And In The U.S., They're Forced To Buy Retail

["Larry Kunz ((919) 254-6395)" <ldkunz -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM>]

On Sunday, Karen Kay posted a message that began like this:

> The Society for Technical Communication (STC) released its annual Report
> on the Status of Technical Writers today.  This report, issued by the
> STC's Writers' Committee on Technical Scribes. . . .

As Lavonna Funkhouser has already said, and in case anyone didn't get
the joke, the alleged press release from Mateo Burtch has no basis in
fact and no connection whatever with STC.

It gives me occasion, however, to announce that STC *is* compiling a
report on the status of the profession, covering both where we are
today and where we're headed.  Our plan is to make the first report
available to the membership in early 1996 and then update it annually.

The report will help us get a better grasp of issues that affect us
as a profession -- issues like the relationship between industry and
academia, and whether we should institute a certification program.  It
will also serve as a valuable supplement to the recently published
work (Tech Comm, 1Q95) on the value of technical communicators.

The team compiling the report is ably led by Kathleen Sayers of
Vancouver, B.C., who was recently elected an Associate Fellow of
the Society.

Making lemonade, I hope. . . .

Larry Kunz
STC Assistant to the President for Professional Development
ldkunz -at- vnet -dot- ibm -dot- com