Even before I transformed into a full-time Technical Writer, I knew that one day I would be doing something that can sustain me for the rest of my life. For one, it feels wonderful to be a part of an evolving community that is ready to learn from its mistakes and eager to let its presence felt.
Technical Writing is a magnificent career option in India, and if you are at it, then the sky is the only limit. Having said that, it would not at all be out of context, to mention about one of the most active mailing lists for technical writers in this part of the world. This group embodies the sentiments of 1300-plus people who wait day in and day out to receive updates on the profession they hold so dear to their hearts. The list members fondly call this group as TWI, for the rest, we are the Technical Writers India group on yahoo (refer, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/technical_writers_india/).
This group started on May 27, 2004 – a time when the only mailing list of Indian descent available was TWIN (refer, http://www.twin-india.org). From the very beginning, this group never lost track of its objectives and goals. The whole idea was to disseminate information and spread awareness about the profession and the related job opportunities.
For any initiative to become a huge success, it is important to gather support from every single entity so that common interests and ambitions are met and achieved. Mailing lists like TWI have firmly incorporated a unique way to disseminate knowledge through their fortnightly eNewsletter called TechCraft, online daily discussions (an average of 10 messages per day), job advertisements, chats, polls, trainings, and quiz. Variety they say is the spice of life.
The year 2004 will also be remembered as a year of opportunities; a year when traditional white-collar jobs such as technical writing got a paradigm "facelift", not only in terms of business impact but also in the way the content was organized across different media. As you would gradually see from the timeline that that TWI has been largely promoting to the cause and uplifting this profession in the subcontinent.
TWI Timeline – a leaf from the past
May 28: "Technical Writers India" yahoo group evolves.
May 31: Kumud Chopra is chosen as the Graphic Designer for TechCraft.
Jun 2: Vipul Vashisht suggests the name, "TechCraft", for the fortnightly eNewsletter on Technical Writing.
Jun 3: Just within a week of its inception, the strength of TWI group rises to 88.
Jun 4: Announcement mail for TechCraft launch sent to the group.
Jun 26: TWI crosses the 200-member mark.
Jun 27: STC announces names of the winners for theme competition. Two TWI members figure prominently in the list: Frederick Menezes and Rahul Prabhakar.
Jul 2: Mohan Babu - a regular columnist for Express Computers' IT People section writes about the changes in recruitment trends for tech writers as organizations now look for engineers - and not just English graduates. His article features comments by two TWI members namely Saravanan Manoharan and Rahul Prabhakar.
Jul 8: Technical Writers Study Meetup Groups comes in full flow in cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi.
Jul 26: Mrs. Sharon Vandana is chosen as the writer of the month for the first issue of TechCraft.
Jul 30: Launch of the TechCraft logo.
Jul 31: Launch of the first issue of TechCraft - India's leading eNewsletter on Technical Writing.
Aug 5: Melanie Doulton publishes results of the online questionnaire about work habits of technical communicators.
Aug 6: Saravanan Manoharan is appointed as the moderator of TWI yahoo group.
Aug 13: Launch of the second issue of TechCraft.
Aug 24: Launch of a new initiative called "Agenda of the week."
Aug 27: Launch of the third issue of TechCraft.
Sep 4: The INTECOM website publishes an external link to the TWI yahoo group.
Sep 17: Launch of the fourth issue of TechCraft.
Sep 20: Vipul Vashisht is chosen as the Writer of the month for the fourth issue of TechCraft.
Sep 21: Launch of Technical Writing Education Drive.
Sep 27: Gurudutt Kamath comes out with a novel idea to celebrate Indian Technical Writers' Day on October 2 every year.
Sep 30: Gurudutt Kamath designs a few posters for celebrating Technical Writers' Day (Oct 2) and Week (Oct 1-7).
Oct 1: Beginning of Technical Writers' Day and Week (Oct 2, Oct 1-7) celebrations.
Oct 1: From the innumerable abstracts submitted, STC India selects four TWI members to present a paper proposal. The members are Saravanan Manoharan, Melanie Doulton, Rahul Prabhakar and Rajeev Jain.
Oct 1: TWI conducts a mock chat session on October 1, 2004 as part of the Indian Technical Writers Week celebrations.
Oct 4: TWI reaches 500+ members mark.
Oct 6: The International Council for Technical Communication (INTECOM) features an article about "First Technical Writers' Week in India: Education Drive" on their homepage.
Oct 7: Launch of the fifth (special) issue of TechCraft.
Oct 19: Madhura Narayan is chosen as the new co-editor for TechCraft.
Oct 29: Launch of the sixth issue of TechCraft.
Nov 12: Personal Page Traffic Rank for groups.yahoo.com/group/technical_writers_india: 2,165,172.
Nov 19: Harry Anthony is chosen as the Writer of the month for the seventh issue of TechCraft.
Nov 25: Launch of the seventh issue of TechCraft.
Dec 14: Er. Gurpreet Singh is chosen as the Writer of the month for the eighth issue of TechCraft.
Dec 14: Launch of the eighth issue of TechCraft.
Dec 14: Narasimha Kumar and Vikramaditya Raj Urs are chosen as the TechCraft Editorial Jury.
Dec 16: South African Society for Technical Comm. (SA-STC) posts the STC presentation made by Rahul Prabhakar and Saravanan, on its web site.
Dec 20: Manisha Chhaya is chosen as one of the Job Administrators on TWI.
Dec 21: Vidya Subbanna and Sanjeev Sarma are chosen as panel members for posting the Tip of the day/week.
I honestly believe that somewhere down the line, our efforts will surely see the light of the day and would be acknowledged on a global platform. Also, the day is not far when we will have more professional bodies apart from STC and local special interest groups (SIGs) in all major cities in India. The meetups, the learning sessions, and the study groups have provided the necessary impetus for people to collaborate and share knowledge.
For all the successes we have had so far, I would like to convey my heartfelt gratitude to all the TWI members. It is due to our collective efforts that we are now 1300 plus in strength. Let us hope the same salubrious trend continues, as we march ahead.
_________________
Rahul Prabhakar
Owner - Technical Writers India Group on yahoo (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/technical_writers_india/)
Technical Writing is a magnificent career option in India, and if you are at it, then the sky is the only limit. Having said that, it would not at all be out of context, to mention about one of the most active mailing lists for technical writers in this part of the world. This group embodies the sentiments of 1300-plus people who wait day in and day out to receive updates on the profession they hold so dear to their hearts. The list members fondly call this group as TWI, for the rest, we are the Technical Writers India group on yahoo (refer, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/technical_writers_india/).
This group started on May 27, 2004 – a time when the only mailing list of Indian descent available was TWIN (refer, http://www.twin-india.org). From the very beginning, this group never lost track of its objectives and goals. The whole idea was to disseminate information and spread awareness about the profession and the related job opportunities.
For any initiative to become a huge success, it is important to gather support from every single entity so that common interests and ambitions are met and achieved. Mailing lists like TWI have firmly incorporated a unique way to disseminate knowledge through their fortnightly eNewsletter called TechCraft, online daily discussions (an average of 10 messages per day), job advertisements, chats, polls, trainings, and quiz. Variety they say is the spice of life.
The year 2004 will also be remembered as a year of opportunities; a year when traditional white-collar jobs such as technical writing got a paradigm "facelift", not only in terms of business impact but also in the way the content was organized across different media. As you would gradually see from the timeline that that TWI has been largely promoting to the cause and uplifting this profession in the subcontinent.
TWI Timeline – a leaf from the past
May 28: "Technical Writers India" yahoo group evolves.
May 31: Kumud Chopra is chosen as the Graphic Designer for TechCraft.
Jun 2: Vipul Vashisht suggests the name, "TechCraft", for the fortnightly eNewsletter on Technical Writing.
Jun 3: Just within a week of its inception, the strength of TWI group rises to 88.
Jun 4: Announcement mail for TechCraft launch sent to the group.
Jun 26: TWI crosses the 200-member mark.
Jun 27: STC announces names of the winners for theme competition. Two TWI members figure prominently in the list: Frederick Menezes and Rahul Prabhakar.
Jul 2: Mohan Babu - a regular columnist for Express Computers' IT People section writes about the changes in recruitment trends for tech writers as organizations now look for engineers - and not just English graduates. His article features comments by two TWI members namely Saravanan Manoharan and Rahul Prabhakar.
Jul 8: Technical Writers Study Meetup Groups comes in full flow in cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi.
Jul 26: Mrs. Sharon Vandana is chosen as the writer of the month for the first issue of TechCraft.
Jul 30: Launch of the TechCraft logo.
Jul 31: Launch of the first issue of TechCraft - India's leading eNewsletter on Technical Writing.
Aug 5: Melanie Doulton publishes results of the online questionnaire about work habits of technical communicators.
Aug 6: Saravanan Manoharan is appointed as the moderator of TWI yahoo group.
Aug 13: Launch of the second issue of TechCraft.
Aug 24: Launch of a new initiative called "Agenda of the week."
Aug 27: Launch of the third issue of TechCraft.
Sep 4: The INTECOM website publishes an external link to the TWI yahoo group.
Sep 17: Launch of the fourth issue of TechCraft.
Sep 20: Vipul Vashisht is chosen as the Writer of the month for the fourth issue of TechCraft.
Sep 21: Launch of Technical Writing Education Drive.
Sep 27: Gurudutt Kamath comes out with a novel idea to celebrate Indian Technical Writers' Day on October 2 every year.
Sep 30: Gurudutt Kamath designs a few posters for celebrating Technical Writers' Day (Oct 2) and Week (Oct 1-7).
Oct 1: Beginning of Technical Writers' Day and Week (Oct 2, Oct 1-7) celebrations.
Oct 1: From the innumerable abstracts submitted, STC India selects four TWI members to present a paper proposal. The members are Saravanan Manoharan, Melanie Doulton, Rahul Prabhakar and Rajeev Jain.
Oct 1: TWI conducts a mock chat session on October 1, 2004 as part of the Indian Technical Writers Week celebrations.
Oct 4: TWI reaches 500+ members mark.
Oct 6: The International Council for Technical Communication (INTECOM) features an article about "First Technical Writers' Week in India: Education Drive" on their homepage.
Oct 7: Launch of the fifth (special) issue of TechCraft.
Oct 19: Madhura Narayan is chosen as the new co-editor for TechCraft.
Oct 29: Launch of the sixth issue of TechCraft.
Nov 12: Personal Page Traffic Rank for groups.yahoo.com/group/technical_writers_india: 2,165,172.
Nov 19: Harry Anthony is chosen as the Writer of the month for the seventh issue of TechCraft.
Nov 25: Launch of the seventh issue of TechCraft.
Dec 14: Er. Gurpreet Singh is chosen as the Writer of the month for the eighth issue of TechCraft.
Dec 14: Launch of the eighth issue of TechCraft.
Dec 14: Narasimha Kumar and Vikramaditya Raj Urs are chosen as the TechCraft Editorial Jury.
Dec 16: South African Society for Technical Comm. (SA-STC) posts the STC presentation made by Rahul Prabhakar and Saravanan, on its web site.
Dec 20: Manisha Chhaya is chosen as one of the Job Administrators on TWI.
Dec 21: Vidya Subbanna and Sanjeev Sarma are chosen as panel members for posting the Tip of the day/week.
I honestly believe that somewhere down the line, our efforts will surely see the light of the day and would be acknowledged on a global platform. Also, the day is not far when we will have more professional bodies apart from STC and local special interest groups (SIGs) in all major cities in India. The meetups, the learning sessions, and the study groups have provided the necessary impetus for people to collaborate and share knowledge.
For all the successes we have had so far, I would like to convey my heartfelt gratitude to all the TWI members. It is due to our collective efforts that we are now 1300 plus in strength. Let us hope the same salubrious trend continues, as we march ahead.
_________________
Rahul Prabhakar
Owner - Technical Writers India Group on yahoo (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/technical_writers_india/)