Editing is the latest SIG of STC India

STC India Editing SIG plans many events for 2014 – its inaugural year. Technical Editors and Language Reviewers please register with Radhika Hari at harir66@yahoo.com as a contributor to upcoming events.

Events on the cards are:

·         Webinars addressing both writers and editors

·         Articles for INDUS on any aspect of language and editing

·         Survey of the industry on editing practices – Two reviewers required for Questionnaire

·         Editors and Language Reviewers meet up (virtual only) – Moderator and Session Topics to be worked out

·         Intensive language workshops in various metros – Trainers required

We welcome your suggestions as well to broaden the SIG's horizon

 

Radhika Hari

Consultant Writer | STC India Editing SIG Owner 2014

Bengaluru

STC India Webinar By Makarand Pandit on Saturday, 29th March

Hello All,

The India chapter of Society for Technical Communication is pleased to announce a free webinar for technical communicators. Please find the details below.

Webinar Title: “Moodle Introduction”

Moodle is an open source Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. The webinar includes history and evolution of Moodle and its significance. The webinar also covers a live demo of how to set up courses, activities, resources, create interactive quizzes, and manage users using Moodle.

About the speaker

 Makarand Pandit, fondly known as Mak, is the MD and CEO of Technowrites Pvt. Ltd. He is a successful technical communicator, instructional designer, project manager, and trainer; with over 20 years of experience. He is a spiritually inclined person with commitment to the community. Past owner of TWIN, a founder member of STC India chapter, and the first Indian to become STC Associate Fellow. Mak is nominated for the office of STC Director for the year 2014. His hobbies have changed over last few decades from Palmistry, to Film-making, Gardening, and Bodybuilding.

Date: Saturday, 29^th March, 2014

Time: 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Registration: Please register at: http://stcindiawebinarbymak.doattend.com/

It’s a FREE webinar; however, registration is mandatory to receive the webinar details. For any questions, contact Mrini Gorla at mrini.gorla@adp.com.

The last date of registration is Friday, 28th March, 2014.

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Mrini Gorla

STC India Webinar Manager

On behalf of STC India

9 Things That Will Disappear In Our Lifetime

Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them. But, ready or not, here they come.  1. The Post Office Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills. 2. The Cheque Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with cheque by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process cheques. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the cheque. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business. 3. The Newspaper  The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper. They certainly don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.  4. The Book  You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages. I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can't wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book. 5. The Land Line Telephone  Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they've always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes 6. Music  This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It's the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the music purchased today is "catalogue items," meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies." 7. Television  Revenues to the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they're playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say good riddance to most of it. It's time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.  8. The "Things" That You Own  Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in "the cloud." Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple, Microsoft, andGoogle are all finishing up their latest "cloud services." That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider. In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device. That's the good news. But, will you actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big "Poof?" Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert. 9. Privacy  If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy. That's gone. It's been gone for a long time anyway. There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7, "They" know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits. "They" will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again.

3 day workshop on Storage & Virtualisation, Bangalore

Conducting a 3 day workshop on Storage & Virtualization focusing on various concepts & also provides practical insight over the subject. Interested can mail to lavanya@testbuds.in

Lavanya MHR Manager at TestBuds

Workshop on: “Storage & Virtualization”
Dates: 15th,16th & 22nd March 2014 at StorBuds, Bangalore

Course contents:
Day 1:
• Introduction to Storage
• Overview of different storage architectures
• Protocol fundamentals - Network Attached Storage (NAS) - NFS, CIFS
Day 2:
• Protocol fundamentals : Storage Area Network (SAN) - FC, iSCSi
• Introduction to Data protection: RAID, Snapshot, Mirror, Backup, NDMP
• Introduction to Storage efficiency:Data Deduplication, Provisioning
Day 3:
• Introduction to Storage management: Monitoring, General Administration, Data management
• Virtualization industry evolution, growth & opportunities.
• Virtualization fundamentals: Hypervisor, vSphere administration, VMs

Society for Technical Communication announces a learning session for technical communicators on 22nd March, 2014 in Pune

The India chapter of the Society for Technical Communication is pleased to announce a learning session for technical communicators on 22^nd March, 2014 in Pune.

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Date:

Saturday, 22^nd March, 2014

Time:

10:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

We request all attendees to report 10 minutes before the session.

Venue:

BMC Software India Pvt. Ltd.

Tower A, ICC Tech Park, Senapati Bapat Road, Namdev Bhirat Saduji Path, Durga Nagar, Model Colony, Gokhalenagar, Pune, MH 411016

How to get to the Venue:

BMC Software, Pune - Google Maps

Agenda:
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.                “Interactive Graphics… Exploration and Implementation” by Hemant Baliwala, BMC

11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.                “Trends in Tutorials” by Makarand Pandit, Technowrites

Audience:

Both the sessions will be useful for all, experienced writers as well as beginners.

About “Interactive Graphics… Exploration and Implementation”
In this session, Hemant will explain the concept of multi-tiered interactive graphics using implemented examples and WIP prototypes. He will also give a demo on how to create interactive graphics. Interactive graphics can visually explain a complex workflow involving multiple components or stages while also providing contextual links to related online documentation, community discussions, and videos.

Hemant is a Staff Information Developer at BMC Software, and is exploring the use of multimedia and interactive content in technical communication.

About “Trends in Tutorials”
Join this session to understand the latest trends in tutorials from the TW guru, Mak Pandit.

Mak will talk about why tutorials must be an integral part of your doc set, what are the user expectations associated with them, what are the various forms of tutorials across different industry verticals, and of course, how to create good tutorials.
He will also give a quick demo of a tutorial-authoring software.

Makarand is one of the first few people to become a tech writer in India, and has been a torch-bearer for the Indian TW community. He is the CEO and MD of Technowrites, an institute for studying Technical Writing formally.

Registration:

Registration is mandatory and is at a nominal charge of Rs. 50/-.

Send a mail to Mugdha Kulkarni at mail.mugdha@gmail.com with the subject line: [Pune STC: Registration for 22 March 2014].

The last date of registration is Monday, 17^th March, 2014.

Contact Details:
Mugdha Kulkarni: 9822338342

Deval Faldu: 7798981264

Business Leaders' Best Advice

Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group
"The truth is, rules are made to be broken. There have been many occasions, especially early on in my business career, when I've had to ask my ever-understanding wife to sign a sheet of paper with me to put a second mortgage on our home in order to get a business deal done! However, the theory is sound: trust your instincts, but protect the downside. And, of course, remember to listen to your mum and dad's advice!"

Rachel Schall Thomas, president at LeanIn.Org
"I try to build what I like to call “confidence reserves.” Each week, I spend a few minutes writing down my accomplishments and star the ones that felt like a stretch. If you do this, I’m willing to bet you’ll begin to see a pattern of success." 

Gary Vaynerchuk, co-founder of VaynerMedia
"You just don't know what the reality of the situation is going to be until you're in it. Once you're in it, and things maybe aren't exactly what you expected them to be, you have no choice to make a call and adjust. You'll never be able to force a different reality on the situation."

David Marcus, president of PayPal
 "People will only change the way they do everyday tasks if it’s overwhelmingly clear how it makes their lives better."

Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief at the Huffington Post Media Group
"We don’t have to wait until we move or change jobs to change our lives. Nor do we have to wait for large-scale, upstream change. We can initiate change right now. There are endless starting points."

Brad Keywell, co-founder of Groupon and Lightbank
"I’ve been involved with companies that hit dead ends, had business ideas I couldn’t get off the ground, been in situations that I desperately wanted to succeed but were on a path to failure. But each set-back and adversity could be traced back to the same flawed plan: I had approached the game the way it had always been played.My ability to overcome adversity has often been tied to a refusal to accept defeat and a willingness to explore other approaches to the game."

Gretchen Rubin, bestselling author of The Happiness Project
"So if there’s something that you wish you did more regularly, try doing it every day. Write every day, pack a lunch every day, go for a walk every day, read every day. It's easier."

Maynard Webb, chairman at Yahoo and former COO of eBay
We must always move forward. We must always work to get better and always be searching for what we are intended to do with our lives, including with our loved ones. It’s a lesson that’s important at any age. I wake up every day grateful for this time — I would argue the happiest of my life — and I’m inspired by the knowledge that my best years are not behind, but still very much ahead.

Jennifer Dulski, president and COO at Change.org
"[Lynn Sorenson] taught me an extremely basic technique, “mission-based prioritization,” that I still use to this day. (Even 20 years later, there are still times when I find myself needing to remember to do this.) Here’s how it works: make a grid with your mission statement at the top (or whatever language you use to measure your primary work objective) and your “to-do” list down the side. Run through your entire to-do list, checking whether each item does or does not impact your ability to achieve your mission."

Cyrus Massoumi, CEO and founder at ZocDoc
"Vinod Khosla (one of our early investors) offered us a crucial piece of wisdom: Your first 20 hires, he said, will make or break your company. Look for top-notch intrinsic qualities, and refuse to compromise. This simple maxim forever altered the course of ZocDoc’s development…Your company – your brand – is the sum of its parts. It’s made of people, and better people create a better company."

Jim Kim, president at the World Bank
"Courage and humility — just give it a shot and if someone has a better idea, say, thank you, that’s a better idea. For CEOs, that’s the kind of culture you need to create in your organization. For junior staff, you must insist on speaking up when you have a thoughtful idea. You never know — lives may depend on it."

Deepak Chopra, founder of the Chopra Foundation
"I was told that my core being was a field of infinite possibilities, infinite creativity, comfortable with uncertainty, synchronicity, and imbued with the power of intention and choice."

Oscar Winners 2014

86th Academy Awards winners

Best Picture	12 Years a Slave
Best Actor in a Leading Role	Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Leading Role	Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Best Animated Feature	Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)
Best Cinematography	Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Best Costume Design	The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
Best Directing	Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
Best Documentary Feature	20 Feet from Stardom (Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers)
Best Documentary Short	The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)
Best Film Editing	Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
Best Foreign Language Film	The Great Beauty (Italy)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling	Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
Best Original Score	Gravity (Steven Price)
Best Original Song	Let It Go - Frozen
Best Production Design	The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)
Best Animated Short Film	Mr. Hublot (Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares)
Best Live Action Short Film	Helium (Anders Walter, Kim Magnusson)
Best Sound Editing	Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)
Best Sound Mixing	Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)
Best Visual Effects	Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
Best Adapted Screenplay	12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
Best Original Screenplay	Her (Spike Jonze)v