Environmental, Regulatory, and Scientific Communicators Will Have a Strong Voice at the STC Annual Conference
Thanks
to the efforts of many members of the ES&H and Scientific Communication
SIGs, the 2001 STC Annual Conference will feature more presentations in
our fields than ever before. As you can see from the list below, you will
be able to attend sessions on safety writing, on communicating with nontraditional
audiences, on risk communication, on medical writing, and many more areas
of technical communication that have not had much visibility within the
Society for Technical Communication.
We all understand the importance of software and hardware documentation, but many if us do not actually do that for a living. And we have been longing for some sessions that speak to us about the issues we deal with every day, whether it’s crafting public health messages, translating sophisticated mathematical risk-assessment information for business clients, or writing environmental impact statements.
Tony Caruso, program chair for the STC conference, has just informed me that both the preliminary and the final STC programs will include a designated "stream" tentatively called "Environmental, Regulatory, and Scientific Communication."
The list of presentations below is NOT complete — I’m quite sure there are more sessions that I just don’t know about yet. So please let me know if you are presenting in Chicago on a topic in the general areas of environmental, regulatory, or scientific communication. We’ll update this list and publish it again, early in the spring. E-mail me at: hart@mail.utexas.edu.
In the meantime, I look forward to meeting many of you during the May 13-16, 2001, conference in Chicago.
-- Hillary Hart, SIG manager
Environmental, Regulatory, and Scientific Communication Presentations at the 2001 STC Annual Conference, Chicago
| Training Scientific Communicators for the Global Workplace Environment |
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Wednesday, May 16, 10:30—noon |
| This panel discussion will address the challenges industry takes in training scientific communicators to be successful information architects in a global environment. |
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| An Overview of Science and Medical Writing |
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Monday, May 14, 2—3:30 |
| This panel will review the history and development of science and medical writing, including communications products, social roles, and employment opportunities. |
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| The ABCs of Medical Communication |
| Wednesday, May 16, 8:30—10 |
| In an overview of the medical communication profession in the pharmaceutical industry, this panel discussion examines regulatory and commercialization writing opportunities during each phase of the drug development process. |
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| Issues in Scientific Communication |
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Wednesday, May 16, 10:30—noon |
| This progression provides a venue for Scientific Communication SIG members to present their research, case studies, and practical applications related to science writing and editing in the 21st century. |
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| Editing Progression |
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Tuesday, 5/15, 2 p.m. |
| In this progression, session leaders discuss editing issues such as electronic editing, self-editing, quality control, and editorial wisdom. |
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| Nontraditional Communication about Health Risks: Migrant Farm Worker Audience |
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Tuesday, May 15, 2—3:30 p.m. |
| Communicating about pesticides with migrant farmworkers includes nontraditional techniques such as Hispanic theater, home parties, traditional health advisors, coloring books, calendars, pictographs and fluorescent imaging. |
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| Communicating with Nontraditional Audiences |
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Tuesday, May 15, 8:30—10 |
| What if your audience's frame of reference is a fishing boat, a cherry orchard, or an assembly line? How can technical messages be appropriately translated to the special needs of these audiences without losing technical accuracy? Three panelists will describe their experiences writing and editing for diverse audiences. |
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| Rulemaking, Public Policy, and Regulatory Writing |
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Wednesday, May 16, 2—3:30 p.m. |
| Agencies are rewriting regulations for clarity and better understanding. This panel discussion examines these changes and how they affect communicators. |
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| Designing for the Web: Special Considerations for Safety Information |
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Tuesday, May 15, — 4p.m. |
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| Designing Safety Information: Balancing Hazards and Solutions |
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Tuesday, May 15, 8:30 —10 a.m. |
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| Strategies for Communicating Risk |
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Monday, May 14, 10:30—noon |
| Explore the history of risk-communication strategies as they have changed over the past two decades. Hear about a current research project, a review of best practices from the fields of communication science and social science, and an example of using the Web to communicate risks to the public |
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| Participatory Decision-Making, Technology and the Environment |
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Monday, May 14, 2-3:30 p.m. |
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| Issues in Scientific Communication |
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Wednesday, May 16, 10:30—12 noon |
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| Careful Science Writing |
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Wednesday, May 16, 10:30 - noon |
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| Participatory Decision-Making, Technology, and the Environment |
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Monday, May 14, 2:00-3:30 |
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Kathy Hall
Online Manager
The Environmental
Safety and Health SIG is now online in two formats: on the Web and as
a listserv.
The Web site for the SIG is at http://www.esh.4t.com/. The site contains an archive for past newsletters, a current newsletter, and information about the practice of environmental and regulatory communication, as well as information about courses and curricula in the field.
The listserv is at http://www.egroups.com/group/STC_ESH_SIG. So far, 72 members have signed up and have posted almost 40 messages.
I am excited about being able to consult an instant community of fellow communicators through the listserv and to have a resource library at my fingertips on the Web. Please use these two vehicles to share your knowledge with your fellow practitioners. You can send contributions or links to me at kjhall@u.washington.edu or post them on the listserv.
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Profiles of Two ES&H SIG Members
| Anna Weaver (Carolina Chapter) | ||
| Editor, Research Triangle Institute | ||
| Research Triangle Park, North Carolina | ||
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I came to the MS program in Technical Communication at North Carolina State University with a job title (technical communicator) and a field of interest (the environment, environmental science, anything involving trees) in mind. I'd previously shied away from technical communication because I was not at all attracted to computer documentation; it was tremendously encouraging to learn that I could combine my interest in the environment with communication and document design. My professors at NC State have been very supportive, allowing me to focus much of my course work on environmental rhetoric/communication. As a student member of the STC for the past two years, I’ve been a pretty passive–happy just to read Intercom and TC each month and, recently, to avail myself of both the national and regional (Carolina Chapter) Internet job-posting services. Now that I’ve finally entered the ranks of practicing technical communicators–I'm a technical editor at Research Triangle Institute–I am hoping to contribute to the STC, and specifically to the Environmental, Safety, and Health Communication SIG, as an active member/volunteer. A non-profit research outfit in Research Triangle Park, NC, RTI conducts research (mostly government-funded work) into a wide variety of fields, including environmental sciences and engineering (ESE). The editing group supports all the Institute’s research centers, and I am particularly looking forward to working with the ESE folks in the months and years to come! Naturally, I'm also looking forward to meeting other environmental communicators and contributing to our SIG in the near future. |
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| Virginia Horak (Northern Gulf Coast Chapter) | ||
| Editor, Southeast Archeological Center (National Park Service) | ||
| Tallahassee, Florida | ||
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Duties:
Substantive editing, limited writing (mostly rewrites), publication
design (including public outreach materials, such as posters and
brochures), formatting, production management. Working exclusively with printed matter, I currently edit and format SEAC's Technical Reports Series and Readings in Archeological Resource Protection Series. I designed the Archeological Overview and Assessment Series and edited/formatted the first four volumes. Most of my projects are interagency. I just completed a series of six posters funded by Fort Bragg. Earlier in the year, in cooperation with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, I designed/edited a brochure entitled Indian Mounds of Mississippi: A Visitor's Guide. I also produce special publications. Two of the most recent projects were A Good Home for a Poor Man: Fort Polk and Vernon Parish, 1800-1940, a popular history of the Fort Polk area during these years, and Soil Science for Archeologists, by an agronomist from Florida A & M University. The latter was written for an introductory course designed specifically for archeologists as part of a cooperative agreement between SEAC and the university. |
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STC to Hold Telephone Seminar on "Getting Started with Usability Testing"
The Society for Technical Communication will offer a two-part telephone seminar on "Getting Started with Usability Testing."
Part 1 will be March 7, part 2 will be March 14.
Conducted by Carol M. Barnum, professor of technical communication at Southern Polytechnic State University and award-winning author, the seminar will answer questions about one of the most talked-about issues in business today.
For details, including an explanation of how telephone seminars work, please visit www.stc-va.org/usabilitytest.html. For more information about STC, please visit www.stc-va.org or call (703) 522-4114.