Anonymous Anger Rampant on Internet

I found this article on Cnn.com/technology interesting http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/11/03/angry.internet/index.html. Check it out.

If anyone is looking for a masters or doctorate thesis, it would be fun to study the blogging and social media communication tools and the role of anonymity in how we interact with each these days. At the "job jar" meeting we discussed e-mail and its litigious nature (I love that word!), and I think online communication does give one a sense of freedom to express yourself any way you like without boundaries.

I know I sometimes find myself tapping away on my keyboard to compose an e-mail without giving it much thought about where it might land and who it might affect. As the article points out, MySpace and FaceBook have destroyed lives because of online postings. I have become more cautious in recent days about my use of e-mail and have even gone backward a bit to picking up the phone to have an actual conversation with my co-workers. It's kind of nice.

Comparing Open Source CMS

Foliomag.com just published a review of open source CMS.

At our dinner meeting in Butte a few weeks ago, Brandi mentioned she uses DotNetNuke at work. I use Drupal.

I especially like the line in the article “'Drupal developers are in pretty high demand, so we weren’t able to staff up as quickly as we would have liked,' he noted..."

I'm pretty sure I don't qualify as a developer yet, but I'm working on it!

Technical Communications Lab Updated at Montana Tech

Check out this story about the technical communications lab at Montana Tech. Go to http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2008/10/10/area/hjjbijijjcejfj.txt. I'm thinking that we could all take a tour of the lab as part of STC Montana's annual dinner in May.

Proposal Guide Podcast by Our Own Larry Newman

Hopefully, everyone received the e-mail from our STC Montana member Larry Newman announcing his proposal guide podcasts. He is soliciting suggestions for podcast #5, so if you have any suggestions be sure to pass them along to Larry at lnewman@bresnan.net.

Here's the link: http://www.apmp.org/ca-169.aspx

STC Dinner in Butte

Join us for the STC MT dinner in Butte:
When: Tuesday, May 20. 6:00 pm
Where: Broadway Cafe in Butte

Vanessa Murray, a technical communications graduate student at Montana Tech, will present her project on the Clark Fork Watershed Education Program (CFWEP). She's helping to create a fundraising campaign and grant-writing program for CFWEP.

We'll also announce the election winners at the dinner, and I hear rumors of door prizes!

RSVP to Ruthmeri Gleason.

It's a fuzzy, fuzzy world

Could you still do your job if you couldn't see?
I had to ask myself this question this morning when I decided to go back to work today after having PRK surgery last Thursday. Friday I was nearly blind, Saturday I could see enough to figure out which toothbrush was mine, and Sunday I could finally open the window blinds and let some sunlight in.
I took a cautious peek at the newspaper this morning- I could read again!!! The words had to be within 12 inches of my face, but it was progress! I went to work.
The first thing I did was turn on all the low vision accessibility options on my computer- high contract fonts, the Windows Magnifier, increased text sizes in browsers, and anything else I could think of. I then had to prioritize what absolutely had to get done and what could wait, since I knew I only had a few good hours of eyesight today before my eyes are exhausted. Apparently, posting to the STC Montana blog made the list. I know my eyes will get better, slowly, but in the meantime I am gaining a whole new appreciation for web usability guidelines.

Switching gears here…but I haven’t heard a peep from anyone about helping with elections. How about helping out your nearly blind president and volunteering to set up a simple Survey Monkey election?

Elections

It's that time of year again—time to elect your STC Montana officers for 2008-2009! I am looking for a volunteer to be the Elections co-Chair. Susan Ledford volunteered to coordinate the Nominations portion, but she's traveling for a month beginning in mid-April and cannot run the elections after the nominations.

Please consider volunteering for this low-risk and easy opportunity to help your chapter (and Susan!)

The time commitment is minimal. Each small task (instructions provided!) can be done right from your computer. It's really quite simple. As Susan's co-Chair, you will receive the confirmed nominations (with short biographical statements.) You’d then have the choice to either do an e-ballot via an email message or set up the election using Survey Monkey and send out the link in an email message.

If you choose the e-ballot via email route, we have sample emails drafted already. You’d tell me the results before our annual chapter dinner, Tuesday, May 20, in Butte.

Don't hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity to serve YOUR Chapter! Email me at hollik at greatharvest dot com


Last and Most Important
Considering our Chapter size and geographic challenges, we have had a GREAT year, so please be thinking of clever ways to say "YES!" to Susan when she calls on you to step up to run for a Chapter Officer position in April.

With the strong coordination and knowledge sharing among our officers this year, incoming 2008 - 2009 officers can count on an easy transition and lots of support to be successful.

Neck and neck!

Come on folks...we have the 3rd highest renewal rate of all the STC chapters! In our division, only Eastern Iowa is ahead of us by 1.47%.
I'll admit, since I am originally from Eastern Iowa, I've got a personal agenda on this one. However, we could win 4 free registrations to the STC annual conference in June!

Renew now!

STC Group Blogs

Anne Wiley, Lou Quillio, and Destry Wion -- all STC members -- started group blogs a while ago. I have added a link to the group blogs (in upper right corner on the page) so we can jump from our blog to the group blog easily. I hope you find it useful.