CHI 2005 | Development Consortium

April 2-7 | Portland, Oregon, USA

Organizational Collaboration:
An STC Perspective
Fred Sampson
Senior Member and Immediate Past President, Silicon Valley Chapter
Society for Technical Communication
76 Cutter Dr., Watsonville CA 95076
fred@fredsampson.com
831-728-1339
ABSTRACTencouraged our members to view themselves as part of theuser experience development team. And I have actively
engaged with other user experience organizations to promote STC and its members and to bring additional value toSTC members.

In this proposal I submit personal qualifications for participation in the CHI 2005 Development Consortium, alongwith a review of some issues to be discussed and possible
resolutions.

For example, I initiated STC involvement in the DUX2003
conference as a cooperating society, encouraged attendanceat the conference by STC members, and had the Silicon
Valley chapter of STC co-sponsor the conference's closing
reception. Likewise, I led STC's involvement in BayDUX,
an organization that grew out of DUX2003 to promote interorganizational cooperation in the San Francisco Bay
area. BayDUX subsequently became the local representative for UXnet, which also promotes cooperation between
user experience organizations. I have also worked as a volunteer for CHI2004 and CHI 2005, which involvement hasforged additional links between CHI and STC.

Author Keywords

Development consortium, STC, Society for TechnicalCommunication.
ACM Classification Keywords

K.7.2 The computing profession: organizations
INTRODUCTION

The Society for Technical Communication (STC) represents nearly 20,000 professional technical communicators
around the world. STC members fill a wide variety of technical communication roles in a wide range of industries,
including technical writers, technical editors, technicalillustrators, usability professionals, content developers, human factors engineers, information architects, informationdesigners, instructional designers, technical trainers andinstructors, visual designers, Web designers and developers,
performing services for computer software and hardware
development, financial and insurance, medical and biotech,government, and other industries. As such, STC members
not only interact with and support user experience professionals, they often take on the role of user experience professional or project manager for user experience projects.

Professionally, I am an Information Developer at IBM’s
Silicon Valley Laboratory. In my previous position at PeopleSoft, a large enterprise software vendor, my primary role
was writing developer documentation for users of the proprietary software development tool set. However, I also
took the lead in promoting cooperation within the company
between the information development and user experienceteams. I tried to bring the perspective gained from my involvement in CHI and DUX to my work at PeopleSoft,keeping the user experience in mind while developing
documentation, and will continue to do the same in my newposition at IBM.

PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS

As a senior member of STC, I have volunteered in leadership roles at the chapter and society levels, including a year
as president of the Silicon Valley chapter, STC's largest. I
have arranged presentations to chapter meetings by user
experience professionals such as Jared Spool from User
Interface Engineering and Steve Calde from Cooper. I have

ISSUES

Following are some of the issues that I see involving STC
and the topic of this CHI 2005 development consortium.
Existing Relationships

STC recognizes many related organizations, such as
SIGDOC, IEEE/PCS, IABC, and UPA, but in practice has
little interaction with these organizations (with the notable
exception of UPA, which has a close relationship withSTC). However, some STC members, recognizing the benefits of interorganizational cooperation, have actively engaged with organizations such as UXnet. And many STC

Copyright is held by the author/owner(s).
CHI 2005, April 2–7, 2005, Portland, Oregon, USA.
ACM 1-59593-002-7/05/0004.

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CHI 2005 | Development Consortium

April 2-7 | Portland, Oregon, USA

members maintain active membership and involvement inother professional organizations. Do these members promote cooperation between the organizations of which they
are members? Do they find that time and resources limit
their involvement in multiple organizations? Are membership dues a limiting factor? How many different sponsoredconferences can a member attend in a year?

existing model of geographic communities (local chapters)and virtual communities (the special interest groups, SIGs).
STC recognizes that changes in how we communicate andrelate to each other within STC and with other groups require changes to how we organize and support our communities. I worked with Whitney Quesenbery and Ginny Redish on the Communities Committee in the early stages of
STC’s transformation to help define our transformed communities, and believe that our experience can bear positively on the work of this DevCon.

Conferences

STC sponsors an annual conference that brings together
members from all its chapters and SIGs. In addition, STC'svarious regions have sponsored regional conferences serving more localized membership, with varying success. Even
individual chapters have sponsored small local conferences.
Is it possible that the regional or local model might be effective in bringing together related organizations? Is it more
likely that local or regional cooperative conferences might
be easier to organize? Might they make use of industrysponsored venues to reduce costs? And could such local
and regional efforts promote interorganizational cooperation and coordination more readily than larger conferences?
Would local or regional DUX conferences be successful?

Cooperation

The Call for Participation for this DevCon acknowledges
that there may already be too many conferences and meetings for those who wish to attend, and that some conflict as
to time and location. Is it possible to coordinate co-locatedconferences on overlapping themes? Can, for instance, STCand SIGDOC combine their annual conferences? Or are theconference goals sufficiently distinct to make such a combination counterproductive? Could STC and UPA coordinate their conferences to meet in the same week in the same
location, reducing travel and lodging expenses while improving the value of conference attendance? Does suchcooperation require that a third organization promote such
coordination, or can the two organizations make such arrangements themselves? And how useful might it be for anorganization such as UXnet to publish combined calendarsof related organizations to facilitate planning and coordination? In the San Francisco Bay Area, the co-chairs of BayDUX find it difficult to juggle conflicting schedules just in
the local area. What are the chances that a more global coordination would be effective?

STC’s Transformation

Recognizing the changing needs of its members in a changing world, STC has undertaken a major transformation ofits organization and membership model with the goal ofaddressing the society's value to members. I suggest that thequestion of membership value impacts all user experienceorganizations. We can see this impact in falling conference
attendance, a drop in membership numbers, and reduced
sponsorship of organizations and membership by employers. How can we increase interrelationships between organizations when resources are already strained? How can
we support the creation additional organizations when potential members already have difficulty justifying the costof membership? How will it be possible to share alreadystrained resources? I believe the answer lies in ensuring that
all organization activities provide value to the organizationand its members. This is the key focus of STC's transformation. I believe that STC's experience may be of use during
the discussions of this DevCon.

SUMMARY

Much of my involvement with various user experience organizations has been as an individual, and I believe thatmuch of what can be accomplished toward organizational
cooperation will develop at the interpersonal level, frombottom-up action. At the same time, we must address how
existing organizations interact, and how their missions andgoals can support each other.
I am keenly interested in resolving the issues presented at
the CHI 2005 Development Consortium, and look forward
to the opportunity to participate.

Communities

A major focus of STC’s ongoing transformation is the definition and support for various communities, based on the1101

The View From the Society for Technical Communication(Supplement)
Fred Sampson
Senior Member and Immediate Past President, Silicon Valley Chapter
Society for Technical Communication
76 Cutter Dr., Watsonville CA 95076
fred@fredsampson.com
831-728-1339
ABSTRACTThe society provides the following services:

This paper describes the initiatives and services of the Society for Technical Communication as related to the goals ofthe CHI 2005 Development Consortium.

•An annual conference•

Regional and local conferences

Author Keywords•

Several professional publications

Development consortium, STC, Society for TechnicalCommunication.

•

Community newsletters•

Awards and other recognition programs•

Community-based awards and recognition•

Technical communication competitions•

Educational programs, including seminars and supportof students at various academic institutions•

Employment databases•

Networking and volunteer opportunities

ACM Classification Keywords

K.7.2 The computing profession: organizations
INTRODUCTION

The Society for Technical Communication (STC) represents nearly 20,000 professional technical communicators
around the world. STC members fill a wide variety of technical communication roles in a wide range of industries,
including technical writers, technical editors, technical illustrators, usability professionals, content developers, human factors engineers, information architects, information
designers, instructional designers, technical trainers andinstructors, visual designers, Web designers and developers,
performing services for computer software and hardware
development, financial and insurance, medical and biotech,government, and other industries. As such, STC members
not only interact with and support user experience professionals, they often take on the role of user experience professional or project manager for user experience projects.

STC’s Annual Conference

The society conducts an annual conference, generally threedays long, with keynote presentations, paper presentations,workshops, panel discussions, and other educational opportunities. An additional day is devoted to leadership training,
and another day provides in-depth tutorials. Vendors display their products and services in an exhibition area, and abookstore offers relevant publications.
Regional and Local Conferences

At their discretion, each of STC’s eight regions may conduct an annual conference targeting regional audiences withtimely and relevant presentations. Some local chapters(geographic communities) also choose to hold one-day conferences which may attract regional attendance.

STC SERVICES

STC provides services to its members at both the society
level and through its communities, both geographic (regionsand chapters) and virtual (SIGs).

Professional Publications

STC publishes two professional periodicals:•1

Technical Communication, The Journal of the Society
for Technical Communication, (www.techcommonline.org/) published quarterly, provides a venue foracademic and research papers, as well as book reviews.

•Employment DatabasesIntercom, The Magazine of the Society for TechnicalCommunication, (www.stc.org/intercom/) published 10
times a year, provides “practical examples and applications of technical communication that will promote its
readers’ professional development.” Contributors are
generally STC members who share their experiencesand expertise with the larger community. A recent edition of Intercom included articles on usability, user experience, and designing websites for older users.

STC endeavors to improve the employment prospects of its
members by providing a database of job opportunities. Local chapters also provide their own job listings. For example, the Silicon Valley chapter posts job listings that areaccessed by members of the six Bay Area STC chapters aswell as by members interested in learning about opportunities in the area.
STC also conducts and publishes an annual salary survey
covering the United States and Canada that is referenced byboth employees and employers to learn appropriate compensation and to see how compensation varies by region,industry, and experience.

Until the current transformation of STC, all members received the print editions of both publications. However, inorder to address cost issues and member requests, an electronic membership option has been added, providing accessto online versions of the publications. Online archives ofboth publications are restricted to members.

Other Organizations

While STC acknowledges and maintains relationships withother related organizations (www.stc.org/related_orgs.asp),
there is little formal interaction between STC and theseother organizations. Informal interactions take place when
STC members – especially those who are members of otherorganizations – take the initiative to engage with relatedorganizations. For example, members of the Silicon Valleychapter of STC have cooperatively engaged with membersof BayCHI (www.baychi.org) and others to form BayDUX(www.baydux.org), and to subsequently use BayDUX as
the local incarnation of UXnet (www.uxnet.org).

Other Publications

The Society also publishes a newsletter, Tieline, aimed atcommunity leaders to provide timely information on leadership issues.
Typically, each geographic and virtual community publishes a newsletter for its members. These newsletters areincreasingly published online to reduce costs.
Awards and Recognition

STC honors members and distinguished non-members fortheir work and contributions to the society and to technicalcommunication with a variety of awards, including fellowships, associate fellowships, and honorary fellowships. STC
also distributes awards for outstanding journal articles andcontribution to technical communication education, andsponsors two honorary societies for students of technicalcommunication.

STC more actively associates with various educational institutions through student chapters, student award and recognition programs, scholarships, and research grants.
Networking and Volunteer Opportunities

STC is a member-run volunteer organization assisted by asmall paid administrative staff. As such, the society offers
numerous opportunities for experienced and aspiring leaders to help run the organization at the local and international
levels.

STC also recognizes the achievements of its chapters andspecial interest groups and of individual chapter and SIG
members. At the society President’s discretion, one or moremembers or organizations may be honored annually with
the President’s Award.

STC members find that networking with others – at chapter
and local SIG meetings, at regional and society conferences, online and in person – is an activity that provides
tremendous value. Many members cite the networking opportunities as the primary reason for maintaining theirmembership.

Technical Communication Competitions

STC sponsors technical communication competitions at theinternational, regional, and sometimes local levels. Competition winners’ submissions can be viewed at the annual
conference and in a traveling exhibit that brings examples
of excellence in technical communication to all members.

Many members of STC are also members of other professional organizations, finding value in the expanded networks and cross-organizational communities of practiceavailable by such involvement. For example, STC members
are also involved in the Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA); the Association for Computing Machinery(ACM) and its special interest groups, such as those for
Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI) and for Design ofCommunication (SIGDOC); IEEE Professional Communication Society; the Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture (AIfIA); the Interaction Design Group (IxDG);
and the User Experience Network (UXnet). STC members
have presented papers and otherwise participated in theconferences of all these other organizations, and participate

Educational Programs

In addition to its support of academic programs in technicalcommunication, STC sponsors educational programs, including its annual conference and regular web and telephone conference seminars. As part of its transformation,
STC plans to expand its educational programs by recognizing and aggregating the body of knowledge existing amongits members and communities.

2

as founders, officers, and leaders of many of the same organizations.

encourage and nurture formation of additional communities
of practice.
Indeed, participation in STC’s virtual communities indicates a wide appeal to STC members. Each of the four largest SIGs has more than double the membership of STC’slargest chapters (for example, 1,827 members of the Information Design community versus 816 members in the Silicon Valley chapter). More than 40% of STC members belong to at least one virtual community, and many belong tomore than one.

STC’S TRANSFORMATION

For nearly two years, STC has been actively engaged intransforming itself into an organization that better addresses
its members’ needs. The primary focus has been to ensurethat the society provides value to its members. The transformation effort includes changes in society governance, itspublications, its finances, and particularly in its communities and how they are organized and how they interact witheach other and the society as a whole. I believe that STC’s
new community focus has relevance to the current discussion.

But STC’s virtual communities also recognize that theirmembers have a variety of interests even within each community. Hence, for example, the former Usability SIG has,as part of the transformation, become the Usability andUser Experience Community. And this particular community’s members participate actively in other organizations,such as SIGCHI and UPA.

Communities of Practice

STC recognizes that its members communicate and interact
with a wide variety of communities in both their professional and personal lives. Communities of practice associated with a technical communicator’s professional interactions include a range and variety that often extends beyond
the historical limits of technical communication.

CONCLUSION

STC’s newly reorganized and energized communities ofpractice have existing and potential relationships with otheruser experience communities, which offer the opportunity
to reinforce existing relationships and to forge new relationships. Membership in an STC community of practice does
not exclude participation in other related organizations; infact, such cross-organizational memberships can reinforce
our relationships and energize common activities.

As defined by the STC Transformation Communities
Committee (Whitney Quesenbery, Ginny Redish, and Fred
Sampson):A community is a group of people who share commoninterests, activities, and initiatives; who communicateregularly; and who derive benefit from their association.

STC doesn’t claim ownership of user experience, but its
members are actively involved in user experience practiceat all levels and in cooperation with members of many otherorganizations. STC welcomes further cooperative involvement with other user experience organizations.

STC’s communities include geographic communities (chapters), which are defined by their location, and virtual communities (SIGs), which are defined by their common interests. While in many cases a geographic community can befurther defined by the industries served by its members (forexample, the computer software industry served by a majority of Silicon Valley chapter members), not all geographic
communities are so neatly united. Conversely, STC’s virtual communities are more well-defined in terms of theircommon interests, such as information design, technicalediting, and usability. A goal of STC’s transformation is to

REFERENCES

1. STC website: http://www.stc.org
2. STC Transformation website:
http://www.stc.org/transformation3