Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors
1–10 of 26 posts
Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors
#2You can see some of their financial data at ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/314...). I'm curious what longtimers think led to this.
Declining memberships, maybe companies not valuing technical communication as a separate field as much, the rise of LLMs all seem like possible contributing factors.
Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors
#3I've been working in this space for a long time, where I'm one of the co-founders of Write the Docs: https://www.writethedocs.org/ -- we focus more on software docs.
The view from the industry is basically that STC was a bit behind the times, and was slowly dwindling in terms of reach and value. They still had some active chapters, magazine, and academic journal that provided value for folks, but membership wasn't as valuable as it had been.
They have been around a long time, and had a wider purview that WTD, focusing on many different types of technical writing. They had members in industries like Automotive, Engineering, and Aerospace, as well as Software.
The best way to think about them is something like the ACM in the software industry. They have been taken over by more current community approaches in various areas (eg. Pycon), but also still doing some more traditional stuff that adds value but isn't as relevant to day-to-day practitioners.
Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors
#4Finally no more professionals trying to make technology understandable by outsiders. Developers in control, let's hide knowledge behind cryptic terminology, issue databases and impossible to navigate web sites - long beyond the abilities of Google now requiring AI to learn anything.
I feel sad that we are loosing the long form communication - deep manuals and books. When I started we had dedicated technical writers but then lost them along the way supposedly to save money. They then took other roles not necessarily shining in them while developers did a worse job and were loaded with yet another task. Technology allows for vertical integration of workflows and there is value in removing human to human transitions. But there was also value created in these interactions. Full stack, dev ops or getting rid of dedicated testers are other examples where we are stretching human ability and not always getting a better outcome.
Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors
#5I was a member of an STC chapter in grad school and I went to a bunch of meetings and networking events hoping to get some practical career advice from more experienced technical writers.
At no point did it feel like anyone in the org could (or would) actually help me in the transition from grad school to technical writing work. It was a really disheartening experience. It does not surprise me that membership has waned over the years.
Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors
#6Finally no more professionals trying to make technology understandable by outsiders. Developers in control, let's hide knowledge behind cryptic terminology, issue databases and impossible to navigate web sites - long beyond the abilities of Google now requiring AI to learn anything. I feel sad that we are loosing the long form communication - deep manuals and books. When I started we had dedicated technical writers b…
This increasing cognitive demand paired with an increase in lacking empathy is a worrying combination
Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors
#7I've been working in this space for a long time, where I'm one of the co-founders of Write the Docs: https://www.writethedocs.org/ -- we focus more on software docs. The view from the industry is basically that STC was a bit behind the times, and was slowly dwindling in terms of reach and value. They still had some active chapters, magazine, and academic journal that provided value for folks, but membership wasn't as…
I don't know if the ACM is comparable. They run so many academic conferences that the list gets its own Wikipedia page [0]. Many are heavy hitters in their respective fields, like SIGGRAPH (graphics), SOSP (systems), and PLDI (programming languages). I think of them more as an academic publisher and organizer than as a professional association.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Association_for_Compu...
Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors
#8Finally no more professionals trying to make technology understandable by outsiders. Developers in control, let's hide knowledge behind cryptic terminology, issue databases and impossible to navigate web sites - long beyond the abilities of Google now requiring AI to learn anything. I feel sad that we are loosing the long form communication - deep manuals and books. When I started we had dedicated technical writers b…
Something went very wrong when whoever, in a Technical Communication Society, decided that the tech writers were a good place to skimp on costs.
Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors
#9I worked as a technical writer earlier in this century and was a member of the STC for a year. In my case, that was a year too long. Like more than a few other technical writers I knew and worked with, I didn't get any value out of my membership. I got more out of the (at the time) burgeoning technical communication blogosphere than I did from the STC
The STC, at least in my view, was several steps behind the times. It was a large organization that was too slow to adapt to changing realities.
Re: Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors
#10Founded 1953? Wow. Gonna call that a good run.