The Rough Draft is the official newsletter of the Society for Technical Communication, Phoenix Chapter community. The newsletter provides news about chapter events, members, and publishes members’ opinions about technical communication topics.

Newsletter staff

»    Managing Editor: Gloria McConnell

»    Contributing Editors: Karen Zorn, Kathy Graden

»    Reviewers: Chanda Child, Debra Duane, Susan Katz, Teri Gould, and Karen Pasley

Submitting content

We invite readers to submit articles, columns, photos, and other material on subjects of interest to Chapter and Society members. Deadlines for submissions for the 2008-2009 chapter year are as follows:

»    September-October issue: First week of August

»    November-December issue: Second week of October (adjusted schedule)

»    January-February issue: First week of January

»    March-April issue: First week of March

»    Summer issue: First week of May

We accept articles submitted as e-mail, or files in plain text, Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or HTML format (such as from Microsoft FrontPage or Adobe Dreamweaver). If you know or would like to learn WordPress, you may enter your article directly on the site. We prefer GIF, PNG or JPEG graphics.

Send articles to newsletter@stc-phoenix.com. When doing so, please include your name, e-mail address, and phone number.

The Rough Draft staff reserves the right to edit articles for clarity and length, or to reject submissions judged unfit for publication. We try to review substantive editing of feature articles with the author before publication. Our style guide is the Chicago Manual of Style.

Newsletter mailing addresses

E-Mail: newsletter@stc-phoenix.come

U.S. Mail:
Gloria McConnell, Managing Editor
851 S. Arroyo Dr.
Prescott, AZ 86303

Reprinting articles

Authors: By submitting original material, you license this newsletter to use it and other STC publications to reprint it without permission.

Also see “Copyrights” for information on submitting others’ works or your works to other publications.

Other publications: If you reprint an article from the Rough Draft, please credit this newsletter as the source and send the Managing Editor a copy of the reprint or the URL of the Web page where the article was re-published.

Copyrights

The layout and design of this newsletter are the copyrighted work of the Society for Technical Communication. Copyrights for all newsletter articles belong to the authors.

Phoenix chapter mission statement

As a world-class educational and informational forum, we discuss cutting-edge concepts and technology, encourage sharing information among members, and sponsor top-quality seminars and conferences. We give our members the opportunity to grow professionally and be creative; to develop leadership, management, and other skills; to be recognized for their outstanding skills and service; to be the most soughtafter employees in our field; and to attain international status as Society-level leaders. We provide a fun and friendly, high-energy environment that fosters associations and friendships. We promote the value of technical communication and communication in general.

by Gloria McConnell, Rough Draft Managing Editor

Thank you, Dr. JoAnn Hackos. Well known in Society for Technical Communication circles for many years, Dr. Hackos is the president of Comtech Services, Inc. and director of the Center for Information-Development Management. A leader in the   management of information design and development, Dr. Hackos has made many contributions to our field. Most recently, she has given me a boost by supporting a position that I have held for many years.

Standards are not the enemy

I am sure that like me, most of you have pet peeves. They may be new or old. Dr. Hackos has recently addressed one of my long-standing pet peeves – the resistance by some writers to standards and structure in their technical documents. With the advent of XML, schemas, and structured content for content management systems, the situation has changed quite a bit since I first heard writers grumble about following a standard structure. The complaint is the same, however – that creativity is eliminated when a given structure is required.

One of my answers to these protests has been that technical writing is not creative writing (so get over it). Another, less sarcastic response has been to explain to disgruntled writers that by following a structured approach, they will be free to focus on the technical content, which can lead to more thorough, well-written, usable material. This is where creativity can shine in technical communication.

In her article, Structure is Not the Antithesis of Creativity, Dr. Hackos provides a nice discussion of the issue and supports this position. Thanks again, Dr. Hackos!

If you did not attend the meeting, or left that box of books in your garage, it’s not too late! VNSA collects books all year long. Take your books to any of several dropbox locations – they exist all around the Valley. For details, check the VNSA site.

Another great way to give your books a long life is to donate them to your local library. Many libraries take used books, either to add to their collections or to sell. Check with your favorite library to find out their policy.

So, get out those books and take them to a VNSA dropbox or your favorite library!

The following Phoenix Chapter members have recently been elected to SIG (Special Interest Group) positions:

»  Chanda Child -  Treasurer, Contracting & Independent Consulting SIG

»  Linda Shacklock – Secretary, Contracting & Independent Consulting SIG

The Phoenix Chapter also offers a “high five” to Aiessa Moyna, former Phoenix member. Aiessa was recently elected to the Society leadership position of Treasurer.

by Ms. Grammar

Have you ever noticed sentences that begin weakly? One of the most commonly used, yet weak, starts to a sentence includes the word “there,” as in “There is something wrong with this sentence.”

When the word “there” used in this way, it is considered to be a function word that introduces the sentence. Ms. Grammar asks you, what is the benefit? Wikipedia explains that function words have little lexical meaning (or are ambiguous in meaning); they serve to express grammatical relationships with other words within a sentence, or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker.

While it is perfectly fine to start a sentence with “there” in some instances, in technical writing, you will almost always have stronger, clearer writing if you start your sentences in another way.

Consider the following examples – Don’t you agree that the suggested alternatives clearer and more direct?

» Weak: There are three possible solutions to the problem.

» Stronger: You can solve the problem in one of three ways. 
                        Or, Three solutions to the problem exist.

» Weak: There is a main reactor for the co-precipitation reaction.

» Stronger: A main reactor is used for the co-precipitation reaction.

Test yourself

Can you improve the following sentences?

1. There seems to be no alternative to our proposal.
2. There are four modes for primary system operation.
3. There are two parts to each query’s configuration, the Definitions query and Values query.

Stronger:

1. No alternatives to our proposal seem to exist.
2. The primary system can be operated in one of four modes.
3. Each query’s configuration consists of two parts, the Definitions query and Values query.

Sign up at http://www.WritersRelief.com/Proofers.asp to receive their FREE Proofers’ Newsflash (today, via e-mail), which contains valuable tips on proofreading, grammar, and formatting. You’ll also receive test materials so you can apply to be added to their list of freelance proofreaders. There is no need to apply. You can receive these valuable proofer tips either way.

Formatting titles gives some writers a headache. There is so much to remember (and so many exceptions) in the English language . . . titles aren’t really that difficult. When you’re trying to remember if you’re supposed to use underlining or italics or quotation marks, here are a few simple rules. Remember that people used to type their work or write it longhand. When titles needed to be italicized, those italics were represented by underlining. With the age of computers, we can choose to do one or the other.

1. Underlining and italics serve the same purpose. Never do both. Do NOT use quotation marks, underline, or italics together.
2. For any work that stands on its own, you should use italics or underline. (Stories or chapters from within a book are considered PARTS of the book.)
3. A work that is part of a larger work goes in quotation marks.
4. No quotation marks around titles of your own composition.

» Books: Italics or Underline
» CDs: Italics or Underline
» Articles (Newspaper or Magazine): Quotation Marks
» Chapter Titles (not chapter numbers): Quotation Marks
» Magazines, Newspapers, Journals: Italics or Underline
» Names of Ships, Trains, Airplanes, Spacecraft: Italics
» Poems: Quotation Marks
» Poems (Long): Underlined or Italics
» Plays: Italics
» Short Stories: Quotation Marks
» Song Titles: Quotation Marks
» Special Phrases (“let them eat cake”), Words, or Sentences: Quotation Marks
» Television Shows and Movies: Italics
» Television and Radio Episode Titles: Quotation Marks

by Gloria McConnell, Rough Draft Managing Editor and Tool Snoop

Pages on the Internet used to be HTML and HTML alone.  Now we see a complete aphabet soup of file extensions on the Web. In this column, let’s take a look at just one: PHP.

PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. Yes, it’s true – the first word of the acronym is the acronym itself.  (Wikipedia explains that it originally stood for Personal Home Page because the original developer created it to replace a small set of Perl scripts he had been using to maintain his personal homepage.) 

What is it?

According to the official PHP Web site, http://www.php.net, PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML.

Why use it?

Why do developers use it? Angela Bradley on About.com says three top reasons exist:

1. PHP works great with HTML. So, if you are already have a website and are comfortable with HTML, it will be easy to move to PHP to add new features to your site.
2. PHP offers interactive features. PHP allows you to interact with your visitors in ways HTML alone can’t. This can mean simple things like e-mail forms, or more elaborate things like shopping carts that save your past orders and recommend similar products.
3. It’s easy to learn. PHP fundamentals are fairly simple, and an abundance of scripts exist that you can use and tweak for your own special needs.

Learning PHP

If you are interested in PHP, see Bradley’s great tutorials, Learn PHP or Step By Steps.

Rick has written a very good position paper on social media and their effect on communication. Focusing on business-to-customer and business-to-business communications, Rick explains that new rules are in play, and explains the five Cs of social media. Briefly, they are:

» Conversation – Social media are conversations, two-way or multidimensional, no longer
   one-way communication.
» Contribution – Social media encourage contributions and reactions from anyone who is
   interested.
» Collaboration – Social media promote an exchange of information between you and your
   audience, and among audience members, by inviting participation.
» Connection – Social media thrive on connections, within their own Web vehicles and
   through links.
» Community – The fundamental characteristic of social media is the creation of community.

Read the full paper: Social media and its effect on communication. For a nice complement, see the presentation by Pixel/Point Press, Social Media Success Stories: Three Case Studies,” which takes a look at three social media marketing (SMM) campaigns (one by Dell, Jeep, and HP).  The presentation is also mentioned in the STC Discussion Group on LinkedIn – talk about social media!

Freelance writing jobs abound. A search of the words “freelance writing jobs” on Google returns almost 7.5 million hits! According to oDesk oConomy (as reported on prweb.com), demand for freelance writing jobs grew 500% in the past year. Available positions include those for technical and business writers, blog and article writers, editors, translators, and others. According to oDesk, the data are drawn from “thousands of small- to medium-sized businesses that use its platform to hire, manage and pay service professionals around the world.”

Sites offering jobs

oDesk.com is one of a seemingly infinite number of sites offering freelance jobs for writers of all kinds. An article on freelancewritinggigs.com cites 23 Places to find freelance writing jobs and freelance blogging jobs. Here are a few more to push the total to 31:

» Elance
» Get a Freelancer
» Guru
» Helium
» iFreelance
» ozLance
» ScriptLance
» Suite 101

And there are many others – it’s almost hard to comprehend.

Plenty of jobs – what could be the problem?

A recent check of the oDesk job board showed over 600 writing jobs, including technical writing, Web content and blog writing, translation, and other specialties. oDesk offers a rating system for providers and certification testing for job seekers.

Four key points about the freelance jobs:

1. You either apply for or bid on a specific (one-time) project. Additional projects from the client may or may not be in your future; if not, you’ll need to go through the whole application/bid process for your next job.
2. Pay is typically low, even for technical writing jobs. If you build a portfolio and gain a positive reputation, this can change, but when you start, don’t expect a a fee that translates in any way to that of a fulltime position.
3. Writer experiences (and the data on oDesk) indicate that there is often a disparity between the number of jobs posted and those actually paid for. (That is, clients post jobs, but never hire anyone to do them – from the posting site, anyway.)  Even when an application or bid for a job is accepted, it does not mean you will end up with a project.  You may be told you’ve been hired or receive an email indicating this, but the client may still change his/her mind.
4. As in every other corner of the world, dishonest and unprincipled clients exist. You need to be careful and protect yourself. An article by full-time freelance writer Steve Thompson, Freelance Writers: How to Protect Yourself from Unscrupulous Clients offers some sound advice.

Another option

Instead of applying for or bidding on one-time jobs, you can get a job with a company like Heritage Web Design (Web content writing) www.heritagewebdesign.com/ or Writer’s Relief (proofreading), www.writersrelief.com.

Companies like this offer a fixed payment schedule for your work, for example based on customer interviews and number of words written. Some jobs are quick, others take longer. As with jobs you apply for/bid on, the pay is typically low, but once you are hired, you are more likely to have a steady supply of work. Heritage is not always hiring freelance writers, so you will need to check from time to time. If proofing appeals to you, Writer’s Relief always accepts applications. 

A solution for you?

Despite the shortcomings of freelance writing and related jobs, it’s a bona fide profession. If you can use some extra cash (or cash, period), you might find that it is a good solution for you, whether for the short or long term. Check out the sites mentioned above and decide for yourself. Once you get started, you can build a portfolio that will help you eventually command a higher fee.

Dale also noted, “As one of the most consistent and active communities in the CAA process, your community had another year filled with many activities. The CAAEC hopes that your community will continue to aspire to a high level with a set of impressive initiatives and activities next year… Congratulations to all members of the STC Phoenix Community.”

Karen will receive the CAA certificate during the Leadership Day event on Sunday, May 3, at the Summit in Atlanta.

Hope that this issue is blooming with articles of interest to you. We’ve tried to include something for everyone. Enjoy!