Annotated Directory of Internet Resources

Technical Communication

Saul Carliner's Information Designer's Toolkit. See Carliner's section called Models, Processes, and Techniques of Information Design for an informative introduction to technical communication.

Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators. This United Kingdom-based organization's site contains an extensive set of links to international technical-communication organizations.

Tech-Comm Bibliography. A huge bibliography of books about technical communication, compiled by John Renish.

The Technical Communicators Resource Site. Created as a "comprehensive resource for writers of policy and procedure manuals, user guides, online help systems, and web publications," these resources, compiled by Duncan Kent & Associates, LTD., are designed to help you think about a variety of technical-communication situations: everything from creating business policy documents to writing on the web.

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Professional Organizations

Society for Technical Communication (STC). The web site for the world's largest professional organization for technical communicators contains a wealth of information about academic programs in technical communication, abstracts of articles from Technical Communication, and an extensive set of resource links.

Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators. This United Kingdom-based organization's web site contains an extensive set of links to international technical-communication organizations.

ACM SigCHI. The Association for Computing Machinery's Special-Interest Group for Computer-Human Integration is an organization devoted to the design, evaluation, implementation, and study of interactive computing systems for human use. Their web site offers general information about membership, involvement, committees, mailing lists, and links to related news.

American Communication Association (ACA). The web site for this national professional organization of scholars, students, and practitioners in communication studies offers chat rooms, teaching aids, and presentations. For practicing writers, it provides a list of electronic references, and a link to American Communication Journal, a publication intended for the everyday reader.

Association for Business Communication (ABC). The ABC is an international organization committed to fostering excellence in business-communication scholarship, research, education, and practice. Its resource page links to the web sites for several business-communication journals and to other more general sites such as "The Center for Excellence in Writing" at Portland State University.

Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW). As an organization of instructors devoted to developing technical communication as a discipline, the writers of this site update the technical communication news section regularly and post job listings, calls for papers, and teaching and professional resources.

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR). A public-interest alliance of computer scientists and others concerned about the effects of computer technology on society, CPSR works to "influence decisions regarding the development and use of computers because those decisions have far-reaching consequences and reflect our basic values and priorities." Read their newsletter for information on Internet governance, ethics, cyber rights, and other issues that interest those in technical communication.

CPTSC: Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication. A professional organization for leaders of academic programs in technical and scientific communication. Their web site offers a newsletter, a forum, job postings, conference information, and an archive.

IEEE Professional Communication Society. Members of IEEE seek to explore "the theory and application of all forms of communication technology." Towards this end, they offer a newsletter and an online bulletin board where people can post messages and debate hot topics.

Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators. The web site of this United Kingdom-based organization contains an extensive set of links to international technical-communication organizations and to non-U.S. vendors.

International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). As an organization devoted to providing "products, services, activities and networking opportunities to help people and organizations achieve excellence in public relations, employee communication, marketing communication, public affairs and other forms of communication," the IABC makes good on its claims. The "Ask the Experts" page on this web site allows you to view previously asked questions and answers on topics such as ethics, communication management, and corporate communication. You can also read archived articles that appeared in the journal Communication World.

International Organization for Standardization. Ever wonder why credit cards are the same size and width the world over? As an organization whose mission is "to promote the development of standardization and related activities in the world with a view to facilitating the international exchange of goods and services, and to developing cooperation in the spheres of intellectual, scientific, technological and economic activity," ISO is responsible for setting world-wide technical standards for products ranging from credit cards to wire cables to international country telephone codes.

National Assoication of Science Writers (NASW). This organization is for science reporters and provides a forum to improve their craft and encourage conditions that promote good science writing.

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Legal and Ethical

U.S. Copyright Office. The federal government's office has more information on copyright law.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The federal government's office provides more information on patents and trademarks.

Institute of Technical and Scientific Communicators. This United Kingdom-based organization's web site contains an extensive set of links to international technical-communication organizations. Their ethical code is more detailed than that of the STC.

Codes of Conduct/Practice/Ethics from Around the World. This site offers links to numerous codes, primarily from computer-related organizations but also from many other professions.

TI Ethics Quick Test. Texas Instruments' web site on ethics is a good example of communicating an ethical code to employees. It accompanies Figure 2.1 "TI's Ethics Quick Test."

Are You a Copyright Criminal? Dave Zielinski's essay on how copyright law applies to content used in an oral presentation.

The Center for Democracy & Technology. This civil-liberties advocacy organization features regularly updated headlines on current legal news related to data privacy, Internet and free speech, and wiretapping.

Copyright. Jeff Galin's set of links should help you understand the "shifting boundaries of intellectual property." Galin has organized his information according to the following categories: copyright, intellectual property, fair use, ethics online, acceptable use polices, and more.

The Copyright Act of 1976 (amended 1994). Read the hypertext version of copyright law courtesy of Cornell University.

Copyright Clearance Center Inc. Online. As experts on copyright issues, CCC features information about legal issues related to the photocopying and other uses of copyrighted materials. They also include a link to the International Federation of Reproduction Rights, an organization that provides useful information for anyone who writes for an international audience and who needs to consider multicultural communication issues.

FindLaw. Contains numerous links to Internet-related legal issues.

Ivan Hoffman's home page. Hoffman, an attorney who specializes in Internet and intellectual-property law, includes links to many of his articles on law and the Internet, on electronic rights including trademark law, and on ethical dilemmas. Hoffman's articles for web designers and site owners cover issues such as fair use and copyright ownership.

Intellectual Property Law Primer for Multimedia Developers. This 1996 essay by attorneys J. Dianne Brinson and Mark F. Radcliffe is based on the Multimedia Law and Business Handbook, which provides accurate information on legal issues in the multimedia industry. Brinson and Radcliffe include examples of companies that lost money due to their poor understanding of copyright law, but they also explain ways that others can avoid these pitfalls.

10 Big Myths about Copyright Explained. Brad Templeton, Chairman of the Board of Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that seeks to protect liberties and privacy in cyberspace, attempts to rebut common myths about copyright on the net. He also covers issues related to USENET/Internet publication.

The UCLA Online Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy. The Institute features numerous links to resources on Internet-related legal issues, including an extensive bibliography of recent books and journals, along with a growing number of links to the works themselves.

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Writing

Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students. These thorough guidelines include information about technical-communication situations, as well as sample documents that are good examples of principles of excellence in technical communication, namely accessibility, comprehensiveness, professional appearance, and correctness.

Writer's Handbook. The University of Wisconsin Writing Center includes instruction on sentence construction and development. Topics considered in the Writer's Handbook include academic writing, research, peer reviews, documentation styles, grammar and style guidelines, letters, and application essays.

The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation. From Jane Straus, this site presents explanations and exercises (with correct answers).

Rhetorical Patterns. This brief overview from the Engineering Communication Center at the University of Toronto describes rhetorical patterns commonly used in technical communication, including comparison/contrast, more-important to less-important, situation-problem-solution-evaluation, and cause and effect.

Plain Language. This site from the federal government includes several guides and before-and-after samples.

A Plain English Handbook. The Security and Exchange Commission's handbook contains advice on positive constructions.

Writing with Gender-Fair Language. Jenny R. Redfern's essay includes information on sexist writing.

Userlab Inc. See UserLab's manual for more about Simplified English.

Literacy Education Online. St. Cloud State University's online writing lab discusses strategies for writing interesting introductions and effective conclusions. Along with tips on how to correct basic grammar errors, the site offers advice on organizing your writing, and writing in a business or technical setting.

Paradigm Online. Writing Assistant Professor Charles Guilford's site includes an excellent discussion of the writing process and pays particular attention to common writing errors. Guilford's tips on the discovery process, organizing, and revising will also benefit all writers.

Definitional Techniques. Merrill Whitburn of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute describes definitions used in professional and academic writing.

Exercise Central. The largest collection of editing exercises available online, this site provides practice for mastering the skills of editing grammar, style, punctuation, and mechanics. Many of the exercises are designed to help foster coherent and concise writing.

Garbl's Writing Resources Online. This annotated directory of web sites focuses on creativity, the writing process, English grammar, style and usage, reference sources, plain language, and active writing. Many of the sites offer advice on the writing process as a whole, from writing the first draft to revising and polishing your work.

The Passive Engineer. Helen Moody's essay will help you learn when it's appropriate to use the passive voice.

Daily Grammar. Through this site, you can have grammar and punctuation lessons e-mailed to you daily, or you can browse all the lessons in the unusually comprehensive archive.

Guide to Grammar and Style. Professor Jack Lynch of Rutgers University covers the ins and outs of sentence construction. There are two types of entries: specific articles on usage and more general articles on style. The specific articles cover such topics as when to use a semicolon and what a misplaced or dangling modifier is; the general articles discuss ways to make "proper" writing even better.

Crossing Borders. George Rimalower's essay gives tips on how to prepare text for translation.

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Review and Usability Testing

Usability.gov. A rich site that discusses how to do usability testing on web sites to make them easier to use and more effective. It also provides links to other resources on usability and web design.

One Last Look: The Final Quality Control Review. For more information on revising, read Robin A. Cormier's excellent essay.

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Proposals

Proposals. This concise discussion from Robert Irish from The University of Toronto's Engineering Writing Centre aims to help you write "successful proposals that will lead to jobs, products, and profit." Using annotated samples of proposal elements, Irish covers six basic structural elements inherent in all good proposals: summary, introduction, project description or program, timelines and milestones, budgets, and qualifications.

Three Ways to Persuade. This essay from the University Writing Center at California State University, Los Angeles explains ethos, logos, and pathos.

A Proposal Writing Short Course. From the Foundation Center, this site covers the ins and outs of writing external research proposals, from strategy to formatting. The site also lists the top reasons that proposals are rejected and offers tips on writing under a short deadline.

Proposal Writing: Internet Resources. From the University of Wisconsin, a set of links to numerous resources about proposal writing. Many of these resources include sample proposals.

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E-mail and Memos

IEEE E-Mail Netiquette Guidelines. From the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., this site contains useful advice.

Basics of Electronic Writing. These guidelines by Joe Essid, the director of the Writing Center at the University of Richmond, continue the discussion of the principles of netiquette. He offers lots of practical advice about writing e-mails and participating in online discussions.

Everything E-Mail. Mary Houten-Kemp's site contains a section called E-mail Tips, which links to a number of online documents about using e-mail effectively.

Memos. From the Writing Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Dan Murphy's essay on memo writing covers formatting and development strategies.

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Design

The FontSite. This online magazine for type and graphic professionals presents articles about typography in the digital world, as well as free font downloads.

Microsoft Typography. This extensive set of links includes typography news headlines and a constantly updated database of almost 600 type- and typography-related sites.

xblog. This collection of links covers many aspects of visual communication, including web, information, interface, and graphic design; logos; symbols; and usability.

Colorize.com. Here you will find articles about color theory and about graphics software.

HTML Goodies. Joe Burns offers numerous images, as well as HTML tutorials for beginners, intermediates, and professionals.

SYMBOLS.com. Touting itself as "the world's largest online encyclopedia of graphic symbols," Symbols.com contains more than 2,500 Western signs arranged into 54 groups according to their graphic characteristics. In 1,600 articles, the signs' histories, uses, and meanings are thoroughly discussed. The signs range from ideograms carved in mammoth teeth by Cro-Magnon men, to hobo signs and subway graffiti, to all kinds of safety symbols. The site is searchable and downloadable.

Microsoft Excel Tutorial. This site will help you learn to create a Gantt chart.

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Safety Information

Designing for the web. For advice on communicating safety information on web pages, read this article by Lisa A. Tallman.

MaverickLabel.com. This site provides information on how to design labels in accord with ANSI specifications.

Dumb Warnings. This site shows the consequences of numerous pointless lawsuits. It also features Instructions, rules, and other information frequently placed on packages.

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