight from the Open Polytechnic’sCertificate in Technical Communication into aMasters degree in Technical Communication.

It is possible to do this qualification in stages,starting with a Post-Graduate Certificate, thenthe Diploma, and finally, the Masters.

For more information [email protected].

Lecturer and student wininternational communicationsawardA lecturer and a student from De MontfortUniversity in Leicester won the highestaccolade in the MarCom Awards 2007 held inTexas, USA.

Dr John Martin, a reader and principal lecturerin History, and John Pascoe, an MA Historystudent specialising in building with steel, wereawarded the Platinum Award for their reportBuilding with Steel in the UK – Market Sector:Sports and Leisure.

The judges considered both the front cover

photograph of the iconic Wembley arch, takenby Simon Atkinson, a content editor fromElectrocomponents Plc, was as well as thecontent of the report.

The team's achievement in the MarComAwards follows the success of their report Steeland Agriculture in the ConstructionSpecifications Institute (CSI) Awards 2007 inAlabama.

Training coursesListings are restricted to scheduled courses thatare low cost or are in some way unusual. Listingsare a service to members. A listing does notimply ISTC endorsement.

If you hear of any training courses that you thinkmight be of interest to Newsletter readers, pleasecontact the Newsletter Copy Editor([email protected]).

If you would like to promote your course or eventto ISTC members, why not consider giving ISTCmember a discount for courses and events listedin our newsletter. For more information, pleasecontact Carol Hewitt at [email protected].

January

17–18 Adobe FrameMaker basic/intermediate.This course provides beginners with athorough grounding in FrameMaker.Starting from first principles, delegateslearn how to create new documents,modify existing ones and useFrameMaker’s most popular features.Armada, Bromsgrove, Midlands.www.armadaonline.co.uk/adobetraining.

23 On-screen editing 1.This hands on introductory courseteaches basic skills for efficient on-screen editing. Participants work




http://www.armadaonline.co.uk/adobetraining





through series of exercises to put intopractice the ideas outlined by the tutorat the start of each module.Society of Proofreaders and Editors,London.www.sfep.org.uk/pub/train/courses.asp#ce5.

26 Getting started: Launching your indexingcareer.This workshop is aimed atcommunicators who have already donesome training on indexing. Amongother issues, the training covers theproblems and challenges in indexing afull-length text and provides tips onhow to become a successful freelanceindexer.Society of Indexers, Londonwww.indexers.org.uk/index.php?id=416.

31 Introduction to Adobe Acrobat.This course teaches how to create PDFdocuments appropriate for Webpublishing and printing. It coversmodifying PDFs (bookmarks,thumbnails and links) and preparingthem for distribution. Armada,Bromsgrove, Midlands.www.armadaonline.co.uk/adobetraining.

Events newsIf you would like to promote your course orevent to ISTC members, why not considergiving ISTC member a discount for coursesand events listed in our newsletter. For moreinformation, please [email protected].

X-Pubs 2008 calls for speakersX-Pubs organises and delivers webinars,seminars, workshops, case-studies andwhitepapers from some of the industry mostvalued technical minds to educate andpromote the latest content standards. Everyyear X-Pubs organises the X-Pubs Conference,Europe’s largest extensible markup language(XML) publishing conference.

The X-Pubs 2007 Conference organisers saythat again the event hit its attendee goals,making it one of Europe’s largest technicalcommunications and component contentmanagement events.

The event dates for 2008 are currently set for23–24 June with an opportunity for workshopson 25 June.

The conference is offering workshop,presentation speaking and sponsorshipopportunities. To find out more, about how tomake a proposal and by what date, please goto www.x-pubs.com.

LISA calls for papersDo you have a compelling case study aboutglobalisation in China, Asia/Pacific, or on aglobal scale?

Do you have insight to share into bestpractices for globalisation? A new technologybreakthrough?

If so, The Localization Industry StandardsAssociation (Lisa) invites your proposals forpresentations at CHINA FOCUS 2008. Theevent will be held in Beijing from 10–14 March.

Topics at previous LISA forums in China haveincluded:

• Practical lessons from outsourcing to Chinaand India

• Successful collaboration between Chineseand foreign enterprises

• Improving globalisation quality

• Protecting intellectual property in China andIndia

• Building market share in India

• Simship in Asia

For more information on LISA in Beijing and tosubmit a proposal, please go towww.lisa.org/events/2008beijing andwww.lisa.org/events/2008beijing/speakerform.html.




http://www.lisa.org/events/2008beijing/speakerform.html

http://www.lisa.org/events/2008beijing/speakerform.html

http://www.lisa.org/events/2008beijing/

http://www.x-pubs.com/




http://www.indexers.org.uk/index.php?id=416

http://www.sfep.org.uk/pub/train/courses.asp#ce5

http://www.sfep.org.uk/pub/train/courses.asp#ce5

Events listingsThis page introduces new listings and includes reminders of the mostrelevant events in the next months. ISTC events are listed in bold.

You can view previous events listings on the ISTC website’s Newsletterarchive at www.istc.org.uk/Publications/Newsletter/newsletter.htm.To include an event in the listings, please e-mail [email protected].

January9 Finding milestones.

A talk by Catherine Dixon, graphic designer, writer and teacher intypography at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design.London, UK.www.signdesignsociety.co.uk/content.php?folder_id=21.

9 Wallpaper* Design Awards.The Design Award categories include architecture, domesticdesign, fashion and beauty, media and travel and will be judgedby an internationally renowned panel: Tadao Ando, André Balazs,Wong Kar-Wai, Langlands & Bell, Patricia Urquiola and DonatellaVersace. The Wallpaper* Design Awards in association withJaguar take place at The Old Sorting Office, 21 – 31 New OxfordStreet. London, UK. Contact [email protected] more information.

11 Call for papers deadline: Localization World Berlin.Innovating Localization Business Models is the theme ofLocalization World Berlin, which will be held from 9 – 11 June.Berlin, Germany.www.localizationworld.com.

25 2008 Magazines are dead! Long live the Magazine!A St Bride Library event.London, UK.stbride.org/events_education/events/magazinesaredead.




http://stbride.org/events_education/events/magazinesaredead

http://www.localizationworld.com/


http://www.signdesignsociety.co.uk/content.php?folder_id=21



February12 – 15 MadCamp!

MadCap Software is relocating officesand invite you to help the companycelebrate its new home. The four dayonsite training camp includes:• Basic/Intermediate Flare training• Half-day Cascading Style Sheets

(CSS) advanced training• Lunch with the MadCap

development team• Preview of never-before-seen

features and functionality currentlyin development

• Exclusive MadCamp attendeegiveaways

La Jolla, California.madcapsoftware.com/email/20071203/content.html.

28 – 1 Graphics of the Americas Multipleconferences and events.T- Design for personalisedcommunication conference.• Integrating Security Innovations• Mailing Design Sessions• Artes Graficas Sessions (in Spanish)• InDesign Conference• Pixel Conference (Photoshop)• DF Conference (Acrobat)• XML/PDF Pavilion• Vector Conference• Vendor TutorialsMiami, Florida.www.graphicsoftheamericas.com.

March10 – 14 LISA Forum Asia: CHINA FOCUS -

Outsourcing Globalization and ITServices to China.Call for presentation proposals is nowopen.Beijing, China.www.lisa.org/events/2008beijing.

31 – 2 Localization Certification Program.In collaboration with the Globalizationand Localization Asscciation (GALA)and The Localization Institute,California State University Chico willhost a comprehensive educationalworkshop in Marseille, France from31 March – 2 April, 2008.Marseille, France.rce.csuchico.edu/localize.

April3 – 4 Localization Project Management

Certification.The Localization Certification Programwas developed by industry experts,representing the leading professionalassociations, publishers, and academicinstitutions in the field, in response tothe growing demand for localisationprofessionals. The programme providesa unique educational opportunity tolearn and demonstrate competency inthe emerging localisation andinternational e-business field.Marseille, France.rce.csuchico.edu/localize.

22 – 23From hot metal to hot keys:fifty years of turmoil.Printing Historical Society conference2008 at St Bride Library.London, UK.stbride.org/events_education/events/fromhotmetaltohotkeys.

August4 – 7 XVIII World Congress of the International

Federation of Translators.All parties involved in the languageservice industry’s business chain arewelcome to join the Exhibition for aface-to-face communication which willsurely inspire new ideas for businesscooperation and development in thefuture.Shanghai, China.www.fit2008.org/E_fit2008/index.htm.

September18 – 19 UA Conference – Europe.

With the current trends towards singlesourcing, collaborative authoring, andembedded user assistance, thetraditional concept of "online Help" hasbroadened considerably in recent years.With this in mind, the UA (UserAssistance) Conference – Europeretains its unique position as the onlyEuropean conference to focus onsoftware user assistance.Edinburgh, Scotland.www.uaconference.eu.




http://www.uaconference.eu/

http://www.fit2008.org/E_fit2008/index.htm

http://stbride.org/events_education/events/fromhotmetaltohotkeys

http://stbride.org/events_education/events/fromhotmetaltohotkeys

http://rce.csuchico.edu/localize/

http://rce.csuchico.edu/localize/

http://www.lisa.org/events/2008beijing/

http://www.graphicsoftheamericas.com

http://madcapsoftware.com/email/20071203/content.html

http://madcapsoftware.com/email/20071203/content.html

Back pageSteve McClaren scores anotherown goal with Foot in MouthawardUnemployed Steve McClaren has receivedanother blow while he counts his two millionpound payoff. The ex-England boss has wonthe Plain English Campaign’s Foot in MouthAward for this piece of footballing wisdom:

“He (Wayne Rooney) is inexperienced, but he'sexperienced in terms of what he's been through.”

He wins the award despite strong entries fromGeorge Bush and Jeremy Kyle.

Last year Naomi Campbell joined previouswinners Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Gere andTracey Emin as the public figure who had madethe most baffling comment.

At the 28th annual Plain English awardsceremony held on 11 December, the PlainEnglish Campaign also awarded Seven GoldenBulls, which are fine examples of a lack of PlainEnglish.

Golden Bull winners:

Virgin Trains

“Moving forwards, we as Virgin Trains are lookingto take ownership of the flow in question to applyour pricing structure, thus resulting in this journey

search appearing in the new category-matrixformat. The pricing of this particular flow is anissue going back to 1996 and it is not somethingthat we can change until 2008 at the earliest. Ihope this makes the situation clear.”

(response to Web User magazine aboutproblems booking online).

UKTV – Dave

“With a brief to establish Dave as the home ofwitty banter and as a refuge from the everyday,the award-winning Red Bee’s innovative andoriginal creative juxtaposes traditional weekendretreat imagery with contemporary talent fromthe channel’s key content in a humorous andirreverent way to represent the channel’s keybrand values.”

(Extract from a press release about the launchof new channel Dave).

BAA

“Passenger shoe repatriation area only.”

(Sign in Gatwick Airport).

Fastway Couriers

“The Carrier shall not be liable for injury ordamage to or destruction or loss of the Goods orany other property arising out of or incidental toor in connection with or occurring during theprovision of the Services or for the mis-delivery ornondelivery of the Goods and whether or not

caused or contributed to by the default (includingnegligence) of the Carrier or any agent, servant orofficer of the Carrier or any other person entitledto the benefit of these conditions.”

(terms and conditions on their website).

Nestlé

“Green Sauces are an important product groupfor Buitoni Pesto Basilico. Their quality andflavour profile are enhanced by the basil used inproduction. However, Buitoni faced sensory profilereproducibility problems due to heterogeneous rawmaterial, challenging the production of uniformquality.”

(Nestlé project news report).

Translink (NI Railways)

“Every Autumn a combination of leaves on theline, atmospheric conditions and prevailing dampconditions lead to a low adhesion between the railhead and the wheel which causes services to bedelayed or even cancelled. NI Railways arecommitted to minimising service delays, where wecan, by implementing a comprehensive lowadhesion action programme.”

(Translink sign at Coleraine railway station).


16© ISTC January 2008© ISTC January 2008

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