Archiving and Reflecting on STC
Catalyst
On January 29, 2025, the Society of Technical Communication sent an email and updated its website with a message discussing the future of STC.
The message read:
Dear Members, Stakeholders, and Friends,
Despite significant efforts over the past several years by the various Boards of Directors and STC leadership, financial liabilities coupled with falling membership numbers have created a situation where we are not able to offer the education, resources, and outreach that this membership expects and deserves. Various cost-cutting measures and attempts to generate revenue have not been sufficient, and our debt and operational expenses now outweigh our ongoing revenue.
After an exhaustive look at finances and extensive research and discussion with the organization’s legal counsel, we have decided to dissolve the organization. The Board approved a motion to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy and secured a bankruptcy attorney to draft the required paperwork and submit it to the court on STC’s behalf.
Effective immediately, STC will permanently close its doors and cease all activities. This includes, but is not limited to, membership renewals and new member applications, elections, education programs (including conferences), certification courses and exams, committee and subcommittee activities, recognitions, awards, competitions, publications, and financial activities. This also applies to all Chapter, Special Interest Group (SIG) and Community of Interest (COI) activities including, but not limited to, events (virtual and in-person), activities, elections, council meetings, and all financial transactions.
Community and chapter leaders will receive further communication on closure activities directly from the bankruptcy trustee once assigned. The trustee will also provide direction to those owed money from the organization. We will update the STC.org website to reflect these communications.
Questions will be collected at [email protected] and shared with the trustee.
Shuttering an organization as old as ours is painful. So many of us are deeply invested in STC. Thank you for advancing the profession with us.
With sincere appreciation,
STC Board of Directors
STC Executive Director Tim Shaw
The message surprised and saddened me. STC played a massive role in my career by helping me meet people and providing the opportunity that led to my first job. I would like to reflect on STC and discuss archiving its periodicals.
What was STC?
From the STC website (Now Offline):
The Society for Technical Communication was the world’s oldest professional association dedicated to the advancement of the field of technical communication. The Society’s members spanned the field of the technical communication profession from students and academics to practitioners and managers. Our members represented every industry segment and many countries around the globe.
In a rapidly changing field, STC supported the development and dissemination of technical communication knowledge and skill. The Society’s award-winning publications, Intercom and Technical Communication, were widely read by practitioners and academics in the field, and the STC annual conference is one of the most-attended technical communication events of the year. The STC also offered the Certified Professional Technical Communicator program that validates knowledge, competency and currency in the field through professional certification.
The Society, its geographic Chapters, and its Special Interest Groups produced a wide array of educational events throughout the year designed to advance the knowledge of members and promote technical communication education, managerial techniques and tool skills. Career advancement was also supported by the STC through an annual salary survey, job board, mentoring and networking.
In short, STC was a professional organization that offered various resources surrounding technical communication. The national chapter provided resources (more on that in a moment) and oversaw smaller local chapters. I was a part of the STC through my local chapter, Society for Technical Communication - East Tennessee Chapter. With that background information, I would like to discuss my experience.
Personal Impact of STC
I was first introduced to the Society of Technical Communication by a professor, Dr. Russel Hirst, who is currently enjoying his retirement. Dr. Hirst was a spectacular and moving professor, who shared his deep love and knowledge of technical communication with his students. He is one of two professors I keep in touch with, and I greatly value his friendship. Dr. Hirst was a long-time STC member and advocated for us to join. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I believe he bribed his students with extra credit to entice us to attend a local STC conference. The first activity at this conference was to introduce ourselves to our table. After my little introduction and elevator pitch, a future coworker at my table gave me her card and told me to call her on Monday. That call eventually led to an internship.
The conference was fascinating. I heard speakers from Siemens, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and universities. Writing techniques, ethics, and tools were taught by industry professionals who “practiced what they preached”. This conference opened my mind to the importance of technical communication. After this conference, I took extra classes every semester to add a technical communication minor into my studies before graduation.
After my undergraduate graduation, I was blessed with the opportunity to serve as the Treasurer for the East Tennessee Chapter. I was excited and enjoyed the novel tasks I performed. I designed and printed certificates for writing competitions I was judging. I kept the local chapter’s budget by cataloging transactions and categorizing expenses. I filed taxes for a non-profit. I created my first business bank account. I learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! The experience, connections, and culture were invaluable to a young Griffin starting his career.
STC Pricing
The Society of Technical Communication’s membership was priced higher than other, similar organizations. I listed STC’s membership prices below.
Gold: $395 USD
Professional and Academic: $240 USD
New Professional: $195 USD
Student: $80 USD
Retired: $150 USD
For comparison, the pricing for ACES: The Society for Editing is shown below.
Full membership: $100 USD
Student membership: $50 USD
Associate membership: $100 USD
Most members I knew did not pay for their own membership due to the cost. Jobs would pay for employee membership as a means of encouraging further learning and education. After graduating college and getting my entry-level job, I had difficulty paying for it and had to drop the membership. Fortunately, I was still able to attend East Tennessee chapter events for a small fee.
In addition to paying to be a member, most (or all) educational videos and series were expensive. The first course I clicked on Archive.org cost $350 USD for members, $280 for gold members, $150 USD for student members, and $650 USD for nonmembers.
Regarding pricing, I am hesitant to share my opinion on the value of the courses and membership. My full time job has never been technical writing or technical communication. From my perspective, as a data analyst who utilized technical communication in the presentation of data, the high prices for membership and courses were not worth it. That may not be true for a technical writer who more heavily utilizes the skills and tools that were the focus of the site’s content. Unfortunately, high cost eventually priced me out of STC.
If I may speculate, the STC website often had issues that hinted at mistakes in the underlying code and design. Hosting fees for the video content and the website, technical debt relating to the website, and dropping enrollment may have forced the increased cost of membership.
Archiving STC
In honor of STC, and practicing my belief of preserving information, I decided to archive the periodicals using Archive.org. At the time of STC’s last WayBack Machine snapshot, a few pages were not crosslinked, making the periodicals difficult to acquire. I have downloaded the copies available from the website and uploaded them separately to Archive.org.
Technical Communication was an academic journal run by STC and can be found here. In the collection is every issue available from the STC website. The text from the rest of the issues can be found on JSTOR.
Intercom was STC’s monthly magazine and can be found here. In the collection is every issue of Intercom (that I am aware of).
I hope these archives are useful to future technical communicators.
Auld Lang Syne