Contents
ISTC News
TCUK 2024
TCUK 2024 – Tuesday 24th September.
Here is the schedule for this year’s online TCUK:
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 13:00 – 13:30 | AGM (for ISTC members only) |
| 13:30 – 14:00 | UKTC Awards Presentations |
| 14:15 – 15:00 | Presentation #1 – Ellis Pratt: ‘Technical Communicators and Generative AI: What’s going on?’. Followed by a Q & A session. |
| 15:15 – 16:00 | Presentation #2 – Scott Kubie: ‘It’s all UX Content’. Followed by a Q & A session. |
| 16:00 | End of conference |
Presentation Overview #1 – Ellis Pratt
‘Technical Communicators and Generative AI: What’s going on?”
In this presentation, Ellis Pratt will explore the impact of Generative AI on technical writing.
- Is it changing the way Technical Communicators work?
- Have Technical Communicators embraced AI … or not?
- Is it good news or bad?
We’ll look at the findings of two surveys conducted by Cherryleaf within the techcomms community in 2023 and 2024, to see if we can answer those questions.
We’ll analyse how perceptions and practices have evolved over the past year and present anecdotal evidence that sheds light on the real-world implications of AI in technical writing. Finally, we’ll make some recommendations for technical communicators to ensure they get the most from this rapidly changing landscape.
Presentation Overview #2 – Scott Kubie
‘It’s all UX Content’
Scott Kubie will be giving great advice and some ‘hot takes’ to get you thinking about your work, our profession, and your career path, whether you describe yourself as working in UX content, content design, content strategy, or, as you’ll see, any other of the many job titles that relate to technical communication.
Finding your place in a field that’s always evolving can be disorienting. And feeling like your own skills and experience get overlooked in favour of trendy new disciplines can be disheartening. In this session, Scott will explore why new job titles and terms of art are in fact a good thing,
All are welcome to attend.
Click here to register for TCUK 2024. This link will take you to the Zoom hosting page so that you can pre-register to attend.
Note: We intend to host an in-person conference again in 2025. Plans are in progress already. Our objective is to use the longer lead time to offer a great venue, range of speakers and workshops, and value for money for our best-ever event.
IJTC Update
I’m working on the first IJTC newsletter that will go out to all members after TCUK 2024 has finished. I’m aiming for the first week in October in case anyone (Hinty McHintface) has any articles they might want to create before then? It will contain all the most recent articles that have been submitted to the site.
I freely admit that I got my fingers singed after sending 7 sets of the same email out … and I forgot to use BCC on one of them! A few people pointed this out, and I’ve performed the appropriate amount of head-hanging-in-shame! I’ll definitely use Ghost to distribute it this time.
ISTC Mentoring Update
We are planning on opening the doors for entries to our new 4-month mentoring programme in early September. As mentioned in the last InfoPlus newsletter, this new mentoring programme that will be open to all members of the ISTC, regardless of your membership level.
We will send an email to all members in September with a link to the application form once it’s live. The same link will also be available on the Mentoring page on the ISTC website. We are putting the final touches to the programme with a view to starting the programme in November.
If you have any queries, then please email mentoring@istc.org.uk.
Advertise in InfoPlus
Get your company or products noticed in the TechComms community! We are offering new opportunities for advertising in our monthly InfoPlus newsletter.
These adverts are banners to be positioned as you choose. Placement examples are included in this PDF, which also contains all the necessary steps and costs involved to place an advert in future editions of InfoPlus.
If you would like to advertise with us please contact Chantel Sankey – istc@istc.org.uk.
ISTC Community
Become more involved in the professional community through the ISTC Area Groups, join us online at one of our monthly ISTC Meets events, and find us on social media (links below). Members (once logged in) also have access to the ISTC Discussion Forums.
Area Groups
If you wish to start your own Area Group, contact istc@istc.org.uk.
Online meet-up with Cambridge Area Group
Open to anyone involved in communication from any location, the Cambridge Area Group hosts a regular, free Zoom meeting. It is the second Thursday of the month at 6pm for approximately 40 minutes. Contact cambridge_areagroup@istc.org.uk
for more information.
London Area Group
The next London Area Group meetup is pencilled in for Wednesday 18th September.
The location is, by default, near the Royal Festival Hall at The Southbank Centre.
We can meet either inside (e.g. in the foyer) or outside (e.g. at the bench outside of the Foyles). Check the exact location in the WhatsApp chat for the group at the time of meeting as it’s decided in the moment, depending on the environment.
ISTC Meets
No meets in September 2024
ISTC Meets is taking its bucket and spade on its own summer holiday, so there won’t be any meetings until next month. Full details in the October 2024 issue of InfoPlus.
For more information on all future ISTC Meets, please visit our website.
Social Media
- Twitter (now X)
- ISTC Community (Facebook group)
- ISTC (Facebook page)
- TCUK (Facebook page)
- ISTC (LinkedIn group)
- TCUK (LinkedIn group)
Community Forums
The forums are available to all members once you have logged into the ISTC website.
A bit of non-AI fun
Something I recently found out was that there is a new-ish piece of AI software that is being used to create picture-perfect video guides, but they all use animated AI models (that you create) and they accompanied with AI synced audio to the AI models’ lips.
The tool is RenderNet AI and has a limited use “free” version:
- Only two images can be rendered at any time
- You can’t add in any audio that the tool syncs your influencer to, and
- The rendering is sloooooow.
Suprise, surprise, these limits are lifted when you start subscribing to the service!
However, this is great for those, like myself, who’ve got “a face for radio”. You can make your own avatar up and, sync it to text that you’ve converted to audio (again using AI) and it can be played back in a different accent if required.
I’m working on an article covering the use of it once I’ve had a proper play with it and it will be on IJTC in the near future. Hopefully in time for the newsletter in October.
Upcoming Events
Not only have you got TCUK 2024 this month, but there are also another four conferences. Two are in-person and two are online-only. All of their details are below:
Convex Ideas
Date: September 9th – 11th, 2024
Website: https://ideas.infomanagementcenter.com/
Where can I attend? Online only conference.
About:
ConVEx IDEAS is a three-day industry conference that you can attend virtually from the comfort of your own office.
NORDIC TechKomm Copenhagen
Date: September 18th-19th.
Website: https://dk.nordic-techkomm.com/program
Where can I attend: Copenhagen, Denmark
(If you can get there on the 17th there’s also the possibility of a sightseeing tour of Copenhagen)
About:
At NORDIC TechKomm, international experts will convene in Copenhagen to discuss trends and current topics in the field of technical communication.
The focus is on Level up your technical communication. Here, all professionals with an advanced level of knowledge in TC come together – technical writers, information developers, technical communication managers and content architects.
Write The Docs (Atlantic)
Date: September 22nd – 24th
Where can I attend? Online only conference.
Website: https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/atlantic/2024/
About:
Write the Docs is a global community of people who care about documentation: Programmers, Tech Writers, Customer Support, Designers, Project Managers, Developer Advocates, and anyone else who wants people to have a great experience with software.
We invite you to our Atlantic conference to join 300 other attendees to explore the art and science of documentation!
Abortext ALD World Users Meeting 2024
Date: September 24th – 25thj
Where can I attend? Cologne, Germany
Website: https://www.tformat.com/arbortext-ald-world-users-meeting-2024/
About:
After a break of some years, we are organising another of our well-known user meetings together with our long term German partner DATACOPY publishing solutions GMBH. This event is focused at users of the Arbortext Layout Developer (ALD) software (formerly named APP & 3B2), for both current and former users or those who plan to use it.
The focus is on the requirements of publishers, printers and publishing service providers. We will also cover the Arbortext Layout Editor, Publishing Engine, XML Editor, and Styler products, as the integrated product suite.
Training Courses
Accredited courses have been reviewed by a professional panel of experienced ISTC members. A course listed as “ISTC Accredited” means that the panel believes the course meets its stated objectives and is suitable for its intended audience.
Course providers have to apply for renewal of accreditation every 2 years, which helps to ensure the courses reflect current best practice.
Armada
The Armada course (run over 5 days) is available either online or via an in-person classroom-based course. The next two dates are:
- Reading – Classroom-based & Online – 2nd-6th December 2024
- Bristol – Classroom-based & Online – 23rd-27th September 2024
There are also classses available at their Birmingham / Bromsgrove, Cardiff, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Nottingham and Sheffield Training Centres. These would need to be arranged upon request.
For further details, see www.armada.co.uk/course/tatp.
Cherryleaf
The Cherryleaf courses are available online and can be booked for single tech comm people or as a group.
Technical Writer – Induction Course: https://cherryleaf.teachable.com/p/technical-writer-induction-course
Using Generative AI in Technical Writing: https://cherryleaf.teachable.com/p/using-generative-ai
ESTON Technical/Commercial Authorship
This course run by Eston is online-only and is available any time. A discount is offered to ISTC members.
ESTON Technical/Commercial Authorship (Premier)
TCTrainNet – tekom Certificate training in Technical Communication
There are two accredited courses available from TCTrain and the dates they are run on are:
- Professional Course – September 23rd 2024 and November 18th 2024
- Expert Course – October 21st 2024
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Back Page
Unfortunately, there haven’t been any submissions for this month’s issue. Hopefully some amusing articles will be sent through ready for the next issue of InfoPlus.
If you’ve some suggestions to include in this section, you can send them to newsletter.editor@istc.org.uk by Monday 19th August 2024. I’ll do my best to include the best (or worst) accordingly 🙂