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Subject:STC - academia or real-world? From:Garret Romaine <garret -dot- h -dot- romaine -at- EXGATE -dot- TEK -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 8 Jan 1999 08:19:33 -0800
John Gilger writes:
> How many of these 17,000 actually work in the technical writing
> community OUTSIDE of academia?
>
> I think that that the STC would become more useful and better
> known if their publications were more oriented to real world, working
> tech communicators rather than a publishing forum for grad students.
>
> [Romaine, Garret H] I never got the impression that STC catered to the
> ivory towers of the campus. Rather, the opposite. My experience is that
> most student chapters are very low-budget affairs, and constantly in a
> near-death condition. The majority of members connected to campus are the
> teachers, not students. Your mileage may vary, but I certainly disagree
> with your statement, John. The real excitement is coming from the regular
> chapters.
>
Not to blow our horn too much, but the Willamette Valley chapter based in
Portland, Oregon is incredibly diverse and thriving, adding 10-12 members
per month. We have active Special Interest Groups for Entry Level,
Contractors, Online Help, and Managers, and our program meetings have
attracted up to 80 attendees at times. Life is good here.
Also, any good professional organization sponsors research, in order to
drill down into the details. Where would we be without a solid,
research-based understanding of human factors, interface design, and adult
education? I'm constantly accused of seeing the glass as more than half
full, but having served as a volunteer, an officer, and as president of a
local chapter, I take exception to any inference that STC doesn't serve it's
members well. If you don't think it does, I would challenge you to get
involved, run for office, and make initiate some changes that you feel make
sense. Your network may be giving you different signals, but I've found the
issues of the day to be well-understood by STC. The last annual conventions
I've attended -- Washington, D.C., Seattle, Toronto and Anaheim -- were
topical, current, and exciting. And heavily geared toward solving problems.
Garret Romaine
Willamette Valley Chapter
garret -dot- h -dot- romaine -at- tek -dot- com
>
