InfoPlus January 2026

ISTC News
ISTC Community
A bit of AI … poking and prodding
Upcoming events
Training courses
About InfoPlus
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ISTC News

Welcome back!

Welcome all to 2026! We hope you had a relaxing time over the festive period and, like us, are raring to go in this new year.

The newsletter might be a bit thin, but there’s not been a great deal of ISTC news updates from us to pass on to you. There will be more information in the next edition which will feature a new look and feel. We will also welcome feedback on the new look when it’s released.

ESTON Training – no longer trading

Some sad news has reached us that ESTON Training are no longer trading. We’ve removed all the information about them and their Technical/Commercial Authorship courses from InfoPlus.

ISTC Membership Renewals for 2026

ISTC Membership Renewals for 2026

Renewals for ISTC members are now available and payment can be made via the website or by contacting the ISTC office (istc@istc.org.uk). Payment is due by 31st January.

Members have received an email with details and can check the renewals page of the ISTC website.

Member benefits include:

Access to the entire Communicator archive online (from 2004 onwards).
Access to the IJTC, an online journal published in collaboration with our partners.
Entitlement to use letters MISTC or FISTC after your name (subject to experience)
Access to members-only discussion lists, including job postings
Access to online resources
Membership discounts to special industry-relevant events, training and conferences
Involvement in the biggest organisation representing technical communicators in the UK

ISTC Annual Survey

The ISTC Annual Survey covering employment is available for all technical communicators in the UK. The purpose of this survey is to collect data relating to qualifications, experience and pay of technical communicators in the UK.

Please click on this link – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BKNNQHC
Do not hesitate or delay. It will take you 10 minutes at most (guaranteed). The deadline to complete the survey is 28 February 2026.

Website Volunteer Team update

The Website Volunteer Team decided to treat the festive period as a time out to reorganise and get ready for all the changes we’ve planned for 2026. In the next issue of InfoPlus, we’ll have more information on what this will entail.

Want to lend a hand?

If you’d like to help the ISTC improve its website and collaborate with other ISTC members in the process, send an email to istc@istc.org.uk. We’re a friendly team and there’s no pressure to volunteer a particular number of hours – you can help out as and when your availability allows.

IJTC Update

I finally sent out our December newsletter two days before Christmas Eve. I was purposely hanging on as I was including another of my Google Flow videos that I’d created at TCUK.

It was based around that man in red with the white beard and how knackered he’d look on Boxing Day. Hopefully the IJTC members enjoyed the 8 seconds of fun 🙂

We also included a few articles so that we didn’t overburden you with “things to read” over the festive period. For January’s newsletter, we are hoping to get back to our usual range of 9-10 articles.

We want your articles!

There aren’t many rules for sending in your articles:

it doesn’t have to be of an epic length.
there’s nothing stopping you from sending in multiple small articles for a series, along the lines of our series from Jean Rollinson and CJ Walker.
it has to be relevant to the technical communicators who are part of the ISTC – as well as our Australian and New Zealand colleagues.
it must not be generated using AI. You can, however, write about AI tools used within the tech comms field.

Take a look at the other articles that are already on the website and see if your subject would fit in and send it 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.

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.

ISTC Slack now available

The details of where to find our Slack channel can be found in the email sent to all ISTC members on September 17th, with the title ‘A problem shared is a problem halved’.

Before joining please remember:
This is a professional space, and all areas, including any private messages, may be reviewed by the ISTC and are subject to the ISTC’s Code of Conduct.

We look forward to seeing you in there.

Area Groups

If you wish to start your own Area Group, contact istc@istc.org.uk.

Thames Valley Area Group

The Thames Valley local group meeting is at the Bird-in-Hand pub in Knowle Hill, RG10 9UP on the first Tuesday of each month from 7.30pm. All are welcome.

They rarely have a set subject but the conversation always has a strong tech comms flavour. Maybe something from recent news, something that has happened at work, or some new technology to discuss.

London Area Group

The next London Area Group meetup is Wednesday 21st January. This meeting is online and the meeting invite will be posted in the WhatsApp chat for the group nearer the time. We are hoping that the January meeting will be an in-person one.

ISTC Meets

ISTC Meets is our monthly series of live online presentations and discussions from industry experts across the Technical Communication spectrum.

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

Details of what our January edition of ISTC Meets will be covering will be emailed to all members of the ISTC Meets mailing list after InfoPlus has been issued.

Mailing list

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

Talking Heads wanted!

If there are people out there willing to give a 30 minute or so talk on their aspects of tech comms (via Zoom), please get in touch with ISTC Meets.

Social Media

We recently pared back our social media areas to make them easier to manage and post to. Our FB pages for ISTC and TCUK will remain for the time being whilst they are archived, then they will be removed permanently. This will be followed by the ISTC Community (Facebook group) which will be archived and removed before the end of the year.

Community Forums

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

A Request for Back Issues

In ISTC Towers we’ve recently been looking at all of our back issues of our magazine, Communicator – or The Communicator, as it was originally called. Currently we are missing a few scans of our older issues and we’d like to find these gap fillers.

To save repeating this list in every issue of InfoPlus going forward, we’ve added the list of missing issues to the Communicator Archive page.

A bit of AI … poking and prodding.

News

Here’s the latest AI-related news that I could find for late 2025/Q1 2026. It’s not all tech comms related, but the various model/engine upgrades will affect you if you’re using AI of some flavour.

In 2026, Nvidia’s major moves centre on the launch of its next-generation Vera Rubin chip platform and a strategic pivot to AI inference and “AI factories”.
Grok 5 is the anticipated next-generation AI model from xAI, rumored to feature a massive 6-trillion parameter Mixture-of-Experts architecture, native 1.5-million-token context, real-time multimodal processing (text, video, audio), and advanced integration with live X data, aiming for near-sentience and significant leaps in reasoning, potentially challenging for the smartest AI title and pushing towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) with a possible early 2026 release.
Google is enhancing its default model to Gemini 3 Flash. It will replace 2.5 as the default for AI queries. I daresay this will also be added to NotebookLM as the default model, along with all the continual updates that are being included.
OpenAI is focusing on teen safety with it’s Teen Safety Blueprint. It was announced in November 2025, but expected in Q1 2026.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella believes it’s time to move past the AI “slop versus sophistication” debate, instead pushing for a future where AI agents become second nature, driving business operations and adapting to consumer buying behavior before customers themselves do.

In a year-end blog post, Nadella said the AI industry is no longer in its novelty phase and is now confronting a tougher test: showing that the technology delivers real-world results.
YouTube has been accused of favouring more and more “of it “AI Slop” to new and existing accounts to boost viewing ratings.
China has proposed strict new rules for AI systems to provide safeguards for children and prevent chatbots from offering advice that could lead to self-harm or violence. Under the planned regulations, developers will also need to ensure their AI models do not generate content that promotes gambling.

2026 onwards …

There are plenty of websites online that contain predictions on how AI will change/revolutionise software in 2026. Here’s a few of them from the pile.

Phil Schmid – 8 Predictions for 2026. What comes next in AI?
Microsoft – What’s next in AI? 7 trends to watch out for in 2026
Understading AI – 17 predictions for AI in 2026

Naturally, the more cynical amongst you will naturally take some of the above with a large dose of salt, waiting for the ‘AI Bubble’ to burst this year. But others will use them to (possibly) to their advantage and see how their career will change (via AI) in 2026. Good luck with whichever route you take this year.

Upcoming Events

There are a few Technical Communication Conferences that are already listed for 2026.

Information Energy (April 22–24, Online): Focuses on future trends in technical communication.
tcworld China (May 21–22, Shanghai): Targeted at technical communication specialists in China.
Evolution of TC (June 2–3, Sofia): Focuses on innovations in software documentation.
Adobe DITAWORLD (June, Online): 11th annual event focusing on DITA, CCMS, and content strategy.
NORDIC TechKomm (September 23–24, Copenhagen): Covers user experience and best practices.
LavaCon (Dates TBD): Focuses on content strategy and technical communication management.
Write the Docs (Dates TBD): Conference for documentarians and technical writers.

In the new style InfoPlus (from next month), the information above will be expanded upon including, for some listed as TBD, the actual dates when they are being held.

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 is run over 5 days. You can attend in-person at our dedicated training facilities at Bristol, Bromsgrove, Manchester or Reading, or participate live online.

The next course dates are:

Manchester: Classroom-based – 12th March – 13th March 2026
Birmingham/Bromsgrove: Classroom-based – 4th – 5th June 2026

For further details, see www.armada.co.uk/course/tatp.

Cherryleaf

The Cherryleaf courses are available online and can be booked for single tech comms 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

TCTrainNet – tekom Certificate training in Technical Communication

TCTrainNet – tekom Certificate Training in Technical Communication

The online training and certification program TCTrainNet offers two accredited courses at two levels. The course dates for 2026 are:

TCTrainNet Professional – For beginners and career changers

February 9, 2026
April 20, 2026
June 22, 2026
September 21, 2026
November 23, 2026

TCTrainNet Expert – For experienced technical writers

April 20, 2026
October 12, 2026

Special offer: ISTC members receive a €200 discount on TCTrainNet courses.

Firehead

Firehead offer a number of accredited courses. They are supplied in a format of videos, PDFs, eBooks and assessments.

Please note that attending an ISTC Accredited course from the trainers above does not automatically make you an ISTC Member. You will still need to apply for ISTC membership afterwards. If the training course has whet your whistle, then come and join us.

About InfoPlus

InfoPlus is your go-to source for staying informed about our profession, featuring news not only from the ISTC but also from across the technical communication community.

This complimentary newsletter is emailed to approximately 1500 individuals.

Subscribe to InfoPlus here, you can unsubscribe at any time from within the email sent out each month.

For advertising enquiries, contact istc@istc.org.uk.

Submitting content

If you have noteworthy information to share with your peers, please send it my way at newsletter.editor@istc.org.uk. We want to ensure that your news reaches as many people as possible.

Published and distributed on the first working day of each month, InfoPlus occasionally experiences slight delays until the first week of the month. Keep this in mind when submitting time-sensitive information.

Please get the information for the February 2026 edition to newsletter.editor@istc.org.uk by 19th January 2026.

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

Continuing with last month’s “new” section, here are a selection of other mishaps in the tech comms field as supplied (anonymously) by our members.

Following on from last month’s “bun washer”, here’s another from the same person.

Our design engineering department wished to recruit a new electrical engineer. HR distributed the job advert, inviting applications from those with “knowledge of electrical test mythologies”.

The closest I can get to the above is when I worked at a company that always put “Company Barbeque in the Summer” in their list of good reasons to work there. I always pointed the error out, but it was never changed. Whilst this might appear like that HR department didn’t like grammarians, we were usually the first to be called upon when a new SharePoint area / ‘exciting but enforced’ training course was announced, and the whole team had to go through it with our well-worn toothcombs a.s.a.p. 🙂

Can you do any better, with much worse examples?

If so, you can send them to newsletter.editor@istc.org.uk, or send me a message via the ISTC Slack channel, by 19th January 2026.

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