Wednesday, 9 November, STC holds its first virtual conference, a unique, online, day-long event. The conference, titled Applying Research in Practice, takes place from 10:30 AM-4:00 PM EST (GMT-5). Saul Carliner is the host and moderator, and he was kind enough to answer a few questions about the virtual conference, below.
The virtual conference is called “Applying Research in Practice.” What, in a nutshell, does that cover?
To help participants make informed decisions about the latest communication technologies and techniques, we’re going to provide them with the latest research information about the use and implementation of these technologies in the real world.
Presenters are going to focus on the application of their research in the real world—so despite this being called a Research to Practice event, its focus is on practice.
It’s also intended to meet the needs of intermediate and experienced technical communicators who are looking for something with a bit more depth than introductory content—material that encourages them to think.
It’s based on similar events that have been produced for training and development professionals and have been wildly successful with them.
Can you tell me a bit about the three subject areas and why those were chosen? And how did you select the presenters for the conference?
The three areas are Social Media and Technical Communication, the Impact of New Technologies on the Technical Communication Processes, and Issues on Communicating Online.
Social media was an easy choice. A lot of pundits are claiming that it’s completely transforming the industry. So what is really happening? On the one hand, social media is playing a role in the ways that organizations communicate with their publics, but the research tells a much different story than many of the pundits and that story is probably closer to the reality that most people are actually experiencing with social media. I think the research-based information will provide a fresh perspective to technical communicators and help them make better informed decisions about social media.
And we have three terrific presenters. Brad Mehlenbacher is a phenomenal researcher who works at the intersections of technology, communication, and instruction, and I was very impressed by his latest book. Aimee Roundtree and Wendy Freeman are both up-and-coming researchers. Aimee has a strong interest in medical communication, which is one of the hottest areas, and Wendy is that rare researcher who had a rich career as a practicing instructional designer becoming an academic.
The next two topics have held strong interest for STC members in the 25 years I’ve been planning conferences and events for our membership. But they’re both moving targets and there’s always something new to consider. In terms of technologies, we’ve got some of the best. Rebekka Andersen is one of the few researchers who’s actually exploring the impact of content management on real organizations and can explain why things don’t work the way the pundits suggest they will. Ann Rockley, who’s recognized as a leader in content management, recently turned her attention to e-books and provides similarly solid insights. Martine Courant Rife tackles that nasty netherland of copyright; an area that technology is only making more difficult to address as our ability to copy exceeds our ability to protect.
The last block of presentations explores online communication. Technical communicators first started writing help over 30 years ago; even if the technology wasn’t constantly changing, we’d still be looking for ways to be more creative at it. But constantly changing technologies only adds to our challenges. First in this area is Stuart Selber, arguably one of the top researchers on computers in writing, and he’s been doing some innovative work with iPads (tablet computers) that he’ll share. Next are David Farkas and Quan Zhou, who will be talking about a technology for selectively revealing content to readers that’s called QuikScan. I’ve seen demos of it and think others will be interested in this. Closing out the session is John Killoran, who’s done a lot of research on online communication, including some recent work on search engine optimization, a topic that’s of great interest to our members.
In addition to all of their amazing qualifications (nearly all of the speakers have PhDs, one is an attorney) and engaging presentation styles, most of these people are relatively unknown to STC audiences (even though most are members of our community). So I’m excited to introduce these people to STC members.
Who can benefit from attending the conference? What types of technical communicators are the target audience?
Anyone interested in solid information on which to base sound communication decisions.
Although this is called a Research to Practice event, the primary audience for this event is on the practice side—that is, real technical communicators dealing with real assignments in the real world.
That means the target audience for this presentation is technical writers and editors, illustrators, information architects, information designers, content strategists—and the people who manage them.
Secondary audiences are others who play an active role in designing and developing user assistance or have strong opinions about it, but aren’t 100 percent sure whether those opinions are rooted in solid evidence or merely personal preference.
To register and receive more information, visit the STC website.