Moving a Community to the Web: Creating Hyperviews:Online
by Bill Bledsoe,
Karen Mobley, and Scott DeLoach
This panel discusses the issues involved in creating Hyperviews:Online, the web-based newsletter for the STC Online Information Special Interest Group (SIG). The panel explores why Hyperviews, the hardcopy newsletter for the Online Information SIG, was moved to the web and the design decisions the editorial staff made to accomplish the move. The panel also discusses what tools and methods they used, what worked and what didn’t, as well as future directions for Hyperviews:Online. The panel includes the Online Information SIG manager, newsletter editor, and newsletter assistant editor. The panel will also encourage feedback and brainstorming from the Online Information SIG community it serves. What
is Hyperviews:Online? How
it Started During the 1997 International Conference, discussion in the Online Information SIG gatherings led to exploring the possibility of a totally online presentation of Hyperviews. Past issues had been published in WinHelp, but the new effort involved a different approach. Chapter web sites were becoming popular. The Online Information SIG felt that if any SIG's publication ought to be exclusively online, it was theirs. Advantages
of Moving Hyperviews:Online to the Web Some
Challenges... The
Mechanics of Hyperviews:Online File management and directory structuring of old issues has been a yearlong battle for us, but with the Winter 1999 issue we feel that we have this nailed down. We will discuss this further at our session. Design,
Design Again... Given the broad audience in terms of computing platform that our publication serves, it has been a challenge to come up with a "lowest common denominator" design that would still prove usable and interesting. Where
Do We Go from Here?
Bill Bledsoe Bill Bledsoe is a web developer based in St. Louis, MO. He is a graduate of the prestigious University of Missouri – Columbia School of Journalism. Bill specializes in building online information systems for a variety of audiences, in a variety of mediums. He is the editor of Hyperviews:Online, and has served the St. Louis Chapter of STC as their first Webmaster as well as co-V.P. of Programs.
Karen Mobley Karen Mobley has a BS in Computer Sciences from Clemson University. She is a software developer and technical writer for IBM Netfinity Servers in Research Triangle Park, NC. She specializes in online document and help system design. Karen has presented at several STC conferences and has published in the STC Journal Technical Communication. She is also the assistant editor for the STC Online SIG’s web-based newsletter Hyperviews:Online. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Technical Communication at North Carolina State University.
Scott DeLoach Scott DeLoach is co-founder of User First Services, Inc., a technical communication consulting company based in Atlanta, GA. Scott is a senior member of STC and is currently the International STC Online SIG Manager. He has a master's degree in technical and scientific communication from Miami University. |