Berkeley Chapter
Society for Technical Communication

Home

News

Meetings

Administration

Communication

Services

History

STC

The latest change to this website was made on Sunday, August 17, 2008.

The September 2007 Chapter Meeting

Date:

    Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Times:

    6:00 p.m. Networking
    6:30 p.m. Dinner
    7:15 p.m. Announcements
    7:30 p.m. Presentation
    9:30 p.m. End

Location:

    Highlands Country Club,110 Hiller Drive, Oakland, California

Topic:

    Writing for a Developer Audience: User Assistance for an Integrated Development Environment

    Writing technical documentation for software developers is not unlike writing for any end user. An IDE, integrated development environment, is software that assists developers to author, modify, manage, compile, deploy, and debug software. In this presentation we will explore writing for a developer audience using a graphical, menu driven IDE, Oracle’s JDeveloper, to illustrate user assistance developed by a technical documentation team.

    We will examine many familiar aspects of technical documentation applied to developing user assistance for an IDE:

    • Audience analysis – Who are the users of an IDE? What is their technical expertise? What types of information are needed to support a developer audience?
    • Documentation planning – How does technical documentation interface with the software development process? What roles can the technical writer serve on the team?
    • Subject matter experts – What resources and people are available to technical writers in developing user assistance?
    • Tools – What software is used by technical writers to produce user assistance for an IDE? What skills are useful for the technical writer to have or develop?

Speaker:

    Kathryn Munn

    Kathryn Munn is a principal technical writer with Oracle Corporation in the software development tools division. She has over 10 years experience in software development and internet services writing help systems, software documentation, and training materials. Kathryn teaches in the technical communication program at UC Santa Cruz Extension.


Monthly Chapter Meetings

The Berkeley chapter meets the second Wednesday of the month.

Continuing in September, 2007 we will regularly meet at the Highlands Country Club in Oakland, CA.


Chapter Meeting Fees

For the meeting and dinner, reserved on the Chapter's website in advance:

  • Members: $18
  • Non-members: $21
  • Student members: $15

For the meeting and dinner at the door:

  • Members: $21
  • Non-members: $24
  • Student members: $18

Note: If you do not reserve dinner in advance, dinner may or may not be available on a walk-in basis. We order dinner for the number of reservations plus a few walk-ins.

To attend the program only:

  • Members and non-members: $12
  • Non-STC-Members: $15
  • Students: $10

NOTE ONE: Non-members are always welcome to STC meetings.

NOTE TWO: All members of the San Francisco Chapter of the IABC are welcome to register for Berkeley STC General Meetings at the member price.

If you wish to pay by cash or check, send email to that effect to treasurer@stc-berkeley.org, and then bring payment to the meeting.

If you wish to pay be credit card, please reserve using our online storefront.

Interested in becoming a member?


Chapter Meetings Agenda

  • 6:00 -- Networking, conversation
  • 6:30 -- Buffet served
  • 7:15 -- Chapter business, announcements, jobs available*
  • 7:30 -- Formal program
  • 8:30 -- Conversation, off-line questions for the speakers, follow-up on job announcements
  • 9:30 -- Clear the room, move conversations to the sidewalk

 *Attendees are encouraged to announce open positions. Please bring job listings for distribution. Recruiters may introduce themselves, but may not describe open positions in detail. Save that for one-on-one after the program.


Location and Directions

Highlands Country Club
110 Hiller Drive
Oakland, California

Directions to Highlands Country Club

NOTE: The club's parking lot is for members only. Please park on the street. (There's typically plenty of on-street parking right along Hiller Drive.)

  • From San Francisco

      Cross the Bay Bridge to I-580 Eastbound. Remain in the right lane, until Highway 24 Eastbound (toward Berkeley and Walnut Creek). Continue eastbound until the Tunnel Road off-ramp. Ext will loop around to the west, crossing back over Highway 24. Turn left at the stop sign. Follow Tunnel Road/Caldecott Lane to traffic signal. Veer to the right, and follow Hiller Drive halfway up the hill. Highlands Country Club will be on the right-hand side of the street.

  • From Walnut Creek

      Take Highway 24 Westbound through the Caldecott Tunnel. Stay in the right-hand lane, taking the first exit after the tunnel ends, the Tunnel Road exit, going towards Berkeley. Follow Tunnel Road to the complex intersection and stop light, at Tunnel Drive, Hiller Drive, and Highway 13. Veer to the right, and continue halfway up the hill on Hiller Drive. Highlands Country Club will be on the right-hand side of the street.

  • From I-80 and Berkeley

      Take Ashby Avenue to the Highway 13 exit. Ashby becomes Tunnel Road at the Claremont Hotel. Continue on Tunnel Road (through the split-level section) to the stoplight just before the Highway 24 overcrossing. Remain in the left lane and make a sharp left U-turn around the Firestorm Memorial Garden, on to Hiller Drive. Continue halfway up the hill. Highlands Country Club will be on the right-hand side of the street.

  • From Hayward

      Take I-580 Westbound to Highway 13 north. Continue on Highway 13 past the overcrossing of Highway 24. At the stoplight, turn right, then left, onto Hiller Drive. Continue halfway up the hill. Highlands Country Club will be on the right-hand side of the street.



Chapter Meeting Program Ideas?

If you have a suggestion for a meeting topic you'd like to hear more about or if you'd like to be a presenter, send an email to Linda Urban and Mary Ann Campbell, our co-VPs of Programs.


Last updated Sunday, August 17, 2008.
© 2005-2008, STC-Berkeley Chapter

Please email webpage corrections or webpage comments to:

East Bay Chapter North Bay Chapter Sacramento Chapter San Francisco Chapter
Silicon Valley Chapter STC Region 8 STC International Headquarters
,

Top of Page
Berkeley STC Home