Next Meeting: Wednesday June 11, 2003
This month Andrea Aames, STC's 2nd vice president, will be our honored guest and presenter. Andrea has long worked on the cutting edge in technical communication and you will not want to miss her special presentation. Andrea will also present a 2003 Distinguished Chapter Service Award to one of our deserving members.

Designing for People: Human Factors for Technical Communicators
What are "human factors?" Those characteristics of our users that influence or affect their experiences while using our products—the way they think, solve problems, and learn, as well as their background, past experiences, and attitudes. Why should technical communicators care? Information is part of the product, and many technical communicators are woefully out of touch with their users. Technical communicators developing online information, like Help and Websites are, strictly speaking, designing interactive interfaces. And many communicators are moving away from developing only traditional documentation deliverables—some are designing product user interfaces.

If this sounds like you, join Andrea L. Ames as she discusses human factors from a technical communicators perspective. She'll provide a basic overview of human factors, demonstrate the impact of two important factors on information design and architecture, and describe how you can become a more knowledgeable technical communicator in this area.

About Andrea Andrea L. Ames, M.S., is a technical communicator specializing in user-centered product interface and online information architecture and design, interaction design, and usability. She has more than 19 years of experience designing, developing, and producing usable technical and scientific information for products, software user interfaces, multimedia and online information systems, and print documentation.

Andrea is a Senior Information Developer at IBM Corporation, where she leads information development for a large data management product. She is an Associate Fellow and a member of the STC international Board of Directors (she will be President in 2004-05); coordinator for two University of California Extension technical communication certificates; and a published author and freelance writer. She teaches at the university level and speaks internationally at professional conferences.

STC-Berkeley Chapter Meeting Details
Vo's Restaurant in downtown Oakland, is within easy walking distance to BART, is wheelchair accessible, and has both street and nearby garage parking.

Networking and conversation start at 6:00 p.m., and dinner at 6:30 p.m. If you want to eat dinner, reservations are required and must be received no later than 12:00 noon the Monday before the meeting. Reservations are necessary so that we can order the right amount of food. Do not contact the restaurant.

RSVP Online Use your credit card to order meeting reservations via the chapter website. The meeting fee with dinner for those with advance reservations is:

$18 for members
$15 for student members, and
$21 for nonmembers

If you come for the program only, starting at 7:30 p.m., the fee is $12 for members and nonmembers, and $10 for students. If you are not eating, payments may be made at the door.

RSVP by Mail Send checks to Berkeley STC, P.O. Box 1007, Berkeley, 94701.

All material ©2003 Berkeley STC/Ragged Left. The Ragged Left is published ten times a year.
For reprint or submission information visit our editorial section. For any questions, comments, or technical problems, please contact the editor.