Global Talk

The ITC SIG is 20 years old! 

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.

Below are two recollections about the arc that ITC has taken over the last 20 years.  If you have a contribution you would like to make to these pages, please send your contribution to the ITC manager, Traci Nathans-Kelly at kelly@epd.engr.wisc.edu .

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

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Carolyn Luttrell is the founder of the ITC SIG and is our current ITC Treasurer. She contributed these thoughts.

Here are my recollections about how the ITC was founded.At that time, I worked at DuPont’s Creative Communications group, which was a full-service publications group. It had about 15 top-notch writers, as many top-notch artists (some graphic, some design, some layout, etc.), proofreaders, editors, etc.   This group has since been eliminated due to downsizing.  We serviced the entire corporation, and got jobs from everywhere – primarily in the US but what we did served as the basis of work in other parts of the world (translation, localization – which was new then, etc.).  DuPont has been around since 1802 and has always been international.  Our first order (gunpowder) was sold to Spain.  So the international angle was a natural extension of our company’s work in the twentieth century.

I had been defeated in my run for STC Region 1 Director in 1989, but still wanted to do something for STC.  About five of us were gathered at work late one night, and, since the SIGs were just starting, we decided to see if we could establish an International SIG.  Its purpose would be to share ideas and experiences so that everyone in the Society could benefit and contribute to global work, which was then emerging.  The field was nothing like it is today.  We also wanted to prepare people for career work in international technical publications.   I called the STC office the next day and Bill Solgitis and the then President Austin Brown thought it was a great idea.  I did some paperwork (charter, objectives, etc.) and away we went.

I was ITC’s first manager and did all the administrative work.  I made a presentation or two at a conference.  Or at least I led a few international panels.  We had a group of dedicated volunteers (Nancy Hoft comes to mind) and they did a lot of work.  Then, as now, it was the members, who made the SIG work.  Our local chapter had a sub-group that met fairly regularly.  We discussed and shared ideas.  

In 1989 we used word processing and graphics packages – MACs and IBM systems.  We shared files through floppy disks and then the little 3.5 x 3.5 disks.  We transferred documents by going from office to office with a disk.  We put documents on our hard drive and used the disk as a back-up in case the hard drive crashed.  And we used the hard drive in case the disk corrupted.  There was no network yet.  There was also no Internet.  We had to communicate by telephone, inter-office memo, or in person.  Even our word processing was primitive by today’s standards.  No online in-document editing with comments.  No spell check.  Editorial work was done by eye and hand and red pencil.   Approvals were done by providing a printed copy to someone for their review.

I had been manager for about three years when JoAnn Hackos was elected President.  She wanted SIG management to change regularly, so I had to find a replacement.  Nancy Hoft agreed to replace me.  She was a great choice and had done a tremendous amount for the SIG – arrange for regional conferences, wrote articles for Society publications, etc.   She did our newsletter, GlobalTalk, which was sent out via US mail to all members.  Things went along well, but then she left because her term was up and someone else took over.  At that point the SIG became inactive.  I met Raymond Urgo at a conference (he was the SIG Advocate at that time) and asked him what was going on since there seemed to be no activity.  I said I would volunteer to revitalize the SIG.  He and the Board agreed, so I became manager again for a few years. I have also served as ITC Membership Manager.

During that time, Ann Wiley came on board as the newsletter editor and we worked together.  The SIG returned to health. The SIG always seemed to stay on the cutting edge of the profession and its technology. We shared ideas readily and gladly.  More importantly to me, the SIG has always been a source of camaraderie and good ideas.  And we’ve been blessed with good volunteers.  

The technology has helped tremendously in facilitating interaction.  For instance, one time when I was manager, a colleague in Europe wanted to contact someone in the same field in the US, so I had to set them up by going through the membership roster and calling someone to see if she would be interested in communicating with the European.  Now we use blogs.  

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Ann Wiley has been a steady presence in the ITC SIG, working as the Global Talk newsletter editor, webmaster, and advisor to the group.

The STC President in 1989 until the conference was Austin Brown. Bill Leavitt became president that year. JoAnn Hackos became president in 1992. After Nancy Hoft was the manager, there were others. We do not have a complete list. Betsy Maaks was a very good ITC SIG manager. Someone in Europe became the manager, and disappeared with the SIG records. We’re missing some old newsletters, but Rene Lea sent quite a number to me. Rene was a very dedicated volunteer who did many tasks for the ITC SIG.

Another early and enthusiastic member was Fred Klein, who wrote the international column in the journal. Kirk St. Amant is also a key member and contributed a big percentage of our articles, with Carolyn Luttrell contributing many of the others.

Carolyn took the lead again in 1999, about a year after the SIG leader disappeared, and that’s when I became Global Talk editor. Ray Urgo was SIG advocate at that time. After a while, we’d “said it all” in Global Talk and on our web site, and the Pavilion became a big focus. Now refreshing our content is a good focus, and over time, we will. We’re able to change with the times, which is rather unique among SIGs in any organization.

After Carolyn was manager the second time—and she stepped down reluctantly for personal reasons—Char Nagy became manager. Char wanted me to be the manager, so when SIG revitalization was a focus in 2005, I was the manager briefly until Kit Brown took the lead. Then Kit recruited Traci Nathans-Kelly to stand for election, so here we are.

By the time we started work in 1999, we had email, and Carolyn and I used to “meet” quite often by email with Char, who was membership manager then. We always made decisions together. Carolyn was great to work with as manager.

Ann L. Wiley Ph.D.

Ann L. Wiley Consultants Inc.