northbayhttp://www.stc-northbay.org/ news The monthly newsletter of the NorthBay Chapter of the Volume 8, Number 6, July/August 2001 Society for Technical Communication Drilling the Well of Knowledge Kirsten Barquist, NorthBay Chapter

During the summer of 1998, a colleague and I realized that we faced a problem common to many intellectual property development companies: the same basic material and information was being published as context-sensitive help, printed user guides, tutorials, Web-based training, classroom training workbooks, and marketing materials. As we developed our documentation set using the usual arsenal of authoring tools, the content was being trapped in these authoring tools and could not easily ✾ If you dip into the well of knowledge, you Drilling the Well of Knowledge be moved between them. When something changed, never know what you’ll pull up. ✾ Networking in the “New New we had to locate and update the appropriate content Economy” in all of these projects. We recognized that the fundamental problem was the entanglement of content and the authoring tool and tried to think of a method that would separate content ✾ This Month’s Meeting from format. ✾ When I Grow Up, I Want to Write What we finally came up with was a process in which the content would be stored as API Docs ASCII text in a database, with a record for each discrete information element to be published. Continues on page 6☞ ✾ Writing for the Web ✾ Chapter and Newsletter News Networking in the “New New Economy” Elyse Lord, NorthBay Chapter With the electronic equipment, industrial machinery, and fabricated metal products sectors continuing to lose jobs, and with the June unemployment rate in San Francisco climbing to five percent, a reputable Bay Area recruiter recently told his clients, “If you’ve been meaning to move out of the Bay Area, consider acting now.” Meanwhile, North Bay Business Journal columnist Jeffrey Gitomer has begun preaching strategies to succeed in what he calls the “New New Economy,” the economy that will follow when the New Economy’s “bubble finishes deflating.” Gitomer advises professionals to “make strategic appearances at networking events to ensure business victory” and to set These days, it’s a good idea to network wherever you are aside several hours each week to exchange ideas, advice, information, leads, and contacts with others. Continues on page 4 ☞ northbay news, july/august 2001 northbay officers and committee chairs This Month’s Meeting president kurt huget Thursday, August 16, 2001 [email protected] Resorting to Help co vice-presidents With the help of a turnkey presentation provided by eHelp, the producer of barbara herbert [email protected] RoboHELP and RoboHTML, NorthBay STC officers Kurt Huget and Chris Muntzer chris muntzer will introduce eHelp’s latest two products, RoboHelp Enterprise and RoboInfo [email protected] Enterprise. newsletter editor: john dibs [email protected] RoboHelp Enterprise monitors a help system, enabling reports to be generated layout: mary e. flynn [email protected] that shed light on the effectiveness of the help system. The reports can answer copyeditor: genevieve duboscq such questions as these: [email protected] web * Which help topcs were accessed the most? trudie folsom [email protected] * How much traffic did the help system get? membership * What could the help system not answer? will ross [email protected] RoboInfo Enterprise creates and monitors company policies and procedures, hospitality enabling users to create and generate reports similar to those in RoboHelp gabrielle de serres & kathy cia Enterprise. treasurer liz kaiser [email protected] Chris plans to give a RoboHELP primer before launching into a discussion about RoboHelp Enterprise or RoboInfo Enterprise.

Please come to learn something new, share your enthusiasm, and mingle with friends and contacts who support the NorthBay STC chapter. submitting articles and ads We welcome articles, advertising, and news about meetings, workshops, and courses that pertain to technical For much of his career, Chris Muntzer has designed and installed communication. Please e-mail simple text to the editor at [email protected]. computer based surveillance systems. As most of the installations were on Advertising rates (per issue): $20 for 1/4 page, $35 for 1/2 offshore or remote oil field locations, he learned first hand the value of page. accurate information anytime, anywhere. Now happily on the other side of reprints and distribution the fence, Chris is working at Agilent, as an embedded Help Learning If you reprint articles from the northbay news, please credit them and forward a copy to the editor. Reprints in Products Developer.He has a particular interest in Web-based training non-STC publications are subject to the author’s approval. (WBT), XML and single sourcing. Copyright © 2000 northbay news. northbay news is free to NorthBay Chapter members. Kurt Huget has been around the block too with a long stint at the Nonmember subscriptions in hard copy are $12 per year. former CCH (Commerce Clearing House, or Cellblock H for short) in San Rafael. His carrer has since taken him to North American Mortgage Company and most recently to Multimedia Live in Petaluma. In his free time he shares his talents as a guitarist and vocalist in the country jazz group Moonlight Rodeo. Meeting Schedule

STC Mission Statement LocationLocation: Parker Compumotor, 5500 Labath Dr., Rohnert Park The mission of the Society for Technical Timeime: 5:30 - 6:30 Networking and Refreshments Communication is to improve the quality and effectiveness of technical 6:30 - 8:15 Introductions and Program communication 8:15 - 8:30 More Conversation, Idea Swapping for audiences worldwide.

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When I Grow Up, I an API is: the interface between two components displayed onscreen. In revealed to the outside world, and it contrast, an API allows a programmer to Want to Write API determines how a client requests the access functionality programatically by Docs server’s functionality. Your API calling a method. Think of methods (or documentation is what enables your functions) as the verbs that encompass the Krista Fechner, NorthBay Chapter audience to produce the application that operations that the can perform. communicates with your company’s Your document must clearly explain what At our July meeting, Jim Bisso, vice software and takes advantage of your each method does, what sort of data can be president of Bitzone LLC, discussed company’s class library. passed in (whether numeric or text), and application program(ming) interface Jim told us that are commonly what type of data is returned. (API) documentation with the NorthBay used to allow developers to create plug-ins, The two main kinds of API documents Chapter. Jim has worked as a staff and small applications that work in are reference guides, which describe the contract since libraries contained in the API, and 1988, specializing in API programmer’s guides, which explain how documentation and training at to program an application that companies such as Oracle, Inprise, communicates with the API. Of the two, and Taligent. reference guides tend to be more Jim started off by explaining straightforward and easier to write. They what an API is: the interface between two software components that communicate with each other. The components can APIs are commonly include programs, subsystems, or “When I grow up, I want to write API docs.” used to allow data structures. The API is a set of “When I grow up, I want to be an ice cream girl.” named operations exposed by a developers to create server and made available to conjunction with larger pieces of software. clients. In most cases, the server Tech writers with graphics experience may plug-ins. component is a class library (written by be familiar with Adobe Photoshop’s filters, your company) and the client component software plug-ins that provide a wide range is an application (written by your of special effects. Adobe provides some give a complete listing of the functions or audience). The API facilitates transfer filters, but many others are created by methods in class libraries and are third parties. By providing an API to comparable to a dictionary or index. Photoshop, Adobe “productizes” the Programmer’s guides are process-oriented, An API is the functionality of the application, allowing providing a high-level overview that shows third parties to expand the feature set of how the pieces fit together. They often interface between the program. This helps to widen include tutorials and practical examples, two software Photoshop’s user base and allows Adobe to and they are more conceptual or focus on primary development. encyclopedic. This type of document is components that What’s Different about API more challenging to write because you are trying to teach your reader how to write communicate with Docs? code in a certain way. The API is defined at the source-code each other. level. In this way, it differs from a graphical user interface (GUI), which is Who Can Write API Docs? more familiar to most tech writers. With a Jim defined the ideal API technical GUI, the user accesses a program’s writer as a programmer who wants to of information back and forth using a functions by using hardware, such as become a writer, and said he had met only protocol or common language. It is often keyboard or mouse, to interact with visible two such people in 13 years. the only part of the company’s code that is Continues on page 8 ☞

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Networking in the “New New Table 1 Bay Area Networking Opportunities for STC Members Economy” Continued from page 1 Many STC members routinely take STC Chapter and URL Meeting Day and Time Meeting Location advantage of their local STC chapter’s In August: Parker Compumotor meetings to network. However, as cost- 5500 Labath Dr. Third Thursday of the month NorthBay Rohnert Park cutting measures and skills resource (no meeting in December) www.stc-northbay.org September: Golden Gate University 5:30-8:30 P.M. transitioning have made layoffs a daily 150 Professional Center Drive, Ste. E, occurrence, a growing number of STC Rohnert Park members have begun to attend multiple London Wine Bar Third Wednesday of each STC chapter meetings. Table 1 shows STC San Francisco 415 Sansome St. month. Networking starts at 6 networking opportunities in the Bay Area. www.stc-sf.org San Francisco P.M. (Reservation is required.) According to Les Aaronson, an employment and training counselor with Next meeting: Thurs., Sept. Tony Roma's East Bay 13, 5:30-8:30 P.M. 200 Sycamore Valley Rd. W. Danville Sonoma County’s Job Link center, www.ebstc.org networking is becoming an essential (Reservation is required.) activity for the employed and unemployed Fourth Thursday of most Four Points Sheraton Ballroom alike. Aaronson explains that “because Silicon Valley months, approximately 6-9 1250 Lakeside Dr. employers can no longer provide job www.stc- siliconvalley.org P.M. (Reservation is Sunnyvale recommended.) security, … employability requires that Hilton Sacramento Arden West individuals continually learn new skills Sacramento Next meeting: Wed., Sept. 5, 2200 Harvard St. www.stcsacramento.org details TBA and maintain visibility by associating Sacramento with professionals outside of their organizations.” Multimedia Association meets staffing agencies that recruit for periodically to explore new media. companies. A branch of the Bay Area Editors’ Forum meets periodically in Cotati, and Networking is the American Society for Training & Online jobs Development and the Software Developers becoming an Forum also host professional gatherings. databases contain See Table 2 for more detailed much more than essential activity information about these organizations’ programs. job leads. for the employed Active job seekers looking to expand their networks may attend Sonoma County Job Link- and Headhunter.net- and unemployed sponsored events. For information about They also provide job descriptions for Job Link’s tech talk networking meeting, technical writers, technical alike. call 565-5550. For information about the communicators, information architects, next Headhunter.net “layoff lounge” instructional designers, content developers, event, see www.layofflounge.com/ information mappers, and the like—in sforsvp.asp. multiple industries. These job descriptions Although networking is generally can be invaluable, particularly if job A number of professional organizations most effective face-to-face, the Internet seekers wish to switch industries and need sponsor relevant seminars and meetings can expand a job seeker’s network. And to persuade hiring managers that they that lend themselves to networking outside jobs databases available online contain possess “parallel” skills to those being of the STC. For example, Bay CHI, a special much more than job leads. They provide advertised. For a list of jobs databases interest group on computer-human clues about companies’ cultures, names useful to technical communicators, see interaction, meets monthly to discuss of hiring managers, and names of Table 3. usability-related topics. And the North Bay Continues on page 5 ☞

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Continued from page 4 Table 2 Networking Opportunities at Non-STC Meetings Table 3 Jobs Databases Useful to Technical Communicators

Organization Name and URL Meeting Day and Time Meeting Location

Volunteer Center of Sonoma County URL American Society for Training & Next meeting: Classroom A Development-North Bay Wed., Sept. 19 www.ajb.dni.us 153 Stony Cir., Ste. 100 www.astdnorthbay.org 5:30-8 P.M. Santa Rosa www.baychi.org/general/jobbank.html American Society for Training & www.brassring.com Development-San Francisco Check events calendar. Check events calendar. www.astdgoldengate.org www.caljobs.ca.gov Next meeting: Borders Union Square, 3rd floor Bay Area Editors' Forum Tues., Sept. 18, from Post and Powell Sts. www.craigslist.org www.editorsforum.org approximately 6:30-9 P.M. San Francisco www.dice.com North Lights Books & Cafe Varies. For details, contact Paul Bay Area Editors' Forum-North 550 E. Cotati Ave. www.FlipDog.com Engstrom at Bay Cotati [email protected]. www.headhunter.net

Second Tuesday of the month Xerox PARC Auditorium www.hotjobs.com Bay CHI from approximately 7:30-9:30 3333 Coyote Hill Rd. www.baychi.org P. M. Palo Alto www1.joboptions.com/jo_bricsnet/index.jsp

Fourth Tuesday of alternate www.jobstar.org Bay CHI-North Bay Check events calendar. months from approximately 6:30- www.baychi.org/bof/north 8:30 P.M. www.jobvertise.com

National Writers Union Check events calendar. www.makeitfun.com Third Wednesday of the month www.andreas.com/nwuwww.union- Meetings are held in San Francisco 7:30-9 P.M. writers.org/bite.htm and Palo Alto in alternate months. www.MedZilla.com

North Bay Multimedia Association www.monster.com Check events calendar. Check events calendar. www.nbma.com www.net-temps.com

Software Developers' Forum Check events calendar. Check events calendar. www.northbaycareers.com www.sdforum.org www.operationIT.com

Wayne Hodgins of Learnativity headhunter. According to Ryan Sarti of the www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/employment Alliance likens developing a professional Volt Services Group in Walnut Creek, “By www.stc.org/jobdatabase.htm network to building a phone network: the knowing a good recruiter you can in effect greater the number of users, the more make contact with multiple hiring www.stcsacramento.org/ejobs.htm powerful the network. Hodgins points out managers. …. Even better, the recruiter www.stc-siliconvalley.org/employment/posti- that Metcalfe’s Law (the usefulness of a already knows where you will be both a ngs.htm network equals the square of the number skill and cultural fit.” www.synergistech.com of network users) is “as true for networks Before deciding to work with a and groups of people as it was for nodes on headhunter or recruiter, job seekers should www.tech-search.com the Web: the power of a network increases make sure the recruiter really has the www.vault.com exponentially with each additional node.” required contacts and that budget- Job-seeking technical writers who conscious potential employers won’t select www.wantedjobs.com don’t have the time or inclination to a similarly skilled candidate who didn’t develop professional networks might arrive with a recruiter’s fee. consider hiring a recruiter or a ✍

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Drilling the Well of Knowledge be confused with the publication of the procedures, performance support materials, Continued from page 1 same document in several formats from engineering specifications, marketing Format instructions would be separated the same authoring tool, such as creating materials, and so on. A consolidated from the content (text) and kept as part of help and a printed document from content database allows all departments the record. To create a publication, the RoboHelp or Doc-to-Help. With RoboHelp, and groups within the company to draw author would select the appropriate records from the same metaphorical well of and export them as a text file, a process knowledge, reducing redundancy and the much like generating a report from any distribution of outdated or conflicting database. The author would then import information. It helps promote knowledge the text file into the authoring tool; the as an enterprisewide resource, recognized as authoring tool would interpret the a valuable asset and managed accordingly. formatting instructions to produce the So is investing in an SGML or XML published document. To update the system a prerequisite to following the content, an authorized person would intelligent content management modify the corresponding records in the paradigm? Not necessarily. Converting content database. Other authors would existing content to SGML and publishing then recreate the text file and update the with an SGML system requires a publication(s) in the appropriate significant investment; only large authoring tools. Unfortunately, we could companies have been able to do this not implement this grand scheme due to successfully. XML is young yet, but good the usual shortages of time, money, and tools are available; it may be a viable expertise. option for smaller companies, especially Nearly three years later, I realized that Looks like he could use a more intelligent filing system... those that do not have a large body of what we had come up with is now known legacy content to convert. You can take as intelligent content management. Doc-to-Help, and the like, content is steps to implement the essence of These days, the primary tools for trapped in the authoring tool and can be intelligent content management, implementing such a method are published only through that tool. To use a separating content from format and Standard General Markup Language portion of the same content in another building an enterprisewide knowledge (SGML) and Extensible Markup Language publication or document, the author must base, without shelling out for an SGML or (XML). My first reaction on hearing the copy it into another project and probably XML setup. These suggestions apply to term was “isn’t that what we should have into another authoring tool. The result is most information resource migration or been doing all along?” Yes, we should be duplication of content among different transformation processes. managing our content and information projects in different tools. To maintain resources intelligently, but intelligent this content, the author must locate and content management is more than just a revise all of the projects or source A consolidated savvy filing system. documents affected by the change. The fundamental theme in intelligent content content management is separating content Intelligent content (information) from format (authoring database...helps tool) and keeping the content in one management is organized, secured location such as a promote knowledge database or version control system. as an more than just a Intelligent content management supports selective repurposing and publication in enterprisewide savvy filing system. whatever format or media is needed. In the bigger picture, it can be set up to house resource. and publish all of a company’s knowledge Intelligent content management resources: user documentation, operations supports true single sourcing. It should not Continues on page 8 ☞

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Writing for the Web Planning from the others, but provide links to related topics and pages. Kurt Huget, President One strategy that remains the same for creating effective online and print content Break up your content into chunks of information This not only makes it easier Caroline Drakely and Anne Marie is thorough planning, with consideration for readers to process the information but Smith from InfoPros made the trek from to the following points: also facilitates the page design. In Sacramento to speak at our June meeting · Identify your audience. chunking information, follow this rule: about writing for the Web. In the process, · Identify the purpose. Limit a group of items to seven, plus or they demonstrated that writing Web-based · Select a structure. minus two. This rule also applies to content is an entirely different procedure In print on paper, a hierarchical bulleted lists, which are an excellent than writing for paper-based publications. structure works best for conveying vehicle for presenting chunked With examples and anecdotes, they information. It allows readers to quickly information. illustrated what they called “the good, the find the information that they need. Such bad, and the unusable.” Write for Scannability Help your readers process your online Paper vs. Online content by keeping it simple. Keep A critical factor drives the difference of paragraphs and sentences short. Write how we process information from a screen paragraphs of no more than three as opposed to paper. Studies have shown sentences, and limit blocks of text to fewer that the mind processes online than 75 words. Avoid using italics, information (text and graphics) 25 percent We can learn a lot from true Web masters. blinking text, semicolons, and colons. And slower than information on paper, due to definitely avoid using all uppercase text. the nature of how we visually process direct a structure allows a modular approach to light versus reflected light. Consequently, creating and presenting information. the relatively dense amount of text on a Page Layout and Graphics Accordingly, as a writer, you should provide page proves to be frustrating to the reader if Keep simplicity and clarity in mind as multiple access points to the information presented in a comparable format online. you create graphics and design page layout. (for example, functional, alphabetical, Graphics that are effective and consistent chronological, visual, and so on). In doing add value to a Web page. Graphics that are Online readers are so, always apply this rule: Limit page distracting and confusing will scare away navigation to three levels deep so that users your readers. impatient, and they should never have to navigate or link Design your page layout to most through more than three pages from the effectively present your online content. are critical of home page in order to get to the Position the page elements consistently, information they need. and don’t use the full width of the screen content. A valuable tool for developing site for displaying text. Computer users are TV- content is a flowchart. It lays out the oriented, so they look first at the center of overall structure of the site, giving you an the screen, then to the left, and finally to overview of page-navigation aspects. This the right. Take advantage of this when Online readers are impatient, and they will help you in enforcing the three-level are critical of content. They scan data creating your page layout. rule. rather than read it, and they like to be able to jump into screen content at any point. Further Information Equally important is the fact that people Modularize Your Online Content I recommend visiting the InfoPros Web don’t like scroll down (or up or across) any Creating modular content makes it site: www.infopros.com. There, you’ll find more than necessary. Therefore, screen easier for you to organize the page and more information on this subject, as well content should be immediately available easier for your readers to process the as a library of articles and past and readily apparent. information. Design the content so that presentations that will surely be of interest each topic or page can stand independently to you. ✍

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Drilling the Well of Knowledge When I Grow Up, I Want to Write Continued from page 6 similar type of file management tool to store your publications source files, get one API Docs Assess the organization’s environment Continued from page 3 set up as soon as possible!) Store the Are you the only person in your Does this mean that an API writer has discrete elements in the database or version organization thinking along these lines? If to be able to program? Not necessarily. control system using the plainest possible so, you have something akin to the task of Writing code is not a prerequisite for the file format that is compatible with your Sisyphus ahead of you. Are there political job, nor does a writer have to read and authoring tools. To create a publication, and territorial battles in your organization understand every detail of the code. More populate a working directory with the that would sabotage efforts to consolidate important is the ability to work with appropriate elements. Use your authoring knowledge and treat it as an enterprisewide highly abstract programming concepts. For tool to crochet the publication together resource? If this is the case, perhaps it is example, a good API writer should be able with referential links. time to start looking for a better situation. to look at an existing reference guide and see that a class isn’t being documented. Do not skimp on the analysis Develop structure and modularity The audience for API docs may include This is the most important part of any Is your organization practicing structured project managers and quality assurance design or remodeling project. Errors that authoring techniques? Do you have well- staff, but the main target is software slip through the analysis and design phase defined document structure, format, and developers, an audience that is more are considerably more costly to correct authoring procedures in place? Can your impressed by accuracy and completeness during implementation. The chances of existing content be separated into discrete than by presentation. Compared with the your organization having the appropriate elements? These discrete elements will be tone of manuals for end users, the tone of expertise in-house to do a good analysis the records in your content database. If API documentation can be highly and design are small. Hire an expert or your content is poorly organized or not technical. However, being able to explain send a staff member to a training course. consistently structured, you have a lot of complex topics in plain language is Better yet, hire an expert and send a staff work to do before attempting to store it in critical, as is knowledge of basic tech member to a training course. a database-type structure. Seminars in writing concepts such as chunking and Usable Design (www.usabledesign.com) information flow. API writers should have offers two courses, “Developing a Single- three to five years of experience in Source Strategy for XML Authoring, Resources technical writing and need to understand Content Management, and Dynamic Web Hauslinger, Sarah Lee. “What the Hell Is the politics of working within an Delivery” and “Structured Writing for XML?” Presentation at NorthBay STC application development environment. Single Sourcing” that could help you meeting, Rohnert Park,Calif., June Without a GUI, developers feel less pressure implement these procedures even if your 1999. (See the July 1999 issue of to freeze the API against further changes, organization is not planning on moving northbay news for details.) so the code can (and often does) change into an XML authoring environment. The Ray, Erik T., Learning XML. Sebastopol, right up to release time. API writers need to seminar descriptions alone are a good read. Calif.: O’Reilly & Associates, 2001. stay in the loop by building strong lines of ArchiTAG International Corporation: communication with the developers. www.architag.com Store your discrete content elements in Seminars in Usable Design: Why Should I Make the Change? a database or version control system www.usabledesign.com The purist approach here is to store the For writers who take the plunge into XMLU.com: www.architag.com/xmlu/ the world of writing documentation for elements as ASCII text with format Thanks to North Bay STC members Elyse metadata separated from the content, but programmers, the rewards can be Lord, Chris Muntzer, and Ken Delpit for significant. Experienced API writers can that is not practical if you are manually their contributions and support. applying format and structure in an earn nearly as much as programmers; there authoring tool. Version control systems are not enough qualified writers to fill the such as Microsoft’s Visual Source Safe are available API documentation jobs. Because relatively inexpensive and reasonably easy ✍ the documents are so crucial to the to implement and support. (If you are not software’s success (an API shipped without already using a version control system or Continues ☞

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Continued from previous page documentation turns a CD-ROM into an over whether a prospective API writer “What Is Programming? A Course for expensive coaster!), API writers tend to get should learn ++ or Java first; learning Technical Communicators,”in October a lot of validation and appreciation of one makes learning the other easier. In his through UC Berkeley Extension, their work, and subject matter experts are opinion, Java is easier to learn, so it makes www.unex.berkeley.edu/. often assigned to assist in preparing the more sense to learn that one first. Jim and his Bitzone partner, Vicki Maki, docs. are offering a class, “Documenting Chapter members were eager to know Resources Java APIs”in San Francisco on what they could do to enter this lucrative Designing Object-Oriented Software, by Saturday, October 13, 20, and 27, from discipline. Jim recommended taking a Rebecca Wirfs-Brock (Prentice Hall 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. For more information, class in programming, with a focus on PTR, June 1990). see www.bitzone.com/training.html or object-oriented design and Java. He Richard Friedman will offer a course, contact Jim at [email protected]. acknowledged that there is some debate ✍

Chapter and Newsletter News John Dibs, Editor Genevieve Duboscq, an In NorthBay chapter news, experienced copyeditor who Kurt Huget is working on has volunteered her services. securing a new meeting Mary Flynn lays out the location for our monthly newsletter in PageMaker chapter meetings after August. and generates the PDF According to a poll taken at version for online posting. the July meeting, roughly Chapter Webmaster Trudie equal numbers of attendees Folsom posts it on our wanted a Santa Rosa, Rohnert chapter Web site. Who Park, and Petaluma location. could ask for more? Thursdays still seem the best Even with this help, I day of the week to meet. At eventually have to retire press time our September from this duty due to a new meeting location will be the daily commute to Berkeley. Golden Gate University, The newsletter is a nagging Rohnert Park campus. The duty for any person to address and meeting location assume, but it has its are shown on the last page of rewards as well. The next the newsletter.. editor would need to Volunteers are needed for commit to at least a full the 2001 Touchstone year. Writing an article now competition. Visit www.stc- The identity of our next newsletter editor remains a mytery. and again can be required, touchstone.com/2001 or send converence being held November 1-3 in but it’s also possible to an e-mail to Kurt Huget if you are Irvine, Calif., visit reprint articles of interest from other STC interested in taking part in this publication sources. In the meantime I worthwhile effort. In addition, a call for www.stcregion8conference.org. In northbay news, several writers have have gone from monthly to bimonthly proposals has been issued by the STC submitted feature articles (Kirsten Barquist issues. The September-October issue is Region 8 organizing committee. If you scheduled to be published in the beginning wish to propose a session on a topic of and Elyse Lord for this issue), and volunteers continue to do writeups of the of October. Inquiries about submitting interest to fellow technical monthly meeting topics. Beginning with articles and about the volunteer editor communicators for the annual Region 8 position can be directed to me. conference, or to find out more about the this issue, I have the able assistance of ✍

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We meet on the third Thursday of each month

Our August Meeting Thursday, August 16, 2001

Topic: Resorting to Help Presenters: Kurt Huget and Chris Muntzer

Parker Compumotor 5500 Labath Drive Rohnert Park

http://www.stc-northbay.org/

September 20, 2001 Our Meeting Place Will be:

Topic: To Be Announced

Golden Gate University 150 Professional Center Drive, Ste. E Rohnert Park

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