Next Meeting Writing for the Web - OCSTC

TTTTTEEEEECCCCCHHHHHNNNNNIIIIIScribeOrange County Chapter

Next Meeting

When:

Tuesday, January 21, 19976:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Where:

Irvine Marriott18000 Von Karman AvenueIrvine, CA, phone (714) 553-0100

Inside

Presidential Prose ........................... 2

January Meeting Preview ............. 3

You Admit You’re a Technical

Communicator? ............................. 4

Professionally Speaking ................ 5

Looking Back .................................. 6

December Meeting Recap ........... 7

An Unfair Advantage ..................... 8

International Viewpoint ................. 9

Reference Corner ......................... 10

Editor’s Notebook ......................... 11

Chapter News ............................... 12

Editor’s Corner .............................. 15

netlog@96ocstc ............................ 16

Jobline ........................................... 19

Membership News ....................... 21

STC Contacts Reference ............. 21

About STC ...................................... 22

Chapter Contacts ........................ 23

Calendar ....................................... 24

Writing for the

Webby Jack Powers

(Please see Web on page 20)

January 1997Meetings NowStart at 6:00

In Part I, I described some of the differences between writing fortraditional print formats and writing for World Wide Web pages.You can’t just “repurpose” printed pages onto an interactivecomputer screen. The Web’s lack of structure and intensecompetition for attention require authors to telegraphtheir narrative intentions and to trust the readers tonavigate through stories in their own ways.

An ace salesman once told me his trick for craftinghis sales pitch: at the end of every sentence, heimagined his prospect saying, “So what?” Too many home pagesfail the “So what?” test: nobody cares about their subjects or caresto invest the effort to wade through the obtuse way they presenttheir points of view. In the Information Age, the dearest commod-ity is the attention of an audience, and good Web writing compels

that attention in the first few lines.

Writing for RobotsOn the Web, before you can compel yourreader’s attention, you have to deal with hisrobot first. Robotic search programs like Lycos

and Alta Vista constantly scan new pages on the Web and buildpublic directories of searchable key words. Personal search robotsand algorithmic information agents do the same thingfor companies and individuals. As the Webexpands from 5 million pages today to 50 mil-lion pages in the near future, readers will cometo rely on their cybernetic librarians to cutthrough the clutter and serve up only the mostinteresting files. If your pages don’t contain thekeywords that the robots are looking for, the

Part II

2 TechniScribe January 1997

TechniScribe is published 11 times a year by theOrange County Chapter of the Society for Tech-nical Communication.

Articles published in the TechniScribe may be re-printed in other STC publications, if credit is prop-erly given and one copy of the reprint is sent tothe TechniScribe editor. Rights to articles appear-ing in TechniScribe revert to the author uponpublication. Reprinting articles in non-STC publi-cations is subject to the author’s approval.

Send articles and information to

Elaine Randolph, Editor20891 Paseo OlmaEl Toro, CA 92630-225(714) 583-9402 (h)(714) 380-6128 (w)(714) 380-6560 (fax-w)[email protected]@mv.unisys.com

Subscriptions are available for $10 per year tomembers of other chapters.

The deadline for submissions is the 10th of themonth prior to publication. The Editor reserves theright to delay the publication of any material re-ceived after a deadline. Submissions might beedited for clarity, length, or appropriateness.Please send hardcopy text as well as an elec-tronic copy (ASCII or Word for Windows preferred)plus a 25-word biography.

Copy Editors:Steve Blossom Dennis Hanrahan

Staff:Jeff Randolph

Advertising Rates:1/4 page $25.001/3 page $30.001/2 page $40.00full page $50.00

Printing services provided by Bethke Printing/Publishing, Lake Forest, CA (714) 951-4755

Presidential Proseby Jack Molisani

TTTTTEEEEECCCCCHHHHHNNNNNIIIIIScribeIt’s almost become a mantra of the decade: “There’s nosuch thing as permanent employment.” While I am gladthat there are many long-term employees out there, I amequally empathetic for all those people who were laid offfrom what they thought were “permanent jobs.” Statisticsshow that one out of every three people have changedjobs (either voluntarily or involuntarily) in the past year,two out of three in the past 3 years.

It’s my opinion that you owe it to yourself to stay market-able, even if you love your current workplace and wouldnever dream of leaving. If I’ve learned one thing in thiscrazy industry we are in, it’s that things just don’t staythe same. They either get better or they get worse—neverjust the same.

So what can you do to be proactive, to keep a littleemployment insurance in your back pocket? Lord knows,I would rather have employment insurance than unem-ployment insurance.

Keep current, keep marketable.

And the place to do it is the STC. Take advantage of theMentor Program, the Jobline, the Résumé Contest, theProfessional Seminar Series, and the Student InternProgram. No other place in Southern California offers asmuch as our chapter does at such incredibly lowprices.Doc-to-Help, RoboHelp. Web page development.FrameMaker. These are the skills you need to have downcold to survive in today’s workplace. And I don’t considermaking minimum wage “survival.”

January is Employment Month. If you haven’t takenadvantage of the many workshops offered this month, it’snot too late. There are some great employment-relatedseminars offered through the beginning of February.

This is your organization. The board exists only to deliverwhat is needed and wanted by you, the membership. Ifthere’s something you want offered, let a board memberor me know, and we’ll do the best we can to offer it. Andlet me ask this of you: if you haven’t renewed your STCmembership yet, please do so now. And tell your friendsabout the STC (or better yet, bring them to a meeting).

The bigger the chapter grows, the more resources we’llhave to produce seminars, increase the scholarships weoffer to new students, and so on. STC members, in myopinion, represent the best talent available in the techni-cal communication industry.

Here’s to a great ‘97!

January 1997 TechniScribe 3

January Meeting Preview

WhenTuesday, January 216:00 to 9:00 p.m.

WhereIrvine Marriott18000 Von Karman AvenueIrvine, CAPhone (714) 553-0100

CostMembers with reserva-tions, $18Nonmembers withreservations, $20Students with reserva-tions, $10All walk-ins, $25No-shows are billed $10

ReservationsReservations are due by5:00 p.m. Friday, January17. If you call after thattime, you will be billedthe walk-in fee, so makeyour reservation early.

Call the OCSTC Hotline at(714) 863-7666 or CarolynRomano at (714) 894-9221.Leave your name, mem-bership status, and phonenumber.

You can also register by e-mail if you send a mes-sage [email protected].

Working with an Agency

by Maggie Rowe

Directions to theMarriottComing from central ornorthern Orange County:Exit the 405 at MacArthur.Turn left onto Michelson.Turn left again at VonKarman, then right onQuartz. Go left to enterthe Marriott parking lot. Ifyou want to avoid thecongestion at the airport,exit at Jamboree and turnright.

Coming from southernOrange County: At theJamboree exit from the405, turn left and go overthe freeway. Turn right onMichelson, then right onVon Karman. Turn rightagain on Quartz. Go left toenter the Marriott parkinglot.

ProgramIn keeping with ourEmployment Monththeme, our Januaryspeaker, Sheryl Rooker,will tell us all aboutplacement agencies—howthey work in general, andhow you can work withthem to obtain the job youwant. Naturally, she willuse lots of examples basedon experience with herown company. Sheryl willspeak for about 45 min-utes and then answerquestions from the group.So bring your questionsand be prepared to learnall you’ve ever wanted toknow about working withan agency. And rememberto bring your businesscards and résumés!

Sheryl is president ofPeopleWare TechnicalResources in El Segundo.Prior to starting her ownagency, she worked for 8years at another place-ment agency. Sheryl alsoworked for 5 years atNorthrop Grumman as abudget analyst. She iscurrently a member of theboard of directors for theSoftware Council ofSouthern California,where she has been amember since 1991. Her

other activities with theSoftware Council includeserving on the EventCommittee and theAnnual Awards Dinner.Sheryl is also is a memberof the El Segundo Cham-ber of Commerce, Societyfor Technical Communica-tions, and a past memberof LeTip International.

Meeting FormatAt our December meeting,we tried to change theintroductions format byhaving people introducethemselves if they werenew or had not attended ameeting for severalmonths. Tell us how youlike this approach, or ifyou want to return to theold “everyone introduceshimself” format. Yourvoice is important.


You Admit You’re a Technical

Communicator?by Mark Bloom

(Please see Value onpage 18)

Let’s face it, our profes-sion has taken a bad rapin recent years. Technicalwriting has been called“wordsmithing,” “anecessary evil,” and even“advanced administrativeassistance.” Ouch, it hurtsjust to write these words.

We can often find our-selves up against somestrong opinions, whichleaves us with a formi-dable task. How do weprove our worth when thecompany has been makingmoney without us foryears? How do we get thesalaries we deserve whenproject managers think ofour work as an add-on,something to do after allthe important stuff hasbeen done already? Howdo we make an impactwhen developers rou-tinely ignore the impact oftheir last-minute changeson us?

What Do I Have to Do?If this scenario ringsfamiliar, I empathize, butask yourself these ques-tions: What makes youbelieve you are worthmore money? What makesyou think you deservemore respect in theworkplace? What are youdoing as a technical

communicator that makesyou feel the company isbetter off with you thanwithout you?

Why do we even needtechnical writers? Soft-ware engineers arewriting documentation;administrative assistantsare editing outgoingreports; marketing expertsare developing all kinds ofpublications. What do youdo that they don’t?

A Glorified Secretary?Hardly!As a technical communi-cator, you could havetremendous responsibility,if you would only take it.We are problem solvers.We bridge that wideninggap between the awesomepower of technologicaladvances and the boredintellect of the averageoffice worker. We are theunsung heroes of thecomputer revolution.

Yes! It feels terrific to be atechnical communicator,to be part of the momen-tum as we race toward thefuture. But what aboutthose nagging questions inthe first part of thisarticle? How do you gainrecognition? How do you

collect your fair share foryour efforts?

It’s Not Who YouKnow...To gain the respect of yourmanagers, you must firstgain the respect of yourproject peers. You can dothis by being thoroughwhile producing yourown work. In the courseof your day, you may talkto developers, marketingpeople, quality assurancepeople, and yes, evenmanagers.

Share ideas. Make sugges-tions. Let yourself becomea sounding board. Be-come part of the develop-ment team. And deliverwell-constructed docu-mentation that exceedsexpectations.

Even if you never getthrough to your boss, youwill impress the peoplewho just may be able tohook you up with anotherjob. It’s a small world,after all.

But if you are successfulin planting that seed ofcompetency and inven-tiveness, you can take theinitiative. For your nextproject, request that you

be brought in early. Letthem know what you cando.

You will represent the enduser during the productdesign phase. You willmake valuable userinterface suggestions. Youwill write (or maintain)the functional specifica-tions and requirementsdocuments. You will helpthe project team findproblems before they arisebecause you view theproduct from the user ’sshoes.

Ah, at last we’ve come tothe key concept. You canhelp. You add value.

It’s What You DoIt’s easy to say that youadd value, but how doyou show it? How do youquantify it? As technicalcommunicators, we do notcreate a product that will


ProfessionallySpeaking

by William H. DuBay

Taking a Stand

While the resolution ofconflicts always demandstact, diplomacy, and theability to negotiate, thereare times when we haveto draw the line.

For the technical writer,professional status,quality controls, andethical standards arepretty much the samething. No matter how youlook at it, being a profes-sional means taking astand on doing what youknow is right. To do this,we must know how to besuccessfully assertive.

There are many things inthe workplace over whichthe writer has onlyindirect control, such asscheduling and a freezedate on the developmentof a product to allowadequate time for docu-mentation. There aresome things, however,over which the writermust assert control as amatter of professionalintegrity.

Not complying withquality standards iswrong because it cheatsthe customer and ulti-mately damages thecompany, not to say one’sprofessional status. For

example, the companywants to release docu-ments that have not beenadequately reviewed andtested.

So important is the issueof assertiveness in qualitycontrol that many busi-nesses now invite trainersto show employees howto be effectively assertive.Most of us have sometendency to be passive-aggressive. We oftencomply to keep the peace,harboring resentmentsuntil we can stand it nolonger and then aggres-sively acting on ourresentments, often inunproductive ways.

The assertiveness trainingshows us the middle pathbetween passivity andaggression. The keydifference betweenassertiveness and aggres-sion is that assertivenessfocuses on one’s ownneeds, desires, andlimitations instead of thebehavior or personality ofothers. An example of anassertive response is “Iunderstand your con-cerns, but my position inthis company does notpermit me to proceedunder these conditions.We need more discussion

to resolve this problem.”

Technical writer PeterCrimmin leads a SpecialInterest Group for SoloWriters, a Boston-chapterSTC group. We aregrateful to him forsending in the followingfour scenarios he devel-oped for his group. Hecommented, “We discusseach scenario and re-spond with options fordealing with them.Invariably, my preferredsolutions involve asser-tiveness training by thewriter. I think ‘assertive-ness’ is a key ingredientin this discussion.”

Here are Peter’s fourscenarios:

1. You’ve written aconfiguration guide.The real audience is 10-15 installation co-workers who areengineers. Your boss,an engineering man-ager, wants a quickdocument to orientthese engineers. Butyou suspect that thedocument will have alife of its own and thecurrent solution isshort-term. You’ll havea maintenance night-mare on your hands.

2. There is a stockpile ofdocumentation thatexisted before youstarted your job. It waswritten by a brilliantengineer with decentwriting skills. But theauthor has one biglimitation—he assumesthat readers can followhis huge cognitiveleaps. Your boss wantsan update of the doc,but not a rewrite. Youwant to fill in some ofthe conceptual gaps,but this will take moretime (from you andfrom other engineers)and there are someimportant new prod-ucts that have higherpriority.

3. You have inherited apoorly written docu-ment. Your assignmentis to reformat it asquickly as possible sothat field engineers cancarry it onsite. Yourboss wants you to dothe work, but yourprofessional pride isthreatened. You knowthat coworkers willthink this is your work,and you worry thatcustomers will form

(Please see Stand on page22)


Looking Backby Bruce Dieter, Associate Fellow

As we celebrate our 35thAnniversary by lookingbackwards, we shouldexamine the status oftechnical communicationin Southern California inthe early 1970s. Our firsttruly regional seminar—actually our sixth semi-nar—was held on Febru-ary 23 and 24, 1973. Itwas very different 23years ago.

We had held our firstseminar—a joint sessionwith California StateUniversity, Fullerton—in1967. At the critique weheld after the seminar, Dr.William Maxwell, Chairof the CommunicationsDepartment, wonderedhow long OCSTC couldannually stage seminarswith different panels,different panelists, anddifferent themes. Fiveseminars later in 1972,OCSTC pondered how tocontinue to challengetechnical communicatorsin Southern California atits sixth seminar. Massiveaerospace layoffs in 1971found many STC mem-bers unemployed, andgood technical communi-cators were leaving forother fields. In addition,OCSTC was beginning toface up to the responsi-bilities of hosting the 1975International STC Confer-

ence. (Note: the Interna-tional Conference is nowprofessionally managed.However, in 1975, the hostchapter did most of theplanning and the work.) In1972, our concern waswhether local seminarswould burn out the work-ers needed for the Interna-tional Conference.

The five Southern Califor-nia chapters at that time—Anacapa (Santa Barbara)with 53 members; LosAngeles with 230 mem-bers; OCSTC with 70members; San Diego with43 members; and Sierra-Panamint with 24 mem-bers—began to conductinformal quarterly meet-ings to discuss mutualproblems, including how torespond to the aerospacelayoffs. HyDee Small wasthe Orange County repre-sentative for the council.On July 17, 1971, Anacapahosted a meeting inThousand Oaks where anofficial regional council ofthe Southern Californiachapters was formed.Helen Caird of LASTC waselected Regional CouncilChair. Helen had recentlybeen elected STC 2nd VicePresident and would bePresident in 2 years.Richard Barry representedOCSTC. The RegionalCouncil sponsored a

Technical Publicationscompetition with ValerieAntoine of LASTC asChair. Richard Barry,again, was the OCSTCrepresentative. Thecompetition was a greatsuccess, with 99 entriesjudged—16 awards weremade at a special banquetat the Disneyland Hotelattended by the STCInternational Board ofDirectors. Of the first andsecond place winners sentto the InternationalTechnical PulicationsCompetition, eight wonawards, and one was theBest of Show. This re-gional competitionearned $145, the firstmoney for the regionalcouncil. The councilpublished the firstregional membershipdirectory in 1973. Theregional council hadprojects and tasks tosupplement programs ofthe individual chapters,but it never competedwith member chapters.

George Hahn was Presi-dent of OCSTC during1972-73 and was the rightman, at the right time,and in the right place! Isuggested to the OCSTCboard that the 6th Semi-nar be a truly regionalseminar with otherchapters performing part

of the labor, not justinviting other chapters tosend their members. Afterdiscussion, Hahn directedme to prepare a proposal,which the Board laterapproved. Finally, Dr.Maxwell for Cal StateFullerton agreed to theschedule. Cal StateFullerton would onceagain be the site of theconference. The OCSTCproposal was presented tothe regional council,which approved it after alengthy discussion. Theregional council finelytuned the program for theseminar.

This regional seminarbroke some new ground.First, it broke the unwrit-ten taboo that said indus-try would not support aweekday seminar heldduring the day. Second,the seminar was a two-day conference held onFriday and Saturday.Finally, the program wasbroken apart, with differ-ent chapters in the leadwith the format schedul-ing for each day. The LAChapter was the anchor,with three panels onFriday afternoon, and itdid an outstanding job.The Friday night banquet

Our First Truly Regional Seminar

(Please see Looking Back onpage 19)

OOOOOCSTCSTCSTCSTCSTCCCCCFounded 1962


December MeetingRecapby Steve Blossom

Overcoming Your Fearof Public Speaking

(Please see Recap on page 15)

At our December meeting,Matthew Stern (a seniortechnical writer at Plati-num Software and anofficer of the IrvineToastmasters club) spokeabout overcoming yourfear of public speaking.He also provided theaudience with a handoutlisting additional re-sources for public speak-ing. (See page 15 for a listof some relevant Webpages you can view.)

Reasons for FearSurveys have shown thatpublic speaking is widelyfeared. Matthew asked usto share some of ourreasons for fearing publicspeaking, which includedthe following:

• Being unfamiliar withthe subject

• Answering questionsfrom the audience

• Being too lengthy orrambling

• Forgetting your lines

• Stumbling or stuttering

• “Screwing up”

• Being intimidated bythe size of the audience

• Getting laryngitis

Overcoming Your FearIn response to these fears,Matthew offered thefollowing advice:

• To counteract laryngi-tis, rest your voice untilit is needed and avoidmucous-producingbeverages such as milkand beer.

• To avoid being intimi-dated by a largeaudience, make eyecontact with specificindividuals at variouslocations in the room.

• To overcome other fearsrelating to your perfor-mance, practice publicspeaking in a support-ive environment (suchas a class, workshop, orToastmasters club).

• To overcome fearsderiving from inad-equate preparation, tryto analyze your audi-ence and anticipatetheir questions.

While some types ofspeeches (such as pressannouncements andtechnical reports) are fullyprepared in advance, mostspeeches are done usingonly a basic outline. Toensure that the audiencegets your message, use thebasic structure of intro-

ducing it, saying it, andthen repeating or summa-rizing it.

Work on improving yourstage presence, in theareas of appearance, bodylanguage, and voice.Appearance is importantbecause you do not wantto distract your audiencewith inappropriateclothing or excessivemakeup; be conservative(think “job interview”).Body language should benatural and moderate; donot gesture wildly, lockyour hands behind yourback, or pace aroundrapidly. Voice problemsoccur in the areas ofvolume, pronunciation,and inflection; open yourmouth, don’t speak toorapidly, remember tobreathe naturally, varyyour volume and pitch,and use dramatic pauses.

Practicing with “TableTopics”After dispensing hisadvice, Matthew providedsome lucky audiencemembers an opportunityto practice their publicspeaking skills, throughthe Toastmasters tech-nique of “table topics.” A“volunteer” speaker wasselected through the

awarding of a raffle prize(to help ease the pain),then given 90 seconds torespond to a questionabout technical writing.

Bill Darnall’s response tothe question “Are techni-cal communicators paidenough?” would havemade a politician proud,as he used great stagepresence to deliver asatirical speech that usedthe basic structure butwas devoid of content.Other “volunteers”responded to the follow-ing questions:

• What will the technicalwriting field be like in 5years?

• When will we achievethe goal of a paperlessoffice?

• How can we get respectfrom management?

The final “volunteer” wasErik Rhodes, one ofMatthew’s coworkers. Inresponse to the question“How has the Internetchanged our jobs?” Erikbegan by saying that hehad no idea. He soon hadthe audience roaring,though, as he confessed inthe presence of his man-


An UnfairAdvantage

by Bill DarnallChapter Employment Manager

Entry-Level Technical Writing

“How do I get a job as atechnical writer when Idon’t have much experi-ence?” I hear this questiona lot. There is no simpleanswer, but there areseveral approaches youmight want to consider.

Directed RésuméA résumé arrived a fewdays ago from a recentgraduate who lives out-of-state. This person got myname from our STC homepage. The employmentobjective at the top of therésumé said, “To acquire achallenging and excitingposition in a companywhich allows me theopportunity to utilize myeducational backgroundand work experiences.”With all due respect to thejob-seeker, this is a“nothing” objective. Itwould be much moreeffective to say, “To assista company’s TechnicalPublications Departmentby using my (specific)educational backgroundand work experiences.”

Do you see the difference?It’s one of perspective.The first objective was

focused on what thecompany could do for thewriter. The second objec-tive was focused on whatthe writer could do for thecompany.

Embellish your résuméwith tidbits of interest andexperience that aredirectly related to whatyour prospective em-ployer does. If you don’tknow what your prospectdoes, you should find outbefore you compose andsend your résumé.

Preparing for theInterviewBe prepared. Develop aone-minute summary ofwho you are and why youwant to do what you areapplying for. Practiceanswering some questionsabout your experience, orlack thereof. Practiceasking a few pointedquestions of your own.Your questions should bein two major categories:(1) the company, ingeneral; and (2) your job,in particular. If you askwell-thought-out ques-tions, you will show thatyou are also interested in

the company—and notjust the position.

The questions alone won’tget you the job. But theinterviewer will begin toform a favorable impres-sion of you as someonewho is sincerely interestedin the position. One thingmore—practice, practice,practice.

Presenting YourPortfolioPut examples of yourwriting into an attractivebinder. Organize thematerial into categoriesfor easy reference. Youshould develop a “cannedpresentation.” You can tellthe interviewer you havea two-minute presenta-tion. Yes, this will requiremore practice. However,when you are given theopportunity to presentyour work, you will beready. Your portfoliopresentation shouldcomplement your per-sonal presentation.

What do you put intoyour portfolio? Thatdepends on what you

have written. You don’tneed complete docu-ments. You can use a fewpages of this and that. Buteach page should berepresentative of skillsyou can talk about. Evenif you are not the originalauthor, you can showword-processing docu-ments, and spreadsheetdocuments, and maybepresentation documentsyou prepared. This isanother way to demon-strate your skills in theuse of desktop publishinghardware and software.

Technical ReferencesI recommend that youpurchase your ownreference books. Readthem. Study them. Whenyou are asked about yourlack of experience, simplydisplay the books you areusing to guide you. If youhave a good personalselection, the interviewerwill be impressed. If youcan give a brief synopsisof the utility of eachreference, the interviewer

(Please see Advantage onpage 19)


The International Viewpoint

by Fred Klein

Tech n ica l S ta n d a rdsD ocum entation Facility and Em p loym en t Serv ices

E xc lus ive ly for W riters and D ocum entation S pec ia lis ts

HELP!

San Diego Adm in. Office:Other Areas:

Tel: 619 471-1819 Fax: 619 471-1879Tel: 800 889-7116 Fax: 800 889-7254

Patti Booher/O ffice M anagerVis it our web site a t http ://ww w.tecstandards.com

University of WashingtonTechnical Japanese Program

The Technical JapaneseProgram (TJP) is a gradu-ate master’s degreeprogram that trainsengineering students inJapanese—the only suchprogram in the country.The Japanese Program forProfessionals (JPP) is afederally-funded Japaneselanguage program forpracticing professionals—mostly scientists andsoftware developers. Formore information, checkthe following Web site:http://www/tjp.washington.edu.

Another notable hi-techproduct is NihongoPartner, a multimediainteractive languagelearning tool. Short,everyday business situa-tions are videotaped,digitized, and presentedin a format that allowsstudents to interact withthe characters by takingthe part of either speaker.

TJP students complete a 2-to-6-month internship inJapan at companies suchas Fujitsu Software, NTT,Andersen Consulting,Nippon System Develop-

ment, and Isuzu Motors.Because of their advancedlanguage skills, TJPstudents are placeddirectly into demanding,responsible positions. TJPalso hosts TeachingTechnical Japaneseworkshops.

JPP started in 1993 with a$1.5 million grant fromthe Air Force Office ofScientific Research. Theprogram will be self-supporting in 3 years.Students come fromcompanies such as Boeing,Microsoft, and Battelle/Pacific Northwest Na-tional Labs.

A principal feature of theJPP program is its distancelearning capacities.Videotaped lectures aredelivered overnight toremote locations, whichbrings Japanese to placeswhere individuals wouldnot be able to otherwiseobtain instruction.Thisremote instruction issupplemented by onsiteinstruction provided bylocal instructors, whocome to the individualworksites and conduct

language drills.

Frank Garner, JPP gradu-ate and Senior Scientist inNuclear Engineering atBattelle Northwest Labs inRichland, Washington,says, “I am now able totravel in Japan withouthaving my hand heldevery step of the way bymy Japanese hosts. Myanxiety level in airports,train stations, subwaysand taxi stands hasdropped enormously.Second, my study of thelanguage has helpedenormously in my effortsto develop trust andcredibility with potential

Japanese customers. Inevery case, my attempts touse my limited Japanesehave impressed them veryfavorably and aided in thedevelopment of goodworking relationships.”

TJP and JPP are run bythe Department of Techni-cal Communication,College of Engineering,University of Washington,14 Loew Hall, Box 352195,Seattle, Washington98195-2195. You maycontact the editor ofposTComm, (their newslet-ter), Jason D. Grose, at(206) 543-2567.


BUGS in Writing reviewed by Jim Lowerre

The Reference Corner

When this writer rejoinedthe Society for TechnicalCommunication in early1994, the program for hisfirst meeting was “TheGood, the Bad, and theUgly,” a humorous look atsome of the worst ex-amples of what passes fortechnical writing in somequarters. Somebody hadnot consulted their styleguide!

Most technical communi-cators have read at leastone style guide in theircareers. Up until now, theguides with the greatestimpact have been Strunkand White’s legendary“little book” (aka TheElements of Style) and theformidable ChicagoManual of Style. But nowthere is a style guide thatis not only functional butvery user-friendly. Itsname is BUGS in Writing:A Guide to Debugging YourProse, and its author is LynDupré. The “BUGS” in thetitle is actually an acro-nym used throughout thebook to classify the manyexamples of writingwithin the book’s pages:Bad, Ugly, Good, orSplendid.

better—it contains both anindex by category (that is,conventions, terms,andformats) and a detailedindex of principles (from“Abbreviations andAcronyms” to “You andYour Reader”).

Lyn Dupré has been afreelance copy editor anddevelopmental editor formore than 15 years. Herspecialty has been editingtextbooks for science,computer science, andmedicine.

Most technical communi-cators are computer-literate; therefore, they arefamiliar with READMEfiles and what they do.This book leads with aREADME section toexplain what the book isand how best to use it, todevelop what Duprérefers to as “ear”—afeeling for good usage.

The book is organized sothat each element ofwriting style (no matterhow small) has its ownsection. An extremelydetailed table of contentsquickly points the readerto such style elements as

• Full versus IncompleteInfinitives

• U.S. versus BritishSpelling

• Per

• The Fact That

• En Dashes

• Em Dashes

• Terms for Human-Computer Interaction

Every decent referencebook has an index. ButBUGS in Writing goes one

How essential is thisbook? This writer ismaking space on hisbookshelf next to his copyof Strunk and White. It’smore than just a styleguide—it’s a style guideyou will actually enjoyreading.

BUGS in Writing is pub-lished by Addison-Wesley;the ISBN number is 0-201-60019-6. The cover price is$19.95. No audio versionis available.

Is EntrIs EntrIs EntrIs EntrIs Entrepreprepreprepreneurship for Yeneurship for Yeneurship for Yeneurship for Yeneurship for You?ou?ou?ou?ou?

Do you dream of having your own consultingbusiness but aren’t sure how to go about gettingstarted? Do you wonder if you have what it takesto achieve success as an independent businessowner?

On Saturday, February 1, successful entrepreneurJudy Glick-Smith will present a workshop that willprepare you for the world of independent con-tracting. Come and learn from someonw who has“been there, done that.”

For more information, see the related article onpage 12 of this issue.


Editor’sNotebook

by Dennis Hanrahan

The Perfect Résumé

(Please see Editor onpage 19)

January is EmploymentMonth in OCSTC, andyou might recall that backin April, I gave you somesuggestions about the firstthings to do when the“downsizing” bug bites.Now, let’s talk about therelated subject of résumés.

First of all, let’s define ourparameters. Despite thetitle of this column, thereis no such thing as the“perfect” résumé. Every-body has a different ideaof what a good résuméshould look like, andthere’s no résumé inexistence that couldn’t beimproved. A good résuméis one that gets theresponse you want, whichis normally an interview.A résumé that does thetrick for you might be acomplete dud for some-body else.

Entire books have beenwritten on this subject,and I can only skim thesurface in a short column.But here are a few generalideas that I hope will help.

Typically, your résumé hasonly a few seconds to grabthe attention of yourpotential employer. If itfails to do that, you’re

already in the “reject”pile. So, don’t try to tellyour life story—save thatfor the interview. Theperson reviewing yourrésumé won’t take time toread all that detail,anyway. Your only pur-pose here is to catch theemployer’s attention andmake him or her want tointerview you. One pageshould be enough, al-though you can go to asecond page if reallynecessary.

And this is no time forhumility. Don’t flat-out lie(it will catch up to you!),but you must put the bestpossible “spin” on yourexperience and capabili-ties.

Depending on yourobjectives and yourbackground, there arethree basic types ofrésumés—chronological,functional, and targeted.Let’s take a brief look ateach of these types.

Chronological RésuméThis is the type of résuméthat makes HumanResources people mostcomfortable, because itmimics the format of mostemployment application

forms—it arranges yourwork experience andpersonal history in reversetime sequence. This is agood type of résumé touse if you have a stablework history and yourmost recent experience isrelated to your currentobjective. Don’t leavegaps in your chronologicalsequence—it makes theemployer suspicious. Ifyou were unemployed fora long period, you mightfind it more advantageousto use one of the othertypes of résumés.

Functional RésuméThis type of résumé showsyour work experience andabilities arranged bymajor areas of involve-ment—sometimes withdates, sometimes without.That is, it showcases whatyou can do, rather thanwhere and when you didit. If you have little or noexperience in your chosenfield, or your employmenthistory has been spotty,this could be the best wayto emphasize yourstrengths. This is a goodtype of résumé to use ifyou’re trying to redirectyour career or enter (or re-enter) the job market.

But be careful about using

this type of résumé. Someemployment counselorsrecommend against itbecause, again, it canmake employers suspi-cious—they might wonderwhat you’re trying tohide.

Targeted RésuméThis type of résumé is ahighly future-focusedpresentation directed to avery specific job target. Itdemonstrates a strongunderstanding and abilityin the targeted area. Thisis a good type of résuméto use if your most recentexperience is not veryrelevant to your objective.You will need to design aseparate targeted résuméfor each job target.

Résumé FormatNo matter what type ofrésumé you use, it mustbe focused, concise, andeasy to read. Lead off withyour name, postal ad-dress, phone and faxnumbers, and e-mailaddress, if you have one.Establish emphasis withjudicious capitalization,boldfacing, and indenta-tion. Make liberal use of


ChapterNews

Independent contracting has acertain appeal associated with it:“Owning your own business,”“being master of your own fate,”“giving you time, freedom, andmoney to pursue other interests,”etc. The market has becomecrowded with “independents”looking for their own AmericanDream. Competition is fierce!

How do you, as an independentcontractor, work your current jobs,set yourself apart from the crowd,and stay motivated to find futurework?

This workshop addresses the majorissues facing independent contrac-tors. It helps you to determine ifindependent contracting is a viablealternative for you and identifiestools, resources, and methodsavailable to independentbusiness owners.

This workshop is an expanded (6-hour) workshop of the presentationJudy Glick-Smith gave at the 1996Region 8 conference.

About the PresenterJudy Glick-Smith has been involvedin the high-technology industrysince 1980 as a programmer, sys-tems analyst, documentationspecialist, consultant, instructor,

and entrepreneur. She received herBBA in Accounting with a minor inInformation Systems from GeorgiaState University in 1981. Shefounded her own documentationbusiness in Atlanta, Georgia, in1983, after she discovered a need fordocumentation in most of theorganizations where she worked asa programmer. She began Inte-grated Documentation, Inc., in 1987when she relocated to Dallas, Texas.

Judy is also a partner in IntegratedKnowledge Transfer, a Dallas-basedtraining company, and owner of TheMentor Factor, a Dallas-basedcompany specializing in motiva-tional speaking and life-planningworkshops.

Judy is an instructor in the TechnicalWriting Certificate Program atRichland Community College inDallas. Judy is the current Director-Sponsor for Region 5 and a pastpresident of the Lone Star Chapterof the Society for Technical Commu-nication. She is also a past presidentof the Dallas Chapter of the Asso-ciation for Systems Management.

She has published articles ondocumentation for high-technologysystems in Enterprise SystemsJournal and has presented atnumerous professional organiza-tions and conferences.

Growing an Independent ContractingBusiness: An Opportunity Workshop

DetailsDate: Saturday, February 1, 1997Cost: $60 for members, $80 fornonmembersTime: 9:00 a.m. to 4:40 p.m.Location: Unisys Corporatiaoncafeteria. 25725 Jeronimo Road,Mission Viejo, CA.

To register or ask for more informa-tion, call Mark Bloom at (714) 729-2430 x505 or send e-mail [email protected].

WinHelp ConferenceIs Coming!

For those of you who are working inthe wonderful world of online help,the 1997 WinHelp Conference,sponsored by WinWriters, is beingheld February 9-12 in Seattle.

Many excellent sessions are plannedto help you master your craft andget you ready for the transition toHTML help.

Check out their Web site atwww.winwriters.com or call (800)838-8999 to register. Cost is $695 perperson, but if you attended lastyear, you’ll receive a $100 discount.


Call for STC Research GrantProposals

Do you perform research in technical communica-tion? Are you interested in collecting research datato answer some of the questions and uncertaintiesthat face us as we make planning decisions aboutthe content, style, and media of our work prod-ucts? You may be eligible for an STC ResearchGrant of up to $10,000.

To receive a grant in 1997, you must submit yourproposal by the next deadline: February 15, 1997.Grants recommended by the committee will bereviewed at the STC’s May Board meeting, soprojects can begin in the summer if researchersprefer.

The STC Board budgeted $60,000 for researchgrants in 1996-97, a 50% increase over last year. Asalways, no single grant can exceed $10,000, butSTC has made the commitment to sponsor moreresearch than last year, if we receive enough top-quality proposals.

The Research Grants Committee especially wantsto encourage proposals for research that willbenefit practitioners in technical communication.Many past proposals have primarily addressedteachers of technical communication; such researchwill benefit the next generation of technicalcommunicators, but is less useful to current STCmembers. Therefore, the committee urges research-ers to consider projects whose results will beimmediately valuable to practitioners.

If you’re considering submitting a proposal for anSTC Research Grant, begin by asking the STCoffice for the “Guidelines for STC Research Pro-posals.” For more information about STC ResearchGrants, please contact:

Stephanie RosenbaumTec-Ed, Inc.P.O. Box 1905Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106(313) 995-1010Fax: (313) [email protected]

In case you’ve been livingin a cave for the pastcouple months (don’t alltechnical communicatorslive and work in caves?),January has been declaredEmployment Month bythe OCSTC Board ofDirectors. Check out theinsert in this newsletter.

Below is a run-down of allthe events planned for themonth. Don’t miss theopportunities; sign uptoday! Contact me, MarkBloom, via e-mail [email protected] or byphone at 714-759-0700x505. Don’t get shut outof any of these greatseminars.

• 7 January: Writing aSuccessful Résuméwith Gary Easley, aprofessional résuméwriter.

• 9 January: Workingwith a Printing Servicewith Denny Bethke ofBethke Printing/Publishing.

• 11 January: Acing YourJob Interview with BillDarnall, the ChapterEmployment Commit-tee Chair.

• 18 January: Writing andEditing Review withSara Stohl, past presi-dent of the LASTC.

• 23 January: MarketingYour Services as aConsultant with STC

Associate Fellow SelHandler.

• 25 January: Finding aJob on the Internet andBeyond with AndreSharp, a technicalwriter with extensiveplacement experience.

• 25 January: AdvancedRoboHelp Workshopwith Online HelpGoddess SharonBurton.

• 28 January: Proposalsand Presentations orHow to Succeed inBusiness Without EverDying with BrianMcCaleb, a successfulconsultant.

• 29 January: CareerMakeover and PortfolioFitness with JackMolisani, our OCSTCpresident.

• 1 February: Growing anIndependent Contract-ing Business with JudyGlick-Smith, thecurrent Director-Sponsor for STC Region5 and a past presidentof the Lone Star Chap-ter.

All the seminars exceptAdvanced RoboHelp andGrowing an IndependentContracting Business arepriced $25 or $30 formembers. Take some timenow that the holidays areover to invest in yourselfand your career.

Employment Month Has Arrived

by Mark Bloom, Education Chair



Editor’sCorner

Recap(Continued from page 7)

by Elaine Randolph

ager that he enjoyedchatting via e-mail with afriend in San Franciscothroughout the day andhad learned to quicklyswitch applications whenhe spotted his manager’sreflection on the screen.(Watch the JobLine—theremight be another openingat Platinum soon!)

After the laughter sub-

sided, Matthew remindedus that you can reduceyour fear of publicspeaking through prepa-ration and practice. Heconcluded his talk with asuggested New Year’sresolution of “refine yourpublic speaking skills.”

Steve Blossom is a technicalwriter at ParcPlace-Digitalk,who had to give numeroussmall-group presentations afew years ago while earninghis MBA.

Web Pages with Public Speaking Info

Toastmasters International Web site:

http://www.toastmasters.org/

This is the Web site for Toastmasters, an interna-tional organization dedicated to helping peopleimprove their communications skills.

The Art of Public Speaking:

http://128.173.242.211/serendipity/speak.htm

This document by Serendipity Communicationssummarizes the dos and don’ts of public speaking.

Edward Tufte on Public Speaking

http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/romer/tufte.html

This page by student Ted Romer lists Tufte’s 17 tipson effective public speaking.

Lenny’s Speaking Tips of the Month:

http://www.ljlseminars.com/monthtip.htm

This page by renowned public speaker LennyLaskowski provides useful, detailed tips on publicspeaking.

Matthew Stern’s home page:

http://members.aol.com/mastrn/

This personal home page includes tips on publicspeaking and technical writing, along with samplespeeches.

It’s that time of year again when many of us reflect onwhat we’ve accomplished and what we’d like to do inthe future. I once heard a motivational speaker say, “Ifyou don’t have a plan to succeed, you automaticallyhave a plan to fail.” What this person was trying to getacross is that if we leave everything to fate, we willprobably not like the outcome very much.

People who achieve success in life are those who planahead. They plan short-term goals (six months to ayear), mid-range goals (within 5 years), and long-termgoals (more than 5 years). Results must be concrete andmeasurable, such as “I will increase my businessreceipts by $20,000 this year,” or “I will learn RoboHelpand design/complete at least one online help systemthis year.” Studies have shown that persons who writedown their goals and monitor their progress generallyaccomplish more than persons who don’t do this.

It’s a tough world out there, and life isn’t getting anyeasier. We are all struggling to keep up with rapidlychanging technology so that we can remain proficient inour field. Setting measurable and attainable goals canhelp us to feel that we are accomplishing something inour careers. Why not start 1997 by setting some goalsfor yourself that will help you advance in your profes-sion? Share them with a colleague, and maybe you canwork together to achieve even greater success. Some-times, I think that technical communicators need a 12-step program to help us hold onto our sanity, and agood friend and collaborator can do wonders for yourpsyche.

OCSTC is here to help you get ahead. Be sure to takeadvantage of the Employment Month seminars, theOnline and RoboHelp SIGs, and our Mentor/Protégéprogram. And be sure to renew your membership,because STC is one of the best bargains you’ll ever find.It’s money well spent (and it’s tax-deductible). Last, butnot least, volunteer and gain even more skills andrecognition. Take charge of your life and move ahead.


netlog@96ocstcby John L. Sands, Internet Chair

HTTP Cookies: Privacy and Security vs.Convenience, Gentility, and Thomas Jefferson

GentilityI came to Orange County from atown in Central Virginia calledCharlottesville. Our most famouscitizen was Thomas Jefferson, andhe built his home there amongst therolling farmlands and forests of thebeautiful Piedmont Valley. Today,people in Charlottesville speak ofhim as if he were still alive.

Visitors will hear the local gentryreferring to, “Mr. Jefferson’s Univer-sity,” which is the University ofVirginia. The lineage of Mr.Jefferson’s accomplishments is wellknown by all in our city and recitedto guests at the slightest provoca-tion. “He (Jefferson) invented thecoat hanger” or “he invented thenickel” are common bits ofJeffersonian trivia.

The best Italian restaurant inCharlottesville is called OreganoJoe’s. The menu acknowledges thatthe first American to import a pastamachine to the United States wasThomas Jefferson. When a friendfrom California visited me atChristmas time, I decided to treathim to a great Italian dinner atOregano Joe’s.

Upon entering, we were greeted bythe owner and proprietor, “Why Mr.Sands, how nice it is too see youback here!” “Would you like yourusual table?” After we were seatedthe owner came over and said,“Remember that special Christmas

Beer you liked the last time youwere here? We were running out, soI put two bottles away for you incase you wanted them.” Afterordering two Anchor Steam Beers,Special Christmas Brew, my friendcommented on how nice the restau-rant was, how friendly the service,and how I must come in here a lot.

The fact of the matter was I hadonly been in Oregano Joe’s onceprior to this visit. The owner knewmy name because I paid with acredit card. The server fills out adatabase report card on eachcustomer. This database includesany conversation topics with theguests, guest comments, and whatthey ordered. The owner reads thiscard before the guest leaves andtries to match the card with thefaces. The overall effect is spectacu-lar! If you order the same thingtwice, you will be greeted with,”Hello Mr. Sands, would you likethe usual!” On your fourth visit,dinner is started when you get outof your car.

Have a Cookie?As an Internet evangelist, I wasshocked two months ago when alady in my apartment house askedme if I was on the Internet. “Whyyes!” I proudly answered, “I makemy living setting up Internet sites.”She told me she couldn’t be on theInternet because she read in theHoly Bible that only God shouldwatch you. It may sound like

“conspiracy theory,” but you arebeing watched when you go on theWorld Wide Web.

The watching mechanism is calledan HTTP Magic Cookie or “cookie”for short. Why a magic cookie? Apossible explanation comes fromhttp://www.iluminatus.com. “Iwas thinking perhaps it has some-thing to do with Odd Bodkins. InDan O’Neill’s book Hear the Sound ofMy Feet Walking, Drown the Sound ofMy Voice Talking, Fred gives Hughand Sam magic cookies and watchestheir interactive Magic Cookie Landdreams, then uses a magic cookiehimself to get into Hugh’s dream.”

A cookie is a little nugget of infor-mation that is sent to your browserfrom a World Wide Web site. Thisblock of data can be anything, aunique user ID generated by theserver, the current date and time,the IP address of where the browseris logged onto the net or any otherchunk of data that it deems useful.

After your browser receives acookie, it will send that cookie(nugget of info) back to the site thatsent it whenever you request anHTML page. The browser will onlysend the cookie to the server thatoriginally set it. This means that thesite can’t tell if you have cookiesthat other sites have set. In otherwords, Websites can’t steal cookiesthey haven’t given you by usingHTTP protocols.


Site HospitalityAs a developer of commercialWebsites, I want my Web pages tobe as easy to use and friendly toguests as possible. I can use infor-mation such as where they havebeen on my site, when they lastlogged on, the password that wasgenerated for them by the site, andwhat they have ordered from us inthe past. I will use this informationas the proprietor of Oregano Joe’sdid in Charlottesville. . . for akindred guest/host relationship.

Cookie BenefitsCookies benefit both the site and theguest. At Clark’s Nutrition Centers(http://www.clarksnutrition.com),cookies are used to provide newsupdates of particular interest and totrack prior orders. A customer whoordered a 90-day supply of avitamin supplement will log in 80days later and receive the an-nouncement, ”Your supplement isabout to run out. Would you like toreorder?”

Cookies make the Internet experi-ence more personalized and timeefficient. A majority (99.9%) of theWeb servers use cookies to

• Enhance the attractiveness oftheir sites by using them to tailortheir sites to their visitors bymaking the sites more useful

• Track information internally toget a better idea of what peoplelike on their site and what theydon’t like

• Track navigation paths to helpmerchandise various products

• Add functionality and simplicityfor the Web visitor

SecurityWhen you use your credit card,your transaction, where youshopped, when you shopped, whatyou bought, how much you paid,and yes, even your middle initial,are tracked by marketing groupswithin MasterCard, American

Express, and Visa. Shopping with acredit card or even using your bankdebit card is far more intrusive onyour personal security than HTTPcookies!

Consider commercial online ser-vices such as America Online andCompuServe. For years, they’ve hadthe ability to track, in intimatedetail, the paths taken by every oneof their users throughout theirservice. And they know a lot moreabout you than a Web site does,including your full name, address,phone, and even a credit cardnumber, because you had to give allthat information to the service whenyou first registered.

So presumably, America Onlineknows if you spent three hours inthe Ready to Cheat On My Spousechat room, and CompuServe knowswhen you’ve been hanging out inthe Bungee Jumping forum. Theo-retically, the services could sell thisinformation, and you could receivepitches for divorce lawyers and lifeinsurance. However, there’s noevidence of that happening.

An HTTP Cookie cannot be used toget data from your hard drive, getyour e-mail address, or steal sensi-tive information about your person.Early implementations of Java andJavaScript could allow people to dothis, but for the most part, thesesecurity leaks have been plugged.

An HTTP Cookie can (yes it can) beused to track where you travel overa particular site. This site trackingcan be easily done without usingcookies, as well—using cookies justmakes the tracking data a little

more consistent.

Locking the cookies.txt file, will notstop cookies from working. Cookieswill still reside in memory. How-ever, locking the file will preventcookies from being written to thehard drive, and it might also causeNetscape to bomb when you quit.

Basically, deleting this file is likewelding your front door shut forfear that it is a passageway forunscrupulous people to enter yourhome. Whether the door serves as aconvenient portal for the peoplewho live there or the people invitedto visit is irrelevant.

Common HTML Cookie Mythsand Paranoia AddressedMyth: A ‘cookie’ is a program that aWeb server can send across theInternet and deposit on a user’shard drive.

More Correctly: A cookie is not aprogram any more than a plainvanilla HTML file is a program. It isjust 255 characters of text stuck in a“cookies” file that sits on your localhard drive, used primarily to savesession information between thetimes when you visit the same site.

Myth: It collects whatever informa-tion it is looking for.

More Correctly: It doesn’t collectanything. It’s simply a place todeposit up to 255 characters. A Webserver might collect informationfrom you if you supply it to a site,and the server could deposit someportion of that information intoyour own cookies file.

Statement: PROBLEM: CommercialWeb pages may invoke this newtechnology to “assist the user whenthe user later returns to the samesite.”

More Correctly: May? We are alldoing this. . . no problem.

(Please see netlog on page 18)


Statement: This data can beused for marketingpurposes or any otherdata collection purpose.

Comment: Entirely true.

Myth: It is a serioussecurity risk.

Comment: This is entirelyuntrue. It cannot risk yoursecurity any more thanwhatever informationyou’re giving out over theWeb to begin with.

Statement: Cookies can bealtered to build personalprofiles on computerusers, track your Webactivities. . .

Comment: Absolutely!

Myth: Cookies can be usedto steal credit card num-bers, password files, andother sensitive data with-out you ever realizing it.

More Correctly: TheWebsite you visit couldaccept your credit cardnumbers or passwordsyou send to its site, and itmight put that informa-tion in your local cookiesfile without you everknowing. But—it’sdesigned so that no othersite can access cookieinformation depositedfrom another site. Yourcredit card numbers andpasswords are no morenor less secure than ifyou’re sending them outover the Web by typingthem in anyway.

Bad Advice: If you use aWeb browser, frequentlyuse your file searching

tools and look for theappropriate file,cookies.txt, and delete it iffound.

Good Advice: Set yourbrowser to inform you asto a cookie being sent, thenature of the cookie andthe expiration date (seesidebar). You will be giventhe opportunity to give ordeny permission. Whatyou will be doing bydenying a cookie to besent is removing anypossibility for site custom-izing or personalizinginformation to help youout. . .and taking thekinship from the relation-ship between merchantand customer.

netlog(continued from page 17)

likely make money on itsown. How do we showhow much we are worth?Simple. Demonstrate howmuch you save thecompany. Here are somesuggestions:

• With a good manual,the company will likelyhave to spend less fortechnical support. Talkto some support peoplein your company toestimate how much thismay amount to.

• With a good online helpsystem, the company isless likely to need that300-page referencemanual (a 100-pageuser’s guide maysuffice). You know

Value(Continued from page 4)

Disallowing Cookiesby Configuring Your Browser

If you want to disallow cookies you can do so withversion 3.0 or greater of Netscape.

1. Go to the Options Menu.

2. Select the Network Preferences menu item.

3. From the window that appears, select Protocols

4. Locate the section Show an Alert Before.

5. Check the box labeled Accepting a Cookie.

From now on, you will get an Alert box telling youthat a server is trying to set a cookie at yourbrowser. It will tell you what the cookie value isand how long it will last before it is deleted

I not only recommend this setting, but encourageyou to allow all cookies!

what you’re makingnow, so calculate howmuch this saves thecompany.

• With improved require-ments and specifica-tions documentation,the programmers maybe able to do their jobsbetter and faster. Theremight even be fewerlast-minute changes tothe product. How muchis that worth?

I said before we areproblem solvers. By beinga team player and bydoing your job diligentlyand completely, you cansolve the common prob-lems that arise during aproduct developmentcycle. This is a valuableskill that not everyonehas. Administrativeassistants don’t usually

possess it. Neither doprogrammers, marketingpeople, or quality assur-ance people, unless theyare really good. Evenproject managers don’thave this skill sometimes.

If you do your job beyondexpectations, you willsolve problems along theway because you commu-nicate within the projectgroup like no one does.You will solve problemswhile you are seeking theanswers to your owndocumentation questions.You will solve problemsnot only because youproduce documentation,but because you addvalue to the entire project.


JoblineCall the OCSTC Hotlineat (714) 863-7666 andpress #3 for job informa-tion. The Jobline hasmany open positions fortechnical communicatorsin both Southern andNorthern California.

Job listings are distributedby mail, 24-hour fax, ande-mail. For U.S. maildelivery, send $1.00, proofof membership (membernumber printed in theupper-right-hand cornerof your TechniScribemailing label), and yourmailing address to

OCSTC JoblineAttn: Bill DarnallPO Box 28751Santa Ana, CA92799-8751

You can fax your requestto (714) 751-9115 or sendan e-mail message [email protected]. Wefax the Jobline to mem-bers who have fax num-bers that are available 24-hours per day. Thepreferred method ofdistribution is e-mail.Printed copies of theJobline are available atmonthly meetings.

Editor(Continued from page 11)

bullets and lots of whitespace. Unless you’re doinga targeted résumé, youdon’t need to state aspecific objective—thattends to be limiting.

Unless you’re fresh out ofcollege, put your educa-tion last. Emphasize yourachievements and capa-bilities—the more specific,the better. A simple list ofjob titles really doesn’t tellvery much. And don’t goback more than 10 years.As far as the employer isconcerned, if it didn’thappen in the last 10years, it’s no longerrelevant. Concentrate onwhy the employer shouldhire you, rather thansomebody else with asimilar background.

Don’t give away your age,especially if you’re over40. For instance, if yougraduated from college in1972, leave off the date.Age discrimination isillegal, but it happens.Once you get into theinterview, the employercan guess how old youare, but then you’ll havemore time to impress himor her with the advan-tages of your experience.

Should you have an up-to-date résumé available,even if you’ve been on thesame job for years andhave no intention ofmaking a change in thenear future? Absolutely. Inthis day and age, layoffsoften come withoutwarning. And one otherthing—what if that“dream job” suddenlypops up? You never know!

also included the awardsfor the Technical ArtCompetition and exhibit.The Saturday seminarschedule was led byAnacapa, San Diego, andSierra-Panamint.

Needless to say, theseminar was a success.The active workers fromthe five chapters readslike an STC Who’s Whofor Southern California.George Hahn and HydeeSmall led the OCSTCchapter workers. I was nota participant, since I hadbeen suffering for 6

will be convinced that youare serious. Here are somerecommended referencesto lay on the interviewer’sdesk:

• Joann Hackos’ Manag-ing Your DocumentationProjects

• Joan Nagle’s PreparingEngineering Documents

• William Horton’sDesigning and WritingOnline Documentation

• William Horton’sIllustrating ComputerDocumentation

• The American HeritageCollege Dictionary, 3rdedition

• The Chicago Manual ofStyle, 14th edition

• The Microsoft Manual ofStyle

Do you honestly believethe average entry-leveltechnical writer does all ofthese things? You knowthey don’t. But if you dothese things, you will havean unfair advantage.

Don’t forget to continue totake an unfair advantageby attending several ofour “Employment Month”workshops this month.Refer to “Chapter News”for a complete listing ofthese outstanding oppor-tunities. The rest is up toyou!

Next month we’ll an-nounce the winners of theRésumé Contest.

Advantage(Continued from page 8)

months from a torncartilage, an infection,hospitalization, and threeoperations. However, Idid manage to appear atthe Friday afternoonsessions to check out theproceedings.

Editor’s Note: At our recentRegion 8 Conference inCosta Mesa, the SouthernCalifornia chapters con-tinued their close coop-eration. Members from theSan Diego and Los Angleschapters held importantpositions on the conferencestaff, and our wonderfulspeakers came from chaptersthroughout the region.

Looking Back(Continued from page 6)


reader will never even seethem.

Interactive EditorialOnce it’s gotten past therobots, a Web page shouldfully utilize the uniquefeatures of computer-delivered text. New mediahas six key advantagesover old media—customization, timeliness,comprehensiveness,searchability, economy,and transaction—andsuccessful interactiveauthors exploit theseadvantages in their copy.

Customization lets thereader change the way thestory is presented, fromsimple effects like viewingonly heads and subheadsto navigational tricks likehyperlinking to algorith-mic editorial features thatchange the text of thestory depending on thereader’s preferences.Algorithmic advertising insome Web magazines isalready changing the adsbased on the reader’sprevious clicks, and new“HTML-on-the-fly”database packages offerssimilar routines that canwarp the narrative to thereader’s perspective.

Timeliness is one of theprincipal features of on-line systems, and there’sno excuse anymore forpublishing text that is notcompletely up-to-date.The editorial effect of verytimely information is very

compelling: with livecameras that pumpseconds-old photos overthe net, with continuallyupdated stories onnewspaper and magazinepages, with instantaneousweather, finance andsports data, the Internetpulsates with livingcontent. Some Webdesigners claim that agood site must have newcopy every day; a few tryto incorporate updatesevery few hours.

Comprehensiveness meansthat there are fewer spacerestrictions online than onpress. In the Web versionsof magazines like Scienceand The Atlantic Monthly,stories and illustrationsthat couldn’t fit into theprinted pages find theirway to the reader online.Multimedia formats likesound, animation andvideo are also included toround out the type andart. And on-line archivesof newspapers, magazinesand reference works givereaders access to moun-tains of raw data thatcompletes the story.

Mountains of raw data, ofcourse, are only helpful ifthe interactive authorincludes techniques forsearchability, one of themost powerful editorialfeatures of the Web. Link acomprehensive body ofinformation to a strongsearch engine and thereader can take fullcontrol over the text. Thereader can retrievenuggets of data by asking,for example, “Tell mewhen Napoleon died.”

Much more importantly,the comprehensivesearchable text can beused as an inferenceengine to look at the datain different ways: “Whowas born the day Napo-leon died? Who else diedthat day in history? Whatwas the weather like inFrance? Who was Presi-dent of the UnitedStates?” and so on. A goodinteractive text builds inthe search fields andquery features that willhelp a reader study theinformation from manydifferent perspectives.

Economy is more a busi-ness advantage than aneditorial feature, but thegrowing interest in buyinginformation on a “pay-per-view” basis is puttingpressure on editors topackage data in moresalable bites. Readers nolonger want to subscribeto the $2,000 per yeartechnical journal, they’drather pay $200 just forthe May issue or maybejust $50 for the mainfeature articles or—if theycould get away with it—pay $3.50 for the firstparagraph of the abstract.

Transaction, the ability ofthe interactive text to askquestions of the reader, isby far the most importantinnovation of new media.Transaction makes itpossible for readers toparticipate in the creationof the page. Web-basedmagazines regularlyinvite readers to commenton the articles they’ve justread in a bulletin boardformat, and it’s not

uncommon to see a 1,200-word magazine storyfollowed by 2,400 wordsof reader discussion. Afterreading the copy in a Webcatalog, the reader canpush a button and orderthe product instantly. Andthe latest Web plug-inslike ShockWave and Javalet writers add videogame elements to theirnarratives.

Just as screenwriting isdifferent from magazinereporting, writing andediting for the Web has itsown limitations and itsown unique opportuni-ties. We’re just beginningto understand the fullpower of this new com-munications medium, butit’s a lot more thanshoveling “repurposed”print pages onto the net.

Copyright 1996 by theGraphics Research Lab,Inc. All rights reserved.This article is adaptedfrom GRLab’s seminar onWriting for InteractiveMedia.

Jack Powers is the director ofNew York’s GraphicsResearch Laboratory, a high-tech media think tank, andpublisher of www.electric-pages.com, the Lab’s journalof publishing evolution.

Web(Continued from page 1)


MembershipNewsby Jeff Randolph

Membership Manager

(Please see Membership onpage 22)

STC Office Contact List

Executive Director Membership Director

William C. [email protected]

W. Lee [email protected]

Assistant Executive Director Assistant Membership Director

Peter R. [email protected]

Allison M. [email protected]

Executive Assistant Membership Assistant

Peg [email protected]

Merrick I. [email protected]

For a complete list of STC contacts, see page 11 of theSeptember 1996 issue of Technical Communication.

Membership UpdateIn November 1996, 10members joined, trans-ferred, or reinstated theirmembership to OCSTC.The new OCSTC membersare Kelly J. Anderson,Richard R. Kern, Eliza-beth A. Liechti, Barbara F.McPherson, Stephen L.McPherson, Henry W.Moore, Diana Ornstead,Christopher R. Phillips,Craig K. Terrell, and JanisL. Tomanek. Congratula-tions to our new mem-bers! Coupled with thosewho paid their renewaldues, our chapter mem-bership now stands at 375,just 12 members shy ofour all-time high of 387.Our member count is 15%higher than last year atthis time. Total STCmembership is 19,868members, 4% higher thanlast year.

Membership RenewalNoticesSTC mailed your member-ship renewal noticearound Thanksgiving.Hopefully, you havereceived it by now. If youhave not received yourrenewal notice, please callme or send me a messageby e-mail. With all thebenefits that STC and theOrange County Chapterhave offered and willcontinue to offer, don’tdelay in sending yourrenewal check. You are notlikely to receive anyadditional notices afteryour initial notice. Youmust send your dues byFebruary 28, 1997, toparticipate in Society andChapter elections. Thefinal deadline for renew-ing is April 1, 1997. If yousigned up as a memberbetween October 1 and

December 31, 1996, your1997 dues are paid.

As you know, we are onceagain nearing “tax sea-son.” As you consideryour STC dues renewalpayment, you might wantto check “Are STC DuesTax Deductible?” on page33 of the December 1996issue of Intercom, yourmonthly STC magazine.

New Member ProfilesBrian Day joined OCSTCin October and currentlyis a technical writer atWonderware Corporationin Irvine. Brian writes anddevelops technical manu-als, end-user manuals,and Online Help systemsfor Wonderware’s sevensoftware products. He isalso involved with localiz-ing their English-languagemanuals into seven otherEuropean and Asianlanguages. Brian isconverting Wonderware’sdocuments into onlineformat using CommonGround as a conversiontool. He has worked atWonderware for fivemonths.

Brian has 13 years oftechnical writing experi-ence—everything fromtypewriters and tape toPC’s. Brian also has donefreelance writing assign-

ments on occasion. Hismajor experience has beenin technical writing andtraining—from defenseindustry writing for theArmy, Navy, and AirForce to developingproduct documentationand spec sheets. Amongthe companies Brian hasworked for are LockheedAerospace in Ontario,Analysis & Technologyand Misted in Connecti-cut, Accuser Systems inPennsylvania, and theInstitute of Nuclear Power(INPOUR) in Georgia.

Brian began his technicaltraining in the U.S. Navyand then completedvarious English andEngineering courses tofine-tune his craft. As heso simply states, “I am aproduct of my profes-sion.” Brian is one of anumber of Wonderwarewriters who are membersof OCSTC. He joined tonetwork and be part of thenetwork with his cowork-ers.

Brian’s hobbies includeboating (he owns a boat)and bass fishing, espe-cially in competitivetournaments. He alsoloves rollerblading,


About STCThe Society for Technical Com-munication (STC) is the world’slargest organization for technicalcommunicators. STC’s more than19,000 members include writers,editors, illustrators, printers,publishers, photographers,educators, and students. Duesare $95 per year, plus a one-timeenrollment fee. Membership isopen to anyone engaged in somephase of technical communica-tion, or interested in the arts andsciences of technical communica-tion, or in allied arts and sci-ences. You can reach STC head-quarters, by writing or calling

William Stolgitis, Executive DirectorSociety for Technical Communication901 N. Stuart Street, Suite 904Arlington, VA 22203-1854

Phone: (703) 522-4114Fax: (703) 522-2075BBS: (703) 522-3299E-mail: [email protected]: http://stc-va.org

STC National Job ListingsSTC maintains national joblistings on the Internet. You candownload them by FTP fromclark.net. The home directory ispub/stc. If you aren’t on theInternet but have a modem, youcan call the STC bulletin board at703-522-3299.

Membership(Continued from page 21)

bad opinions about thecompany’s documentation. Yourboss tells you not to worrybecause he knows the real storyeven if the coworkers don’t. Healso feels that customers’ engi-neers are adapted to difficultdocumentation—besides, theyare not the people makingpurchasing decisions.

4. The company owner reviewedyour document and noted theneed for an industrywidecomparison of competingproducts. You feel that this is amarketing function, and youbelieve that the information hasno place in the User Guide. Butthere are no marketing peoplewho understand the product,and the owner wants to see theinformation in your book.

Local writers interested inassertiveness training can contactJim Farris at (714)733-5869. Herecently made a fine presentation atmy company in Irvine. You can alsofind a number of otherassertiveness trainers by searchingthe Web for “assertiveness train-ing.”

William DuBay is the principaltechnical writer at PhoenixTechnologies Ltd. You can reach him atthe following e-mail address:

[email protected]

Stand(Continued from page 5)

working out, country dancing, andjet skiing.

Brian was born and raised inPhiladelphia. He has lived inVirginia, Connecticut, Norristown,PA, and now resides in Lake Forest.

Carol Steinberg joined OCSTC inAugust and is a technical writer atMicroSim in Irvine. She joined STCto broaden her knowledge of thetechnical writing field, havingstarted her career in softwareengineering. Carol’s hobbies includebackpacking, back country skiing,and foreign travel. One of her majortrips brought her to Barcelona,Spain, in time for the 1992 SummerOlympics. Carol’s latest journeywas a 7-week “walkabout” throughAustralia.

Member NotablesBob Easley’s article, “My AchingBack,” which appeared in theSeptember 1996 issue of theTechniScribe, was excerpted in theDecember 1996 issue of Writing thatWorks®, a monthly newsletter on“practical writing and communica-tions for business” (Note: Writingthat Works and its parent organiza-tion, Communications Concepts,Inc., are not affiliated with STC).

Elaine Randolph and JackMolisani wrote an article aboutlessons learned in putting on aregional conference that waspublished in the December issue ofTieline.

Elaine Randolph also received noti-fication that the OCSTC Web pagethat she redesigned won an awardin the Lone Star Chapter ’s WebPage Competition. Congratulations!

Man is only truly great when heacts from the passions.

—Benjamin Disreali


Chapter ContactsPresidentJack Molisani(714) 260-4733 (b)[email protected]

FacilitiesCarolyn Romano(714) 894-9221 (h)[email protected]

MeetingsSharon Burton(909) 369-8590 (b)(909) 683-3137 (fax)[email protected]@msn.com

MembershipJeff Randolph(714) 583-9402 (h)[email protected]@ix.netcom.com

Co-MembershipSel Handler(310) 691-2315 (h)(310) 694-6111 (w)

NewsletterElaine Randolph(714) 380-6128 (b)[email protected]

SecretaryAlexandria Berks(310) 439-6650 (h)[email protected]

TreasurerMargaret Nakamura(714) 995-0955 (h)[email protected]

HistorianPaul Lewis(714) 846-8621 (h)[email protected]

Region 8 Director-SponsorCynthia Brock(805) 968-4821 (h)(805) 685-8424 (fax)[email protected]

EducationMark Bloom(714) 729-2430 x505 (b)[email protected]

Internet ChairmanJohn Sands(714) 588-9784 (h)[email protected]

JoblineBill Darnall(714) 751-6007 (b)(714) 751-9115 (fax)[email protected]

Mentor ProgramDeana Gordon(310) 597-0006 (h)[email protected]

Public RelationsSandi Giles(714) 260-4757 (b)(714) 643-3501 (h)[email protected]

Publications CompetitionJulie Atkins(714) [email protected]

Scholarship CommitteeLivia Morse(714) 668-5320 (b)[email protected]

Members at LargeJerri Houdayer(310) 593-8996 (b)[email protected]@mdcpo16.mdc.com

Marge Packman(714) 798-1230 (b)[email protected]

Visit Our Web Sitehttp://stc-va.org/region8/occ/www/ocstc.htm

Chapter Hotline(714) 863-7666


OCSTC Mailing Address

P.O. Box 28751Santa Ana, CA 92799-8751(714) 863-7666 (recorded info)

Address Correction Requested

January7—OCSTC Executive Boardmeeting. 2030 Main Street, 13thfloor conference room, Irvine,6:00 p.m.

Seminar on Writing a SuccessfulRésumé. 6:30 p.m. at Unisys.

9—Seminar on Working with aPrinting Service. 6:30 p.m. atUnisys.

10—Deadline for FebruaryTechniScribe.

11—Seminar on Acing Your JobInterview, 9:00 a.m. at Unisys.

16—ISO 9000 Support Group.Meeting to be held at WesternDigital in Irvine, 8:00 a.m. Call BobTripodi at (714) 932-6910 forinformation.

16—LASTC chapter meeting, CrownSterling Suites Hotel, El Segundo. Call(213) 896-2982 for more information.

18—Writing and Editing Review, 9:00a.m. at Unisys.

21—OCSTC chapter meeting, IrvineMarriott Hotel, 6:00 p.m. See articleon page 3.

23—Seminar on Marketing YourServices as a Consultant. 6:30 p.m.at Unisys.

25—Seminar on Finding a Job onthe Internet. 10:00 a.m. in the UnisysCafeteria.

Advanced RoboHelp Workshop.9:00 a.m. in the Unisys ComputerLab.

CalendarTTTTTEEEEECCCCCHHHHHNNNNNIIIIIScribe

NONPROFITORG.

U.S. POSTAGEPAID

SANTA ANA, CAPERMIT NO. 1767

28—Seminar on proposals andpresentations, 6:30 p.m. at Unisys.

29—Career Makerover Workshop,6:30 p.m. at Clarity Multimedia(WellsFargo Bank Building, 13th Floor).

February1—Workshop on Growing an Inde-pendent Contracting Business, 9:00a.m. at Unisys.

4—OCSTC Board Meeting.

10—Deadline for MarchTechniScribe.

18—OCSTC Chapter Meeting.