NEW TOPIC: Academia and Industry

[RENA LEITH]

I think the value of an organization and SIG, such as this one, is the alliances that can be formed between the academy and the workplace. While I have a PhD, I opted for filthy lucre and am currently a senior tech writer at VMware in the Valley. However, back in my grad student days, ed professors often partnered with teachers to do research and jointly write up their results as a team. Why not form such partnerships in tech com?  Shouldn't higher level theories of communication and efficacy inform decisions in the field? I'm new to this SIG, so perhaps these alliances have already been formed.
   
  Rena Leith
  Senior Technical Writer
  VMware
  Palo Alto, CA
  

"Kimball, Miles" <miles.kimball at ttu.edu> wrote:
  I agree, Kathy, that the new STC might be a viable place to brush up on
technical skills. I too am behind the curve since my industry days (like
Dan, I worked in the defense industry, although not as impressively
long). But I'm not convinced that STC workshops would be the most
efficient or cost-effective way to do so. 

As you point out, opportunities both online and on-site abound for this
kind of training. Personally, I think I'd be more likely to get value
out of a short online training course in the context of a consulting gig
that made me apply the skills immediately, than I would out of a
context-less workshop at STC. 

By the same token, I also wonder whether practitioners will get much out
of STC workshops, if they're formed under a technology/tools focus. Most
people nowadays simply learn how to learn technology, then pick up
specific technical skills as they need them. Will practitioners value a
two-grand (with travel and lodging) training-fest - particularly as
increasing numbers of them are consultants/independent contractors
footing the bill themselves? I don't know; I suppose we'll see.

The value of a conference, it seems to me, is to confer - not to get
training. But that might be the academic in me speaking.

Miles Kimball
TTU

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