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Wiki Category: Professional Organizations

How do professional development organizations in Rhetoric and Professional Communication define the field? Post your link to a professional organization with an analysis (break the whole into its parts) of who they are and what they do. Who is their audience? What key terms describe their position in the field?

Leave a comment on National Association of Government Communicators

Defined: The National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC) is an organization that is dedicated to "advocating, promoting and recognizing excellence in government communications". While the organization has strong professional development goals it also advocates for the importance of professional communication as an essential discipline within every aspect  and level of government. Since government acts on behalf of the people the ability to appropriately, effectively and ethically communicate with constituents is an essential skill the organization seeks to perpetuate.

Boundaries: The NAGC has relatively broad boundaries as membership is available to any one who performs professional communication duties within any government. That includes a broad range of titles from speech writers to social media manager and press secretary. Furthermore, membership is available to professionals at any level of American government. Federal, state, local, and tribal government communication professionals are welcome to take part in the services and advocacy at the NAGC.

Artifacts: There are three primary categories of artifacts that the NAGC has created. The first and most prominent  is Communications School. The school is a yearly conference that allows for networking and practical education sessions designed to enhance the quality of communications in government. Outside of Communication School there are a variety of professional development opportunities. The NAGC offers accreditation in public relations, weekly webinars for continuing education, and topic specific panel discussions that are relevant to the field. Finally, the organization distributes awards that recognize particularly talented and prevalent communicators. The most prestigious award is Communicator of the Year which is awarded to the public servant who best exhibits professional excellence and ethics.

Identity: All members must fit the description previously stated which is an individual with duties that encompass professional communications and is employed within any level of government. Retirees who no longer work as communication professionals and students who are enrolled in professional communication programs are exceptions to this rule and are granted membership at a limited fee. Veterans or active duty military members who work in professional communications are also eligible for membership. Additionally, businesses that are looking to network with government communicators are welcome to a limited membership for the appropriate fee.

Leave a comment on SIGDOC

SIGDOC is the Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM) Special Interest Group (SIG) on Design of Communication (DOC). ACM, the First Society in Computing, is an organization for IT professionals and students worldwide as an umbrella for subset groups, such as SIGDOC. SIGDOC was founded in 1975 by Joe Rigo, who organized the group after many professionals in the field needed a space for technical writers. He explains in a reflection statement that there did not seem to be one organization that provided a space for professionals across organizations, and didn’t just focus on military hardware.

According to their site, SIGDOC’s goal is “to emphasize the potentials, the practices, and the problems of multiple kinds of communication technologies, such as Web applications, user interfaces, and online and print documentation” with special attention to human centered design and informatics. This organization sites that they are focused on both industry standards and academic studies. These statements suggest the organization is open to all members, regardless of a focused IT background, or professional or academic status.

Focuses of this group in the form of committees are Data Sustainability, which “seeks to learn about the practices of conducting empirical research that scholars in technical and professional communication (TPC) engage in, the extent to which they may have used and contributed their empirical research to databanks or repositories, and their level of interest in using and contributing to a databank/repository developed for scholars and students working in TPC in the future”, and Structured Authoring, which “seeks to promote collaboration between academic programs in technical communication (professors, students) and industry professionals (writers, architects, trainers, managers)”.

This organization hosts annual conferences, the earliest in 1982, to focus on the latest research in the field. SIGDOC also sponsors a number of awards that are presented at annual conferences, as a means of recognizing outstanding contributions to the field, as well as grants in the Student Research Competition. They also release publications, specifically Communication Design Quarterly (CDQ) and SIGDOC proceedings in the ACM Digital Library.

Boundaries: Membership is available to both academic and professional technical communicators for an annual fee ($25 for students and $35 for professionals).

Artifacts: Their annual conference and its records, Communication Design Quarterly (CDQ), and resources provided in the ACM Digital Library.

Identities: According to their site, “Members include technical communication professionals, usability specialists, information architects, software engineers, educators, researchers, web designers, system developers, computer scientists, information technology professionals, and managers responsible for researching, producing, and/or supervising the creation of user interfaces, information architecture, technical materials, websites, and social media.”

 

Leave a comment on National Communication Association (NCA)

The National Communication Association (NCA) defines itself as "dedicated to fostering and promoting free and ethical communication, NCA promotes the widespread appreciation of the importance of communication in public and private life, the application of competent communication to improve the quality of human life and relationships, and the use of knowledge about communication to solve human problems." It has a mission of advancing "Communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific, and aesthetic inquiry" (natcom.org).

Boundaries of the association:

  • A boundary of the NCA is that it "serves the scholars, teachers, and practitioners who are its members". Certain benefits are therefore not offered unless someone pays for a regular, student, life, or retired membership. This seems to even be the case if you are admitted into their scholarly or academic clubs (unless individual schools offer to cover such students' fees). Although, a lot of information, such as academic resources, professional resources, and information on what communication is, seems to be provided on the website for free.
  • Even though one must pay for membership, the NCA is led by "dedicated professionals who volunteer their time" and who are not paid.

Artifacts found within the association:

  • Articles within the Spectra; The Online Magazine of the National Communication Association featuring "articles on topics that are relevant to Communication scholars, teachers, and practitioners.
  • A graph of What is Communication? (found in the tab called exactly that) with a webpage extensively covering the topic.
  • The NCA journal and podcast.
  • The NCA Concepts and Praxis in Communication Video Series (found in the tab called exactly that).
  • A blog-type collection of articles called Communication Currents of "recently published NCA journal articles and emerging research and perspectives".
  • Data and briefs on the discipline (found in the Reports on the Discipline tab)... and even more data under the tab Data About the Discipline. These include surveys, a list of communication program databases, as well as graphs and charts listing topics from post-pandemic enrollment rates to journal citation metrics.
  • A daily email subscription for information on the topic
  • Information on Teaching and Learning, Learning outcomes in communication, help for grant seekers, internationalization, and why one should study communication.
  • A research and publishing resources center
  • A resource page for department heads

Identities of the association:

  • Those who pay and get paid benefits (either regular or student members)
  • Those who do not pay and only get the free benefits of the association (retired members who have been members for at least 25 years)
  • Volunteers of the association
  • Lambda Pi Eta members
  • Sigma Chi Eta members
  • NCA student club members

Leave a comment on Society for Technical Communication

STC is the world's oldest professional association that is dedicated to the advancement of the fields of technical communication. They produce a wide variety of educational events as well as award-winning publications. It has more than 4,500 members worldwide. They also host an annual  international conference, called the STC Technical Communication Summit.

STC has a lot of online seminars, which makes it more accessible for people worldwide to learn more about the fields in technical communication. They also have their own jobs listings, which shows many jobs in the technical communication field. They also have an interesting offer, which they call "communities". These are groups you can join in your geographical area that connect you with other technical communicators.

They pride themselves on transparency, communication, inclusion, professionalism, and integrity. They hope to communicate the value of technical communication, improve the practice of technical communication, and define the profession of technical communication.

Overall, STC seems to do a lot of educating and community building through their mission. They have a lot of community building aspects to their site and through their education programs. Their education is not very accessible in the sense that most everything needs to be paid for, and that you need to be a paid member to join and communicate within the groups they have established.

What kind of information is accessible for the general public (without paying) through this site?

This site offers a certification to become a "professional technical communicator". What does that mean according to them and what kind of benefits does it bring into the technical communication world?

 

 

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