A Signature Decision, and Your Educational Options

By Karen Field Carroll, Editor

Last month in this column, I asked if the newsletter might be better off in PDF format. Many people wrote to share their thoughts or spoke to me about it in February's STC meeting. Some people said, "PDF is fine. HTML is fine. Thanks for asking." But others, all of them purporters of our existing HTML format, took the time to construct logical, defensible arguments in favor of HTML, arguments like, "I can link my business site to the newsletter," and "HTML is more searchable than PDF." (The latter argument is debatable; some say Google's tentacles entwine PDF content just as easily as Web sites.) The point is, so many people wrote with strong opinions favoring HTML, I became re-convinced of its virtues for Signature. HTML stays.

Speaking of future issues, I'm planning an article about technical communicators' educational choices. There's a lot to ponder: Certificate or four-year degree? Online or in-classroom? And how do these choices affect employment, or even career development? To help answer these questions, I'd like to hear from you. Tell me about your educational paths. Did you take UCSD's or SDSU's Technical Communication program and love it? Did you find an online certificate that satisfied your requirements? If you were to do it over, would you get a four-year degree, or is a certificate enough? Please write me at newsletter@stc-sd.org. We won't use real names. This purpose of this article is to highlight the various educational options for technical communicators in San Diego. If you're teaching in a local program, feel free to write with insight into the program.

See you next month!
Karen