STC Issues RFP for RSS Tutorial

With Intercom and Technical Communication both now online in HTML format (and based in WordPress, the same “backbone” as STC's Notebook), STC has multiple RSS feeds for our members to take advantage of. But perhaps some members aren't familiar with RSS, how to sign up, and how to use it, so we're looking for volunteers to help us get the word out.

STC has issued an RFP for production of a tutorial on how to use our (and other) RSS feeds. As the RFP states, the resultant tutorial needs to be short and very focused. Readers will not invest a lot of time to “take a tutorial.” It needs to be more like a “Show Me” or “Quick Start.”

Review the full Request for Proposal here or read it after the jump. The deadline for submissions is 9 July 2010; please email your submissions as a Word document to Kevin Cuddihy.

Project

Create an instructional tutorial that shows STC members how to sign up for RSS feeds for STC online communications. The tutorial should show the advantages of being able to scan a wide range of content and stay current using RSS technology.

Description

STC offers important online communications that can be subscribed to using RSS feeds, including STC’s Notebook, Technical Communication, and Intercom. We need to help members who are not comfortable with setting up RSS aggregators learn how to access STC online documents with RSS feeds. This will also help members become more competent using social media to stay current in professional practices.

Guidelines

This is a volunteer opportunity. STC will not be able to provide authoring tools, nor can it compensate the authors. Credit will be attributed to the volunteers who design and produce these training materials.

The resultant tutorial needs to be short and very focused. Readers will not invest a lot of time to “take a tutorial.” It needs to be more like a “Show Me” or “Quick Start.”

Authors should work in conjunction with the STC AccessAbility SIG to ensure that they apply good practices for accessibility.

Scenarios

The tutorial should support the following scenarios:

  • Subscribing to a publication’s RSS feed
  • Setting up an RSS aggregator
  • Using an aggregator to access RSS feeds

Media

Screen cam videos should be part of the instructional strategy. Alternative text-based instruction should also be provided as needed for accessibility.

Deadline

The deadline for responses is Friday, 9 July 2010.

Application

To apply for this project, email your proposal as a Word document to Kevin Cuddihy

27 Replies to “STC Issues RFP for RSS Tutorial”

  1. You don’t need an RFP for this. RSS has been around for YEARS, and there are tons of resources online already that we could point to for getting a reader and subscribing to feeds. Not to be the garish young whippersnapper here, but in all honestly, how much hand-holding of the membership do we need to do? I mean, what’s the breakpoint here? Assume they know how to use a computer but not Google? Assume they are technical communicators but are 10 years behind the curve? I’m not being facetious or snarky here.

  4. I’m with Bill and Rick – these instructions exist already. If members have an issue with this technology, they should go find out how to use it. It’s been around for about 5 years, so there’s nothing new here.

    One of the key attributes of a good tech writer is curiousity and finding things out. Seems silly for us to bother to recreate these instructions again, special for us. Link to the YouTube video and suggest people look at the RSS instructions in their browser and be done with it.

    We have much bigger (and unsolved) issues to work on.

  6. Pingback: RSS 101: How to subscribe to content feeds :: TechCommDood

    1. Let’s not close the case yet. I would like to hear if there are members who would like to do this, and what they would propose. Linking to existing materials could certainly be part of an acceptable solution.

      And I know this seems like old hat to a group that is holding a conversation on a blog and who probably got here through their RSS aggregator. Not the audience I’m worried about.

      1. Mike, it’s not so much that the request is on “old hat” stuff, but that the RFP is a gawd-awful slow process for this type of ask. You’re free to use the article I wrote yesterday. I linked to it above but it’s on my blog too (just click my name here). There’s another on the India chapter’s blog. I guess it’s up to you if you want to belabor the RFP process or just get it done.

  10. Let me explain why I still think this is an important project, even though I seem out of step with the commenters on this blog.

    STC recently made a pretty significant change–it took its long-standing traditional publications and decided to publish them on line. We know from past surveys and from lots of anecdotal data that many STC members valued these publications as traditional publications. So there is a pretty big change management piece that needs to be addressed. This goes beyond just the mechanics of how to start using an aggregator and setting up feeds. This project has to address some emotive issues and help people change their comfort zones a bit.

    It needs to address more than just online documents in general, it needs to help members who were very comfortable with their traditional STC magazine experience see how that experience can be replaced with one that can serve their needs as well and even better. So I am looking for something with a focus on STC magazines–not only how to view them through RSS, but also why that’s an effective information strategy for them.

    I looked at some of the existing programs people have sent me to, and I still feel that an STC branded effort, and one whose starting point is an audience who is still focused on the traditional magazine experience, would be valuable. For example, one training piece someone sent me that I admired started with the framing of “Hey, you already go out and visit a lot of blogs and news sites, RSS let’s you bring those things to you.” But that’s not the frame of this situation. I want to reach an audience that is NOT already reading lots of blogs and online news sites. I want to reach an audience that is still missing it old magazines.

    So there is more than just explaining steps, there is the change management piece that I think is best served by an STC focused solution.

    I also think it gives us an opportunity to showcase how effective technical communication works, done by us and for us. Technical communication helps make technology accessible to those who would be otherwise excluded (thus reducing the commercial and social negatives associated with losing any portion of your market or audience because they don’t get the technology). Gosh, this is what we stand for as a professional society. I don’t think our public face should be “RTFM” or “Do a Google search to find it.” There is already a lot of evidence that people are doing that (Googling for the answer rather than reading the documentation we produce as a profession). I think there is value in our modeling that a product or service is better served by user assistance produced by professionals with the goal of the organization in mind.

    I chose an RFP approach so that I would have to be specific in asking for what I was looking for and also to reach the maximum number of members who might be able to contribute. I intended the process to be inclusive rather than exclusive. I didn’t do it to pile onerous bureaucracy in the way, so keep it as simple as you’d like.

    So please, overlook the the overly formal appeal for help and respond to this instead:

    We have a lot of members who might be missing out on what our new technology can do for them, and we want to bring them along. Not only will it be good for us to keep these members actively engaged with our acclaimed publications, it will be a gateway experience for them that they will transfer to other aspects of their lives. And in the end, the work you do will be a showcase for you as a professional and for us as a profession.

    I need a little help here, if you think this is up you alley, please send a quick proposal to Kevin Cuddihy. Share your vision with us about how you would go about this project and tell us a little about who you are.

    1. Mike,

      Sounds like you had the right intentions but you’re solving the wrong problem. Training on RSS isn’t the issue here, it’s selling the value of the online media to a niche audience of people who prefer print.

      The RSS info is now out there in specific response to the RFP (granted, not through the channels you asked for) in two blogs and in a video (thanks Tom!). I’d say the instruction piece is more than done. What you need is not continuation with this RFP, but with a strategy for dealing with those who for whatever reason still want a printed edition. And you know, it’s still possible to run POD for them and charge the cost of printing.

      What many need to consider is that many organizations are moving to online formats. Not only is it cheaper, but it’s timely and can be highly interactive. Personally, I get a lot more out of the info plus the discussions resulting from an article than just the article alone. Using a print model, word is law until conversation happens, but you have to be there for the conversation to reap that benefit.

      So Mike, can you cut to the heart of the issue here? I honestly think it has nothing to do with RSS after reading your reply.

  11. @Mike
    Speaking only for myself… what caught me off guard with this plan (and somewhat bothers me) is the fact that this type of information already existed in the old STC Wiki and Forum. There were many pages and threads that explained not only *how* to use a specific technology, but *why* techcomm-ers should be using them, too.

    I just feel that instead of redoing things that have already been done and are widely available on the web, STC/we should be focusing on the numerous “low hanging fruit” (that have been discussed ad nauseam in the Ning forum) that would add immediate benefit to the core STC members who are highly active.

    It is my opinion that STC’s efforts to engage the “… members who might be missing out on what our new technology can do for them” and “bring them along” risks alienating (the admittedly much smaller but) much more active/involved members.

    Just my $0.02 USD

  13. Is there evidence that people who do not read online magazines, also do not scan them to the same extent they formerly scanned the printed publication? If so, is there evidence that needing to learn something is the reason why people do not read online magazines? Do people know when a new issue is available? Do people thoroughly read mostly or only when looking for particular information? Is the absence of a convenient portable format a significant factor? E-readers haven’t yet replaced print for all publications, though the time is likely coming when they will be able to do so.

  14. I appreciate Mike’s expansion on the reasoning behind the overly formal RFP request and the larger issue he’s trying to solve.

    I want to add that learning to use an RSS reader to read the Intercom is kind of like learning to read a pamphlet instead of traveling to the actual library. This is because there isn’t much to read from Intercom in the RSS feed.

    I made a little video showing you what you can see in your RSS reader from the Intercom feed. You’re going to have a hard time selling this “excerpt-notification” reader experience to members as a valuable new online paradigm for consuming STC content. If the full article were included in the RSS feed, it would be a bit different.

    What the STC really needs to release is an RFP about integrating its membership database with the WordPress database so that comments can be turned on in intercom.stc.org. Actually, you could probably find someone for that on http://jobs.wordpress.net. Not many people that I know of look for RFPs.

    For members who are less RSS Reader savvy/brainwashed, a good old-fashioned email newsletter (similar to the STC Notes newsletter) might be a better solution. It’s essentially the same experience as the RSS reader — you read an excerpt and then click to the intercom.stc.org site to read the full article.

  15. Mike,
    I appreciate your explaining why you think the RFP for an RSS tutorial is essential.

    However, reading through, I think teh issue is not as much a question of “RFP for an RSS tutorial” as “RFP for how to address the concerns of those who valued the STC print deliverables”.

    My thinking: RSS tutorial is a solution; it’s not the problem. The problem is members’ feedback about unhappiness with the absence of an offline version. Unless the exact nature of the problem is identified, how can one be sure if RSS is the right (or, next-best right) solution? The problems could be any of the following (am not saying these ARE the reasons – this is just an example list):
    (i) The online version is print optimised and hence difficult to read online.
    (ii) The print version could be read during the commute to work.
    (iii) Rummaging through print versions for an article I remember reading is easier than a search on the online version.
    (iv) Navigation in the online version is cumbersome.
    (v) …
    (vi) …

    My point is just this – for all those members who feel uncomfortable with the absence of a print version, a question should be asked – “Why? What is it that you valued there that you don’t get here” or similar. The answers would give a starting point for any RFP exercise.

    I refuse to believe any techcommer worth their names would not know how to set up an RSS feed subscription. Honestly. If they claim they don’t, one probably needs to dig deeper for the real reason for their reluctance to.

  17. “…a good old-fashioned email newsletter (similar to the STC Notes newsletter) might be a better solution.”

    I think Tom is on to something. Now that I’m getting “Intercom” only online, I haven’t been reading it as much as I used to. I get the email notification and think, “This will take an hour. I don’t have an hour.” If I got an email notification with an excerpt and a link to a specific article, I’d think, “This will take ten minutes. I’ve got ten minutes.”

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