Hello, ODTUG!
Spring is here – finally – and that means ODTUG Kscope15 Editor’s Choice Award submissions are open.
The Editor’s Choice Award honors excellence in creative, effective use of all modern media options to convey a complete technical topic to our members. Every Kscope presenter is eligible.
2015 is again an all-media year. The popularity of blogs, videos, and podcasts demonstrates that today’s developers gather and share information in a wide variety of media. ODTUG members consume information online and in various media formats, in addition to formal white papers and printed textbooks. Some say the white paper is dead; others simply save trees and present and consume all their technical content online. We are with you.
ODTUG’s aim is to deliver quality, timely technical content to our members in the most convenient online formats possible – and we want to keep that momentum going. Two years ago, our Technical Journal transitioned to an entirely online format. Accordingly, we have made the same transition with our Kscope conference materials.
We ask our Kscope speakers to submit both their presentation slides (mandatory) and an alternate media technical submission (optional) that covers their presentation topic. The additional, non-PowerPoint submission is eligible for the Editor’s Choice Award. This submission may be in any combination of media types: video, audio file, blog post, online demonstration, white paper, or whatever, as long as we can reuse it in our online Technical Journal. Entries should convey a complete technical focus on the topic of the speaker’s presentation.
All conference materials are eventually available to our members. The purpose of our all-media expansion is two-fold. Accepting speaker presentation submissions in reusable media types:
- Increases the volume and variety of technical material available to our members
- Expands the Editor’s Choice Award to acknowledge creative, effective use of all modern media options to convey a complete technical topic, not just white papers
The Editor’s Choice Award winner is decided by a team of ODTUG experts who review all of the conference submissions and grade them according to these general topics:
- Communication quality – assess communication style (written or verbal), overall organization of the media, and grammar
- Applicability – evaluate subject matter importance, completeness, effectiveness, and accuracy
- Topic merit – acknowledge the exceptional and innovative treatment of a cutting-edge topic, technical complexity, or a new and unique approach to a common problem
Most important for the Editor’s Choice Award is overall excellence in technical communication of a complete technical topic for our ODTUG members. Grammar, organization, proper formatting (for the media type), clarity, examples appropriate for the content, and how well the message is conveyed all matter more than the media type. The overall goal is to deliver great content to our members.
By the way – no tweets allowed! Our ODTUG members are smart and eager to learn; they are hungry for more than a tweet. As a technical editor, I believe our members deserve more than 140 characters.
We are also accepting nominations for our Editor’s Choice Review Team. This dedicated team of volunteers reviews each conference submission according to published scoring criteria. The scores are weighted and averaged to arrive at an overall winner. The team is comprised of a cross-section of our members – no one developer tool or technical topic is overly weighted or favored. We are always looking for new Editor’s Choice Review Team members. To join us, or to nominate someone else, please contact me at kcannell@odtug.com. This is an easy way to volunteer for ODTUG and get a pre-conference view of all Kscope conference content. It’s like a conference before the conference.
So, Kscope presenters – wow us with your stuff! The door is open – show us what you know, in your favorite media. I thank you in advance, from all of our ODTUG members.
As always, happy coding!
Karen
