FORUM95: Another Announcement

[Tom Warren <TWARREN -at- OSUVM1 -dot- BITNET>]

Here is the text of the most recent FOURUM95 International Conference
brochure. Please respond to Brigitte Beuttenmueller, tekom Germany
expressing your interest in further information. Proposal deadline
is January 1, 1995.

Tom Warren
twarren -at- vm1 -dot- ucc -dot- okstate -dot- edu
______________________
forum 95

Have you registered for...

Dortmund, Germany,
13-15 November 1995

Disappearing Borders:
a reflection on a central theme

  Technical communication is becoming more and more an international issue.  Int
ernational
issues will form an important ingredient of the program, with topics like transl
ation,
acculturation, international standards (European and world-wide), international
cooperation.
We have started with Forum 95, organised by societies from four different countr
ies.

  Technical communication has to remove barriers between producers and consumers
 of
technical artifacts.  This essential aim of our profession is reflected in topic
s like usability
research, developing learning techniques, user instructions, and accessibility o
f information.

  Traditional borders between disciplines involved in technical communication, a
re disappearing.
Writers and illustrators, designers and producers, software developers and media
-specialists are
working together to produce optimal results.  Topics related to this interdiscip
linary undertaking
are for instance: new media, text and pictures, overall design issues, managing
complex
processes.

  Research and practice should no longer be separate worlds, but become warp and
 woof of the
same texture.  Wishful thinking?  Let the participants of Forum 95 decide.  Rese
archers are
invited to present their projects and their results.
 Call for activators

Those who want to participate actively in Forum 95 are invited to send a proposa
l/before
January 1st, 1995.  Proposals are welcomed for all sorts of activities sketched
below:

Please do not consider it as limitative.  All issues related to technical commun
ication and to the
central theme of the conference, are welcomed.

Manuals

  User friendliness of manuals

  Minimal manuals: designing, evaluating

  Access to manuals: indexes and other access structures

  Can a manual be complete? What to include, what to exclude?

  The eternal chain: equipment-manual-user: which is the weakest link?

  Safety instructions: legal documents or reader instructions?

Production

  How to develop multi-aimed, multi-purpose, multi-audience and multi-authored
documentation?

  Computer product development and documentation

  Turning product development and documentation

  Downsizing and outsourcing in technical documentation

  Cost effectiveness of high quality in documentation

  Technical documentation as after sales

  Technical communication as a part of a corporate identity

  Who will do the job: technicians or communicators?

  Who will do the job: technicians or communicators?

New media

  Interactive tutorials: do they really work?

  Hypertext: where is the big picture?

  Using computer networks for cooperative work

  Are new media worth the price?

  What do moving pictures add to static representations?

International aspects

  Translation problems

  International standards, their aims and their impact

  Automatic translation: real future of Utopia?

  Universal pictures?

  Can jokes work in different cultures?

Professional aspects

  What should technical communicators know?

  Programs of Technical Communication in higher education

  Students and the workplace

  Can communication be learned?

  Professional codes and ethics

  The labor market of technical communicators

  Freelancing in Technical Communication

Visual aspects

  Text and pictures

  The overall design: layout and design principles

  Using verbal diagrams for presenting data and instructions

  The visual aspects of multi-media presentations

Production

  Document databases

  Data bases documents

  SGML, HGML, and others

  Direct input from developers to users

  Direct input from users to developers

  Distribution of information in the electronic age

Other fields

  Rhetoric and technical communication

  Testing technical documentation

  'Let the user learn from his/her errors'

  Gender in technical communication

Proposals should contain the full name and address of the author(s), including p
hone and fax
number and, if possible, E-mail address.  It should have a title or an indicatio
n of the topic, as well
as an indication of the sort of activity it is referring to.  It should contain
an abstract (for papers),
a description (for exhibition participants), or an explanation (for Idea Market
or brainstorming
sessions proposals) of approximately 500 to 800 words (1 to 2 pages).

Please consider the possibility to propose more than one activity!

All proposals will be reviewed by the program committee.  Those who submit a pro
posal will
receive a reaction before February 1st 1995.

Send your registration to the address shown.

 Request for Information


The Interacting
Communication Conference

Dortmund, Germany
13-15 November 1995

Yes, Please keep me informed about Forum 95

  I am considering presenting a paper
Possible topic (enclose details)





 I would more likely just attend the conference

 I'm not sure that I will be able to attend, but please keep me informed

Name

Institute or
Organisation

Address





Country

Post Code                         Tel (    )


                                        FAX
Mail to:
tekom (Forum 95)                             Fax to:
Markelstr.34                                 Germany
D-7000                                       +711 650767
Stuttgart 1
Germany

 The Forum Formula

The Forum formula includes divergent activities, which will form a lively, varie
d, interesting and
above all activating program.

  Idea market

  Brainstorming sessions

  Sort-and-build groups

  Paper presentations

  Networking lunch

  Exhibition

Since preparations for Forum 95 are still in progress, not all activities can be
 announced yet.  But
the program committee is working on several possibilities.

  A video conference, including participants from all over the world

  An E-mail conference or list, starting some weeks before, and ending some week
s after Forum
95

  Excursions to companies and organisations in the Rurh area

  An attractive social program and partners program.

Publications

Three publications will appear connected with Forum 95.

  The Preseedings: a book containing not only the full program, but also materia
ls for
discussions, brainstorming sessions, etc.

  The Postharvest: a book containing results of sessions, materials, reports and
 commentaries.

  The Proceedings: a collection of selected and reviewed papers, subjected to sc
ientific standards
and to be published by a scientific publisher - especially intended for research
 reports.


Forum 95 will be organised jointly by four societies for Technical Communication


  IEEE Professional Communication (USA/Canada)

  ISTC Institute for Scientific & Technical Communicators (United Kingdom)

  STIC-QTD Studiekring voor Technische Informatie en Communicatie/Quality of Tec
hnical
Communication (The Netherlands)

  tekom Gesellschaft f r technische Kommunikation (Germany)