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Subject:STC on the Net Opinion Poll From:Eric Ray <ejray -at- OKWAY -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU> Date:Wed, 21 Jul 1993 10:35:30 CDT
STC on the Net -- Very informal and unscientific survey results
Well, here are the results. I wasn't really surprised by anything--this
more or less confirmed my suspicions. I do have all of the information
(except Simon North's, which I tabulated and accidentally deleted), but I
won't release it with names unless I have explicit permission. I will make
the comments available to STC, after stripping out identifying
information.
The only significant thing I would note is that at least 4 STC Chapter
presidents or past presidents responded, in addition to several other
people who are active in STC at either the chapter or national level. I
would surmise, based on this exercise, that using the Internet for
communication is the direction that technical communication professionals
are moving, regardless of the direction any organization chooses to go.
I would be very interested in hearing comments, questions, or responses to
this unscientific opinion poll.
Eric
ejray -at- okway -dot- okstate -dot- edu
RESULTS:
41 Respondents
39 Want STC Internet Access
39 STC Members
1 non member (see below, first comment)
1 questionable (also below)
Uses:
19 General (e.g. "If it's as easy as/useful as this count me in)
28 Job list
7 Networking
18 STC Info (Includes chapter development, E-mail access,
STC queries)
15 STC Activities (vague)
21 Discussion Forums
4 Bibliography
2 Conference Info/Updates
2 Submitting articles, proposals
2 Online Reference Library
Other comments:
10 Mentioned never using STC BBS (cannot afford long distance often
mentioned)
2 Mentioned using STC BBS
1 Mentioned that many chapter members don't have Internet Access
1 Mentioned would pay extra for Internet access through dues
1 Mentioned Online "chat" capacity is unnecessary
1 Meeting agendas/ local & remote (sounds like online newsletters
to me EJR)
Interesting comments (names have been omitted, because these were
personal replies):
Hi Eric! I jsut wanted to add that I also would like access to STC info
on teh net. I am not a STC member as of yet, but I am interested in
joining at a later date. I am currently interested in tech writing as a
career move and am pondering my path daily with considerations about this
move. Having STC on the internet would be so convenient. I think certain
areas of it should be open to nonmembers and restricted areas on others.
I tend to believe (and TECHWR-L is evidence) that Internet would be
a great way for STC members to communicate with each other based on
common interests *at their own convenience*. I may seem lazy, but
the last thing I want to do after a full day's work is
go out to a meeting, even though it's usually fun. I'm sure I'm
not the only one who feels that way, either! On the other
hand, if I could just log in when I had a free hour and find out
what's happening, I feel I could both contribute more to STC and
get more benefit from STC. I also believe after doing that a
few times, I would find that there were people I wanted to 'talk'
to further, which might lead not only to a new friend/contact, but
possibly a discussion, article, or other project that might
benefit the rest of the members online.
I'd also use it for discussion, getting stuff from STC, and job searches
(presumably, the jobs would be relevant to only tech pubs types).
However, as
I stated in an earlier posting, I am not in favor of making job postings
available to non-members, as I consider it a benefit of membership. There
are
other newsgroups non-members can access; for example, misc.jobs.offered
includes tech pubs jobs.
I'm not really sure whether I am still a member. I decided not to
renew my membership and don't know whether it has officially lapsed
yet. I'll be happy to renew my membership when it becomes worthwhile.
Hi Eric. I'm an STC member (Willamette Valley chapter) and am ambivalent
about STC on the Net. There are plenty of jobs in misc.jobs.contract and
misc.jobs.offered. As for discussion of tech. communication issues,
bit.listserv.techwr-l is more than enough for me. I don't know what STC's
BBS has to offer, but maybe it has some other useful features that warrant
it joining the Net.
I don't expect an "active" STC presence on Internet. The
STC BBS is rapidly becoming known as the STC Bulletin Bore. But
Internet is simpler to access and is available world-wide. Even
e-mail only access would be an improvement over current conditions.
As a senior member who has attended several of the international
conferences, has served as a committee manager for my local
STC group for several years, and is currently an international
committee co-chair, I think STC best serves its constituents when
they serve STC. The conferences in particular have illuminated for
me the most valuable service STC has provided: a forum for
sharing ideas. By starting this listserv thread, you, Eric, have
provided just the sort of arena for sharing ideas that STC members
can really benefit from.
I would like more STC members to be involved in the discussions
on this Internet address. To that end, if STC's administrative rank
and file supported and advertised this forum, more members might
take advantage of it. STC has always offered more to the new
member and those new to technical communication than they
have provided for senior members and writing managers like myself.
I'd like to see more people become involved here. I don't need STC
to post job lists or synopses of the pertinent literature.
