TCBOK is a Treasure Trove of Tech Comm “Tidbits”

TCBOK is a Treasure Trove of Tech Comm “Tidbits”

Perfect for a Mentor/Mentee Project

Dan Voss

By: Dan Voss
STC Fellow
Florida Chapter, STC

Are you familiar with the TCBOK?

If not, you should be. TCBOK stands for Technical Communication Body of Knowledge, a wiki-based collection of articles and links to credentialed resources covering a wide range of topics within the profession and housed on the STC website.

As you might expect, the TCBOK is a continuous work in progress, as the body of knowledge within the profession is ever growing.

A formidable amount of information categorized by wikis is already available (Figure 1), yet many areas of the TCBOK remain to be developed. That means the TCBOK is always open to new contributions, particularly in areas where new content is needed (Figure 2). Additional information in the already-populated wiki categories is also welcome.

That makes the TCBOK a two-way information highway. You can use it to research topics of interest within the profession, and you can also contribute to it in areas where you are a subject matter expert or have done research.

Contributions are welcome from students as well as practitioners. A TCBOK article is an excellent mentor/mentee project which, if accepted, becomes a bona fide professional publications credit for resumes and portfolios.

The length limit for a TCBOK article is 1,000 words; thus, it is not an overwhelming undertaking.

I encourage you to browse the TCBOK. When you see the variety of approaches to TCBOK articles, it will become evident that you can make a meaningful contribution either as a SME or as a student—or, better still, as a mentor/mentee team of both.

In so doing, you will not only strengthen your portfolio, you will enrich the body of knowledge of our profession and support STC’s global educational outreach.

And you’ll earn 2 points towards your Active Member shirt!

Worth considering, don’t you think?

Figure 1. Easy Access. Information in the TCBOK is organized into 45 categories accessible by “buttons” in the Wiki Tag Cloud on the TCBOK web page.
Figure 2. Ever Growing. Opportunities for contributions to the TCBOK abound. Every member of STC could contribute and there would still be room for more information.

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