2016
October 2016 (View as PDF)
- From the Editor's Desk. Ana Young gives us an outline of what to expect in this issue of Southern Communicator
- Foreword: The joys of congregation. Grant Mackenzie ponders over the pleasure of meeting an obsession of technical communicators.
- Effective Onscreen Editing: New tools for an old profession (3rd edition) by Geoff Hart. Reviewed by Dave Gardiner who found the unexpected – it was far more useful than he thought it would be.
- Zombie grammar rules. Jess Huckins walks on the wild side to demystify some cherished and long-standing grammar ‘rules’.
- ASTC Conference 2016 – Making Information useful. Steve Moss summarises the topics covered at this year's ASTC conference.
- How mobile is changing our industry. Will technology users in the future expect to get documentation in the same way as news or social media? Neil Perlin considers the future.
- Your secret weapon: the Documentation Bible. Kate Schneider describes a unique and very practical way of training new staff as well as educating them in the ways of their new workplace and the job that they will be doing.
- Innovating technical communication education. Industry and academic stakeholders tell Siobhán Ní Chatháin the story of collaborating to develop a new third-level program.
- The Documentation Bible – the Outline. Kate Schneider's checklist to keep your Documentation Bible on-topic.
June 2016 (View as PDF)
- From the Editor's Desk. Ana Young
- Foreword. Musings on 22 years of content Val Swisher looks back at the changes that have occurred in her technical communication world over the last 22 years and looks forward into the future..
- Business continuity and technical communication - are they so different? Sue Woolley shares her insights into this relatively unknown field.
- The challenge of developing call centre content. Andrew Wright lifts the lid on creating documents for call centres.
- How typography can save your life. Lena Groeger tells us why what words look like matters – in some cases, a whole lot.
- What is S1000D? Janet Taylor seeks answers to this question and finds S1000D is not as alien as she thought it would be.
- How many words make a sentence? Earnsy Liu questions the accepted wisdom of an ideal sentence length and laments the lack of recent research on the subject.
- Are we really business analysts in disguise? Sue Woolley discusses the differences ? or not...
- Content marketing storytelling techniques. Jacqueline Frasca asks what’s the line between vivid and verbose?
- What are the software requirements for an S1000D delivery? Reeta Nye, a consultant and trainer at ADG, outlines the minimum requirements when using S1000D.
- Clarity out of complexity: writing effective workplace procedures by Rosemary O’Donoghue. Reviewed by Janet Taylor – everything you need to know about writing procedures.
March 2016 (View as PDF)
- From the Editor's Desk. Ana Young.
- Foreword. Rob Phillips sets us a challenge. Are you up to it?
- Standards: What's In It For Me? Rob Gallon reminds us why standards should not be ignored.
- And the winner was ... Brian O'Donnell's review of the TP3 course he attended
- Do we Need a Technical Communication Body of Knowledge? Steve Moss makes a compelling case for a TCBOK.
- See Yourself in Print. Rob Phillips suggests a solution to a problem that is common to us all.
- Is Information Mapping still Relevant? Elizabeth Abbott explains why adopting Information Mapping is still relevant.
- It's Time to get Social. Carol Leahy gives us some practical tips on how to raise our profile.
- Society Gender and Membership Ratios in 2016. Roy McKone and Janet Taylor counted membership numbers by gender and found some surprises.
- Technical Communication at a Crossroads. Saul Carliner surveys the technical communication landscape, describes our challenges and suggests some solutions.
- Technical Communication: State of the Industry. Bernard Aschwanden's outline of where we are and where we should be going.
- Backword. Janet Taylor is reminded of some forgotten treasures in back issues of Southern Communicator.