Blogs

Hillary Hart
STC President
Spring 2011

As someone who was skeptical for many years about certification for technical communicators, I want to explain why I now believe academics can get behind this program. First of all, there are several things the program is NOT:

Steven Jong
STC Certification Committee Chair
Spring 2011

The Society for Technical Communication (STC) is implementing a performance-based certification program for technical communicators. The goal is to grant the first certifications later this year. STC believes certification will provide value to practitioners, clients, and the Society itself.

Certification will be open to all practitioners, not just STC members. An independent certification commission will oversee the program.

Paul Dombrowski
University of Central Florida
Spring 2011

Sandy Dorley
Conestoga College
Spring 2011

Many of us teach what has become known as the service course in technical writing.  Usually offered as a second-level writing course (after the obligatory essay/academic writing course in most colleges and universities), it contains students from many different disciplines. Often, their writing process is hit-and-miss at best.

Kelli Cargile Cook
Texas Tech University
Spring 2011

Call for Manuscripts
Submission Deadline: Ongoing

Programmatic Perspectives is a semiannual peer-reviewed journal of the CPTSC, the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication. The inaugural issue was published on March 1, 2009, at http://www.cptsc.org/pp/.

The editors solicit full articles, opinion pieces, and program showcases. We also seek reviews of books and other media of potential interest to technical communication program administrators.

Lora Arduser, University of Cincinnati
Ryan Hoover, St. Edward's University
Fall 2011

In response to the recent ATTW membership survey, the ATTW Bulletin editors have been working on some changes you’ll be seeing in the coming months. We hope these changes will enhance the Bulletin’s ability to serve our current members and help attract new ones.

The first change is the addition of Ryan Hoover as Bulletin Co-Editor.

Susan Olson Lawson
Johnson C. Smith University
Fall 2011

Cheryl Geisler
Simon Fraser University
Fall 2011

Pavel Zemliansky
James Madison University
Fall 2011

As ATTW members know, in late 2010, the organization’s website was redesigned and re-launched using a new software platform (the open source content management system Drupal). The main purpose of the redesign was to improve communication between the organization and its members by creating a more interactive online platform and though an increased use of social media.