Global Talk

From the ITC SIG alone, we have 42 members attending the conference, coming in from at least eight different countries, raning from Israel to Korea to Cananda! 

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

Main events for ITC:

Community Reception:  Monday nite, 7:30pm ET.  Please stop by the table that we have set up to represent the ITC.  Phil Gray, our Assistant Manager, will be representing ITC for this event.  We will be sharing our table with the Euro SIG.

ITC Business Breakfast: Tuesday morning, 7:15am-8:15am  (Kennesaw Room, Hilton).  All ITC members are welcome to join us.  We ordered bagels, fruit, and coffee.  This meeting will be run by Phil Gray, our new ITC Assistant Manager.

ITC SIG Lunch: Tuesday, 12-1:15pmET.  If you have not purchased a ticket, you can still do so, either online or on site.

ITC Progression:  Wednesday, 8:30amET – 11:30amET  (even 0251 and 0252 in the Program).  Free and open to all.

STC Lunch: Wednesday, 12pmET.  Open to all who registered for the conference.  No ticket required—just your conference pass. 

ITC SIG News

Hi all,

On behalf of the nominations committee, I welcome the new leadership team
of the International Technical Communication SIG of STC.

We had elections (elections ended COB April 14, 2009) for the position of
Treasurer. Carol Luttrell wins the elections with more than 56% of the
votes polled.

The new leadership team:

Manager: Traci Nathans- Kelly
Assistant Manager: Phil Gray
Secretary: Swaminathan Moorthy
Treasurer: Carol Luttrell

Please join me in wishing the new leadership team all the very best.

Regards
Swaminathan Moorthy
Head of Nominations Committee, International Technical Communication SIG

ITC SIG News

Hi all,

Please visit the following hyperlink to vote in ITC elections:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cE9wWU43NEVEYi1JUkIzUGNwX0hLVFE6MA..

ITC SIG News

Hi all

Here is the list of nominees for the ITC Leadership Team.  The announcement for voting for Treasurer will come in a few days. 

Manager: Traci Nathans-Kelly
Assistant Manager: Philip A. Gray
Secretary: Swaminathan Moorthy
Treasurer: Carol Luttrell and Bob Caskey

Profiles of all nominated members are as follows:

Traci Nathans-Kelly

Traci is a senior STC member and the current Manager for the International Technical Communication SIG. In the past, she has participated as a judge at the international level for the Society for Technical Communication publications competition. At her teaching post at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she regularly holds online workshops/webinars regarding technical presentations.  One of the more exciting opportunities was in summer 2008, where she worked with the ProVention  (a UN sponsored project) webinar series for Europe/Central Asia, Latin America/Carribean, South Africa, and Thailand.  Participants in the “Improving Technical Presentations and Posters” series called in from Turkey, Georgia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Mexico, Spain, Benin, Cameroon, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Thailand, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Korea, Japan, Cambodia, Nepal, Pakistan, and the Philippines. During one of those webinars with Africa, she remembers the typical internet café noises of chatting and dishes clattering, but she also dealt with the buzz of mopeds and the bleats of goats streaming across the webinar lines.

Traci earned her PhD in 1997 in English. At that time, she was also the program director for the Scientific and Technical Communication BS degree at the University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC).  While at UMC, Traci was able to teach two summer sessions of “Global Communication” as a Study Abroad class in Italy and Swizerland, visting with head communications leaders at the United Nations and at the International Red Cross Red Crescent. At the moment, she is also consulting with a Disaster Management Group, located in the Carribean, on their documents and training materials.

She came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to teach in the College of Engineering’s Technical Communication program in 2000, where she teaches Technical Communication (grad and undergrad), Technical Editing, Writing User Manuals, Technical Presentations, and other courses.

Philip A. Gray

With degrees in engineering (BS General Engineering 1976, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York; and MS Industrial Engineering (Engineering Management) 1989, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee), Phil Gray is presently serving as a Senior Technical Writer for Siemens Energy and Automation, Inc., in Johnson City, TN. He has extensive and progressive expertise in Technical Communications, ranging from manual, online help, and e-business development; to class development and presentation; to product knowledge. He has served as a senior technical instructor for more than thirteen years and senior technical writer for more than six years; he developed and documented information products on the full range of Siemens industrial automation technology. Phil is intensely interested in other cultures and languages of the world.

Swaminathan Moorthy

Swaminathan Moorthy works as a Senior Information Developer with a company in Bangalore, India. He has been a part of the STC India Chapter for the last four years and as a member of STC for the last three years. As a part of STC India Chapter activities, he has been the Membership and Employment Manager for the year 2008 and Employment Manager for the year 2009. Swami is also the head of the nominations committee for ITC elections for the year 2009.

Carolyn Luttrell

Carolyn Luttrell is one of the founders of ITC.  For STC, she is an Associate Fellow  and a senior member of the Philadelphia Metro Chapter.
She is a Document Management Specialist with DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware.

Carolyn has been in the technical communications and training fields for nearly 30 years. She holds a BA from Widener University an MA from Villanova University, both in English Literature, and is currently completing a Master’s degree in Environmental and Energy Policy at the University of Delaware. She is treasurer of the International SIG and co-manager of the Environmental, Safety and Health SIG.

Bob Caskey

Bob Caskey is Business Development Manager for OmniLingua Inc in Cedar Rapids Iowa.  With over 20 years experience in electronic and database publishing, print on demand, content management, authoring systems and localization/translation Bob’s real passion is continuous process improvement.  Bob served as a Russian translator/analyst for the Army Security Agency in Berlin, Germany and graduated from the University of Illinois.  Currently, Mr. Caskey focuses on the automotive, life sciences and software industries in his professional role.

Bob Caskey presents papers at the local, regional and national level.  His expertise is in content management lifecycle management. At the last two STC Summits, he volunteered at the International Pavilion hosted by ITC.
He owns and manages his own successful business which prepares him to manage the finances of ITC.

Regards,
Swaminathan Moorthy
Head of Nominations Committee, International Technical Communication SIG

ITC SIG News itcelections

The International Technical Communication SIG is 20 years old this year!   Founded in 1989 by Carolyn Luttrell and colleagues, we have come a long way and have seen incredible changes in all aspects of our professional lives.  As of this writing, we have over 950 members in the ITC SIG, we have a strong contingency (two progressions and many individual sessions) at this year’s Annual STC Summit, and we have just launched our new website.  ITC is a strong and viable online community.  For stories and recollections (whether you want to read or offer your own), please link to http://itcglobaltalk.org/?page_id=77

If you have a recollection or contribution you would like to post to Global Talk, please send me a note at kelly@epd.engr.wisc.edu .  In coming weeks, I will be contacting some “old timers” directly to solicit contributions to our memory bank.  We thank all of our past members, all of our past managers, all of our past elected people, and the many, many volunteers who have made ITC what it is today.

–Traci Nathans-Kelly, ITC Manager

ITC SIG News, STC News

Hi all,

As the head of the International Technical Communication’s SIG Nominations committee, I’m announcing the leadership council elections for the year 2009. ITC’s bylaws ask for elections every two years.

There are four leadership positions to which the members of the group are elected:

- Manager

- Assistant Manager

- Secretary

- Treasurer

If you, or somebody you know would like to run for any ITC elected position, we would encourage you to participate!  Below, please find a description of the procedure as well as a description for each of the posts up for election.  As of this writing, we have volunteers to fill each of the positions; nevertheless, we are always interested in having more people involved in ITC.

To nominate yourself or another ITC member, use this procedure:

1. Send an email to Swaminathan Moorthy (swami@itcglobaltalk.org) with the subject line: “Nominations for ITC Leadership Team 2009 Elections”.
2. Mention the name of the persons you wish to nominate for different leadership council posts, in the mail.
3. Include for each person nominated a brief biography of the candidate, the candidate’s management experience, and the candidate’s prior contributions to the ITC SIG and/or STC.
4. Provide your full name at the end of the email.
5. The email with your nominations should be sent by March 10, 2009 at midnight, Central Time.

DESCRIPTION OF ELECTED POSITIONS FOR STC ITC:

The roles and responsibilities of these Admin Council members, per our by-laws, are as follows.

Manager:

- Presides at meetings of the council and meetings of the International Technical Communication SIG;

- Corresponds with the Society’s officers and directors as speaker for the council and the International Technical Communication SIG;

- Appoints managers of the committees, subject to council approval; assigns special duties relating to those committees;

- Appoints the Newsletter Editor;

- As the International Technical Communication SIG’s executive officer, represents the council and the International Technical Communication SIG in the International Technical Communication SIG’s business with other organizations and individuals; and

- Assigns duties and responsibilities to other officers with the approval of the council.

Assistant Manager:

- In the absence of the Manager, presides at meetings of the council and meetings of the International Technical Communication SIG;

- Works with membership manager to build membership and to coordinate volunteer activities

- Attends meetings of the council; and

- Undertakes other duties as directed by the Manager.

Secretary:

- Tracks meeting minutes

- Updates SIG brochure

- Works with Webmaster and Newsletter Editor to ensure timely reporting of SIG events and news

- By May, reports the results of the International Technical Communication SIG’s bi-annual election to the Executive Director of the Society and the editors of Intercom and Tieline; and

- Undertakes other duties as directed by the Manager.

Treasurer:

- Receives, keeps, and disburses the International Technical Communication SIG’s funds and other negotiable assets;

- Keeps current records of the receipt, status, and disbursement of International Technical Communication SIG funds;

- Prepares for the council a quarterly financial report, including a balance sheet, income statement, and bank account(s) status;

- Prepares and submits to the Society Treasurer an annual financial report for the International Technical Communication SIG as required by the Society. The Treasurer holding office during the report period prepares and submits the report;

- Complies with Internal Revenue Service requirements concerning annual information reports;

- Attends meetings of the council; and

- Undertakes other duties as directed by the Manager.

NOMINATIONS:

You can nominate an ITC Special Interest Group member to any of the offices, and you should obtain the nominee’s consent before you nominate him or her. Of course, you can nominate yourself for any of these positions.

ELECTION SCHEDULE:

The list of nominees/candidates for each office will be announced via the ITC listserv and our newsletter, Global Talk (http://itcglobaltalk.org) on March 20, 2009.

Nominations can be withdrawn until March 30, 2009.

Online voting for candidates will take place April 10-17, 2009.

Officers will be announced by April 20, 2009.

QUESTIONS:

If you have any questions about the elections, please feel free to contact me at swami@itcglobaltalk.org.

Regards,

Swaminathan Moorthy
Head of Nominations Committee, International Technical Communication SIG

ITC SIG News elections, nominations

Greeting to all ITC members!  You are seeing the new ITC Global Talk website, and we are very excited to have it up and running.  I want to thank Swaminathan Moorthy and Ann Wiley for their endless work in the transition.  For reasons complicated and not necessary to articulate here, many SIGs will be moving their websites, and we were the first to do so. 

We hope that the website will serve your needs, functioning as both the newsletter repository and a place to gather and contribute information of interest to ITC folks. Please, change your bookmarks!

As the ITC SIG manager, I wanted to provide some updates and information.

1.       Annual Summit: Registration is open for the 2009 Annual Summit in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.  Early bird registration closes February 18, so plan ahead.  If you are a presenter, you get a discounted rate for the Summit; please wait to hear from the STC office for your registration process and DO NOT register online if you are presenting. http://stc.org

2.       Summit Events: ITC will  not be hosting an International Pavilion this year. However, we are planning a couple of smaller events, including a member breakfast. Stay tuned for more information.

3.       Elections: We will be holding elections this spring (very soon!).  Please watch for details.  We could use two more people to help with the Nominations Committee.  Contact me (Traci) at kelly@epd.engr.wisc.edu for more information.  If you would like to run for an office or be appointed to a position, please contact me.

4.       ITC Global Talk:  We would welcome having more members actively contributing to ITC Global Talk and/or our listserv.  There are several ways to do so:

a.       Write and article, case study, book review, or the like for either the listserv or the website. The more voices, the better!

b.      Forward items of interest (conference announcements, interesting blog debates, other) to Traci at kelly@epd.engr.wisc.edu for inclusion on the website. Please understand that ITC Global Talk cannot become a promo site; it will compromise our non-profit standing.  However, we can link out to conference information and other such sites.

c.       Become an editor for ITC Global Talk.

d.      Suggest other items that may work on the website; volunteer to help implement them. Ideas include having a “members only” part of the site, working more on the Body of Knowledge document, translating, reaching out to technical communicators in underrepresented areas/languages, and so forth.

5.       Volunteer to help us develop other ways to reach ITC members.  We would like to host a webinar, for example, and the leadership team could use some assistance in setting one up.

ITC SIG News Community

ITC SIG member Rahel Bailie promotes the concept of content convergence, creating and making available all forms of published information in a networked environment. Reuse is the expectation and the rule, with dissemination of small “bundles” of information to be processed for reuse. Translators have a special challenge to render these bundles correctly in various languages and for various cultures. Rahel comments further and has published an article in the January-February 2009 issue of Multilingual Computing.

Features, ITC SIG News Localization, Translation

The ITC SIG web and Global Talk newsletter teams have started work on this new site. Below are links to useful WordPress sites, which we’re keeping for reference. These were in the Blogroll when WordPress was installed. They don’t belong in an international communication blogroll, but they are useful links.

• WordPress Development Blog
• WordPress Documentation
• WordPress Plugin Directory
• Suggest WordPress Ideas
• WordPress Support Forum
• WordPress Theme Directory
• WordPress Planet

ITC SIG News ITC Web Team