STC WDC Blog

The APEX Awards attract many outstanding entries. Of the nearly 3,800 entries in APEX 2009, just 100 Grand Award Winners were selected

The judges’ comments for the APEX 2009 Grand Award winners are now posted at http://www.apexawards.com/apex2009grandawardcomments.htm

Here are the judges’ comments for the STC Washington, DC Chapter Web site:

“Good gods! This isn’t a site. It’s a universe. The depth and range of data and resources are enormous — yet the clarity of presentation, speed and ease of navigation are first rate. All the latest technical upgrades, too. Nicely done.”

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• DC Chapter 2009 Apex® Grand Award Winner! (2)

OMG! We are proud to announce that the STC Washington, DC Chapter’s Web site won a rare Grand Award in the 2009 APEX® Awards for Publication Excellence in the "Web & Intranet Sites; Nonprofit Small Office" category! Information about the competition is available at http://www.ApexAwards.com/.

(Some of you may remember we won a 2005 APEX® Awards for Publication Excellence in the category of “Web & Intranet Site Content & Writing”.)

APEX 2009 awards were based on excellence in graphic design, editorial content and the success of the entry—in the opinion of the judges—in achieving overall communications effectiveness and excellence.

The Grand Award honors the outstanding works in each main category (100 Grand awards in 11 main categories). The Excellence awards recognize exceptional entries in each of the sub-categories (1,158 excellence awards awarded in 122 sub-categories) .

This year, 3,785 entries were evaluated, in the following distribution:
Newsletters: 385; Magazines & Journals: 706; Magapapers & Newspapers: 82; Annual Reports: 183; Brochures, Manuals & Reports: 378; Video & Electronic Publications: 193; Web & Intranet Sites: 267; Campaigns, Programs & Plans: 301; Writing: 659; Design & Illustration: 392; Special Publications: 239.

A list of the winning entries is available as a PDF: Announcing the Winners of APEX 2009 (pdf). Grand Award winners are listed by main category. Award of Excellence winners are listed within each subcategory, alphabetically by organization, or by last name for individual entrants.

Some other STC sites won awards of Excellence in various Web & Intranet sub-categories:

• Blogs, Forums & Wikis – Society for Technical Communication AccessAbility SIG
• Web Sites – STC-NNE Chapter, Nashua, NH
  (Note: an STC member, Rich Maggiani, also won in this category for his Solari Communication, Web site)
• Web & Intranet Site Design & Illustration – Shafqatullah Syed, Society for Technical Communication, Fairfax, VA

Several other STC entries are also winners in this year’s competition in the 10 other categories. Congratulations to them all!

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[Repeating a post on the AccessAbility SIG's blog by Karen Mardahl]

Your society needs your input yesterday!

Last week, Cindy Currie, STC President, sent out a message to all STC members asking for input to help resolve the financial crisis that the Society is facing. The Society really does need your input now!

STC is asking all members to submit any suggestions that you have to stc@stc.org. Please use “STC Crisis Suggestions” as your subject line on e-mail messages sent to stc@stc.org.

Crisis? What crisis?

You are encouraged to read the background information available to STC members on the STC site. A login is required.

For those who use Twitter, tag your tweets with #stcorg when discussing STC’s current situation to submit quick ideas.

So far, several people have posted their thoughts on their own blogs:

• Tom Johnson wrote about Lifelines to the STC
• Sarah O’Keefe asks Whither STC
• M. K. Anderson writes In Which I Comment on the STC Issue
• David Farbey writes Does STC deserve to survive?

Why?

As you can see from the titles alone, this is a serious discussion. Some might even ask why do we need to solve this financial crisis? This is a time for societal (or personal) soul-searching. What are your thoughts on the topic? Share them here or on the blogs listed here.

Again, your ideas are also more than welcome at stc@stc.org – they are waiting for input from all STC members. Together, we can make a difference.

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This talk will discuss ergonomic concerns related to the iPhone application design and enumerate the various contexts where applications are typically used. Assuming the NDA is lifted following WWDC, details about the 3.0 release of the iPhone OS and its implications on emerging classes of iPhone applications will also be given.

The event will be held on June 24, 2009 (Wednesday) at SRA International, Inc., in Arlington, VA.
6 – 7 PM: Dinner at Cosi, for those who would like to join for dinner
7 – 9 PM: Presentation (Please arrive by 7 PM as building security requires escorts for all attendees)

For details about this event, see Usability Professionals’ Association on the Events from Related Organizations page.

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Carolyn Kelley Klinger talks with Mary Fletcher Jones about the benefits of belonging to the Society for Technical Communication. The video is produced by Fletcher Prince, a DC-area marketing, graphic design, and social media firm.

Carolyn provides information about the benefits of belonging to the Society for Technical Communication (founded in 1953) and the Washington, DC Chapter (founded in 1955). She explains the purpose of the Society and describes how to join the Society and the chapter.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=71242632705

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Carolyn Kelley Klinger ked a session during Leadership Day at the 2009 Technical Summit in Atlanta called “Managing Successful Web Seminars”. Thanks to some live blogging by Lisa Pappas, we have a link to the transcript of Carolyn’s session:
http://www.scribblelive.com/Event/STC_TCS_2009_Leadership_Day_Web_Seminar.

Carolyn Kelley Klinger makes a point in her session during Leadership Day.

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David Dayton, PhD

Washington, DC Chapter member David Dayton, PhD was honored by STC with the rank of Associate Fellow. David received his plaque at the Honors Reception and Banquet at Tech Summit 2009 in Atlanta, GA.

His citation reads:

For outstanding contributions to STC in conducting practical research focused on practitioners; in teaching and mentoring students and developing curricula; and in playing a key role in the groundwork for creating the technical communication knowledge portal.

David’s information is included in the chapter’s list of STC Exemplars, Fellows and Associate Fellows at http://www.stcwdc.org/history_fellows.shtml. Congratulations David!

David is also a member of the Metro Baltimore Chapter, Academic SIG, Information and Design Architecture SIG, Single Sourcing SIG, and the Usability and User Experience SIG.

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A new blog about events, where to eat, things to do in and around DC is now included in the Communication Blogs section below the Visitors cluster map in this blog. The new blog is called “We Love DC”: http://www.welovedc.com/.

We Love DC. You think there’d need to be more to band together a group of writers, but this is our common element. We Love DC. Sure, we think DC dates the wrong person once in a while, and may or not have worn something that we thought was pretty much atrocious, but We Love DC anyway. DC has been many things for us; it has been home and shelter, adventure and retreat, love and war. Here we all are, to give it our best.

⋮

…we are a diverse group of people doing a diverse group of things, our common bonds are this site, and that we live inside the Beltway. We are IT Guy, Programmer, Costume Designer and Writer; Contractor, Web Designer, Secretary and Security Specialist. We run the gamut. Want to join us? E-mail tom@welovedc.com, and he’ll give you all the details.

Their RSS feed is now included in the blog just below the DC Communicators RSS feed. For those who want to include it in their site, the URL is http://www.welovedc.com/feed/

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On Dogbook, Everyone Knows You’re a Dog

With sixty-eight million pups calling the U.S. home, it’s no wonder that Dogbook is getting “tail-wagging” reviews from the canine community. Dogbook is an offshoot of Facebook, the social networking site that has over one hundred and seventy five million active users. A FOX News video is available from the Wall Street Journal site: http://online.wsj.com/video/on-dogbook-everyone-knows-youre-a-dog/12F0110D-8CD4-484E-B0EA-5D0AA22D509A.html

Dogbook and Catbook video courtesy of ABC News.

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Speakers: Barbara Herzog, James Dittbrenner, Sylvan Von Burg, Susan Musich, Renée Barnow, and Tom Dezell
Location: NRECA Conference Center Directions to the event.
http://www.stcwdc.org/directions_to_nreca.shtml
Register for this event through Cvent at
http://guest.cvent.com/i.aspx?5S,M3,4c34fa99-e5a7-4f5d-8b3b-a1de12a81a21

Cost:

* $5 for STC WDC Members and IEEE Members (this is a joint event)
* $15 for Non-members
* FREE for full-time student guest of a paid attendee (student guest must register)

Dinner included in event cost.

No matter where you are in your career, you should always be prepared to get back into the job market. Come learn the latest trends in the job search process and start laying the groundwork for your next job search. This event will be a progression. Each speaker will host a 25-minute roundtable discussion. At the end of each discussion, you will move to another table with a different topic and speaker. A pizza dinner will be served.

You will have time to attend four of the following six table topics, each offered by an expert on that topic:

• The Five Methods for Securing Interviews (Speaker: Barbara Herzog)
• Targeting Your Job Search and Effectively Using Career Fairs (Speaker: James Dittbrenner)
• Résumés and Job Search Communications (Speaker: Sylvan Von Burg)
• Using the Internet in the Job Search (Speaker: Susan Musich)
• Lost Your Job? Gain Control with Action Based Communication™ during the Interview (Speaker: Renée Barnow)
• Networking for the Nervous Novice or Naïve Job Seeker (Speaker: Tom Dezell)

If you have already registered through the Cvent site but have not yet paid, go to prgm_paypal_jun09.shtml to make a secure online payment through our PayPal page using your credit card, debit card, bank account, or by paying money from a funded PayPal account. Or, you may send a check made out to STC Washington, DC Chapter to

Steve Whitney
Treasurer
STC Washington DC Chapter
PO Box 11186
Takoma Park, MD 20913

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