– Sridhar Machani
We are pleased to present the STC India Network at http://network.stc-india.org/. This is part of the Phase II of the development of the new STC India portal that went live in March, 2010.
Features
STC India Network is a community built for the technical communicators in India. On this Network, you can do one or more of the following:
- Create your technical writing blog (at http://network.stc-india.org/yourname) or import an existing blog (for example, see my blog at http://network.stc-india.org/sridhar/).
- Create special interest groups or SIGs (such as Site Feedback and more listed at http://network.stc-india.org/groups/).
- Join a group of your interest and discuss/follow topics in the group’s forum (for example, you should post all topics related to the site feedback at the Site Feedback forum).
- Add folks as your friends and send them private messages.
- And lots more.
Getting Started
- Please register on the STC India Network and update your profile details. Optionally, you can choose to create a technical writing blog. Note: If you want to import your existing blog on Blogger, WordPress, or other platforms, you can use the in-built import tool, as described at http://codex.wordpress.org/Importing_Content. For specific help, you can post a request on the Site Feedback forum.
- Join your respective SIGs (groups) at http://network.stc-india.org/groups/. The groups are mapped as per the details available at http://www.stc-india.org/contact-us/.
Beta Release
A few weeks back, we had released the beta version of the Network exclusively to the STC India volunteers. We felt the volunteers should be involved in our development and testing efforts. The feedback so far has been encouraging.
FAQs
- How to send feedback on the STC India Network?
Please join the Site Feedback group and post your feedback as topics in the associated forum. As far as possible, please use this forum or a private message and refrain from sending direct emails unless absolutely necessary. - The groups and forums sound like a duplication of the existing Google Groups and mailing lists for the SIGs. What happens to the SIGs on Google Groups and the associated mailing lists?
We will keep the Google Groups and the associated mailing lists for a brief period of time and they will be obsoleted soon. Unless absolutely necessary, please use the STC India Network groups and forums to engage with the community.
Please explore the features and submit your feedback as always. Thank you!
Engage and have fun!
About the author:
Sridhar Machani is the STC India Webmaster and spends most of his spare time at http://sridharmachani.com/.
About the illustration:
The image is used with permission from Aditi Barve.
You nailed it Sridhar! Here is wishing that this platform catalyzes learning for the newcomers and collaboration amongst the experienced ones. Amen!
Hi Sridhar,
I notice that in the past 24 hours, some 13 spammers have registered themselves on the STC India Network. That’s a matter of a concern for me, and makes me think twice about registering on the network, given that the portal itself was hacked a while back.
Anindita, We’ve several anti-spam tools in place. However, we all know that the fight is always on and we can do better with more hands joining us in this fight.
You can be rest assured that we’re doing our best to block spammers and will have minimal impact on the Network.
Anindita, We’ve taken some more steps to address your concerns. Read more at http://network.stc-india.org/blog/2010/05/18/fighting-spammers/.
Thank you very much, Sridhar 🙂 I am sure the STC India Network is happy too.