Diane Feldman
Each year at the annual conference, interested members of the TE SIG meet to discuss SIG business. We began this year’s meeting with a recognition of the outstanding work of the volunteers who keep the SIG humming. A very special nod goes to our fearless newsletter editor, Julia Byrd, whose efforts were recognized by the Society with the Distinguished SIG Service Award!
We took the opportunity to welcome Niki Angel and Linda Branam to the Corrigo staff as Acquisitions Editors, which means they’re the ones to whom you should send your suggestions and proposals for potential articles.
I advised the group that Katie Schettler is stepping down as manager of our electronic discussion group. When I asked for a volunteer to take on this vital role, Michelle Corbin raised her hand. I am delighted to welcome Michelle to the SIG’s administrative staff.
Last year, several members expressed an interest in having a tool that would provide information about the particular editing interests and areas of expertise for each SIG member, so that people could contact an appropriate individual when they had a question or concern that they would like to discuss. I reported to the group that after some initial exploratory work (thanks to Robin Lemieux!), I came to see that such an inventory for a group the size of the TE SIG (more than 2,000 members) would be difficult to categorize and sort in any useful way. Any benefit that it provided would not be level with the administrative burden it would present. At the time, our electronic discussion group was still in its infancy. With that tool up and running, our members can post their questions and get answers from other members who have expertise to share.
A few members who attended the session reported that they are not receiving messages from the discussion list. Messages are posted nearly every day. If you are not receiving messages, please contact Michelle Corbin at corbinm@us.ibm.com.
If you think you may attend the conference next year, remember to work the SIG business meeting into your conference schedule. It’s a great way to expand your network among other technical editors and to provide input about how the SIG can serve you better.
To those who attended this year’s meeting, many thanks for your interest.