The Exchange: Volume 18 Number 1

Hot off new newsletter editor Louise St. Germain's press, here's the latest issue of The Exchange. Grab a copy of the PDF for a great new look and the same mix of thought-provoking articles on all aspects of scientific communication that you're used to. In this issue you'll find:

• Editor's Note
• Manager's Message
• Languages Do Shape How We Think
• Usage in a Top Hat
• Book Review: Motives for Metaphor in Scientific and Technical Communication
• Did You Notice Our New Logo?
• Bits and Pieces

SciCom Activities at STC Conference, Sacramento May 15-18

The SIG is offering plenty of activities for members at the STC annual conference. For those of you attending, please join us.

SUNDAY - STC Leadership Day
All STC members are welcome to attend all or part. The SciCom leaders will attend. Check out the Leadership Day schedule, including the schedule of those sessions that will be webcast.

MONDAY - 6:30pm - 8:30pm, Sheraton - Communities Reception
Our SciCom table will include copies of our newsletter, free bookmarks providing a "SciCom Guide to the Summit," and we'll host a raffle for some Little Giants of Science. Please come by on Monday and visit our table.

TUESDAY - 11:30am - 12:30pm, Room 302/303 in the Convention Center - SciCom Networking/Get Acquainted meeting
Please join us for a SciCom-only gathering. Bring your lunch and we will provide sweets.

TUESDAY evening - We are organizing a SciCom outing to a local, walking-distance restaurant
If you're interested, let us know on Monday night, so we have a headcount for the reservation.

SciCom Members Making Presentations

• RON STONE: "Strategies for Organizing Global and Local Technical Communicators" in session 223, Tuesday 4 - 5pm during the International Communication Progression.
• KAREN LANE: Serves as an index evaluator in session 308, "Index Evaluation Workshop," in the Writing and Editing track, Tuesday 10 - 11am.

SciCom Recognition

STC plans to have identifying nametag ribbons for your SIG memberships; please wear your SciCom ribbon so we can recognize each other.

Twitter

You can follow us, or reach us on Twitter at the conference: @STC_SciComSIG, #stc11

SciCom SIG Logo Contest

The Scientific Communication special interest group (SciCom SIG) of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) is having a logo design contest! Send your logo design or logo design sketch to stcsc.newsletter@gmail.com before 11:59 PM EDT on Friday, March 25, 2011, and you could win the prize, a copy of the award-winning book The Craft of Scientific Communication (University of Chicago Press), co-authored by Joseph Harmon and Alan Gross.

Read the full contest rules, and help give the SciCom SIG a new identity!

New SIG team and call for volunteers

If you haven't already heard, the SciCom SIG now has a new management team. You can read about the new team and their plans for the future of the SIG in the latest SIG Manager's Message.

As stated in that message, there's plenty of room for volunteers to help to make the SIG a vital, and useful resource for all its members. If you'd like to get involved in planning events, writing content for the website, managing volunteers, running member surveys, or any of the other items mentioned, please don't hesitate to get in touch through the stcscsig-l mailing list, or by emailing stcscsig.membership@gmail.com

We'd like to sincerely thank Kathie Gorski and Geoff Hart, the departing management team, for their work on the SciCom SIG.

The Exchange: Volume 17 Number 3

This edition of the Exchange marks the end of an era: it is the last issue to be edited by Geoff Hart, editor of the newsletter for the past 11 years. Read his parting editorial and join with me in thanking him for all of his hard work and commitment to the newsletter over the years.

Available in HTML and PDF formats.

In this issue:

• Audio as an alternative to traditional documentation. Part II: Designing and preparing the documents
• Editorial: Safety and conscience
• Message from new manager
• Of gobbledygook and bafflegab
• Letter to the editor
• Book review: Subtleties of Scientific Style
• Book review: Engineering Communication
• Parting thoughts

The Exchange: Volume 17 Number 2

The latest issue of the Exchange is here with articles on creating alternative media formats for your writing, choosing great titles for technical articles, words and modern language usage, and an editorial on the difficulties of conveying scientific information to an unreceptive audience.

Available, as usual, in HTML and PDF formats.

In this issue:

• Audio as an alternative to traditional documentation
• Editorial: Communicating in an atmosphere hostile to science
• Tantalizing titles
• Greetings from the Land of Total Nickels
• Book review: Participation and Power
• Book review: A Manual for Writers of Research Papers
• Fun on the Web
• Parting thoughts

The Exchange: Volume 17 Number 1

Geoff Hart presents the first issue of the Exchange for 2010. You'll find the usual mix of articles, including Geoff's reflections on ten years as the newsletter's editor. I'm sure that all SIG members would join me in saying thanks for all of your hard work in making the Exchange happen, Geoff.

In this issue:

• Concision: the art of linguistic liposuction
• Editorial: Ten years of editorializing
• Book Review: Undergraduate Writing in Psychology
• Book review: Together with Technology
• Fun on the Web
• Parting thoughts

HTML and PDF versions now available.

The Exchange: Volume 16 Number 4

Geoff Hart has completed the December 2009 issue of the Exchange.

Apologies for the rushed nature of this announcement. Due to reduced internet connectivity, only the PDF version is currently online.

Update:

• A brave new workflow for the composition of scientific, technical, and medical journals
• Editorial:  Outliers—the forgotten 5%
• Bulletproof: how to armor-plate your work
• Book review: The Myths of Innovation
• Book review: Understanding Knowledge as a Commons: From Theory to Practice
• Fun on the Web
• Parting thoughts

Apologies, once again for the delay, the latest Exchange is now available in both HTML and PDF versions.

The Exchange: Volume 16 Number 3

Geoff Hart has completed the September 2009 issue of the Exchange. This issue runs from articles all the way - clearly a reflection of recent trends in publishing - to zombies. The editorial this month is a great introduction to some of the issues surrounding the evaluation of evidence and significance in scientific research.

As usual, the newsletter is available in both HTML and PDF formats.

In this issue:

• Linguistic lightning: the power of the right word
• Editorial: Just how significant is it?
• Book review: Pocket Book of Technical Writing for Engineers and Scientists
• Book review: The ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Information
• Fun on the Web
• Parting thoughts

SIG member survey published

SIG manager Kathie Gorski has recently published a survey which forms part of the ongoing rechartering effort of the SciCom SIG. All SIG members are encouraged to have their say. Here's Kathie's announcement:

Greetings, fellow members of the Scientific Communication SIG.

A group of volunteers from the SciCom SIG invites you to take a survey to help us determine how we might make our SIG more valuable to you in your professional life. The survey asks you to evaluate current SIG services and potential additional services. It also asks a bit about you, so that we may get to know you better and serve you better.

Please take a few minutes to participate in the survey. It will be live through Tuesday, September 8.

The survey can be found at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=dwbgY0Ik2oWTn5ZnKEP7Yg_3d_3d

Thank you.

Kathie Gorski, your SIG manager