Author: Yoel Strimling

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Li-At Rathbun Feels Our Pain at the 2018 STC Summit

On 20-23 May 2018, STC held its annual Technical Communication Summit in Orlando, FL. There were many fascinating education sessions and presentations, with some them being of particular interest to technical editing practitioners. For details about the STC Technical Editing SIG’s activities during the Summit, read this article.

The STC Technical Editing SIG’s very own Li-At Rathbun presented a well-received presentation called We Stoop to Conqquer: Adjusting to Mediocrity, which Viqui Dill (STC IDL SIG co-manager and proud member of the STC Technical Editing SIG) attended and reviewed.

(This article is also available on the STC Instructional Design and Learning SIG newsletter; for more interesting IDL-related articles, go to http://www.stcidlsig.org/newsletter/).

Continue reading “Li-At Rathbun Feels Our Pain at the 2018 STC Summit”

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2018 STC Summit: Magical Days with the Technical Editing SIG

By Amanda Altamirano

The 2018 STC Summit was filled with classes, vendors, events, and much more. The STC Technical Editing SIG brought our own flair to the Summit, which helped our new and prospective SIG members to mix and mingle.

With the running theme “Technical Editors Are Magical”, we were ready to spread the word about our SIG and how it supports career development for technical editing practitioners all over the world. Our presence at the Summit began at our Welcome Reception table. Adorned with magic hats and wands, we met several Summit attendees who were interested in our SIG. Attendees grabbed our flyers with more information on the SIG, its leaders, volunteer opportunities, and upcoming events. Winners from our Hangman game walked away with prizes. Those who visited our table snagged a Technical Editors Are Magical pin or a handful of chocolate. Some attendees expressed interest in volunteer opportunities with our SIG, and others just wanted to learn more about us. It was a fun and informational reception for Summit attendees who stopped by the Technical Editing SIG table!

The Summit was a unique opportunity for our SIG to hold our quarterly meeting as a face-to-face networking lunch. With approximately thirty new and current SIG members in attendance, attendees were able to connect with others and gain more insight into our SIG. We also handed out awards and recognized several volunteers who supported our SIG over the past year and during the 2018 Summit. Those who were recognized at the lunch walked away with their own Technical Editing SIG swag bag with a few goodies, including a personalized award, SIG pin, and SIG mug. The lunch also helped attract a couple of new volunteers to our SIG, including our newest Co-Manager, Angela Eaton.

Overall, the Summit gave the Technical Editing SIG the opportunity to engage in face-to-face conversations with new and potential members. Our SIG membership continues to rise, as does our volunteer and leadership support.

For the next 2019 Summit in Denver, we plan to give our SIG a facelift – and we will show it off in a big way! We are planning a new SIG logo contest, which will plaster the winning design all over our Technical Editing SIG website. In addition, it will be featured on all promotional material and TE SIG swag at the upcoming Summit. We will be back with a new theme and new venue to host our quarterly meeting. Get ready to join us!

General Summit 2018 Summaries

For a general roundup of Summit 2018 summaries and impressions, go to http://www.stc-sd.org/index.php/2018/05/2018-stc-summit-cheers-to-a-milestone-birthday-and-the-future/

For a summary of the keynote speech written by the STC TechEdit SIGs’ own Larry Kunz: https://larrykunz.wordpress.com/2018/05/23/the-linchpin-of-inspiration/

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Of Interest: Editing People Who Hate to Be Edited

One of the trends that emerged from our Quo Corrigo? survey was that technical editing practitioners want to know how to work with writers who are sometimes resistant to feedback or do not follow processes, and how to ensure positive working relationships in cases of conflict.

Why do writers dislike seeing their work changed? And what do we do when we need to edit their work anyway?

On 23 August 2018, at 3 PM EDT, Marcia Shannon will examine some reasons for the writers’ resistance and offer suggestions for handling those objections while keeping the work in line with style guides and company standards.

This presentation is open to STC Technical Editing SIG members for free and non-SIG members for a small fee.

To register, go to https://m.stc-techedit.org/Editing+People+Who+Hate+to+be+Edited.

Note: Before the presentation, Technical Editing SIG leaders will present news items related to the SIG.

7 November 2018 Update

For two summaries of this presentation, go here.

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New Feature: The Best of Corrigo!

As the official publication of the STC Technical Editing SIG, Corrigo is full of useful information for technical editing practitioners.

But Corrigo has been around for a very long time, and there’s a lot of great content sitting in the archives. It’s neither practical nor useful to try and sift through years of back issues and posts.

So, to help you find older content that is still relevant, we are introducing a new feature – The Best of Corrigo!

Every now and then, we’ll republish an article from the archives that we think is still just as relevant and helpful now as it was when it was first published. (Of course, if an article needs to be slightly updated, we will do that.)

To make it easier for you to find these articles again in the future, they will be tagged with a The Best of Corrigo tag, and the titles prefaced with the same phrase.

If you have any suggestions for older Corrigo articles that you think should see the light of day again, please send an email to editor@stc-techedit.org and tell us why.

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From Around the Web: The Cybersecurity Style Guide

Editors use style guides to ensure the consistency and clarity of the documentation they review – they are one of the most important tools in a editor’s toolbox. But just like different companies have different style guides, so too do different industries.

Brianne Hughes, a technical editor for Bishop Fox, is one of the authors of The Cybersecurity Style Guide. For an interview with Brianne, in which she explains the need for this type of specialized style guide, see the following link:

http://cmosshoptalk.com/2018/05/15/brianne-hughes-talks-about-the-cybersecurity-style-guide/

Brianne says that this is a document in progress, and that she and her team plan to put out a cleaner V1.1 soon. They are always happy to receive suggestions for future improvement, so if you have any, please contact her via her at style@bishopfox.com.

UPDATE (23 July 2018):

Version 1.1 of the Cybersecurity Style Guide has been published: https://www.bishopfox.com/blog/2018/06/reintroducing-the-cybersecurity-style-guide-v1-1/