Technical Writing BIG D ATTRACTS RECORD BREAKING CROWD OF TECHNICAL WRITERS & ILLUSTRATORS By Diana P a t t e r s o n Senior Editor This was the Silver Jubilee of the International Technical C o m m u n i c a t i o n Conference (ITTC 25), and the largest crowd ever gathered in Dallas, Texas in May for the occasion. Since most registrants only signed up at the last minute, the conference o v e r f l o w e d into not one, but two hotels, with the odd person at still others. Despite these inconveniences, most people were happy about the conference as a whole. The level of sessions was at an all time high, as was the food and the keynote speaker, and the recipient of the H o n o r a r y Fellow citation. The most striking feature of the c o n f e r e n c e was the keynote address given by Dr. Brian W. Key, author of Subliminal Seduction and Media and Sexploitation. His talk was d i s t u r b i n g and exciting. societies, appears in more Who's Whos there is space in this n e w s l e t t e r to reprint. than The introduction of Dr. M c K e t t a took nearly 20 minutes, just listing his honours, awards, and citations. Needless to say, he only became so n o t e w o r t h y by writing well and a b u n d a n t l y about his areas of scientific interest: chemical engineering, the space programme, biology, and atomic physics. He r e c o g n i z e d the need for good, clear technical writing, as do we all. There were m a n y interesting papers. I can cite only a few to give some idea of the range. One of the most interesting was by Patricia Smith, who has done r e s e a r c h into how to read bad technical writing. She pointed out that so m u c h of it is written, and much valuable information is hidden there, we had best learn how bad writing is done. After that, we can put our minds into figuring out what was meant instead of focusing on what was said. Another rather spectacular p r e s e n t a t i o n was given on the commercial uses of h o l o g r a p h y by two researchers from the U n i v e r s i t y of Dayton. There were samples of h o l o g r a p h i c films,-- both the older sort where the h o l o g r a m appears behind the film, or in the centre of a cylinder for circular films, and newer films in which the hologram appears before the film, so it can be p r o j e c t e d from flat surfaces, such as books, p e r h a p s ? Another paper that caused m u c h interest was Harley Sach's report on wagging the dog, or how to influence your manager. E v e r y b o d y wanted to do that except the self-employed. The importance of such a large crowd at a technical c o m m u n i c a t i o n c o n f e r e n c e is that people are becoming involved in bettering communications. Technical writing, editing, publishing, graphics, and m a n a g e m e n t are no longer trivial matters to industry. C o m m u n i c a t i o n -- good c o m m u n i c a t i o n makes a product and sells it. It is the lifeline that holds the m o d e r n world together. God! Mother! Apple Pie! Technical Communication! -- He showed slides taken of m a g a z i n e advertisements, and one r e s t a u r a n t place mat in which there were hidden images. These were u s u a l l y visual, and m o s t l y related to sex. The m e s s a g e s were about as easy to find as the hidden Indians in a child's puzzle drawing, but a p p a r e n t l y your u n c o n s c i o u s mind remembers the m e s s a g e even though your conscious mind doesn't see anything unusual. Dr. Key's books on this subject have been very successful, and while m a n y people have read the books, m a n y are sceptical. The most c o n v i n c i n g argument the doctor put forth on this was that he has often found himself the victim of this subliminal advertising. He said he has w o n d e r e d what made him vulnerable. Why for instance did he order the clam plate after looking at that place mat when he hates clams? After this address, conference attendees were overheard d i s c u s s i n g how they were going to seduce, s u b l i m i n a l l y or otherwise, people into reading instruction manuals through the cover designs. Others were seen turning glossy m a g a z i n e a d v e r t i s e m e n t s upside down, and tracing out figures on them with pencils, and leering. The H o n o r a r y Fellow this year is Dr. John McKetta, p r o f e s s o r of engineering at the U n i v e r s i t y of Texas at Austin. Dr. McKetta belongs to more engineering ~40-

/lp/association-for-computing-machinery/big-d-attracts-record-breaking-crowd-of-technical-writers-illustrators-mxeZREVZo0