Canadian Community

Hi. I’m the current VP of STC Manitoba and I wanted to announce that our chapter will be co-hosting the fifth annual technical communication conference on April 14 and 15, 2008.

We’re looking for speakers and welcome any abstract submissions from members. On behalf of the chapter, we’d also like to invite STC members to attend our conference if you’ll be in or around Winnipeg on either or both of these days.

Conference website: http://stcmanitoba.org/conference/

The proceeds from the conference are used to fund scholarships for students in the Technical Communication Diploma program at Red River College. Two scholarships are awarded, one from the Society for Technical Communication, and one from the College.

Cheers,
Rachel

Canadian West Coast Chapter January Program Meeting

In 2008 it’s almost impossible for technical communicators to hide from the DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) world. It’s a little like that 90s children’s game called “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?” Everyone is talking about DITA, but have you actually seen DITA? You’ve been given lots of clues about what it looks like, how it works, but would you recognize it if you saw it? Would you know what to do with it if someone gave it to you to use?

Bluestream Database Software Corp. offers a hands-on primer on content management using DITA, with practical examples using their XDocs tool. Jim Tivy will review specific reuse features of DITA. Authoring will be explored by using a sample scenario with XDocs and XMetal. On the publishing side, different output formats and output delivery mechanisms will be shown.

When: Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Time: 6:30 pm Networking, 7:00 pm Program
Where: Downtown YWCA, 535 Hornby Street, Welch Room (4th Floor)
Cost: Canada West Coast chapter STC members: Reduced from $10 to $5 thanks to our chapter sponsor, WritersUA!
Other STC members: $15
Students, retired, and unemployed STC members: $5
Non-members: $20
Register: http://www.gifttool.com/registrar/ShowEventDetails?ID=47&EID=2211

About the Presenter
Jim Tivy is Chief Technology Officer at Bluestream Database Software Corp. Jim is the architect of an XML database and more recently the XDocs Content Management System. Jim was a member of the W3C XQuery working group for 4 years and is an author of “XQuery from the Experts” from Addison Wesley. Jim has worked on documentation systems since 1982. His current project at Bluestream is to help build a state-of-the-art XML Content Management System.

About the Sponsor
WritersUA specializes in providing quality training and publications for the community of user assistance professionals. The world of user assistance comprises a variety of techniques and technologies to make working with software a better experience. WritersUA is the premier source for world-class, world-wide user assistance conferences and seminars. The annual WritersUA Conference has attracted over eight thousand participants in the past fifteen years. The next event takes place March 16-19 in Portland, Oregon. Registration opens November 1 and early registration discounts will be in effect through December 15. http://www.writersua.com.

Back in May, in response to a blog post of mine, Michèle Marques commented that the deductibility of STC dues was discussed on the stc-ca-l list. From a search of my own message archive, it appears this discussion took place before I subscribed to the list. Can anyone post a summary of that discussion here? If you can point to particular CRA documentation that relates to dues deductability, that would be a bonus. Tax time is coming…

Thanks.

Milan Davidovic
STC Toronto

Back in May I asked what issues you think are unique to STC members — and technical communicators — in Canada. Michèle Marques and Kitty MacAlpine offered a few ideas. My own contribution to the discussion was to say that I’m interested in the stories that Canadian technical communicators have to tell about, well, being technical communicators (and STC members) in Canada.

Today, while looking at the Canadian STC Community site, I noticed something that I hadn’t before:

The name reflects the membership of the Community, and carries on the name of the Canadian Issues Committee, which was formed in 1990, and which helped, in the ten years of its operation, identify and resolve many issues of concern to Canadian members of STC. (emphasis added)

Interesting — I wonder if anyone from that Committee is still around, and if they can share some stories about those issues they identified and resolved. If you were a Committee member or can put me in touch with someone who was, please drop me a line.

Milan Davidovic
STC Toronto

December is the time of year to kick back, relax, enjoy friends, family, colleagues, festivities, and food! The Toronto STC executive would like to invite you to share some good cheer with your fellow technical communicators.

Tonight’s get-together is being held at:
MILESTONE’S RESTAURANT
5095 Yonge St,
Toronto, ON
(North of Sheppard Ave)

Milestone’s is across the street from Mel Lastman Square and can be easily seen from the street. Just go on in and let them know that you are with Toronto STC.

Kitty MacAlpine posted this story to the STC Forum. Has anything like this happened to any other STC chapters in Canada? If so, could we get the story posted here?

Milan Davidovic
STC Toronto

November Workshop
Delving into content management (CM) is entering an unfamiliar and sometimes confusing world. It’s not unusual for a well-meaning IT group of a corporation to install a well-respected - but inappropriate for technical publishing - content management application and expect the technical documentation department to start churning out documentation using the new system - and what about that return on investment they expect to see after a few months? Knowing the basics of CM is more than a protection mechanism; it’s a way of preparing for the next big trend in documentation production.

This workshop provides the groundwork for understanding how the guts of a content management system works, the differences between Web CM and content component management systems, some circumstances under which CM can be beneficial, and techniques for determining system suitability. We will also demystify the industry vocabulary, thereby eliminating some of the barriers that can slow down the investigative process. We’ll look at the process from input (authoring) to output (XSL) and all the steps in between, and the role of XML for capitalizing on your content re-use.

When: Saturday, November 17, 2007
Time: 9:00am to 4:00pm
Where: BCIT, Room 481, 555 Seymour Street, Vancouver
Cost: Members of CWC STC: $150; Non-members: $175; Students: $125
Click here to register online.

Lunch is provided.

About the Presenter
Rahel Anne Bailie has been providing content management consulting services to clients in a range of industries, from aviation to medical devices to tourism to online consumer goods, for five years. As principal of Intentional Design and partner in the Strategy A Consulting Group, she brings substantial business and communication experience to her projects, where she helps organizations with requirements and content analysis phases, through to assistance with RFP preparation and vendor selection. She embraces technologies that serve to improve the performance of communication products and the processes to create and maintain them, and supplements her knowledge with substantial experience in content development and user experience.

Rahel was elected Associate Fellow of the Society of Technical Communication in 2006, is involved in the Content Management Professionals Association, and holds memberships in related professional associations in order to keep current in pertinent practice areas.

Click here to register online.

November Program Meeting - STC Canada West Coast
Meet a diverse panel of writers and engage in a lively discussion about stories and narrative in games, comic books, new media, books (fiction and non fiction), and song. Prepare yourself for a rip roaring, rip snorting, profane, world-shaking, rabble-rousing event just for you.

When: Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Time: 6:30pm to 10:30pm
Where: Radha Yoga and Eatery, 728 Main St., above the Brickhouse Bar
Cost: Members of CWC STC and event partners: $15; Non-members: $20
Click here to register online

A range of delicious and healthy food is available to purchase, as well as a full bar service.

About the panelists
Kaare Andrews is a writer and artist who’s worked on comic books such as the Incredible Hulk, Ultimate X-Men, Amazing Spider-Man, Gen13 and the Matrix. He won “Outstanding Comic Book Artist” at the Joe Shuster Awards in 2005. As a filmmaker, he’s directed a number of award-winning short films and as a designer of album covers, he worked on Tegan and Sara’s 2002 album, “:If it was you,” amongst others.

Mira Sundara Rajan, is a musician, author of “Copyright and Creative Freedom,” and the Canada Research Chair in Intellectual Property Law at the University of British Columbia. With a great grandfather who was exiled from British India them welcomed back and lauded as a national poet whose copyright was later nationalized, Sundara Rajan has a compelling story where copyright is concerned.

Sue Thomas, a UK expert in new media, is the author of the book “Hello World travels in virtuality” and others. A literary advisor to the British Council and the Electronic Literature Organization, she is the program leader for the Online MA in Creative Writing and New Media at De Montfort University. Her students collaborated with Penguin Books on ‘A Million Penguins’. She’ll explain how that blockbusting experimental wikinovel produced some surprising results.

Shari Ulrich recently released her latest solo album. A member of the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame, a Juno award winner, and a fixture on the Vancouver music scene, Ulrich has performed with Pied Pumkin, Ulrich Henderson Forbes, and Valdy & the Hometown Band. When she’s in town, Ulrich teaches songwriting locally.

Ian Verchere is known as the developer of over 30 game titles including two million-selling titles for Electronic Arts, SSX Tricky and NBA Street V2. Add his classic, best-selling Beavis and Butthead game on Sega Genesis for MTV and signing an exclusive worldwide deal in 1998 to bring Jackie Chan, an internationally renowned action star, into the world of video games and you might conclude that he’s a one trick pony. Well, he’s also been a business man, a founder of Radical Entertainment; an author, “V0N 1B0; General Delivery, Whistler, BC; a creative consultant for Roald Dahl’s literary estate, and a scriptwriter (with Douglas Coupland) who’s sold his work to Disney.

About the moderator
kc dyer is the author of four contemporary and historical young adult novels which have been published in Canada, the US, the UK, and Thailand. She’s also had a short story “Swim” included in, “SHORELINES: A Millennium Anthology” published by the North Shore Writers’ Association. The conference and the writing contest coordinator for the Surrey International Writers’ Conference, dyer is a skilled, capable moderator with experience in, and opinions on, all aspects of the writing scene.

For the latest updates about this event, check out the writing.wise blog.

Click here to register online.

Remember, students of technical communication qualify for the member rate of $15.

Operating a freelance business in today’s world almost requires that the consultant have and maintain a professional website. Learn the essentials of this critical aspect of your business! Topics include:

• Registering your domain name, including choosing the right domain name, and information on registrars;
• Setting up hosting for your website, including information about hosting companies; and
• Creating your website, including software options and resources.

This information-packed conference call is scheduled for Tuesday, November 13, 2007 , beginning at 12:00 CST, US, and is open to all STC members. A limited number of seats are available, so make your reservations now by e-mailing Barbi Harrison, CIC SIG Manager, at bh2228@sbcglobal.net. When you register, a call-in phone number and access code will be sent to you. The only cost is the toll for the call.

STC Toronto meeting - November 13, 7pm. See the STC Toronto website for location.

If you learned in the last meeting what you can do with DITA … in this meeting you’ll find out what people have done.

In his position with The Rockley Group, Steve Manning has now participated (or is participating) in implementing DITA for a number of clients. They range from government departments to hardware and software companies. Some companies had content management systems,
some did not. Some used DITA “out of the box”, others created specializations. For this meeting, he will talk about these projects and what these companies experienced: unexpected issues, positive surprises, technology challenges, writer responses, and the measurement of success.

Steve Manning bio:

Steve Manning is a Principal with The Rockley Group and has over 19 years experience in the documentation field. He is a skilled developer of documentation in many formats (WinHelp, HTML Help, Web sites, XML, and Lotus Notes) and has created single source production
methodologies using key online tools. Steve has extensive experience in project management and has managed a number of multiple media, single source projects. Steve teaches “Enterprise Content Management” at the University of Toronto, and is a frequent speaker at conferences (ASIS, AUGI, STC, ACM SIGDOC, DIA) on the subject of XML, DITA and Content Management and is also a member of the OASIS DITA Technical Committee.

Steve is a co-author of Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy with Ann Rockley and Pamela Kostur.