By Bethany Aguad, STC FL Chapter President
Inclusive Technical Editing: How, Why, and When to Use Alternative Style Guides on September 21
We are excited to invite you to our upcoming event, “Inclusive Technical Editing: How, Why, and When to Use Alternative Style Guides,” featuring Dr. Jonathan Arnett on Thursday, September 21 from 6:30-8:30 pm ET. This event promises to be an insightful exploration of how technical communicators can make their language more universal, inclusive, and respectful by employing alternative style guides.
Speaker: Dr. Jonathan Arnett, Associate Professor of Technical Communication, Kennesaw State University
Location: Zoom
Date: Thursday, September 21
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm ET
Agenda
We are planning the following agenda for the event:
- 6:30 pm – Networking
- 7:00 pm – Welcome, announcements, and introduction of presenter
- 7:15pm – Presentation and Q&A
- 8:30pm – Closing
Event Overview
Technical editors commonly rely on the big four style guides—the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, the MLA Handbook, The Chicago Manual of Style, and The Associated Press Stylebook—when writing for general audiences, and they also consult other style guides such as the IEEE Editorial Style Manual when they write for technical audiences. However, these mainstream guides do not necessarily serve the needs of diverse audiences, and they may unintentionally alienate or disenfranchise readers. Thus, technical communicators need to consider employing alternative style guides that explicitly address diverse audiences and edit their materials with an eye toward ableism, ethnicity, race, nationality, gender, sex, and sexuality to make their language more universal, inclusive, and respectful.
Meeting Payments
We are charging the following rates for this educational program:
- Free for student members
- $5 for STC Florida Chapter Members
- $15 for all other attendees
Please RSVP and send your meeting payment through PayPal to receive the Zoom details for this meeting. Students can attend for free by RSVPing on this page.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Jonathan Arnett is an associate professor of technical communication at Kennesaw State University and is the program coordinator of the Bachelor of Science in Technical Communication degree. Dr. Arnett holds both an MATC in technical communication and a PhD in technical communication and rhetoric from Texas Tech University. His research interests include technical communication pedagogy, technical editing, and research methods, and he is a co-author of the widely used online, free textbook Open Technical Communication.