Upcoming Chapter Meetings

December 6th
Document Development with Structured FrameMaker and XML on a Small Budget

Would you like to break into the world of XML, but you don’t have much time or money? Come to the December general meeting to learn about tools to help you:

• Get information from SMEs in electronic format and seamlessly import it into your desktop publishing tool
• Manage reviewers in remote locations
• Produce both HTML and PDF from a single source
• Develop documentation for the popular Eclipse development environment.

Let Fei Min introduce you to some neat tools that will help you achieve your goals more efficiently. If your documentation department is looking for a low-cost entry point to using XML that has a minimal impact on your production schedule, she’s got a practical solution.

Fei Min Lorente has been a technical writer for over 15 years and has worked with different tools from General Markup Language (GML) on a mainframe to Word on a MacIntosh. She has often had to take a leadership role in developing new processes and researching new tools for producing documentation. She has worked in the database, defence, oil and gas, banking and semiconductor industries. She is currently the lone writer at AMI Semiconductor Canada Company, the Volunteer Coordinator for the Southwestern Ontario chapter, and one of the editors for the CIC SIG. She considers herself a programming dilettante.

February 7th, 2006
UDL: Just another TLA?

Three Letter Acronyms (TLAs) abound in technical communication, but find out how one TLA, UDL (Universal Design for Learning), could level the playing field for blind and disabled students. Discover The Digital Field Trip to The Rainforest, a fully accessible learning tool, and the challenges associated with developing it.

Celia Clark is President and CEO (Chief Editing Officer!) of Digital Frog International. She has many years experience as a primary schoolteacher, a training and documentation consultant, and an independent business woman. She specialized in instructional design and spent many years training software trainers.

Prior to helping found Digital Frog International, Inc. she worked in the software industry for seventeen years in course development, training delivery, documentation and user interface design.

Celia is an Associate Fellow of the Society for Technical Communication and a Rotarian.

March 7th, 2006
Annual Wine and Cheese Networking Event

You are cordially invited to the annual STC Southwestern Ontario Chapter Wine and Cheese soiree. Enjoy chatting with fellow communicators over complimentary drinks and hors d’oeuvres, or peruse the display of award winning technical publications from the STC International Competition.

April 11th, 2006*
Looking Forward—The Communicators of Tomorrow

The field of technical communications is changing quickly. Once focused primarily on writing, technical communication now increasingly includes the design and production of media (images, sound, video, hypertext). In response to these changes, the University of Waterloo is educating students in multimedia and interaction design. Over the next few years, these students will be looking for careers. The question is: will they see the STC as their first and preferred starting point for moving into their professions?

This session will include a panel of students from the Digital Arts Communication specialization and from the Rhetoric and Professional Writing Program (now the Rhetoric and Communication Design Program). The discussions will focus on questions such as: "What do students know about the STC? What might attract them to become members? What might they contribute to the STC as members?" Questions and discussion from the attending members will be encouraged.

David Goodwin is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Digital Arts Communication specialization within Arts and Business at the University of Waterloo. He also researches and teaches in the Rhetoric and Professional Writing program at UW. His research areas include: interaction design, visual communication and persuasion, and digital branding. For almost two years, David worked in the private sector for Quarry Integrated Communications. His main projects involved developing interaction design and marketing strategies for international companies such as FedEx in Memphis, Tennessee.

*Note: This meeting occurs on the SECOND Tuesday in April.