The Central Fire

by Judy Harper

Have you ever thought about STC's official mission and its implications for month-to-month chapter activities? Well, frankly, I haven't thought much about either, but a little chapter introspection here at the mid-term point can't hurt. Here's the official mission statement:

Mission :
Creating and supporting a forum for communities of practice
in the profession of technical communication

With geographic communities (like Southwest, Central, and Northeast Ohio) and virtual communities (or SIGs), STC could be called a community of communities. And what does that actually mean?

Defining Community

I've found many definitions, but I especially like this one (from CommunityGuy.com):
A community is a group of people who form relationships over time by interacting regularly around shared experiences, which are of interest to all of them for varying individual reasons.

As a structured organization, STC uses specific qualifying rules that closely define geographic and virtual communities for administrative purposes. But this definition helps me focus on the essence of community and the why of STC membership. Not to get overly metaphysical here, but community is ultimately what STC-SWO is about.

Analyzing Community

• Community is a group of people...
  The Lone Ranger and Tonto were not a community, not even when you include Silver and Scout. The SWO leadership team does not constitute the SWO community; we need you and all our members to complete our group of like-minded people.
• ...who form relationships over time...
  Attending one or two meetings a year, passively reading chapter publications, and lurking on chapter and SIG forums do not build relationships. What does?
• ...interacting regularly around shared experiences, which are of interest to all of them...
  We have common experiences. Get a group of technical communicators together and listen to the war stories. Building community requires that we share these experiences.
• ...for varying individual reasons.
  Our shared experiences and mutual interest in technical communication make up the framework that accommodates our diverse skill levels and areas of specialization.

The Benefits of Community

In his book Friendship: An Expose, Joseph Epstein wrote this about community:

The central fire, then, is something beyond and deeper than mere agreement. It is a place where one can receive kindness, understanding, solace, patient attention, and respect for one's point of view, and all this because of an underlying but never spoken sense that everyone around that central fire, or in the community, knows that he and she are all in the same struggle together.

The benefits of community are not available to strangers who sidle up to the fire. To get your (or your company's) money's worth from membership in STC-SWO, participate fully in the group, develop relationships through regular interactions, and regularly exchange mutually beneficial ideas and strategies with your peers. We are all in techcomm together; let's work together to help each other and advance the profession.