InfoPlus November 2024

ISTC News

ISTC Membership Renewals for 2025

Just a reminder that renewals for ISTC members open on Monday 2nd December and payment can be made via the website or by contacting the ISTC office (istc@istc.org.uk). Please watch out for an email with details of how to renew.

Also look out for more details and a reminder of member benefits in our December issue of InfoPlus.

IJTC Update

Our first newsletter update was issued last month and we’re working towards our second one.

There will be (at least) seven articles appearing over the next few weeks on IJTC, all authored by Dave Gash from Australia. Four of the seven articles are aimed at a more technical level as they cover multiple facets of behind-the-scenes CSS coding on colours and styles.

You can keep an eye on the IJTC website as they will be released on a weekly or so basis during November, or catch up on them all via the newsletter when that is issued.

Naturally we want articles from you, the reader, as well! If you have anything that you would like to publish then get in touch with me via the editor@ijtc.net address.

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 20th November.

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

Our November ISTC Meets will feature Robert Delwood and the topic of this Meet is: “Working with developers”.

Robert Delwood is a programmer-writer specialising in API and developer documentation. That means he’s a developer and a writer, covering both sides of the aisle. He stresses upping everyone’s developer documentation game, aiming for “great documentation.” He defines “great documentation” as documentation so clear and precise that it defies misunderstanding. There are many aspects constituting what that is. Some material can be changed by the writer, some can’t.

It is being held on November 14th and it starts at 12pm UK time. Register for this Meet via our Zoom link.

For full details of the upcoming speakers, and for all future ISTC Meets, please visit our website.

If you contact ISTC directly, istc@istc.org.uk, they can add you to the ISTC Meets mailing list.

Social Media

Community Forums

The forums are available to all members once you have logged into the ISTC website.

A bit of AI … poking and prodding.

This month, the group of ISTC volunteers working on the Website update project have been looking at creating personas based on interviewing people within the industry.

The insights generated a lot of similar answers and this is where AI came in. We had a number of completed interviews in PDF format and they were ran through The Drive.AI and it was asked to summarise the content.

The results were very useful and are a positive step along the way to help the Website team create personas for our work in the future.

This was all possible by using the free version, where we’re limited to five operations via the website’s AI engine. When we need to add more interviews, to generate more personas, then we can use what remains of our free test.

Upcoming Events

We’ve got a nice selection in November. Some are small webinars, whereas others are multi-day behemoths! All of their details are below:

Title: TC World Conference
Date: November 5th–7th 2024
Online/In-Person: In-Person. Stuttgart, Germany.
Website: https://tcworldconference.tekom.de/

About:
As one of the bigger events in the European tech comms calender, TC World will have over 200 top-class technical presentations, partner presentations, workshops, tutorials and meetups in German and English.

This will include many topics ranging from content creation and terminology management to visual communication, UX, and content strategy. Particular focus is on the topic of law and standards with valuable insights into the latest developments and best practices on current legal developments, instructional videos and product safety.

Title: AI-based iiRDS tagging of technical documents as an example of applied and collaborative research (via IUNTC)
Date: November 14th 2024
Online/In-Person: Online
Website: https://www.technical-communication.org/technical-writing/international-university-network-in-technical-communication-1

About:
The presentation gives an insight into the different phases of the implementation of an application-oriented research project in cooperation with an SME.

At the Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences, Campus Hagenberg, the research group AIST (advanced information systems and technology), together with text-it Produktdokumentation GmbH, is developing an AI-based research prototype to automatically tag technical documents with iiRDS tags.

Note that IUNTC is organised by TekCom Europe and there are multiple webinars hosted by them throughout the year.

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 dates are:

Reading – Classroom-based & Online – December 2nd-6th 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 – November 18th 2024
Expert Course – April 7th 2025

TCTrainNet

About InfoPlus

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Submitting content

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Please get the information for the December 2024 edition to newsletter.editor@istc.org.uk by Monday 18th November 2024.

About our publishers

InfoPlus, the Monthly Newsletter from the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC), is a valuable resource for the largest UK body representing scientific and technical communicators. Whether you are involved in technical writing, technical illustration, or other forms of communicating technical information, ISTC is the professional association dedicated to supporting your career.

Explore the benefits of ISTC membership and find out how to join.

Back Page

Here’s a simple cartoon that applies to all, not just technical communicators.

I’ve been sent some others for future Back Page content as well, but always welcome more if you have some. You can send them to newsletter.editor@istc.org.uk by Monday 18th November 2024. I’ll do my best to include the best (or worst) accordingly

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