STC About Us [nav-yellow1.gif] [nav-shadow1.gif] [home-nrml.gif] About Singapore About Us Events Publications Common FAQs News Room [edu-nrml.gif] Directories FAQs Resources Sponsorship [employ-nrml.gif] Directories FAQs Resources Sponsorship [contact-nrml.gif] Leaders Members Sponsorship [sitemap-nrml.gif] [search-nrml.gif] [nav-shadow.gif] About Singapore Calendar of Events for 2003 This year, we are introducing a series of bi-monthly playback and discussion sessions, based on the audio/video recordings of a conference keynote and three Phone Seminar presentations in the USA and Canada: Date Topic It took a massive failure of our economy to get people back on their feet and their heads on the surface of the planet. But now, we have "recover". Where do we start? This is a video recording of a keynote lecture delivered by Jared Spool at an STC Region 7 conference in 2002. Jared's target audience are technical communicators and usability practitioners who are trying to make their work relevant while coming to grips with the realities of an economic downturn. Jared Spool is a recognized authority on user interface design and human factors in computing. A software developer and programmer, Jared founded User Interface Engineering in 1988. He has more than 15 years of experience conducting usability evaluations on a variety of products, and is an expert in low-fidelity prototyping techniques. Jared is on the faculty of the Tufts University Gordon Institute and teaches seminars on product usability. He is a member of SIGCHI, the Usability Professionals Association, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the IEEE. He is a regular tutorial speaker at the annual CHI conference and Society for Technical Communications conferences around the country. Jared can be reached at jspool@uie.com. Have you ever wondered how to create a search function that will actually help people find information? Most Web sites have some kind of search feature, but all too often, it fails to provide the answers needed to guide users. Debates among experts about the usefulness of the search function have done little to help webmasters make good design decisions. In this seminar, Whitney Quesenbery takes a fresh look at the problem by approaching it from the users' point of view. With a model that starts from the users' perspective, the presentation helps us understand the search function as one element in the users' tool kit of information-gathering methods. Results of a series of usability tests on search behavior helped form the basis for this model. This presentation will: * Define a model for looking at the entire user experience of search * Look at the design questions raised by each step of the model * Review some successful (and a few not-so-successful) search designs * Explore how meta-tags and other markup can improve search success * Look at some of the new search techniques, from visualizations to facets, that are now emerging as mainstream capabilities Whitney Quesenbery designs interfaces for projects from Web sites to applications and helps companies improve the usability of their products. Long concerned with the relationship of people and computers, Quesenbery was a developer of the Logical User Centered Interaction Design (LUCID) framework for a user-centered design process. As a principal at Cognetics, her projects ranged from the original Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4 Travel Guide to hospital management software, Web applications, and corporate information tools. For STC, Quesenbery has managed the Usability SIG and is the webmaster for its popular Web site (www.stcsig.org/usability). She is also the director of outreach for the Usability Professionals' Association. She can be reached at whitneyq@wqusablity.com. Do you know that one of the top 20 fastest growing employment fields in the USA is a relatively unknown profession called technical communication? And that people in this profession are paid salaries comparable to those of engineers? Learn more about Technical Communication, the value it provides (in terms of corporate image, sales, costs and even a matter of life and death), the required skills, and more through this talk. Joo Khim TAN managed the Technical Communications section in Creative Technology Ltd for five years before moving on to design and develop an e-learning portal with web services for HP Education almost three years ago. She now works as an Instructional Technologist in the Teaching & Learning Centre of Ngee Ann Polytechnic, specialising in the design and development of web-based applications and courseware. She also works part-time as an Engineering Communication tutor for the UTS Bachelor of Engineering in Aerospace Operations program. Joo Khim was the president of the Singapore chapter of the Society for Technical Communication for the years 2000-2003. She has a degree in Computer Science/Information Systems from the National University of Singapore. She has also studied online for more than three years with Singapore Polytechnic, Elementk.com (previously known as Macromedia University) and an Australian university. She's currently pursuing a Masters' degree in Educational Technology. Joo Khim can be reached at jookhim@alumni.nus.edu.sg. Technical writers are well positioned to move into the rapidly growing instructional design (ID) field. Many of their core skills are essential in ID practice; however, some behavioral science competencies expected of ID professionals are not commonly associated with technical writing. Individuals who want to make this career transition may require specialized training or targeted development activities. In this presentation, speaker Constance Billé, whose own career has spanned both fields, will share information on how to acquire the additional competencies needed to take this career path, and will review competency models developed by professional organizations that serve instructional designers. She will also discuss many educational options and career planning strategies available. Sample résumés will be used to illustrate how an ID manager might regard different backgrounds. Participants will have the opportunity to measure their own career readiness using a self-assessment and planning tool. This seminar is appropriate for any STC member interested in a career in instructional design. Constance Billé has more than 20 years' experience as a writer, producer, consultant, and manager of training and technical communication. She presently leads an instructional design group for Towers Perrin, an international consulting firm. Before joining Towers, she pioneered e-learning with German software giant SAP; managed training and documentation for IMS Health, a division of Dun & Bradstreet; and developed custom training and documentation for Merck, Abbott Laboratories, Dow, IBM, and the Environmental Protection Agency. She is also an illustrator and has taught English literature. Billé holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.Ed. in educational media from Temple University. She is a senior member of STC and has been a chapter officer of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) and the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). Bille can be reached at billec@towers.com. Is it enough that information we use is clear and concise? Isn't there some part of human nature that also responds to beauty? Traditional architects repeatedly use the term "beauty in design." Drew Hubbell, a commercial architect suggests, "Beauty in design affects all facets of our lives, enhancing our awareness." What does that description mean and how can we apply it to information architecture and design? Information design solutions incorporate design approaches that take into account human factors, perception, graphic design and usability testing to ensure a clear translation of any data. Information architects and designers work to find ways to attract users, keep them engaged, and move them through data environments. Perhaps by studying the aesthetic tastes of user groups, more functional information displays can be developed. This telephone seminar will focus on the "beauty" in effective information displays and how to learn from the visual cues that saturate the world around us. During the seminar, participants will work through online exercises and be challenged to define how "beauty in design" translates into their own work as technical communicators. Phylise Banner is an instructional technologist for the University Without Walls, the adult distance education program at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. Working with faculty and students, she develops online learning experiences geared specifically for asynchronous Web delivery. A senior member of STC, Phylise is a regular presenter at international STC events on the topics of information design and creativity. With a background in fine art, graphic design, and data analysis, she approaches the world of information design from both sides of the brain. She is currently in the Instructional Technology doctoral program at Nova Southeastern University, focusing on free-choice learning methods as they apply to online learning. Phylise can be reached at pbanner@skidmore.edu. Speaker(s) Host(s) and Venue 13 Feb (Thur evening) Changing the Practice of Usability to Help Businesses Succeed (video) Jared SPOOL Jayanath PERERA, Printelligence (S) Pte Ltd 25 June (Wed evening) Looking, Finding, Searching... (audio) Whitney QUESENBERY Nanditha RAMAN, Kaye NG, Eutech Cybernetics Pte Ltd 26 July/- (Sat morning) Technical Communication: Profession, Pay & Prospects (face-to-face) Joo Khim TAN Hwee Ling LIM, National University of Singapore Getting into Instructional Design: Tips for Technical Writers (audio) Constance BILLE Sep/Oct * Making the Complex Clear and Pretty (audio) Phylise BANNER Deepak CHARI, Ebenezer THOMAS * Nov/Dec * Leaders' Retreat To be confirmed * To be confirmed * /- Postponed from April 2003 due to a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) scare at one of the speakers' workplace. *Further details will be announced later. Copyright © 2004 STC Singapore | Disclaimer | Credits