Further Update on the New STC Website

Thank you for your patience with the launch of the new STC website. As we announced on Tuesday, we discovered the root cause of the problem and have been extremely busy since then. We have been testing the site against our fix, recreating affected areas, and putting the finishing touches on things. As of today we’re still on track to debut the site Monday, but we’ll let you know if that changes. We think you’ll be excited once you see what we’ve been working on for so long.

From your initial visit, you will notice a very different look and feel to the site. The new design presents Society information in an easier-to-read, easier-to-find way. A great deal of thought went into the information architecture, and we hope that you will find your overall experience with the site to be very intuitive and easy to use.

On Monday we will also unveil two areas of the site built specifically for STC communities.

The first is a public-facing section of the STC website, where each community will have its own page. These pages will be searchable as part of a directory and can be accessed via an alphabetical list or a search box. These pages will contain an overview of each community, including contact information for community leaders as well as a link to the community’s existing website. In the future, we will develop the option to link to integrated community micro-sites (ICMs). This integration will allow STC communities, if they so choose, to host their entire Web presence as part of the STC.org domain. I think you’ll find that the improvements we’ve made to this section of the site will have a “wow” factor and will better represent our communities.

The second area of the site is the STC Network. This is a members-only social and collaborative tool. We built the STC Network to provide SIGs, Chapters, committees, and working groups with private or semi-private areas where they can share files, discuss issues, interact with other groups, etc. If you’re familiar with Facebook, Ning, or LinkedIn groups, you’ll feel quite comfortable in this environment. Users will create a personal profile, sharing as much (or as little) information as they choose. From there, users can interact with other members of SIGs or Chapters, post and review events, and collaborate on group projects. This new feature broadens the ability for STC members to connect and communicate with each other, and will help move us toward the goal of a unified society of technical communicators.

The software we are using for the STC Network is JomSocial, a Joomla!-specific, integrated application. Because of its direct connection with the content management system, we can provide content and event syndication as well as integrated user profiles. Community events and news posted in the STC Network can be advertised on any other page of the site. We want to broadcast all of the exciting things our communities are doing.

In addition to the STC Network, the member area of the website—“My STC”—will continue to develop as a place to find tools and content that will truly benefit community leaders and the membership. “My STC” will serve as a single, convenient place to access all STC membership resources.

While the work behind launching the site has been extensive, we still have much more we plan to do; this is only the beginning of the website’s transformation. I hope you share my excitement in the bright future of STC.org.