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SOCIETY FOR TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION
40TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE, POST-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS, AND EXPOSITION
June 6-10, 1993, Loews Anatole, Dallas, TX USA
CONFERENCE PREVIEW: FOCUS GROUPS TO ADDRESS ACADEMIC/INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIP
"Programs must recognize that industry is not looking for people with master's
degrees in technical communication; it wants good writers, cheap."
Such was the opinion of a manager of a major industrial technical publications
department at a workshop held with the STC board of directors at its January
meeting.
The workshop focused on the skills and knowledge needed by successful
technical communicators and involved representatives from academe as well as
from industry. This session served as a warm-up for a set of focus groups to
be held during the 40th STC Annual Conference in Dallas. The focus groups
will be held on Monday, June 7, from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Peacock Terrace room
of the Loews Anatole Hotel.
FOCUS IS ON THREE QUESTIONS
The focus groups will address three questions:
* How can STC encourage and support academic training in technical
communication?
* How can STC help establish links between business and industry and colleges
and universities?
* How can STC promote research in technical communication that utilizes the
skills of academic and industrial researchers and focuses on the needs of
industry as well as professional issues?
The sessions will identify plans of action for the Education and Research
Professional Interest Committee (PIC) over the next several years. Three
speakers will present brief keynote speeches focusing on the issues from
different perspectives:
Karen Schriver, Carnegie Mellon University, representing colleges and
universities.
Roger Grice, IBM Corporation, representing business and industry.
David Armbruster, STC Past President, representing the Society.
Committee managers have issued personal invitations to approximately 200
representatives of the three areas to participate in the sessions, but the
sessions are open to all interested conference attendees.
Committee managers hope that the focus groups will help the committee and STC
to acquire a clearer understanding of the expectations and needs of the
industry, the opportunities and problems facing academic instructors of
technical communication, and the role that the Society can have in pursuing a
part of its mission: to develop "better educated personnel in the field."
FOCUS ON SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
One of the concerns that the groups will address focuses on the skills and
knowledge needed by successful technical communicators, for example:
* In addition to written communication skills, how important are oral
communication skills, interviewing skills, customer advocacy, and
negotiating skills?
* In addition to desktop publishing skills, what other computer-based
skills does a technical communicator need?
* What interpersonal skills are essential?
* How much general business knowledge and skills should a technical
communicator have?
* What technical knowledge should a technical communicator have?
FOCUS ON TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION PROGRAMS
Other focus groups will address the concerns arising from technical
communication programs, for example:
* Are industry expectations for academic programs unrealistic?
* How can technical communication programs effectively evaluate themselves?
* How can technical communication programs provide professional development
opportunities for their faculties?
* How can programs prepare students not only for immediate needs but for
long-term needs?
* What is an "ideal" curriculum in technical communication?
* How can colleges and universities identify research needs in industry
and work cooperatively to solve these problems?
* Is there a solid body of knowledge identifiable as "technical communication"
upon which we can build a credible profession? Is such a body of knowledge
needed?
* What can academe do to help industry retrain a subject-matter expert as a
technical communicator?
* Can industry benefit from research done in universities?
FOCUS ON THE ROLE OF STC
Other groups will focus on the role that the Society can have in realizing
more effective cooperative efforts between academe and industry:
* How can STC help academic programs solve their own problems?
* How can STC most productively help define the body of knowledge that
comprises technical communication?
* Do academic programs need some kind of formal review?
* Is there a role for an academic-industry advisory committee in STC?
* What can STC do to promote research in technical communication that
utilizes the skills of academic and industrial researchers and focuses on
the needs of industry as well as professional issues?
The committee manager hopes that many representatives of colleges and
universities, of business and industries, and of the Society will participate
in these focus groups and that the information, ideas, and plans generated
from the groups will become an effective long-range plan for the Education and
Research PIC and for the Society itself.
*****
The above article by Dr. Kenneth T. Rainey, Manager of STC's Education and
Research PIC and member of STC Atlanta Chapter, appeared in the April 1993
issue of Intercom. Society members and others who would like to participate
in the focus groups should contact Kenneth T. Rainey by telephone at
404/528-7209 or by E-Mail at krainey -at- sct -dot- edu -dot-
*****
For a copy of the Preliminary Program, Registration Material, and Exposition
Information for the 40th STC Annual Conference, Post-Conference Workshops,
and Exposition, contact the Society for Technical Communication, 901 North
Stuart Street, Suite 904, Arlington, Virginia 22203-1854; telephone
703/522-4114; fax 703/522-2075. Or, send E-Mail to Binion Amerson, General
Manager, at aba -at- oc -dot- com and include your name, address, and telephone number.
Binion Amerson, aba -at- oc -dot- com
General Manager, 40th STC Annual Conference
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Binion Amerson, Senior Technical Writer, OpenConnect Systems, 2711 LBJ, Ste
800, Dallas, TX 75234, Ph 214/888-0447; Fax 214/484-6100; Email aba -at- oc -dot- com
General Manager, 40th STC Annual Conference, June 6-9, 1993, Dallas, Texas.
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