Orange County STC Newsletter

www.stc.org October 2008 Vol. 47, No. 9

What Technical Communicators Can Learn from ComicsBy Michael Opsteegh, TechniScribe Managing Editor

Comic books offer excellent examples of visual communication. Techni-cal communication professionals, from novices to veterans, can learn

innovative techniques by studying comic books and looking to them for design, page layout, and communication principles.

First, let’s dispel any miscon-ception that comics are kids’ stuff. There are many comic books that ap-peal to mature audiences and tackle a variety of social and political is-sues. Dilbert is an example of a comic that many adults read in the Business section of the newspaper every morning. I’ll bet some of you even have the Dilbert widget for your desktop.

Granted, we read Dilbert for entertainment, but there are several ex-amples of comics that communicate difficult and technical information to their readers. By difficult and technical, I mean the comics transmit large amounts of detailed information or theoretical ideas. An example of a comic that tackles complex, theoretical ideas is actually about the theories behind comics themselves, Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, from which I draw many comic concepts for this article. An example of a comic that at-tempts to communicate a lot of sociological, if not emotionally charged, in-formation is Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón’s graphic novel adaptation of the 9/11 Commission Report. Do you want to see how a congressional commis-sion’s report can be adapted to the comic format? Check out The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation on Ama zon.com or at your local bookstore. It makes oodles of information accessible to readers of all ages and helps readers keep track of all of that information by making names, events, places, and times more memorable to a reader.

Talk about economical! How does Dilbert manage to communicate so much to a wide audience in the span of just three panels? Sure, you could dismiss Dilbert as not having the onerous task of instructing users through life-or-death tasks, like how to operate and maintain a service rifle in a war zone. No one would ever use a comic to train young troops on using their

Continued on Page 6 >

This Issue:

What Technical Communicators Can Learn from Comics 1

President’s Message 2

Next Meeting 3

Editor’s Desk 4

September Meeting Review—Résumé Recap 8

STC Links Activities and Budget to Strategic Plan 9

Society Pages 10

OCSTC Employment Information 10

Orange Juice— Membership News 11

Southern California Events 11

Orange Slice— Calendar of Events 12

October Meeting Topic 12

2  •  October 2008

President’s MessageBy Betsy Malone, OCSTC Chapter President

Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Technical Communicators?

I love baseball. As far as I can remember, I have always

loved baseball. I grew up in Middletown, Connecticut; which is between Hartford and New Haven, but more

importantly, it is between Boston and New York City. Two hours north or south could get me to a major league baseball game. Since the baseball parks were essentially the same distance away, many families in Connecticut were split between rooting for the cash-cow Yankees or the never-say-die Red Sox.

I grew up cheering for the Red Sox, even though my Dad was a Yankees fan. I had all my favorite players, and, when one of them came to town to do a promo-tional stint such as an auto show, I’d have my Dad take me just to get a glimpse of my professional sports idol. I hate to admit it, but I chose to go to college in Boston to be closer to my beloved Red Sox. I was less than a half mile away from Fenway Park, and I could see the score board from the 6th floor of my dormitory. Oh, I was in baseball heaven.

Years later, I moved to Southern California and de-cided to investigate the competition. I always went to Angel Stadium when they were playing the Red Sox. As I’ve now lived in SoCal for over a decade, slowly, over time, I have become a huge Angels fan. I taught my husband all about baseball and got him excited to go to games and root for the Angels. I told him he must never like the powerhouse Yankees because they are the number one rival of the Red Sox. He nodded in agreement, as he could see I was a serious fan who meant business.

This past weekend we went to a Friday night game, a Saturday night game, and a Sunday afternoon game against the second place team in the western division, the Texas Rangers. Did I tell you that my husband now loves baseball so much that I bought him season tickets last Christmas? We (the Angels) took two out of three games. Well, as I was looking around the sta-dium and watching the scoreboard, I started to think about who wrote the rules and regulations for Major League Baseball (MLB). Did the MLB hire a techni-cal communicator? What’s the history behind who penned the rule book?

Chapter Contacts

OCSTC P.O. Box 28751 Santa Ana, CA 92799-8751

Chapter Fax: 949.830.7585

Web site: http://www.ocstc.org

Administrative CouncilPresident, Betsy Malone, pres@ocstc.org

Past President, Bruce Giddens, ipp@ocstc.org

1st Vice Presidents, Programs, Suzanne Madison and Sima Staav, 1vp@ocstc.org

2nd Vice Presidents, Membership, Jane Baker, Pat Olsen 2vp@ocstc.org

Treasurer, Linda Phillips, trea@ocstc.org

Secretary, Jim Marchant, sec@ocstc.org

AppointeesTechniScribe Managing Editor, Michael Opsteegh, techniscribe@ocstc.org

Public Relations, Open

Education, Bill Darnall, edu.bd@ocstc.org

Education, Brian McCaleb, edu.bm@ocstc.org

Webmaster, Jeff Randolph, erandolp@ix.netcom.com

Employment Manager, Betsy Malone, betsybythebeach@adelphia.net

Committees Nominating Committee :

Bill Darnall, edu.bd@ocstc.org

Adrienne Escoe, aescoe@escoebliss.com

Larry Lockie, larry@write-connection.com

Valerie Mitchell, vpetmitch@sbcglobal.net

Continued on Page 3 >

October 2008  •  3

Next MeetingTopic: What is Your User Really Doing? Top

10 Tips to Increase Usability of User Documentation

Speaker: Christi Thompson

When: Tuesday, October 21, 6–9 p.m.

Where: DoubleTree Club Hotel 7 Hutton Centre Drive Santa Ana, CA 92702 714.751.2400

Cost: Members with reservations . . . . . . . . . . . $24

Students with reservations . . . . . . . . . . . . $18

STC member, speaker-only. . . . . . . . . . . . $10

Nonmembers with reservations . . . . . . . $29

Walk-ins, or those registering after the deadline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $33

No-shows billed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24

Reservations:

Due by midnight, Friday, October 17

Registration:

Online at http://www.ocstc.org/dinres.asp

Directions to the DoubleTree Club HotelMap of the I-405 and SR-55 area. The star below indi-cates the hotel location. Parking is FREE.

If you would like to receive e-mail notifications about upcoming OCSTC meetings, visit http://www.ocstc.org/list_redirect.asp.

Click Join. This list broadcasts only meeting notices and STC announcements

The first person to invent the box score, batting aver-age, and single, double, triple, and home run tabula-tion was Englishman Henry Chadwick. He authored baseball’s first rule book based on his knowledge of the sport of cricket. He was soon dubbed the “father of baseball” and wrote the first hardcover baseball book. Chadwick also edited the first publicly-sold guide, Beadle’s Dime Baseball Player. Chadwick died in 1908 but was later recognized by the Baseball Hall of Fame on September 13, 1938 where they display an original copy of the 1860 Beadle’s Dime Baseball Player in his honor.

It wasn’t until 1949 that the Official Playing Rules Committee was formed and created the Official Baseball Rules, which are still in use today. Check out the revision history to see how little the rules have changed in nearly 60 years!

As I took a closer look at a copy of today’s MLB Of-ficial Rules (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/foreward.jsp), they closely resemble the

work of a technical communicator. There’s a logical online help hierarchy that provides easy access to the introduction, game objectives, glossary, rules for starting and ending games, the various positions, and even an index. There are helpful and clear illustra-tive diagrams of the baseball diamond to assist the reader. Active voice is everywhere and consistently used; styles such as headers, numbering, and bullets have a useful place. Ah, no wonder I love baseball! Go Angels!

If you would like to share your ideas with Betsy about OCSTC, technical communication, or even baseball, send her an e-mail at pres@ocstc.org.

President’s Message< Continued from Page 2

DoubleTree Club Hotel7 Hutton Centre DriveSanta Ana, California92707-5794714.751.2400

4  •  October 2008

Publication PoliciesTechniScribe is published 11 times a year as a benefit to the members of the Orange County Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. The goal of the publication is to reflect the interests, needs, and objectives of OCSTC members. TechniScribe strives to be an advocate for, and an inspiration to, technical communicators by keeping them connected to each other and to opportunities for professional growth.

Articles published in this newsletter may be re-printed in other STC publications if permission is obtained from the author, credit is properly given, and one copy of the reprint is sent to the Techni­Scribe managing editor.

Submission InformationThe editorial team retains and exercises the right to edit submitted and requested material for clar-ity, length, and appropriateness.

When submitting material, please remember to:

Include a 25-word biography about yourself.• 

Send articles in Word (doc, docx), Rich-Text • Format (RTF), ASCII (txt), or in the body of an e-mail message.

Send material to the managing editor • (techni scribe@ocstc.org) five weeks before the date it will be published.

Editorial StaffManaging Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Opsteegh Copyeditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Teresita del Sol Copyeditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anne Stratford Copyeditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barbara Young Proofreader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Gardelle Proofreader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Suzanne Madison Proofreader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sima Staav Web Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeff Randolph

Monthly Advertising Rates1/4 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $40 1/3 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $45 1/2 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $60 Full page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $80

Subscriptions$10 a year to members of other STC chapters.

PrinterPrintWorks, Irvine, CA

Editor’s DeskBy Michael Opsteegh, TechniScribe Managing Editor

Unlikely Influences

Between this issue and last issue, I see a theme

emerging: the influences of other genres on techni-cal communication. Fiction writing and comic books are probably generally thought of as more creative outlets than technical communica-tion’s restrictive forms. These

disparate notions of creative and restrictive forms of communication might make fiction writing and comic books seem unlikely candidates for influenc-ing technical communication to some outside of our profession.

As practitioners of technical communication, howev-er, we know that a great deal of creativity is required in order to churn out those manuals, proposals, poli-cies, and procedures in ways that are engaging and useful to our varied audiences. Do you feel creative as a technical communicator? If you don’t, take a serious look at what technical communication has in common with fiction writing and comics.

Andrea Wenger’s article, “What Fiction Writing Taught Me about Technical Writing,” in the September issue and my article, “What Technical Communica-tors Can Learn from Comic Books,” in this issue do not advocate that technical communications take the form of prose fiction or comic books, but I have read a few good articles that do. Rather, Andrea Wenger and I both argue that technical communicators can learn from not only their structures and forms, but also the processes and theories involved in creating fiction and comics.

These creative arts can influence technical commu-nication, but has technical communication likewise informed the theories and practices of creative arts? If you think technical communication has influenced other genres or professions, creative or otherwise, I’d like to hear from you. I think a future issue of Techni Scribe could focus on the influences of technical communication on other genres and might prove to be a daring and refreshing look at how we help shape what other professions are doing. What do you think?

Send questions, comments, or article suggestions to Michael at techniscribe@ocstc.org.

October 2008  •  5

6  •  October 2008

service rifles, would they? Sure, they would! The U.S. Army contracted renowned comic artist Will Eisner to create a training manual for the M16A rifle that could quickly train a diverse group of soldiers on how to use the weapon.

Comics can and have been used to communicate large amounts of complex infor-mation to diverse audiences in an economical and mean-ing manner. Sounds a lot like technical communica-tion, right?

If we can agree that the rhetorical aims of comics and technical communica-tion can sometimes overlap, then what are the aspects of comics that lend them-selves to those rhetorical aims and what can techni-cal communication gain by taking pages from comics’ playbook?

Amplifying through SimplificationDespite the varied styles of art employed by comics over the years, many of us conjure up ideas of simple line drawings when we think about comics. Scott McCloud suggests that we are enthralled by the sup-posed simplicity of comic art because the simplicity of cartooning amplifies its message. When comic art is simple or abstract, the artist hasn’t eliminated detail as much as he or she has amplified certain aspects or features by including them. Often, the background images in comics are more detailed while the charac-ters are more simple and abstract. The simplicity of the characters against a detailed background is what draws our eye to the characters.

Technical illustrators have stuck to this same prin-ciple, also. Technical illustrations are generally line drawings rather than photographs. They favor certain details over others in order to emphasize the impor-tant aspects of the object of the illustration and draw the reader’s attention to them.

Technical writers and edi-tors can emphasize certain details within instructions, policies, procedures, pro-posals, and white papers by stating them simply. Warnings are a fine exam-ple of text that should not be bogged down with too many details.

Amplify warnings by set-ting them apart from the rest of your text.

Making the Invisible VisibleComics have an uncanny way of making such invis-ible aspects as motion, mood, and time visible to the reader. For example, the shape of a panel, the angle of the drawing, or the ratio of ink to white space can convey such invisible information as emotion, mood, and time. Comics convey a wealth of invisible information using metaphors and symbols. For example, a comic can convey time by the number of panels used to complete an action, convey smell with a few wavy lines over an open trash can, or convey anxiety through the use of harsh, jagged line edges.

Technical illustrators use arrows to convey motion, which is visible in life, but invisible in still images. They may also use dashed lines to show the outline of a hidden part of an object. Illustrators may also show a clock face with the hands in different positions to illustrate the passage of time and give the reader a sense of how much time is required in order to com-plete the task.

Technical writers and editors use their own set of symbols to make the invisible visible. Those symbols are text, of course. Text is perhaps the most abstract way of conveying information because it bears no resemblance to the objects it describes, but we have, more or less, agreed upon a set of rules that allow us

What Technical Communicators Can Learn from Comics< Continued from Page 1

A single panel is a frozen image, but it can convey mo-tion. Comic artists use lines, metaphors, and context to create the illusion of motion within a single panel.

Similarly, technical illustrators create the illusion of mo-tion within a single graphic.

Continued on Page 7 >

October 2008  •  7

to interpret the text symbols in which the message is encoded. Writers use language to set the tone, mood, and time. Mood, tone, and time are important to technical communicators because they influence how seriously the reader heeds the warnings, how successfully he or she completes the task, or how quickly he or she accepts a proposal.

Juxtaposing InformationJuxtaposition is the act of placing two or more things side by side. By their very nature, comics break down information into manageable, bite-size chunks. Most comics abide by the standard panel format in which each chunk of information is enclosed in a border and separated by a gutter, and those chunks are juxta-posed to tell a story. Even the avant-garde comic art-ists who try to do away with the enclosed panels and the no-man’s-land gutters still chunk information—the panels may be gone, but the comic artist must still show motion and the passage of time. Comics show us that the structure does not matter, but the need for chunking information remains.

Technical communicators must also chunk informa-tion into discreet sections in their proposals or manu-als and juxtapose information to create discernible steps. Technical communicators, like comic artists, must decide if a piece of information should be one step or two. Should this action take place in one panel or two? Such tools as Information Mapping are available to help technical communicators develop a methodology for chunking information, but reading more comic books may be just as effective.

Should Technical Communication Mimic Comics?I do not feel that technical communications should mimic comics. I see many more overlapping ideolo-gies between comics and technical communication than I can elaborate here, but I see no reason to use the comic format as primary means to convey information for technical communicators. After all, you’re not likely to design a manual on program-ming a nuclear warhead in the format of a comic because it would be difficult for a comic to convey the gravity of the operation, the nuances of the re-dundancies built into the operation, or the precari-ousness of human life. Not to say comics would be in-capable, but they wouldn’t seem appropriate and the user would not be able to navigate to the information

Google’s new Chrome web browser leverages the comic format to per-suade users of Chrome’s internet-browsing features.

A few wavy lines above an overturned garbage can is enough to make an invisible smell vis-ible to the reader. Comic artists and technical communicators strive to make the invisible visible to their audiences.

What Technical Communicators Can Learn from Comics< Continued from Page 6

he or she needed quickly. (I’m imagining a technician scanning the manual panel-by-panel as the time on the warhead counts down: 10… 9… 8….

I do argue, however, that techni-cal communicators can learn from comics about how com-ics manage to relate to diverse audiences.

Comics do have their place in technical communication, and Will Eisner’s training manual for the M16A rifle is a fine

example of how technical communicators can learn from and use comics. Furthermore, as the functional literacy of our readers falls lower and lower, we, as technical communicators, will see more and more use for comic book-style manuals.

In fact, as I finish this article, Google has just released its new web browser, Chrome, which sports a comic book-style manual. The manual is drawn by Scott Mc-Cloud, the same guy who wrote Understanding Comics, which introduced me to many of the theories about comics that I attempted to summarize here. In search-ing the Web for technical communication comics, I see Google’s Chrome comic book manual is generating a lot of dialog in the blogosphere and is going to make a big splash in the technical communication world.

8  •  October 2008

September Meeting Review: Résumé RecapBy Carrie Damschroder, OCSTC Senior Member

This month, we didn’t sit around and listen to an intelligent lecture on a new software tool or a

new way to accomplish a task. Instead of passively listening, we pulled out our résumés, dusted off our old cover letters, ate a slice of humble pie, and then let our peers critique our current job search materi-als and guide our revisions. It’s not always easy to let people review your résumé, especially when those people are as picky about grammar, design, and word choice as you are, but most people at the meet-ing were very glad to receive construc-tive feedback about their job search ma-terials from people who really know what they’re talking about!

September’s meet-ing started with four well-known industry recruiters giving their 5–10 minute résumé and cover letter “tips and tricks” speech.

Jolynn Atkins from Escoe Bliss Profes-sional Staffing re-minded us that our résumés are our first and sometimes only impression. In order to get a call back and an interview, you have to show a prospective employer that you are differ-ent (and better!) than all of the other people who have applied for the same job. Your résumé should prove to the reader that you are a STAR! Jolynn also told us to use keywords, be creative, list job-specific accomplish-ments, and tell the prospective employer why hiring you is good for them.

Next, Vida Simpson from M2 gave us additional ré-sumé pointers and reminded us to print our résumés on nice paper, include our mailing addresses, make sure that we are using a professional e-mail address, and use an easy-to-read font. One interesting rule of thumb that she shared is that you should only list jobs on your résumé that you had during the past ten

years; it is not usually necessary to list jobs that you held more than ten years ago.

Larry Lockie from The Write Connection spoke next on cover letters and interviews. He stressed that the goal of the cover letter is to get an interview. To do this, you must highlight the effectiveness of your ac-

complishments and prove that you have a good personality and are likeable.

Suzanne Nabliba from ProSpring wrapped up the panel speeches and encouraged every-one to tailor their résumés toward each job to which they are applying. Your résumé must be reader-centered and, of course, can-not include strange formatting and mistakes! Suzanne ended her speech with a quote from Jack Molisani that said, in part, “No one will ever read your résumé from start to finish.” So, essentially, you need to ensure that each part of your résumé is absolutely per-fect!”

After the speeches concluded and we returned from our meeting break, we met with “résumé reviewers extraordinaire” to improve our résumés for future job hunts. I believe that everyone was able to walk away from the meeting having learned something new and with at least one idea on how they can improve their résumé. If you recently snagged a new job due in part to your revised résumé, let us know!

From left to right: Jolynn Atkins, Vida Simpson, Larry Lockie, and Suzanne Nabliba. These job-market experts got down to the brass tacks of creating a stellar résumé and cover letter.

After the speakers gave their presentations, the meeting attendees had opportunities to network and have their résumés reviewed by peers who have experience looking at résumés and hiring technical communica-tors.

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”

—Groucho Marx

October 2008  •  9

STC Links Activities and Budget to Strategic PlanBy Mark Clifford, STC President

If you were at the STC annual conference in June, you almost certainly heard one or more leaders refer to

our new Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan outlines the following goals:

Define the profession of technical communi-1. cation

Communicate the value of 2. technical communication and STC

Establish and expand 3. strategic partnerships that advance the profession

Globally improve the 4. practice of technical com-munication

Ensure the long-term vi-5. ability of the organization

These five goals are supported by our values and behaviors, as well as a comprehensive list of mea-surable activities to achieve these goals. You can find descriptions of all these goals on the STC web site.

The plan is designed to unite all of us in better under-standing the challenges that we face and how we will achieve our goals.

The board uses the plan to guide decisions on policy, activities, and budget. Each agenda item requiring a decision is vetted in relation to how it fits within the Strategic Plan. Budgets are developed; each area is scrutinized and must be justified as aiding the accom-plishment of the major plan goals.

You are welcome to follow the activities of the board by reviewing the “Latest News & Reports from the

Board” link at www.stc.org. We encourage transpar-ency in the governance process. All of our meetings are announced and open to members. Nowadays, there is rarely an agenda item that requires a closed session. Board minutes are posted in the Resource Center on the web site, and we always appreciate your questions.

The board has been investing considerable resources in the necessary updating of the STC in-frastructure. These enhancements provide members and staff with the tools that allow the organiza-tion to operate more efficiently and more effectively. Members may now choose from several op-tions to define what they wish to receive from the society and how. Updating your member record, especially keeping a current e-mail address listed, is easily handled online; the same goes for meeting registrations, membership renew-al, and other common activities.

The entire leadership team is working toward ac-complishing STC’s strategic goals. We welcome your participation and feedback.

This article originally appeared in the September 2008 edition of STC’s News & Notes e-mail newsletter. Mark Clifford is the 2008–2009 STC president. He is a senior member with the UK, NNE, ITC, Management, and CIC communities. Mark trained with British Aerospace’s Publications Department and is a graduate of University of Luton’s Business Program. He has worked as editor, writer, manager, and recruiter, primarily with publications consul-tancies and service companies across Europe.

OCSTC Employment InformationOur job listing is entirely online at the OCSTC web site. Pages are updated as jobs are submitted.

Staff Jobshttp://www.ocstc.org/employme.asp

Contract Jobshttp://www.ocstc.org/contractme.asp

Free Job Postinghttp://www.ocstc.org/jobsubmit.asp

InquiriesIf you have an inquiry, e-mail our employment manager, Betsy Malone, at betsybythebeach@adelphia.net.

Society-Level Job ListingsSTC maintains job listings on the Internet. You can download the listings from the STC web site at http://www.stc.org/jobsdatabase.asp.

10  •  October 2008

Society Pages

STC Mission StatementSTC advances the theory and practice of technical communication across all user abilities and all media.

Positioning StatementSTC helps you design effective communication for a technical world through information sharing and industry leadership.

The Society for Technical Communication (STC) is the world’s largest organization for technical com-municators.

Its more than 14,000 members include writers, edi-tors, illustrators, printers, publishers, photographers, educators, and students.

Dues are $60–175 per year. Membership is open to anyone engaged in some phase of technical communi-cation, interested in the arts and sciences of technical communication, and in allied arts and sciences.

Society for Technical Communication 901 N. Stuart Street, Suite 904 Arlington, VA 22203-1822

703.522.4114 (voice); http://www.stc.org

TechniScribe Copyright and Trademark StatementOCSTC invites writers to submit articles that they wish to be considered for publication. Authors retain copyright to their work and implicitly grant a license to this newsletter to publish the work once in print and to publish it once online for an indefinite period of time. In your cover letter, please let the editor know if this article has appeared elsewhere, and if it has been submitted for consideration to other publications.

The design and layout of this newsletter are copy-righted as © STC, 2008.

Some articles might refer to companies or products whose names are covered by a trademark or regis-tered trademark. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Reference to a specific product does not constitute an endorsement of the product by OCSTC or by STC.

ColophonTechniScribe is written using Microsoft Word, and laid out using Adobe InDesign CS3 for Macintosh. Gill Sans and Palatino Linotype are used for heading and text fonts. PDFs are produced using Adobe Acrobat Professional 8.

TechniScribe relies on the following editorial refer-ences for style: American Heritage Dictionary, Chicago Manual of Style, and Words into Type.

October 2008  •  11

Society Pages

Orange Juice: Membership NewsBy Pat Olson, OCSTC 2nd Vice President, Membership

This month’s membership news article spotlights an

individual OCSTC mem-ber. If you’d like to suggest a member to spotlight in a future article, send your sug-gestion to 2vp@ocstc.org.

Member SpotlightLen Poche became a member of STC in January 2008. He has been in the graphics field

for 18 years and is currently a service bureau repre-sentative/graphic designer for AT&T’s advertising and publishing (Yellow Pages) department. Len went to a career counselor, took a variety of tests, and discov-ered he had the natural talents to become a technical writer. For the last two and a half years, Len has tried to break into the technical communications field.

Len lives in Fullerton, loves playing the guitar and piano, working crossword puzzles, surfing YouTube and Wikipedia, and rooting for the Angels. He abso-lutely loved visiting New York City on a vacation and would want to meet Bob Dylan so he could ask him

Southern California EventsDate Event Location TimeOctober 8 San Diego STC Chapter Meeting

Scott Prentice, “DITA with Frame-Maker.”

Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Kearny Mesa, 8651 Spectrum Center Blvd., San Diego, CA, 92123

5:30 p.m.–9 p.m.

October 14 Los Angeles STC Chapter MeetingRaymond Urgo, “Technical Com-munication Professionals and the Economy-Is Self-employment the Answer?”

Truxton’s Restaurant, 8611 Truxton Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90045, 310.417.8789

5:30 p.m.–9 p.m.

October 16 San Fernando Valley STC Chapter Meeting. Anne Burke, “TBD.”

Chatsworth Radisson, 9777 Topanga Canyon , Chatsworth, CA 91311, 818.709.7054

6:30 p.m.–9 p.m.

October 17 Los Angeles STC Lunchtime Forum Coffee Co., 8751 La Tijera Blvd., Westchester, CA, 90045

12–1:15 p.m.

October 27 Los Angeles STC Lunchtime Forum Golden China Restaurant, 9018 Venice Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232. 310.559.0116

12–1:15 p.m.

November 12 San Diego STC Chapter MeetingKaren Saucedo, “Legal and Copy-right Considerations.”

Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Kearny Mesa, 8651 Spectrum Center Blvd., San Diego, CA, 92123

5:30 p.m.–9 p.m.

November 21 Los Angeles STC Lunchtime Forum Coffee Co., 8751 La Tijera Blvd., Westchester, CA, 90045

6:30 p.m.–9 p.m.

November 24 Los Angeles STC Lunchtime Forum Golden China Restaurant, 9018 Venice Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232, 310.559.0116

12–1:15 p.m.

how he dealt with the many people who really didn’t understand him, but whose advice he still had to follow. Len would like to travel back in time to have front row seats to see some of the Delta Blues greats like Charley Patton playing a juke joint, James Booker in New Orleans, Ray Charles, or Jimi Hendrix (if he could wear earplugs).

Len enjoys listening to all types of music, although he would have to say that blues and jazz from the 1920s and 1930s are his favorite. In his opinion, that was definitely America’s golden age for music.

Len wouldn’t mind being a contestant on Deal or No Deal because he thinks it would be great to walk away with a pretty good chunk of money! When it comes to movies, Len appreciates the films of Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, the Coen Brothers, Terry Gilliam, and Alfred Hitchcock (for example, Goodfellas, Blue Velvet, Miller’s Crossing, The Fisher King, Mulholland Drive, Barton Fink, and Time Bandits).

If you have any words of wisdom to help Len get his first job in the technical communications field or have a perfect position for him, chat with Len at the next STC meeting.

October Meeting TopicWhat is Your User Really Doing? Top 10 Tips to Increase Usability of User Documentation

Technical communicators often make the mistake of designing documentation from the program’s point of view rather than the user’s point of view. Getting into the user’s head is crucial. Technical communicators have a responsibility to take documentation to the next level by delving into the user’s process rather than into the developer’s or program’s process. At the October meeting, Christi will share some helpful tips for creating more usable documentation. Her presentation will cover answering the following questions:

What mistakes do users make? •

Does the user really need all that information listed to complete the task? •

How does the user view the process? •

Does your documentation reflect the real world at all? •

About the PresenterChristi Thompson is a Certified Usability Analyst (CUA), and President of the STC San Fernando Valley chapter. She is a project lead in the Technical Communication department for CORPTAX, Inc., a software firm that develops tax and financial software for Fortune 500 companies.

Orange Slice: Calendar of EventsDate Event Location TimeOctober 7 OCSTC Council Meeting Airport Executive Suites, Irvine 6 p.m.–7 p.m.October 21 OCSTC Chapter Meeting

Christi Thompson, “What is Your User Really Doing? Top 10 Tips to Increase Usability of User Documentation.”

DoubleTree Club Hotel 7 Hutton Centre Dr. Santa Ana, CA, 92707 714.751.2400

6 p.m.–9 p.m.

November 11 OCSTC Council Meeting Airport Executive Suites, Irvine 6 p.m.–7 p.m.November 18 OCSTC Chapter Meeting

Bruce Giddens, Jim Marchant, Michael Opsteegh, Jeff Randolph, Sima Staav, “Tools for Technical Communicators.”

DoubleTree Club Hotel 7 Hutton Centre Dr. Santa Ana, CA, 92707 714.751.2400

6 p.m.–9 p.m.