Book Review by Jane Aronovitch

Press Enter to Continue is the clever title of a book written by Joan Francuz, a friend, colleague, former STCer and now author—in her own right, for what do we do, in our profession, but write books, tomes, pages, testaments and scripts of various sorts for our clients, just not for the general public in most cases.

When Joan autographed my copy of the book, she added “…and Ctrl S to save” after the title. That’s quintessential Joan Francuz and gives a taste of her witty style. While the book is historical—comprehensively so, but distilled to perfection—it is also chatty and full of personal treasures and stories too. In fact the book reads like Joan is talking to you, which makes it even more engaging. All of which makes this history of writing through the ages both personal and universal, as Joan discovers and exemplifies this “character trait—some call it a flaw—that compels people throughout history to sit down and write everything they know.”

And so it is that we learn of Joan’s love of gardening, her family, various jobs, travels and homes. But the meat of the book is the wealth of information on how scribes came to be and how they fashioned and used the tools of their trade through the ages.

With Joan’s deft touch and skill it all comes to life—from the Sumerians, to the Greeks, Romans, so-called Barbarians, and Renaissance men (I’m sure they had women too!); from symbols to characters to alphabets (first uppercase only, then lowercase) and the introduction of numbers and publishing; from all of these to the effects of religion, commerce, patents, railroads and more, including telegraphy and photography and how they influenced the dissemination of information. And all the while Joan relates to the material anecdotally, personally or with modern day comparisons. This is no dry history text!

A section entitled “Then people became data” introduces the digital age and brings us to “the time called now.” The book concludes with the thought that in every age people had a need to document the world around them. Press Enter to Continue carries on this tradition in exemplary fashion. It is a well researched piece of work documenting the history of our profession, with a bit of humour and personality thrown in for good measure. It is well worth the read!

Tuesday, April 9 2019, 6 p.m.

The Wallace Gastropub

Eliane Tozman is a Montreal-born, Toronto-based designer, currently working in UX Design (User Experience Design) at IBM. Tozman works in software development, where she researches, conceptualizes and designs ways for IBM to make the technology work for the user, so the user doesn’t have to work for the technology.

Tozman’s presentation focused on Designing for Disruptive Innovation and why it’s so important for creating successful outcomes. She provided insight and examples of how design thinking empowers multi-disciplinary teams to solve complex problems by considering many options, integrating ideas and opportunities, and testing multiple solutions before going to market.

IBM Design builds user-targeted products and experiences: this session offered an overview of this human-centered methodology. This method challenges people to see the world through the eyes of the user every step of the way.

Tuesday, May 14 2019, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

North York Civic Center

There’s a lot of talk about Content 4.0 and microcontent, but what can technical communicators do about it?

Intelligent agents and AI-powered cognitive content solutions perform best with machine-ready content—intelligent content designed to be read by humans and processed by computers. To deliver the right answer to prospects and customers who have questions, you’ll need to optimize your content production approaches and begin crafting content with the precision humans appreciate, and machines require. Welcome to Intelligent Microcontent.

Join us to talk about our next steps in future-proofing our content.

• STC Toronto Chapter Members: $5 (taxes included)
• STC Members (no chapter): $15 (taxes included)
• Non-STC Members: $25 (taxes included)
• TechComm Students: Free (please register)

Click here for more detail and to register.

For a limited time, STC is providing those who register now with a free monthly subscription to Roundtable. Each month, Roundtable members receive: over $400 worth of fresh, high-quality content; an engaged community; access to top experts in the field and timely, accurate and targeted resources.

An example month may include: a formal webinar led by the monthly curator or a selected expert; tools for implementing the information learned; a live Q&A on the monthly topic with selected experts moderated by the monthly curator; community connections, resources and more. This is a very cool opportunity for professional development, and a high value for STC members: register for free while you can.

SmartDocs is a complete content management system designed for technical writers which allows your team to work in Word while benefiting from centralized, reusable content. They are raffling off a free STC 2019 Technical Communication Summit Registration (a value of around $2000 Canadian dollars, depending on your membership level). How do you enter? Register for and attend a free SmartDocs demonstration webinar this Wednesday, March 6 from 12-1 p.m. A free webinar and a chance to get into the 2019 STC Summit for free? Not too shabby.

The 2019 STC Summit is in Denver this year, May 5-8.

View the full schedule at https://summit.stc.org/schedule/. There are 80+ sessions and 12 workshops, plus:

• Opening Keynote by Peter Morville, Information Architecture Expert and co-author of the O’Reilly “Polar Bear” books. Click here for details.
• Honors Event speaker Gabby Pascuzzi from Survivor. Visit https://summit.stc.org/honors-event-speaker/ for details.
• Closing General Session speakers Karen Schriver, Saul Carliner, and Ginny Redish. Click here for session details.
• Certified Professional Technical Communicator (CPTC) Exam Prep Training.
• An Expo Hall where you can meet with vendors and visit the Tech Comm Library, and
• fun social events Monday and Tuesday evening, and Wednesday afternoon after the Closing General Session!

Don’t miss this opportunity build your skills and network in a fun and professional environment!

We had the pleasure of welcoming Ray Gallon to Toronto this evening and speaking with him about the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Information 4.0 and new roles and responsibilities for Technical Communicators. This highly experienced international expert is the president and co-founder of The Transformation Society, a consulting and training company dedicated to understanding and dealing with complexity and digital transformation. Ray has over 20 years’ experience in the technical content industries, including major companies such as IBM, Alcatel, and General Electric Health Care.

Ray is president of The Information 4.0 consortium, a former international board member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) and past president of STC France. He is a frequent speaker on communications topics at conferences and seminars around the world, and currently teaches in the University of Barcelona’s Master of Sound Art programme, and University of Strasbourg’s online Master of Technical Communication and Localization. 

Positive Engagement & Advice

Wednesday, November 7th, 2018, Pamela Paterson, BJ, MS, the bestselling author of “Get the Job: Optimize Your Resume for the Online Job Search” and the founder of the Pamela Jean Paterson bursary, gave a compelling webinar at a deeply discounted rate for student and STC members. The webinar was graced with positive engagement, interaction and questions, and all attendees gained valuable, personal advice and insight into Pamela’s unique methodology.  

About Pamela Paterson’s Job Market Conquering Methodology

Using business analysis techniques, Pamela analyzed the HR system to create a unique step-by-step methodology for conquering the job market. She has been teaching this methodology to HR professionals and job seekers across Canada and the U.S. for over 15 years.  Pamela claims a 90% success rate in helping her clients find jobs through her innovative methods that have been reported in the national media. Pamela is a long-time mentor and supporter of people who strive for positive change in their lives.

Thanks to everyone who attended STC Toronto’s Annual General Meeting!

Meeting summary​

• Reviewed our finances, accomplishments, and challenges from the past year.
• Shared our approaches, goals, and priorities for the year ahead.
• Shared the results of our salary survey.
  • These will be distributed to the rest of our chapter members in the future.
• Welcomed new community council members.
  • More details to come; we’ll be featuring our new members at future brunches.

Thanks to Beth Agnew for her keynote presentation! Beth shared her personal journey through tech comm and offered advice to fellow technical communicators, “the Swiss Army knife” of employees. Some of her key takeaways are summarized below.

Advice for Technical Communicators

• Align your interests and actions with those you enjoyed as a child.
• Be malleable—adapt to the company you work for.
• Be confident—you have somewhat of a sense of even the most unfamiliar things (and can learn the rest through research).

When selling yourself, remember that you possess valuable skills and abilities. Never underestimate the value of understanding users. Good user experiences lead to satisfaction, loyalty, and sales. The ability to increase sales is valued by all employers. 

Skills:

• Multi-stage thinking.
• Curiosity and research.
• Writing, editing, and communication.
• UX Design.  

Abilities:

• Learning quickly.
• Breaking stuff (usability testing).
• Solving problems.
• Asking questions.
• Spotting trends.
• Making suggestions.

When faced with a new task, ask yourself what:

• What you know.
• What you sort of know.
• What you’d like to know.
• What you’re learning.
• What you’d like to try.

On October 10th, we joined Elia Scher of Dundas Business Intelligence to learn about using dashboards as a medium for technical communication.

Information is valuable only when it’s understood, and making it understandable is a role for technical communicators. Dashboards captures the big picture of critical information on one screen, is the online equivalent of a one-page document, and eliminates scrolling.

Elia describe the stages of a dashboard project and the many ways in which we can convey information. Dashboards must use the concept of key performance indicators, use the principles of visual design, and be interactive to provide the maximum amount information in a small area.

Attendees at this event found the information valuable and timely. We look forward to hearing from Elia Scher again!