New Dues Structure for 2008 - Student Opinion

Thu Sep 27 11:27:31 MDT 2007

I haven't participated in this thread because I am not a member of the academic community and because I tend to be a little narrow-minded about the value of membership in the STC -- I've always felt it was a bargain. Every really great job I've ever gotten has been through the STC. (But some of this may have to do with my working in the public sector. I realize I have a different perspective than most of this SIG -- I participate in the SIG for the occasional, very valuable, discussions about instructional design and teaching methods.)

I would say, however, that of the organizations mentioned in the post below, only one is solely dedicated to the technical writing profession, and that's the STC. There is certainly value to be found in belonging to the IEEE, but, again -- their audience encompasses many more professions other than that of technical communicator.

And while I would say that in general, a person influencing 20 students at a time may be perceived to be a greater recruiter of students than others, I would be interested in reading the data on why students joined. (This could be available on the STC website --?I don't know.)

I do know that if each of our more than 20,000?current members of the STC has influenced even one person to join, that's a pretty significant number. As for myself, as a manager I had complete influence on the membership of my staff (as well as using a prospective?staff's STC membership as a?decision influencer). One of my employees was studying engineering and she had a bit of a "beneath me" attitude toward the technical writing job she had been promoted into because of her technical aptitude. Not only did she join?(at the student membership rate) purely because of my influence, but as a result of her exposure to information at the conferences and in the SIGs, she went into web development?rather than applications engineering, as she had planned.

It's beyond argument?that the value of the academic community within the STC is immeasurable to the future of the profession.

Bureeda Bruner
bbrunerme at aol.com

-----Original Message-----
From: RTorres <RaquelTC at gmail.com>
To: stc-ac <stc-ac at lists.stc.org>
Sent: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 9:57 am
Subject: [stc-ac] New Dues Structure for 2008 - Student Opinion

Someone in the thread was curious to see what students would think about
the fees issue. Well, if anybody is interested to know the opinion of one
student, here it goes.

1. No academic support = No new student members.

Plain and simple, student members join the STC because their teachers
encourage them. It is very, very, very rare that a student searches the
web, is referred by a friend/boss/coworker, or signs up out of his or her
own accord. As a technical writing student RIGHT NOW, I can tell you that
our teachers continuously encouraged us to join the STC, and if it weren't
for them, we wouldn't have joined. Period.

A professional may bring with them one or two extra colleagues, but in
terms of recruiting, a teacher can influence up to 20 or 30 students in
class. IMHO, a reduced academic fee should be considered as a reasonable
benefit to the STC's most active and influential recruiters.

2. The STC does not offers students enough bang for their buck.

I know comparisons are odious, but when students have to allocate their
precious little money, they shop around. If I'm allowed to be candid here,
the STC offers students comparatively few benefits for their buck. When I
looked at professional organizations to join, I considered at least a half
a dozen different ones, including the PWA, the STC, the IEEE, and the ACM.
Comparatively speaking, the STC offers fewer scholarships, fewer fringe
benefits (access to journals, periodicals, publications, research
resources, etc), fewer structured mentorship opportunities, fewer student
opportunities for participation, weaker school and local chapters, and
fewer "recognition" than other groups that students look to join in the
technology field.

3. Look around at the competition... We have a lot to learn.

I invite all members to peruse the membership structure of the Association
of Computing Machinery (ACM). I believe you'll find this is what a
comprehensive, flexible, affordable and appealing fee structure looks
like. Then, take a look at the benefits, opportunities, scholarships, and
extensive library they offer their members. Next year, I'd hate to have to
choose between this membership and the other, but if I have to choose
where my fees are going... take a guess at where they will end up.

http://www.acm.org/membership/dues

Raquel Torres
Montreal, Canada

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