Background update

Background Summary
Writer, editor, and communicator with a broad base of experience in developing a wide range of materials to include instructions, procedures, manuals, web pages, HTML, help, business communications, medical/scientific/technical manuscripts, marcom, grants, standards, Sharepoint applications, and articles on a variety of subjects. Edited documents and conducted workshops/courses on various topics. Over 10 years in a medical imaging environment and contract/freelance/consulting work with a wide range of clients.

Professional Experience/Client List

Contract/Freelance/Technical Writer/Instructor (present, ongoing) - Provide communication-related services for clients such as:

* School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Department of Pathology - Technical writer for scientific grants (neuroscience and aging related) and National Prion Surveillance Center, including editing (several authors with English as a second language) (2002-2004)
* Cleveland Clinic Foundation (Office of Clinical Interfaces) - Documentation consultant (2003-4)- Provided documentation support for an IT group
* Instructor in Technical Communications certification program (Professional Development Institute, Workforce and Economic Development Division, 2002) and Introduction to Computers (Women in Transition Program, 2010), technical writer/analyst Office of eLearning and Innovation (2009-present)
* Rockwell Automation - Contract technical writer
* Society for Technical Communication - Articles in Intercom, the magazine of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) and Lines and Letters, the newsletter of the Northeast Ohio chapter of STC (2000-present)

Senior Technical Writer, Philips Medical Systems (1990-1997) Wrote documentation for medical imaging products including medical imaging workstations, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners, medical imaging laptop, investigational applications such as advanced cardiac imaging

* Supported FDA submissions for products such as new MRI systems, medical imaging workstation, cardiac imaging applications, clinical spectroscopy, MEG sources imaging
* Developed, edited, and produced first-ever applications guides concerning use of medical imaging techniques, working with clinical applications groups and research scientist
* Developed literature on investigational medical imaging techniques including brain imaging, clinical spectroscopy, brain attack lesion/tissue intensity imaging, and cardiac imaging
* Designed and produced, as part of a team, two online help systems, one HTML based, for clinical users of medical imaging equipment
* Wrote departmental style guide, presented writer's workshops, organized and conducted surveys of users of medical imaging equipment
* Recruited and supervised student interns

Senior Standards Engineer, Philips Medical Systems (1997-2002) Developed technical manuscripts/work instructions/standards

* Covered subjects including user and service publications (developing a corporate template), technical reports, invention disclosures, patents applications, engineering logbooks, environmental practices, product specification practices, architectural practices, precautionary statement formats, grounding practices, equipment labeling, paint standards, requests for proposals (standardizing the process corporate-wide)
* Promoted use of international/industry/internal standards as corporate committee chairperson
* Developed manuscripts by working with inter-company functions such as Engineering, Regulatory Affairs, Law Department, Service, and Information Technology
* Supported project management initiatives, assisted in project management database administration
* Provided IT support for web pages on life cycle management, corporate engineering standards, corporate policies and procedures, and enterprise project management (Artemis)
* Assisted management with development of corporate policies and procedures

Senior Information Developer, Rockwell Automation (2004-2009) Wrote documentation for users of factory automation equipment, managing multiple priorities and evolving departmental processes over time

* Developed conceptual, reference, and task-type technical content elements and entire information products as defined in departmental models and guidelines
* Worked with a variety of functions and levels of personnel in marketing, engineering, quality, and other disciplines to gather and interpret source information
* Used the hardware and software product itself to gather information, obtain a customer perspective, and verify that content elements are complete and accurate
* Worked closely with teams to apply standard analyses to define content elements and design information products according to department model; created/provided oversight on developing graphical elements/illustrations
* Wrote article with another department member for trade publication describing the content reuse program initiated by the group to include working in task forces and implementing change at a pace where current deliverable commitments were met with success

Educational, Professional, and Volunteer Activities

* M.S., Technical Communication Management, Mercer University, School of Engineering
* B.A., Education, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana
* Attended Annual Conferences of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) throughout 2008 (Philadelphia, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Washington D.C., Toronto, Anaheim, Cincinnati, Chicago). Presented papers in Dallas, Washington D.C., Cincinnati, and Chicago. Attended Crucial Communicator conference in Cleveland in 2003.
* Associate Fellow of Society for Technical Communication, newsletter co-editor (ongoing) and academic relations co-chair (2007/8), judge in publications competition at international level (2000/1 and 2001/2-lead judge) and local level 1993-2002, co-chair of competitions committee 2001/2, judged in high school competition 2001/2
* Member of working group, IEEE committee on revising standard for developing of software user documentation (IEEE 1063)
* Attended technical writing seminar at M.I.T.
* Freelance/contract technical translator (Russian) - Cleveland Crane & Engineering, Combustion Engineering Industrial products
* Newsletter editor (2009 volunteer of the year, foecnews.blogspot.com environmental group), corporate contact for Komen Race for the Cure, 2005-2008; worked with Mayfield city schools as judge in science fairs and coach for Science Olympiads
* Peer reviewer, JOLT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching

Sample Titles (representative, available on request)

• Advanced Digital Gating Operator's Guide (Cardiac Applications)
• Edge Magnetic Resonance Imaging Application Guide
• Edge Magnetic Resonance Imaging User's Manual (2-volume set)
• Gerontology. 2004 Sep-Oct;50(5):265-90. (editing sample)
• Preparing for Your MSI (Magnetic Source Imaging) Exam
• Recommended Practice for Preparing User Documentation
• OnCall Physician's Diagnostic Assistant Operator's Guide
• MRI Spectroscopy User's Manual
• MSI Presurgical Mapping User's Guide
• Transmissibility of Chronic Wasting Disease of Elk to Humans (editing sample)
• Vista Magnetic Resonance Imaging HPQ Operator's Manual (6-volume set)
• ViStar Medical Imaging Online Help
• ViStar Medical Imaging Supercomputer Operator's Guide
• Community-based Water Quality Monitoring in the Euclid Creek Watershed
  
• CompactBlock Guard I/O EtherNet/IP Safety Modules Installation Instructions (Rev.A)
• Electrical Grounding Specifications and Practices
• Encoder/Counter Modules User Manual (Rev. B)
• Engineering Logbook Specifications
• Equipment Labeling Specifications and Practices
• EtherNet/IP Safety User Manual (Rev. B.)
• Faculty Guide for Recording with Camtasia Relay
• Paint Standard Specification
• POINT I/O DeviceNet Adapter Installation Instructions (Rev. A)
• POINT I/O Digital/Analog Modules and POINTBlock I/O Modules User Manual (Rev. D)
• POINT I/O Terminal Base Installation Instructions (Rev. A)
• Precautionary Statement Practices and Specifications
• Process for Secure Remote Proctor Use
• Recommended Practice for Preparing Service Documentation
• Reducing Application Guide Costs
• Specification for CCF Charges between LASTWORD and CEP (CCF)
• Technical Report Standards
• Tri-C Title III (http://title3.wordpress.com contributor)
  

Articles, Papers, Presentations

• "What We Can Learn from Project Managers," Intercom, Society for Technical Communication, Arlington VA, February 2011. (with Sandy Moses).
• "Effective Storyboarding," Intercom, Society for Technical Communication, Arlington VA, February 2010. (with Gillian McKnight-Tutein). Available at http://www.stc.org/intercom/PDFs/2010/201002_09-10.pdf
• "Seven Steps to Successful Online Help with Reuse," Intercom, Society for Technical Communication, Arlington VA, February 2009. (with P. Henning, based on an article featured as one of the three most requested articles in the last 10 years).
• "Moving Toward a Content Reuse Strategy, Slowly and Carefully," Intercom, Society for Technical Communication, Arlington VA, December 2008. (with J. Forsythe).
• "Usability Inspection of Technical Communication," in Carol M. Barnum, Usability Testing and Research, Pearson Education, Inc., The Allyn and Bacon Series in Technical Communication, New York, ISBN 0- 205 - 315 19-4, 2002.
• "Web Delivery of Corporate Policies and Procedures," Proceedings, Annual Conference of the Society for Technical Communication, Arlington VA, 2001. ( Also presented as "Moving Documents to a Corporate Intranet" at Technicom conference, Northeast Ohio STC, Cleveland, Ohio, 1999.)
• "Quality and Information Product Development," Proceedings, Annual Conference of the Society for Technical Communication, Arlington VA, 1999.
• "The Virtual Classroom: Real-life Experiences of Distance Learners," Proceedings, Annual Conference of the Society for Technical Communication, Arlington VA, 1999. (with S. Gonzalez, B. Roberts, R. Roberts).
• "Using Visual Techniques to Enhance Usability," Proceedings, Annual Conference of the Society for Technical Communication, Arlington VA, 1993.
• "Issues in Designing, Implementing, and Developing Online Help," Proceedings, Annual Conference of the Society for Technical Communication, Arlington VA, 1993.

Sample Links

• What We Can Learn from Project Managers, Intercom, Society for Technical Communication, ArlingtonVA, February 2011 (with Sandy Moses). Available at http://intercom.stc.org/2011/02/what-we-can-learn-from-project-managers/
  
  
• Effective Storyboarding, Intercom, Society for Technical Communication, Arlington VA, February 2010. (with Gillian McKnight-Tutein). Available at http://www.stc.org/intercom/PDFs/2010/201002_09-10.pdf
  
  
• Lines and Letters - NEO STC newsletter (co-editor, contributor)
  
  
• Tri-C Title III - informational blog (contributor)
  
  
• FOEC News - Friends of Euclid Creek newsletter, (editor)

Coursework (Continuing Education)

* Information Development Process
* Usability Evaluation Process
* Online Information Development
* Cognition and Learning Theory
* Internationalization of Technical Communication
* Interactive Hypermedia
* Interactive Multimedia
* Human Resource Issues in Technical Communication
* Introduction to Factory Automation and various related courses
* MRI Technologist Training
* Project Management (Baldwin Wallace College)
* Benchmarking/Customer Surveying/Continuous Quality Improvement Processes
* Rhetoric and Teaching of Writing, HTML (certified by Brain Bench)

Computer Skills

* Adobe Acrobat, Framemaker, and Illustrator
* Artemis Enterprise Project Management
* Corel Office Suite (WordPerfect, Presentations), Corel Draw
* Frontpage, Unix, Sharepoint
* MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, Access), Powerpoint
* Visio, Endnote


Contact Information

Jeanette Evans
5680 Hawthorne
Highland Heights, Ohio 44143

440 449 7867 (telephone)
jeanette.evans@sbcglobal.net

Book Review: The Elements of Style Illustrated

If you last read The Elements of Style [ISBN 9781594200694, The Penguin Press] years ago and would most likely not read it from cover to cover again, this reissue of the book with illustrations can draw you back to the text—a good thing, since rereading the material is most useful. The advice on writing still applies. The illustrations are zany and welcome, making the reader stop and think more about the material. For example, the book states, “enclose parenthetical expressions between commas.” The accompanying example sentence is “the best way to see a country, unless you are pressed for time, is by foot.” An accompanying illustration shows people on a rock at the top of a mountain. It would take many words to explain the illustration. The idea is that these people could arrive at this mountain top in one way—by foot.

About the illustrator
The publisher of the book, Penguin Group, provides following information about the illustrator:

”Maira Kalman is acknowledged by the E. B. White estate as the single artist trusted to illustrate the revered The Elements of Style. She is the offbeat and wildly talented illustrator of 12 children’s books, numerous covers for The New Yorker magazine, fabrics for the fashion designers Isaac Mizrahi and Kate Spade, watches and accessories for the Museum of Modern Art, and a mural at the elegant Wavehill estate in Riverdale, among other projects. Her sophisticated and witty images that are yet bright and fanciful have won her a devoted following, especially among young urbanites.”

What do Penguin Group publishers say about the illustrated version? “William Strunk and E. B. White’s classic writing manual, The Elements of Style, has been enriched to include vibrant, witty, and instantly recognizable images by Maira Kalman in a beautiful illustrated edition. Every English-language writer knows Strunk and White’s famous little writing manual, The Elements of Style. Many people between the ages of 17 and 70 can recite the book’s mantra--make every word tell-- and still refer to their tattered grade-school copy when in need of a hint on how to make a turn of phrase clearer, or a reminder on how to enliven prose with the active voice.”

Considering that millions of copies have been sold to millions of devotees, you might not think to ask what could enhance this (almost) perfect classic. In fact, the addition of illustrations allows readers to experience the book’s contents in a completely new way, making the whole learning experience more colorful and clear, as well as adding a whimsical element that complements the subtly humorous tone of the prose. The Elements of Style Illustrated will come to be known as the definitive, must-have edition.

The Elements of Style Illustrated brings a fresh immediacy to the well-loved, much-valued, and still on-point work that has become an institution. While giving the classic work a jolt of new energy to appeal to contemporary readers, Kalman’s illustrations are themselves timeless, designed to sit alongside the ever-enduring manual for another 50 years and more.

Learn More About Maira Kalman

• Barnes and Noble Interview

This article originally appeared in the STC Northeast Ohio chapter newsletter Lines and Letters, Volume 23, Issue 4, December 2006. Reprinted with permission of the author.

Book Review: XML for Dummies

When I felt I should get a background in XML, my thoughts turned to the Dummies series. In the past, I have had good luck learning from Dummies books.

After reading XML for Dummies, I noticed on amazon.com the book got 2 stars out of 5. Some people called the book worthless and downright wrong, but a few in the minority liked it. While I feel the book did not totally meet my expectations, I don't think the book was totally worthless.

The book did an adequate job of introducing XML concepts. Plus, as a reference on tag formats, it should prove helpful. What I found lacking, however, was the right information to give me the overall grasp on the subject that I wanted to get. After reading the book, I took two online classes on the subject. The classes gave me the right level of conceptual background as well as enough examples of XML, which the book in general did not provide.

Normally, I like the Dummies format, style, and approach, which this book uses. In XML for Dummies it is the content, not the style, that I found lacking.

The sections of the book include the following, in addition to a glossary and index:

• XML Basics
• XML and the Web
• Building In Validation with DTDs and Schemas
• Transforming and Processing XML
• XML Application Development
• The Part of Tens

Book information: XML for Dummies Authors: Lucinda Dykes and Ed Tittel. 2005. Indianapolis, Indiana: Wiley Publishing, Inc. [ISBN: 0764588451] 366 pages, including index. $24.99 USD

Webinar Review: New Standard for Safety Information

STC sponsored a Webinar covering ANSI Z535.6 — A New Standard for Safety Information in Product-accompanying Literature. Rockwell Automation hosted this Webinar locally at their Landerhaven office in Mayfield Heights on January 31, 2007.

Attendees learned about this new standard for presenting safety messages in owners' manuals, product manuals, instructions, and other collateral materials.

The standard focuses on the design and placement of product safety messages (or warnings) in product-accompanying documents such as owners' manuals, instructions, users' guides, maintenance or service manuals, assembly instructions, and safety manuals.

The speakers ably described the new standard and reviewed the four types of safety messages defined in the standard: supplemental directives, grouped safety messages, section safety messages, embedded safety messages.

Participants found the presentation and standard content itself useful for providing ideas on how to work with this type of information.

Here is more from stc.org about the presenters:

Steven Hall serves as vice-chair for the ANSI Z535.6 subcommittee which directed and oversaw the development of the new standard. He is a senior consultant and director of hazard communication consultations at Applied Safety and Ergonomics.

Elaine Wisniewski is a managing consultant in the human factors and product safety group at Applied Safety and Ergonomics. She participates in research, development, and evaluation of safety communication such as warnings, instructions, symbols and graphics, owner's manuals, and other safety-related publications.