Writing while you sleep

(An article on STC India's 2006 conference published in Rough Draft, the newsletter of the the Phoenix chapter of STC.)

By Jill Ginsburg

If you work at a technical writing job or contract from 8 to 5 (8 to 6? 8 to 7?), you may not think too often about the technical writers who work while you sleep. After all, they're 12,000 miles away. But there's a lot is going on...

This year, there were 600, not 450 like last year, and many more than the year before that. They listened, took lots of notes and asked lots of questions, shared techniques and tales, speculated on industry trends and their own careers, kidded each other, competed with each other, and made plans for tomorrow and next year.

The time was December 7-9, 2006, the occasion was the 8th Annual STC India Conference (2006), and the place was Bangalore, major technology center and capital of the southern state of Karnataka.

Getting to Bangalore

In May of last year, I was lucky enough to read STC past president Andrea Ames' May 2006 STC Intercom article about her experiences at the December 2005 STC India Conference in Hyderabad. At the time, I was planning a trip to India's southern states for December 2006, and a little light went on.

My inquiries about the 2006 conference arrived in the capable hands of Saravanan Manoharan, a technical writer from Delhi and a moving force behind technical writing education and conferences in India; Gururaj "Guru" B.S, then president of STC India; Anupama A., the conference program manager (and STC India president for 2007); and Rajdeep Gupta, who moderates the 477-member (at last count) Bangalore Technical Writers Meetup group at http://techwriter.meetup.com/2. I learned that the 2006 conference would be held in Bangalore.

Phoenix STC member Larry Samson put me in touch with Kala Lakshmanan and Anamika Mukherjee, two Bangalore members of the Intel documentation team he was then working with. I registered in advance with a bank draft in rupees, parked my luggage at the hotel that Anamika had located, and chose a yellow-and-black auto-rickshaw for the short ride to the Grand Ashok Hotel, where I found my badge waiting at the registration table. I'm saving it.

Learning and trends: From single sourcing to RSS

Business hotel rates in India are quite high (in both rupees and dollars), and many delegates were from Bangalore, where technical writing opportunities in India are well represented. The opening presentation, by Dr. Naresh Gupta, Adobe senior vice president and head of Adobe's research and development centers in India, focused on FrameMaker and companion publishing products, which have a substantial piece of the Indian market.

Subsequent presentations addressed Microsoft Word security issues, RSS feeds (receiving and generating), single sourcing, open-source documentation, developing documentation in an Agile development environment, content management systems, DITA scalability, and translation issues. Dr. Kiran Thakur, director of the first technical writing certification program in India, at the University of Pune, announced that the Communication and Journalism department is set to expand the current course offerings to a two-year and then possibly a four-year degree.

Throughout the conference, career development was an important focus. In his keynote speech, Geoff Hart from Pointe-Clair, Quebec, an STC Associate Fellow and a respected editor and writer well known on techwr-l, urged technical writers not to be rabbits, hiding in the shadow of the nearest fence or cubicle, but to use their creative and technical skills to demonstrate their expertise to co-workers at all levels. Dr. S. Pradeep, associate professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, gave an elegant presentation on the hand-inhand relationship of technical communication to design and scientific advancement, using as a model the design of a fighter plane.

Planned for participation

The conference sessions were held in two large halls, just across from each other on the park-like hotel grounds, with gathering places for small groups outside. In each presentation hall was a complete sound system and two large projection screens, along with a podium and table in the center for panel discussions, so it was very easy to hear and see all of the presentations. The planners' foresight ensured that everything was ready, in the right place at the right time, from music at the awards presentations to microphones rushed to audience members during question-and-answer sessions. The detailed schedules posted on easels outside each presentation hall were updated regularly, so I could always tell what was going on. There were plenty of seats, even though the attendance was greater than expected.

The 2006 conference was underwritten by broad-based support from technology companies, among them Citec, Adobe, BEA Systems, Oracle, LSI Logic, and Symphony Services. While these companies were recognized in the conference materials, they kept a low profile overall and seemed to me to have made a serious commitment to the success of the conference. The exhibitors' area included several recruiting booths; the technical writing job market in India is good now, and several people I spoke with had improved their careers within the past year or two by taking new jobs.

Between the sessions... talking with Indian writers

One surprise for me was learning about some similarities between the IT work environment in Bangalore and in the US. Contrary to what I'd thought, many IT professionals work a regular five-day schedule, and some can telecommute - a sharp contrast to the schedules of other Indian office workers (many call center employees, for example, work 12-hour shifts, six days a week). It was evident too that writers at many companies are taking advantage of the career options available to them, and there is a growing and diversified freelance technical writing community. Phone services throughout India are excellent and seem fairly priced. Salaries, however, remain pegged to the Indian economy, although international firms are presumed to pay higher salaries.

The conference event that caused the most excitement -- and had the best cheerleaders -- was the annual technical writing quiz, with questions prepared by STC India quizmeister Frederick Menezes (Pune). Writers were asked to compete in teams of three, whether colleagues or people they'd just met, to answer questions about technical writing and language. For the playoffs, there were just three champion teams on one of the conference stages, and the questions were posted on the projection screens so that everyone in the audience had a chance to try to outguess or support their favorite team. Correct answers to some very difficult grammar questions finally earned one team the grand prize.

As a visitor, I was welcomed to meet with Indian technical writers and to join in their social experiences at the conference. There were excellent buffet lunches each day with wonderful desserts, and a banquet and dance on Friday night. Coffee, tea, and cookies were available all day in a courtyard area between the two main conference buildings.

Sarees were much in evidence, but some women wore jeans and cotton shirts and athletic shoes instead of the more traditional sandals. Most men chose sports shirts and slacks or jeans. Another common dress for women was the salwar kameez, a two-piece suit, often cotton or another lightweight fabric, with a long top that has slit sides and fits over a pair of loose pants. This is one item that I'd like to bring back to Phoenix, as it is ideal business dress for our hot summers and stylish as well.

The main thing I've brought back though is the enthusiasm and commitment to professional growth and achievement that I found among our fellow writers in India.

(Jill Ginsburg is a technical writer and a senior member of the Phoenix STC chapter. Until recently, she worked at JDA Software in Scottsdale, Ariz., and is now editing technical and educational publications through her own company, WritePro, Inc. You can contact her at sun_edit at yahoo dot com.)