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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.”

 

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

The HCA is a not-for-profit organization whose vision is to unite all business sectors of healthcare communicators and become the leading association in this field.

Their continuous mission is to support and represent all regional, global, and national healthcare communicators. The HCA strives to provide better opportunities for education and development among participating professionals, along with mentoring opportunities, and allow businesses to learn from and lean on each other for growth.

HCA values - collaboration, professionalism, integrity, responsibility, and commitment, align directly with their roadmap to success. This path begins with the uniting of healthcare communicators to set the standards of what it means to communicate in the medical field. For those participants, they provide unique resources to allow for further research and growth within individual teams. The HCA also believes in one leading voice, and they want their association and those involved with it to become that leader. They emphasize situations and values that they want to bring to the forefront of conversations. Examples of those include diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The HCA also highlights the importance of focusing on the future. Rather than continuously being stuck on current challenges, always be reminded of the future of healthcare communications and how present work will be beneficial for future leaders of the field.

Across the board, the HCA is very passionate about uniting communication within the healthcare world. In order to do that they are really focusing on innovation, creativity, and expansion. Joining their team seems to be a free and simple process with little to no experience needed. They are searching for more voices and participants to follow their mission and keep advancing healthcare communication.

Though joining is free, the HCA prides itself as a non-profit organization with excellent development and mentoring opportunities, however, all conferences and continuing professional development courses provide a marginal price discount for members.

The CPD courses aim to instruct on how to be a better leader and communicator, not necessarily a better healthcare communicator. Does this affect their member numbers or their entire mission to possible prospects? Or is it viewed as a stepping stone to becoming a better healthcare communicator?

 

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?

 

 

Professional Writing MA

How do professionals in the field characterize the boundaries, artifacts, and identities?

  • Create a wiki to showcase a  "professional" communicator based on your analysis of the digital presence of people who do the type of professional communication you want to engage in
  • Goal: Identify and analyze how professionals articulate the boundaries, artifacts, and identities of the field

    Wiki Post: Map how professionals situate their identity in professional communication. To do so, search for professionals who perform the type of work that you are interested in. For example, a freelance grant writer or a business writer who writes a blog about best practices in communication. Then, develop a wiki to map the boundaries, identities, and artifacts from that viewpoint.

    Your wiki page might include these headings:

    • Profile of _____
    • The implicit and explicit boundaries
    • The artifacts these professionals reference
    • The identities these professionals assume

 

Society for Technical Communication (STC)

STC defines itself as _____

Boundaries

 

Artifacts

 

Identities

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