STC Connecticut Chapter Blog

What meetings and presentations would you like the Connecticut Chapter to host, sponsor, or arrange?

Post your thoughts here.

There’s an STC survey. Please vote.

Note that the survey asks about auto assign but does not educate you about what it really is and why it’s bad and how it can change your membership without you knowing.

For more information on why the Connecticut Chapter board of directors tried (unsuccessfully) to get this feature turned off for our members, see this blog and http://www.stcforums.com/viewtopic.php?id=875&p=1.

For another perspective on auto assign, see http://techcommdood.blogspot.com, “Auto-Asinine, part 2 ???.”
In any event, your vote is your own, please DO vote!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=kJsO1Y5yI0KibbIyi_2fAziQ_3d_3d.

Let your chapter leadership know if you did not get this information in an email from the STC.

Post questions and comments here!

Regardless of who you want, please VOTE!

• Comment on this blog topic in SUPPORT of your favorite candidate (no negatives, please! supporters of all candidates are welcome and encouraged to post!).
• Comment on this blog topic to ask HOW TO VOTE.
• Comment on this blog topic for anything related to the VOTE for Region One Director.
• Yes, Connecticut is Region One.

Here’s the info. from the Chapter Website:

The Region 1 (that includes Connecticut) STC Director position is open and we get to vote.

Click here to see letters from the candidates.

Even more interesting, our very own Connecticut DONNA FORD is nominated. Look for more information here in the next day or two, including biographical info. from and about the candidates, but for now here’s the info.:

The special election will be open for voting from July 20th through August 3rd at noon ET. To vote in this election, you must live in Region 1 and be an active member of STC as of July 1st, 2007. Student members are not eligible to vote in Society elections.

Region One includes chapters in the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; and the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.

The slate of candidates for Region 1 Director includes:

Donna Ford
Connecticut chapter
Information Design & Architecture SIG
donna@evolve.net

John Garison
Boston, Northern New England, and Vermont chapters
Consulting & Independent Contracting, Emerging Technologies, Usability & User Experience SIGs
john@garisons.com

Rob Hanna
Toronto and Southwestern Ontario chapters
Single Sourcing SIG
rob.hanna@ascan.ca

(Am still awaiting more info from the STC on how the voting happens.)

Click here for more information about the candidates including links to their biographies.

This topic is for the vote for or against “auto assign.”

I (and the STC Connecticut Chapter Board of Directors) recommend our members vote against “auto assign.”

Why the vote? There is a vote because the Connecticut Chapter BOD requested the STC turn off “auto assign” for Connecticut residents and the STC would not do so without feedback from the membership.

Why is “auto assign” bad? Because your chapter membership affiliation can change without your knowledge, permission, and without you being informed of the change.

Moreover, this can happen to STC members who live in Connecticut and change their address WITHIN Connecticut.

“Auto assign” is poorly designed, poorly implemented, and not communicated. It should be turned off.

So, here’s more on auto assign on the Connecticut Chapter Website. If you can, please read it before replying here: http://www.stc-ct.org/SaveCT/savect.htm.

Here is the email sent by the STC to members with an address in Connecticut :

===================

Dear STC Connecticut Chapter members:At the request of Connecticut Chapter leadership , we are asking you how you prefer to have your membership record formatted.

The two basic questions are these:

1. If you move outside of the state of Connecticut, do you want your chapter membership to move with you to your new state of residence?
2. If you move within the state of Connecticut close to the New York Metro Chapter, do you wish to have your membership switched to that chapter or do you prefer to stay a member of the Connecticut Chapter?

While these seem to be simple questions, they relate to an entire philosophical approach toward handling membership records. Your input is important to helping us choose the best course of action for all concerned.

Background
When a member joins the Society, he or she can choose the name of an actual chapter to join or can allow the Society to “auto assign” a chapter based on their zip code. Members must check a box to disable the “auto assign” feature. (Whatever you choose when you joined STC is what remains in effect for your member record format unless you have expressly requested that it be changed.)

The way the “auto assign” function works is if a member moves, for example, from Washington, D.C. to Berkeley, California, his/her membership is automatically transferred from the DC chapter to the Berkeley chapter.

This works well when a member moves across the country, but can be a problem when there are several chapters within a close geographic distance such as the Connecticut Chapter and the New York Metro Chapter.

Under the auto assign feature, members who live in Connecticut in zip codes (06001 through 06801) are assigned to the Connecticut Chapter, while members who live in Connecticut in zip codes (06804 through 0692 are assigned to the New York Metro Chapter rather than the Connecticut Chapter. If a member moves from one of the Connecticut zip codes to one of the New York Metro zip codes, their membership is automatically moved–unless they chose the “disable” the “auto assign” feature.

The reason this request has been made is a member of the Connecticut Chapter recently changed his STC address of record, which resulted in his chapter being switched from Connecticut to New York Metro. This was not the member’s desired action. He is concerned that this situation may occur to others of you (unknowingly) should you change your address of record within the state of Connecticut.

To ensure that action is taken based on your wishes, you are being asked directly to let us know the following:

1. Do you want the “auto assign” feature disabled for you?
2. Do you think the “auto assign” feature should be disabled for all Connecticut Chapter members?

Please send me your feedback by COB Friday, July 6.

Thank you!
Merrick
____________________________________
Merrick Bechini
Director of Information Systems
Society for Technical Communication
901 N. Stuart Street, Suite 904
Arlington, VA 22203 USA
Direct (NEW): +1 571 366 1905
Office: +1 703 522 4114
Fax: +1 703 522 2075
merrick@stc.org

I am not sure how many Connecticut Chapter members went to the STC annual shindig over in Minneapolis. None of the board went, I’m pretty sure. And, Minneapolis is a fair commute.

But, with the very next annual conference being a short(er) ride to Philly, I was wondering what people brought back from this year’s conference, what the ROI is, what worked well that would serve as a basis for justifying the commute next June?

• So, was it well organized?
• Were the sessions useful, and why and which?
• What new things are you going to try now?
• What impressed you particularly as a reason to attend?
• Et al.

I look forward to your replies and the discussion!

Welcome to the alpha of the STC-CT blog.

Please post suggestions for changes. Bear in mind that some changes are not possible currently, including CSS changes.

If this blog is a success, we will invest more in it.