Spring Communicator 2023: President's View
I am pleased to be contacting you all early in another ISTC year. Special for this year will be an in-person conference; there will be presentations and workshops; also delegates will meet at relative leisure between sessions and at the gala dinner.
Working life
Changes post-pandemic have not turned out not quite as predicted. Working life continued to evolve but not always to the employee’s advantage. There is a tension between staff and management in some establishments, particularly where staff are keen to continue working from home while management favour a return to the office. This will probably settle to a compromise in a year or so. We will be left with increased opportunities for remote working; those who have evolved a more favourable work-life balance during the pandemic will be able to maintain this. Commuting five days a week will be less prevalent, giving opportunities for a more productive working day.
Improvements in working method
For improvements in working methods, I have been focusing on Sarah Winters’ book ‘Content Design’ (Reference 1). Sarah was our Horace Hockley Award Winner in 2022. Sarah’s team at the Government Digital Service transformed the site’s content with user-centred design techniques. The book explains content design and provides tips for putting it into practice. There are good real-life examples as well as sample case studies to show the theory being put into practice. There are sound underlying statements, such as:
“A good content designer understands a bit about the involuntary mechanics that govern how humans take in information. The better you know how that happens, the more likely you will be able to write content that’s easy to read.”
I am revisiting the concepts and following through the examples. There is guidance for activity at the very start of the process. One eye-catching point is: “Run a workshop and get all the right people together”.
This may seem self-evident but in my experience it may not happen or even be aspired to. The thinking here is to get all who ‘might influence, stop or change your content’ together. It can be tagged as a ‘decision -making session’ to add weight to its purpose. Sarah advises that this session must be attractive with a clear agenda and assurances that decisions will be made. There are good tips on how to make this happen. I am trying these now and working to ensure that all key participants are involved in any ‘decision-making session’.
Looking ahead
Use of Artificial Intelligence is grabbing headlines in the mainstream media as well as with the technical communications community. The scene is changing rapidly not least with the recent appearance of the ChatGPT language processing model and the claim that a machine can carry out a written commission competently. Other AI-assisted writing tools appeared last year; offering to write the content instead of merely checking for grammar and so on. You choose your subject, style and audience; your article will result and may even include search engine optimisation.
There are many experts speaking on, writing about and tracking developments. I am following Donald Clark, who has many years’ experience in online learning and has made a study of use of AI in content creation. My latest reading is Donald Clark’s ‘Artificial Intelligence for Learning (How to use AI to support employee development)’ (Ref: 2).The story is moving on all the time. I am trying to keep up.
ISTC News: reflecting and looking ahead
TCUK 23–latest news from our TCUK23 team
“The TCUK countdown begins!
Now we’re into the swing of 2023, planning for TCUK23 is going full steam ahead.
At time of writing we’re dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s on contracts, so we’ll be announcing details very soon. We’ll shout it from the rooftops when details go live, but you can always check the website at istc.org.uk/tcuk or the latest issue of our newsletter, InfoPlus.
In the meantime, thanks to those who are already discussing what they’d like to see at conference later this year. You can join in by logging into the website and visiting the new TCUK forum area, or by emailing us at tcuk@istc.org.uk.
The forum already has some brilliant ideas for talks or workshops, such as “How do I write help for APIs when I hate APIs?”, “What do I do now my tech comms career is winding down?”, and “Can someone please show me what writing markup actually looks like?”.
Not sure what to suggest? Think about it this way – what problems do you have? TCUK is a chance to draw on the experience of real people who are in the same boat or have already dealt with similar problems to you. Still not sure? Just come and chat, we can work it out together.
We’re looking forward to seeing you later this year, and we’ll be in touch again soon.”
The TCUK23 team
UK Technical Communication Awards
We are taking entries for UK Technical Communication Awards 2023. The established guidelines apply again this year. They are open to any individual or team, whether employed, self-employed, contracting, volunteering, permanent, temporary, full-time or part-time. We continue to encourage entries of all types, from traditional documentation to those demonstrating technical innovation.
The UKTC Awards website has been migrated to the ISTC website; details can be found here: UKTC Awards.
This year the Awards presentation ceremony will be held at the TCUK gala dinner as we used to do pre-pandemic.
The winners for 2022 were announced at TCUK Metro Online 2022 on Tuesday 27 September, a virtual conference hosted by the ISTC. The entries were to a high standard with contributors from several countries and organisations large and small. Awards were presented as follows: seven received Merit Awards, one received a Merit Award with Judges’ Commendation and one was presented with the trophy as Overall Winner.
See the Winter 2022 Communicator for articles by last year’s winners (Ref. 3).
Closing date for submissions is 30 June. Please contact the office (at istc@istc.org.uk) for details.
Community
Local Area Groups continued to meet in various forms: in-person, online and as hybrid sessions. We plan to expand these groups, and to establish Special Interest Groups. Also we are making more use of social media to publicise activities and raise our profile.
Professional Development
We are reviewing our CPD framework and our mentoring scheme to ensure that all members can benefit and contribute effectively in recognition of the value of ‘lifelong learning’. Also we continue to assess courses for ISTC accreditation.
Each year, we invite all Members and Fellows to submit their CPD records on a voluntary basis, for review. Please send your CPD record by email to istc@istc.org.uk using the subject line "ISTC CPD record 2022". You may send a Microsoft Word or PDF document as an attachment, or send a link to a web address.
For guidance on our CPD framework, check the website CPD information for members. The deadlinewas 31 January; but we welcome any you would like to submit.
ISTC Meets monthly online meetings
Details of previous ISTC Meets sessions are available on the ISTC website at istc.org.uk/events
The presentations are short (half hour, plus questions), provided free of charge. It’s a good opportunity for members to stay in touch, share knowledge, and practise presentation skills, as well as something to include in your CPD.
Please follow ISTC Meets on our Eventbrite page for ease of registration and to be notified of upcoming events.
ISTC Podcasts
The monthly podcast continues with the podcast being published on the last Friday of each month. Ideas for 2023 are welcomed. Please contact the office (at istc@istc.org.uk) for details.
Each podcast is about half an hour of chat with technical communicators covering their experiences working as communications professionals. Here is a sample episode:
https://istctechcomm.podbean.com/e/10-things-and-maybe-more-we-love-about-tech-writing/(August 2022)
Resources Reminder
Our members’ only page on the ISTC website gives details of tools and resources; these are available only to ISTC members and business affiliates. There are free courses on technical communication, articles, reference material, online discussion forums, presentations, videos, the ISTC YouTube channel and much more.
The discussion forum and jobs board on the ISTC website provide valuable information for ISTC members.
Also we provide details on the ISTC website of resources available to non-members, including courses accredited by the ISTC.
Finally
Would you like to get more from your membership? Please tell us your ideas for improvements. And maybe you could offer your time and expertise to help us make things happen. Please contact the office if you would like to get involved (at istc@istc.org.uk).
We always welcome suggestions from ISTC members and all readers of Communicator. Please contact me (president@istc.org.uk) or the ISTC office (istc@istc.org.uk).
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Reference 1: ‘Content Design’: Sarah Winters: ISBN 9781916323315 (Amazon: 2017)
Reference 2: ‘Artificial Intelligence for Learning’: Donald Clark: ISBN 9781789660814: (Kogan Page: 2020)
Reference 3: Winter Communicator Award Winners 2022