The newsletter of Scriptorium Publishing

Volume10, Issue 3
March 2007

In this issue:

Publishing Nightmares Contest Winner

Whirlwind of Workshops and Conferences

We're Looking for a Project Manager

Upcoming Training: FrameMaker, XML, XSL, Photoshop, and InDesign

Publishing Nightmares Contest Winner

For our tenth-anniversary promotion this month, we bring you the Publishing Nightmares contest: the person who relates the worst workflow horror story with the most creative flair gets 10 free hours of consulting. The deadline for entering the contest was on March 5, and since then, we have reviewed all the entries.

And the winner is (drum roll, please) ...

... Anne Bradbeer of Philips.

Anne's entry included this "haiku":

Simship Haiku

One source four books
Twenty two languages
Ten million word hell

Thanks to everyone who entered. We'll announce a another tenth-anniversary giveaway in the April edition of Illuminations.

Whirlwind of Workshops and Conferences

We've got folks coming and going all over the northern hemisphere for conferences and workshops.

Sarah O'Keefe just returned from a visit to San Diego, where she and Walter Hanig of Teradata offered a presentation during the San Diego STC chapter's monthly meeting. Sarah and Walter presented a case study on transitioning a documentation department to a structured authoring workflow. Read Sarah's blog entry for more information about the presentation.

At the end of the month, Sarah is headed back out to California for the WritersUA conference in Long Beach. On March 26, Sarah is offering a presentation about Coping with XML Paradigm Shift. She is offering a double-length session, Introduction to DITA, on March 27. The session is a hands-on workshop, so bring your laptop. Our booth will be in the exhibition hall, so drop by for a visit with Matt Arnold, Betty Prioux, or Sarah. Pick up some white papers and chocolate while you're there.

As part of the conference sponsored by the Trans-Alpine Chapter of the STC, Sarah will teach a workshop about XML-based authoring in Zurich, Switzerland, on April 18. Sarah will also offer the keynote address, Working in a Third-Culture World, on April 19. The address will focus on integrating project teams with contributors from different countries, time zones, and cultures. For more information about the conference—and and the chapter's (in)famous chocolate raffle—download the conference brochure (PDF, 375 KB).

On April 24–26, Sarah is teaching an XML workshop in Cambridge, Ontario, for the Southwestern Ontario chapter of the STC. The first two days will introduce XML concepts and explain the benefits of XML in a technical publishing workflow. The third day will focus on making the transition from unstructured FrameMaker to XML-based structured FrameMaker.

Sarah, Matt, and Sheila Loring are attending the STC Technical Communication Summit in Minneapolis on May 13–16. Sarah is offering two sessions:

• Strategic Planning for New Publishing Technology in Your Enterprise (May 14 at 4 p.m.)
• The Business Case for XML (May 15 at 8:30 a.m.)

Our booth will be in the exhibition hall for this conference as well—along with a stash of chocolate we plan to share (if we don't eat it all first).

We're Looking for a Project Manager

We're hiring a contract project manager for a large project. If you have a strong background in project management, XML and structured authoring, and DITA, please consider applying. (However, if you work for one of our current clients, we can't hire you.)

The contract runs through September 30, and there is the possibility of an extension or a conversion to permanent status. For more information, see our jobs page.

Upcoming Training: FrameMaker, XML, XSL, Photoshop, and InDesign

Over the next few weeks, we're offering classes on FrameMaker 7, XML, XSL, Photoshop, and InDesign. For information about upcoming class dates, check out our online calendar, or select the following links:

• Unstructured and structured FrameMaker 7 classes
• XML and XSL classes
• InDesign and Photoshop classes

We teach our public classes in our classroom in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina, and we also offer courses online, so you don't need to travel. For more information about classroom- and online-based training, see our training options page.

If you have any questions, contact training@scriptorium.com.

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