Orange County STC Newsletter

www.stc.org August 2009 Vol. 48, No. 8

Technical Illustration Tools, Part 1Auto-trol Tech IllustratorBy Mark F. Wilk, OCSTC Member

A few months ago, the thought struck me to write about my impres-sion of the most popular technical illustration tools. Here, I focus on

Auto-trol Tech Illustrator (TI) and its features that make an illustrator's life a little easier.

First ImpressionTI has a clean, well-organized interface (see Figure 1). The familiar Wi dows-style menus are located across the top of the interface. Immedi-ately below is a row for all the construction tool tabs, and the selected toolset is located just below that. The undo and zoom tools are on workspace’s left sidek. The message window is located below the workspace. The layer selection tool, line style tool, and some informa-tion lookup tools are to the message window’s right.

Orthographic Drawing ToolsThe orthographic tools (see Figure 2) consist of the most basic toolset: circles, polygons, ellipses, and lines. At first glance, the line tool seems very limited. But, there are support tools located on the point toolbar that let you snap to a vertical or horizontal axis, start at a midpoint or intersection, and create tangents, collectively filling the line option’s quiver. TI lets you draw to scale by entering coordinates for line lengths and geometric positions, or you can draw completely freehand, creating, scaling, and moving geometric shapes by eye. I prefer to create all art to scale so that I can use it with other art created in the same scale.

These helpful tools let you, for example, right-click on an ellipse, du-plicate it, and then snap to move it along the vertical axis to place the duplicate right below the first ellipse. The tangent line tool snaps to the ellipses’ outside edges to create perfect tangents, and the “relimit ellipse” tool let you retrace the lower ellipse’s outside edge to finish a basic cylin-der. The threaded tap/shaft tool quickly draws threads inside or outside a cylinder or shaft. Overall, I found the orthographic toolset complete and very user-friendly.

Continued on Page 5 >

This Issue:

Technical Illustration Tools, Part 1 1

President’s Message 2

Next Meeting 3

Editor’s Desk 4

EduNotes 8

Society Pages 10

Meeting Review 9

OCSTC Employment Information 10

Orange Juice— Membership News 11

Orange Slice— Calendar of Events 12

August Meeting Topic 12

Figure 1. Graphic Interface

2  • August 2009

President's MessageBy Betsy Malone, OCSTC Chapter President

The second installment of my series on social

networking focuses on one of the largest social networking sites: Facebook (FB).

From its humble beginnings, FB has grown! Earlier this month (July 13, to be pre-cise), Digital Sky Technolo-gies offered $6,500,000,000 to buy it—yes, that’s 6.5

trillion—and some people will get very rich from this purchase.

If you're not lucky enough to be someone holding a substantial number of FB shares, you might not realize what FB can do for you.

Well, the answer to that is largely up to you. As profes-sional technical communicators, we’ve all balked at the old saying of “it's not what you know, it's whom you know.” But there’s some truth to that saying, as there usually is to old clichés, which is why they never leave our lexicon. That truth, of course, is the part about “…whom you know…”

These days, whom you know (let's start calling them friends) in cyberspace and social networks is something of a gray area. If you're a regular FB user, then you’re probably friends with people you know from work, from the neighborhood, from church, and from other traditional social settings. However, you’re probably also friends with people you may have never met face to face; you probably have friends whom you haven’t seen since high school—or you even hated in high school. This is because, depending on how your friends set up their FB accounts, you can see all of their friends, and their friends of friends, and so on. Just for kicks, I spent about five minutes following such a friend thread at random and came up with about 1,600 people. That sounds like a lot, but it’s not for FB. You can't email them or reach them directly, but in FB, you’re connect-ed to them, albeit removed to various degrees.

Here’s where some of FB’s networking power comes into play. If you post a comment (in, for example, FB’s “what's on your mind” dialogue box), all your friends see what you posted. If one of your friends comments on your posts, then all of their friends see it, too. So do the math… if you have 50 friends (a small number in FB-land) and post something, and 10 of them com-ment on your post, and each of those 10 people have 50 friends each, potentially 550 people could see your post.

Okay, so you're still wondering what all this can do for you. Well, quite a bit potentially, if you’re looking for a new job, want to do some freelancing, or have an

Chapter Contacts

OCSTC P.O. Box 28751 Santa Ana, CA 92799-8751

Chapter Fax: 949.830.7585

Web site: http://www.ocstc.org

Administrative CouncilPresident, Betsy Malone, pres@ocstc.org

Past President, Bruce Giddens, ipp@ocstc.org

1st Vice Presidents, Programs, Jane Baker Suzanne Madison 1vp@ocstc.org

2nd Vice Presidents, Membership, Penny Marco and Pat Olsen 2vp@ocstc.org

Treasurers, Sima Staav and Shannon Summers, trea@ocstc.org

Secretary, Neala Covell, sec@ocstc.org

AppointeesTechniScribe Managing Editor, Jennifer Gardelle, techniscribe@ocstc.org

Public Relations, Open

Education, Bill Darnall, edu.bd@ocstc.org

Education, Brian McCaleb, edu.bm@ocstc.org

Scholarship Chair, Carrie Damschroder, carried@hotmail.com

Webmaster, Jeff Randolph, erandolp@ix.netcom.com

Employment Manager, Betsy Malone, betsybythebeach@adelphia.net

Committees Nominating Committee:

Bill Darnall, edu.bd@ocstc.org

Adrienne Escoe, aescoe@escoebliss.com

Larry Lockie, larry@write-connection.com

Bruce Giddens, ipp@ocstc.org

Continued on Page 7 >

August 2009  •  3

Next MeetingTopic: Career Management in a Tough E cono mySpeaker: John Hall

When: Tuesday, August 18, 6-9 p.m.

Where: DoubleTree Club Hotel 7 Hutton Centre Drive Santa Ana, CA 92707 714.751.2400

Cost: Members with reservations $24

Students with reservations $18

STC member, speaker-only $10

Nonmembers with reservations $29

Walk-ins, or those registering after

the deadline $33

No-shows billed $24

Reservations:

Due by midnight, Sunday, August 16

Registration:

Online at http://www.ocstc.org/dinres.asp

Directions to the DoubleTree Club HotelMap of the I-405 and SR-55 area. The star below indi-cates the hotel location. Parking is FREE.

If you would like to receive e-mail notifications about upcoming OCSTC meetings, visit http://www.ocstc.org/list_redirect.asp.

Click Join. This list broadcasts only meeting notices and STC announcements

Announcing the 2009-2010 STC Spotlight AwardsFor Excellence in Technical Communication

Showcase your talent!Enter your work in any of these categories: Technical Publications Online Communications

ENTRY DEADLINE: September 30, 2009$75 per entry for STC members, $100 for non-membersDiscounts for multiple entriesEnter before the early entry deadline, August 31, 2009, and receive a 33% discount o� your entry fees! For more information, entry forms, and rules, see the competitionweb site at www.stcspotlightawards.orgOr contact Suzy Hosie at shosie@wote.com

Be a Judge!

See the best work ofthe year, set high standards, and make your resume shine

Save the date for the awards banquet:Mark March 6, 2010,on your calendar today!

4  • August 2009

Publication PoliciesTechniScribe is published 12 times a year as a benefit to the members of the Orange County Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. The goal of the publication is to reflect the interests, needs, and objectives of OCSTC members. TechniScribe strives to be an advocate for, and an inspiration to, technical communicators by keeping them connected to each other and to opportunities for professional growth.

Articles published in this newsletter may be re-printed in other STC publications if permission is obtained from the author, credit is properly given, and one copy of the reprint is sent to the Techni­Scribe managing editor.

Submission InformationThe editorial team retains and exercises the right to edit submitted and requested material for clar-ity, length, and appropriateness.

When submitting material, please remember to:

Include a 25-word biography about yourself.• 

Send articles in Word (doc, docx), Rich-Text • Format (RTF), ASCII (txt), or in the body of an e-mail message.

Send material to the managing editor • (techni scribe@ocstc.org) five weeks before the date it will be published.

Editorial StaffManaging Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Gardelle Copyeditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Teresita del Sol Copyeditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anne Stratford Copyeditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barbara Young Proofreader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Opsteegh Proofreader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Suzanne Madison Proofreader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sima Staav Web Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeff Randolph

Monthly Advertising Rates1/4 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $40 1/3 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $45 1/2 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $60 Full page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $80

Subscriptions$10 a year to members of other STC chapters.

PrinterPrintWorks, Irvine, CA

Editor’s DeskBy Jennifer Gardelle, TechniScribe Managing Editor

Roughly 10 years ago, I decided to get my under-

graduate degree as a first step in changing careers. I started taking classes at Orange Coast College (OCC) that I needed to transfer to California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). I knew I wanted to major in English, but I wasn’t really sure what I wanted beyond that. An advisor

suggested that I look into technical communication as a possible career. So, I took her advice and signed up for my first class in the Technical Communication (TC) program at OCC. Although I only took one class in the program before transferring to CSULB, I credit that class and the advisor with making the difference that lead to my new career.

Sadly, there are fewer TC programs offered today at local schools. California State University, Fullerton recently closed their program, and others seem to be struggling. Fortunately, OCC and CSULB still have their programs. This is a bit of a paradox because the world needs well-trained and educated technical communicators. The avenues to them, however, are dwindling.

Part of the problem is financial—ours are often the first jobs companies outsource, and lesser-known school programs are often the first to be cut. A big part of the problem is that many people don’t realize the importance or practicality. Well-written documents of any kind heighten product understanding, leading to fewer customer service calls, which in turn lead to bet-ter usability and more sales for the company.

To help people realize how important we are, we have to be proactive and reach out to employers and tech-nical writers (both present and future). I plan to start a “Student’s Corner” column that would alternate with a “Professional’s Corner” column. My goal here is to attract students and professionals to the chapter and give them a place to give their voice.

There are countless other ways we can raise aware-ness about the OCSTC (and the STC) and our profes-sion. For more information, please talk to a council member at the next meeting about ways you can help to make our profession stronger. Feel free to join the next council meeting, which takes place on the first Tuesday of each month, or you can email one of us. We’d love to hear your ideas.

Remember, this is your chapter. So, if you have an ar-ticle you’ve written or ar anxious to write, please send it to me at techniscribe@ocstc.org.

August 2009  •  5

Axonometric Drawing ToolsUsing the axonometric (2D isometric) workspace, you can create the illusion of height, width, and depth on a flat plane, just like the old days. You can draw in iso-, dia-, or trimetric projection. You can also match the drawing angles to an existing piece of art or photo-graph, which is very useful if you have an older piece of art to revise. You can make changes on a separate layer right on top of the imported file. In the end, you’ll have a seamless composite of old and new art.

Most of the axonometric are similar, but you draw art at isometric angles (see Figure 3). You can choose the face on which you would like to draw, with plenty of keyboard shortcuts to speed up the work. Overall, the axonometric drawing tools are complete, so you can work as expected.

3D Work Environment3D workspaces should be CAD-like. In this mode, you’re working in a 3D space, with real height, width, and depth. You can rotate the geometric shapes to view any part’s face. To see how TI performs in a 3D envi-ronment, I created a simple birdhouse illustration.

I started by drawing a rectangle using points and lines for the birdhouse’s front face and then dupli-cated it half an inch behind the first rectangle. TI has a rectangle tool and a quick extrude tool that create these steps faster, but I discovered a problem with the results: the cube is grouped together, with no easy way to ungroup it. A method to break the geometry apart exists, but it isn't time-efficient. In the long run, it was faster to create the wall using individual lines. The Auto-trol representative told me that this problem will be resolved with an option in a future release. I finished the back and sidewalls using the same method I used for the front wall.

Let's talk about points creation before we move on. There are two different types of points in Auto-trol TI—a marked point that seems to be for display only and reference points, which are industrial-strength points that you can select to move or copy an object. I found this confusing, but discovered you can turn off the marked points completely so that you can work only with reference points. Additionally, the refresh tool that cleans off all the marked points didn't clean off the reference points. However, Auto-trol supplied a macro tool that worked the same way for reference points.

The next step was to rotate the front and back walls out by 15 degrees to give my box more of a birdhouse look. The rotate geometry around an axis feature worked just fine. Then, I added the peak to the upper part of the front and back wall using a copy feature that let me place multiple copies at different points. That was easy.

The roof resides at an inclined angle, so I needed to create an inclined drawing plane to construct the roof. All you have to do is pick three points to define the plane, and you're in business. However, it would have been helpful to be able to save the plane, because I could have used the same plane again later. This is

Figure 2. Orthographic Tools – Drawing a Cylinder

Technical Illustrator Tools< Continued from Page 1

Figure 4. Starting the Birdhouse

Continued on Page 6 >Figure 3. Orthographic and axonometric rectangles

6  • August 2009

only a small inconvenience, however, because these oblique planes are so easy to define.

I used the offset line tool to create the edges for the roof’s left side. Then, I simply reset my depth to draw the upper roof cap’s left half. The 3D mirror feature let me quickly duplicate the roof on the right side. A few clicks of the trim/extend tool joined the roof’s left and right sides in the middle.

I created the birdhouse entrance and perch with the circle and duplicate tools (see Figure 5). After completing the geometry, all that remained was the cleanup. The system doesn't let you do visual trims and tangents in 3D mode, but I found a work-around called “set to view” that essentially turns off views but doesn't strip all the 3D information out of the illustration. I was able to trim the birdhouse walls to the roof’s edge and add the tangent lines to connect the two circles that make up the rod for the perch. Al-ternatively, you could strip out the 3D information at this point, putting you in axonometric mode, as previ-ously discussed, and perform the trims and tangents there. My preference is to retain the depth informa-tion. One reason, among others, is that I can keep my complete model and finished illustration together in the same file.

Bells and WhistlesUltimately, technical illustration is as much about art as it is about engineering. So, good presentation and display tools are just as important as accurate model creation. A heavy weight added to outside lines really helps an illustration pop off the page. Fortunately, Auto-trol provided a tool to make lines thick or thin. Unfortunately, you can only pick each line individu-ally to define its attributes. This is terribly tedious. The change attributes tool, which works much faster, lets me pick all my thick lines at once and set the

line weight for all. The thick and thin tool was useful for arcs, however. You can pick the arc’s section you want to assign a heavy line weight. See the birdhouse entrance in Figure 6 as an example.

The halo tool puts a white space around the flow lines for a more finished look. Other features include full shading and fills capability and a complete set of callouts, arrows, and sweep arrows. There’s also a complete library of already drawn screws, nuts, wash-ers, hands, and other popular items. TI lacks nothing to give your illustrations a finished, professional look. Additionally, the program is highly customizable using macros. You can create your own toolbars filled with custom tools.

Importing and Exporting FilesTI has all the crucial import filters, most notably IGES and CGM. IGES is the primary import format used by the industry to transfer model data from the major CAD programs, such as SolidWorks and Pro-Engineer. CGM has become the industry standard for transferring data from other vector graphics programs such as Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw. I had no trouble importing various test files in either format. When you import an IGES file, the image comes in shaded with very bright colors, but you can use a ren-der tool to reshade the items in a more natural way. When you’re ready to turn the model into line art, a tool automatically removes all the hidden lines. Just be sure to position the model to the view you plan to use because TI strips out the 3D data at the same time, and you can’t change the view once you use the hid-den line removal tool. A separate filter imports DXF files from AutoCAD.

You can also use raster art TI. There’s a provision for TIFF, CCITT group 4, JPG, and EPS. TI includes all the tools needed to trace a raster image to create a

Technical Illustration Tools< Continued from Page 5

Figure 6. Final Birdhouse Illustration

Continued on Page 7 >

Figure 5. Finished Model

August 2009  •  7

finished illustration. For example, you can trace over a photograph to turn it into a finished, professional-looking illustration. TI has all the most useful filters, which means it can transfer files from the engineering department and export the finished artwork to any publishing software you may be using.

ConclusionI was very impressed overall with Auto-trol TI, espe-cially the multiple working environments available to construct illustrations. Other illustration packages might surpass this program in some specific areas, but I don't believe any other package will stand up to TI for sheer versatility. Of course, I wasn’t happy with everything, such as points creation and the extrude tool. Also, whenever I changed the active workview, the screen would automatically resize, which meant I would have to zoom in again. However, I found the program easy to learn and use. It’s true that some tools aren’t intuitive, especially in the 3D environ-ment, so some training is probably a good bet. I found the training videos that came with the program quite useful, but they didn't cover the 3D environ-ment which would have been the most useful to me. Overall, I was able to complete the birdhouse with no problems and didn't find myself in need of any tool that wasn't provided. This is an extraordinarily complete software package for creating technical il-lustrations.

Stay tuned for my next article, which will cover PTC IsoDraw.

Mark Wilk is a senior technical illustrator with over twenty years in the field. He provided graphic support for the publications team at Printronix, Inc. for many years, and is currently focusing exclusively on Techline Illustration, his free-lance illustration and graphics service, which he started in 1985. His website is techlineillustration.com.

existing business you want to promote, you can do it for free!

A little about FB etiquette, though. It’s not cool, or ef-fective, to use posts in your main FB page to promote yourself or your business. Posts age quickly—that is, every post you make in FB moves down your friend's home page as their other friends post updates. It’s not uncommon for a FB post to fall off the bottom of your friends' pages in a matter of hours, if not minutes, de-pending on how many friends your friends have and how actively they post their own updates.

So, instead of boring your friends with self-aggran-dizing FB posts that will disappear quicker than a California State Budget Surplus, use FB to make your own self-aggrandizing FB page!

At the bottom of basically every FB page is a link called “advertising.” If you choose this link, you’ll then have several selections that let you create various advertising vehicles in FB. The one I’m talking about today is “pages,” which is free, and it’s a good way to establish a cornerstone for further development.

Once you choose this option, follow the instructions FB provides in terms of selecting the type of busi-ness you’re promoting, which is probably going to be “professional services.” You’ll then be asked to give a name to your endeavor and provide an electronic signature.

Now, you can write about yourself, your talents, your education, and so on. You can also post images, just like on your FB home page. FB makes this whole thing incredibly easy to do. Once you’re done, you pub-lish the pages so the general FB population can view them.

Of course, you'll need people to come see your page. You can pay to advertise your page through FB for a relatively modest cost, and the targeting features are very robust and easy to use. However, you can do this for free by getting your friends to become “fans” of your page. Just send your friends an email via FB announting your page and ask them to become your page’s fans—this way, they’ll see any updates you post on your page. Note that when your FB friends comment on your page, their friends in turn can see the comments your friends made on your page. Of course, your page must entice visitors to return and spread the word, so create a brand for yourself on your page and use your page to create value.

This is just a sample of how FB can help you network. But, don't be shy—weigh in and share your experi-ences with FB in our September TechniScribe issue.

President’s Message < Continued from Page 2

Technical Illustration Tools< Continued from Page 6

Hey, did you know that shopping at Amazon.com is not only a great place to find books and other items, it’s also a great way to give back to the OCSTC! The

next time you shop at Amazon, please access the site via OCSTC.org. Amazon donates a percentage

of your purchase to the chapter.

Thank you!

8  • August 2009

EduNotesBill Darnall, Cochair, OCSTC Education

Almost everyone uses lists. Most lists are probably unstructured and unmanaged. However, this

article is about controlled lists. Examples of controlled lists include dictionaries, telephone directories, glos-saries, and indexes. A controlled list contains items of selected information. A classification scheme organiz-es items. This article is an introduction to controlled lists with focus on list structure (information architec-ture) and list management (content management).

Developing a Controlled ListMany technical communicators begin each assign-ment with two fundamental questions:

Who is the user•

What does the user need to accomplish?•

Answers to these two questions suggest additional questions. Compile the questions and answers to create a working list of requirements. Apply appropri-ate design methodologies and you end up with the design for a requirement-compliant list.

Implementing a requirements-based design ensures that your list will be ap-propriate, accurate, effective, and manage-able. A formal design specification should address at least three major consider-ations: information architecture, taxono-my, and component content management. I have found the following references helpful:

Rosenfeld and Morville: “Informa-• tion Architecture …”

Darin Stewart: “Building Enterprise Taxono-• mies”

Bob Boiko: “Content Management Bible”•

Information ArchitectureAn effective information architecture is an informa-tion framework that makes it easy for users to locate the information they need. Information architecture does not deal with specific information any more than building architecture deals with specific individuals. However, an application of information architecture includes the recognition of relevant types of informa-tion. It also includes how users need to access infor-mation. The structure of the information architecture is the framework into which this information fits and can be easily located. Ultimately, information archi-tecture should be compatible with the supporting approach to content management.

TaxonomyTaxonomy is an element of information architecture. A taxonomy is a list of items arranged in a meaning-

ful information hierarchy. Taxonomies have two major forms of classification: enumerative and faceted.

A simple list of names is an example of an enu-merative taxonomy. Suppose it is a list of your acquaintances. You define two categories: men and women. Under the category men, you list the names of all the men. Likewise, under the category women, you list the names of all of the women. How would you list the names? Because it is a simple list, you have limited classification capabilities. You could put the names in forward or reverse alphabetical sequence. You might decide to put the names in forward or reverse chronological (age) sequence. Once you have decided upon your single-factor enumerative list classification scheme, list management should be relatively easy.

Faceted taxonomies are useful when a list entity requires multiple classifications (or facets). Sup-pose you had hundreds of customers. You want to be able to select an individual customer based

on a set of criteria. For example, you might want to locate a cus-tomer based on: gender, age, color of hair, height, weight, place of birth, education, etc. You obviously cannot do this with a simple enu-merative list. However, a faceted taxonomy (perhaps a database-supported directory) would meet your requirements. Designing and managing faceted lists is more

complicated than designing and managing enu-merated lists.

Component Content ManagementComponents are relatively small clumps of information. Component content management is an element of overall content management. The size of the smallest component will depend on the application. Notwithstanding, a content management system is a type of carefully man-aged database. An effective content management system has an information framework that makes it easy to process content. The database content management process includes accepting, index-ing, storing, accessing, editing, and publishing content.

ConclusionSimple enumerated lists require simple design and relatively simple content management proce-dures. Faceted lists require more detailed design and more complex content management proce-dures.

August 2009  •  9

July Meeting ReviewBy Brenda Cartolano, OCSTC member

At the July 21 OCSTC meeting, Saul Carliner presented “The Way We Work: What Research

Suggests About the Real-World Practice of Technical Communication and Training Groups.”

Saul’s presentation was an interactive session. He asked nine statements and asked us to write down whether we agreed or disagreed—without saying it out loud. He also told us that one was a “trick” state-ment. After each statement, he told asked whether we had agreed or disagreed. He then told us whether it was true or false and discussed his research.

The nine statements and results were:

In most organizations, technical communica-1. tion and training departments are merging. Saul's Survey Says: Disagree

The percentage of classroom training has 2. dropped by 50% since 2003. Saul's Survey Says: Disagree

Training departments generally do not 3. provide extensive “performance consulting” services. Saul's Survey Says: Agree

At least 70% of technical communication 4. groups have primary responsibility for usabil-ity within their organizations. Saul's Survey Says: Disagree

The average technical communication de-5. partment demonstrates its value to upper management by showing how it has affected operations, such as a reduction in the number of calls to a help line or the sales generated. Saul's Survey Says: Disagree

The average training department demon-6. strates its value to upper management by calculating the impact of training in quantifi-able terms. Saul's Survey Says: Disagree

Before the economic downturn, the spend-7. ing on training increased. Saul's Survey Says: Disagree

Before the economic downturn, spending on 8. technical communication decreased. This is the trick question. Saul's Survey Says: Dis-agree

University professors have conducted exten-9. sive research into the operations of technical communications and training departments. Saul's Survey Says: Disagree

Saul went on to explain what matters about techni-cal communication and what matters about training. Technical communication staff are often judged by word of mouth (informal positive and negative feed-back), service quality (how well the staff services the requests that are received, such as turnaround time on requests), and how well management perceives our importance and efficiency. Survey results, usability test results, and assessment of return on investment are also good ways for mangers to gauge their techni-cal communication staff’s importance. Training staff, as it turns out, are judged by similar criteria.

What surprised me the most was that the “word of mouth” was the number one answer for “What mat-tered about technical communication and training?”

If you’d like to read more about Saul’s presentation, his slides are posted on the OCSTC web site at http://ocstc.org/meeting_archive.asp.

OCSTC Employment InformationOur job listing is entirely online at the OCSTC web site. Pages are updated as jobs are submitted.

Staff Jobshttp://www.ocstc.org/employme.asp

Contract Jobshttp://www.ocstc.org/contractme.asp

Free Job Postinghttp://www.ocstc.org/jobsubmit.asp

InquiriesIf you have an inquiry, e-mail our employment manager, Betsy Malone, at betsybythebeach@adelphia.net.

Society-Level Job ListingsSTC maintains job listings on the Internet. You can download the listings from the STC web site at http://jobs.stc.org.

10  • August 2009

Society Pages

STC Mission StatementSTC advances the theory and practice of technical communication across all user abilities and all media.

Positioning StatementSTC helps you design effective communication for a technical world through information sharing and industry leadership.

The Society for Technical Communication (STC) is the world’s largest organization for technical com-municators.

Its more than 14,000 members include writers, edi-tors, illustrators, printers, publishers, photographers, educators, and students.

Dues are $60–175 per year. Membership is open to anyone engaged in some phase of technical communi-cation, interested in the arts and sciences of technical communication, and in allied arts and sciences.

Society for Technical Communication 9401 Lee Highway, Suite 300 Fairfax, VA 22031-1803

703.522.4114 (voice); http://www.stc.org

TechniScribe Copyright and Trademark StatementOCSTC invites writers to submit articles that they wish to be considered for publication. Authors retain copyright to their work and implicitly grant a license to this newsletter to publish the work once in print and to publish it once online for an indefinite period of time. In your cover letter, please let the editor know if this article has appeared elsewhere, and if it has been submitted for consideration to other publications.

The design and layout of this newsletter are copy-righted as © STC, 2009.

Some articles might refer to companies or products whose names are covered by a trademark or regis-tered trademark. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Reference to a specific product does not constitute an endorsement of the product by OCSTC or by STC.

ColophonTechniScribe is written using Microsoft Word, and laid out using Adobe InDesign CS3 for Windows. Gill Sans and Palatino Linotype are used for heading and text fonts. PDFs are produced using Adobe Acrobat Professional 8.

TechniScribe relies on the following editorial refer-ences for style: American Heritage Dictionary, Chicago Manual of Style, and Words into Type.

August 2009  •  11

Society PagesOrange Juice: Membership NewsBy Pat Olsen, OCSTC 2nd Vice President, Membership

Welcome New Members

Starting June 2009 we had 185 members, and our

chapter has since grown by six people. l would like to welcome our newest mem-bers to OCSTC.

We hope to see you at future meetings and look for-ward to creating new friendships and exchanging ideas.

Meet Annie SmithAnnie Smith has been in the technical communication field for 30 years and has been an STC member off and on since 1982. She started as a legal clerk for Union Bank. When banking started to automate its processing, she volun-teered to learn this new field and trans-ferred into the policies and procedures department.

Annie enjoys writing and learning new technologies and having a tangible product at the end of a project. She’s worked as a consultant for over a dozen big com-

panies and is now a consultant technical writer for eEye Digital Software and a proposal writer (which may change) for National Tele Consultants (NTC).

She has expertise in an impressive number of fields and has created everything from user guides to white papers. She also has experience in a wide range of sys-tems and applications and provides excellent, value-added work within the agreed-upon time parameters.

Her long career has even taken her into the music and entertainment industries, and Annie has met a few famous people. Among them was her all-time favorite writer, Charles Bukowski, whom she met and became friends with through his wife, who owns a health food café in Redondo Beach.

Aside from her extensive technical writing experi-ence, she loves to travel. She’s been to five continents and speaks several languages. She’s active in civil and

human rights causes and been inter-viewed on public radio stations (inclu-deing KPFK) in LA. She’d love to write a book and be a guest on “The Colbert Report.”

Annie lives in Moreno Valley and has three sons (Jahshua 23, Jeremiah 20, and Jesse 11), a daughter-in-law (Brittini), a 2-year old granddaughter (Jahziah), 10 step-children, and three rescue pets (Gucci [as in the rapper Gucci Mane], a female blue pit bull; Mocha, a long-haired black male cat;

and Two-Face, a calico cat)!

Welcome back to the STC, Annie. We look forward to getting to know more about your skills and talents.

Michael Aguilar•

Mike Brock•

Wayne Fowers•

Purnima Mudnal•

Annie Smith•

Joyce Woodson•

Annie Smith. OCSTC member

OCSTC August 18, 2009 Meeting

Career Management in a Tough Economy

Are you experiencing an employment transition, interested in furthering your career, or ready to make a sig-nificant career change? Then join the OCSTC Tuesday, August 18, 2009 as John Hall shares pointers on how

mid-career professionals can navigate the waters of career uncertainty in this economy. John will introduce you to take-to-the-bank strategies that you can implement quickly. Learn how to manage your career in this economy and pick the winning raffle ticket to attend (free) John’s next Advanced Career Strategies class beginning Septem-ber 15!

For the past 21 years, John Hall has coached management professionals through career transitions in today’s glob-al workplace. He has extensive experience as a professor at Chapman University; University of California, San Diego; and Webster University. He developed and taught the nation's only graduate-level outplacement course for Chapman University.

John speaks and writes on employment issues affecting mid-career professionals in today’s global workplace. He's a coauthor of a new book, ADAPT: How to Survive and Thrive in the Changing World of Work.

As many of us have learned the hard way, the economy is in the dumps. Organizations are downsizing at a rate not seen in decades, and technical and manufacturing jobs are fleeing the US. In this economic environment, we're all entrepreneurs, and long-term success depends on developing a new set of career management strategies if you’re undergoing an employment transition, are interested in internal career development, or desire to make a significant career change.

Additionally, all management technical communication managers are invited to join the OCSTC Managers Roundtable at 5:30 p.m., 30 minutes before the regular meeting.

Orange Slice: Calendar of EventsDate Event Location TimeAugust 4 OCSTC Council Meeting Airport Executive Suites, Irvine 6 p.m.-7 p.m.

August 18OCSTC Chapter MeetingJohn Hall, “Career Management in a Tough Economy”

DoubleTree Club Hotel, 7 Hutton Centre Dr., Santa Ana, CA, 92707, 714.751.2400

6 p.m.-9 p.m.

September 1 OCSTC Council Meeting Airport Executive Suites, Irvine 6 p.m.-7 p.m.

September 15OCSTC Chapter MeetingMaking the Most of Networking Op-portunities.”

DoubleTree Club Hotel, 7 Hutton Centre Dr., Santa Ana, CA, 92707, 714.751.2400

6 p.m.-9 p.m.