Community Service

I have actively promoted community service for STC members through the creation and distribution at chapter meetings of flyers with contact and descriptive information for literacy and other groups. I have been a backup Webmaster for the Phoenix Future Cities Competition, a backup editor for my church bulletin, and I have been the Webmaster for a local school Web site containing Parent Teacher Organization information and handouts.

Company Golf Association. I have been on the board of my golf association for ten years (1996–present), serving as Webmaster for the past eight years (1998–present), vice president for four years (2002–2006), a member of the Rules Committee for the past eight years (1998–present), a tournament director for approximately nineteen tournaments including the nine major “Spring” tournaments. I was a key member of the Bylaws Overhaul Committee in 2003 and was aided by my extensive experience overhauling the STC Phoenix Chapter bylaws.
As Webmaster, I created the first-ever Web site for the golf association on the company intranet. A few years later, I created a duplicate external site for people who didn’t have access to the intranet and so all members could access it from home. In 2002, I obtained a Web host and domain name, and created a permanent external site (srpgolf.com). On the Web site, I have posted all flyers, pairing sheets, and results sheets, now in three file formats. I created eight special guide pages for out-of-town tournaments (these have also become popular with search engines). I created annual course guides with multiple links to all courses played. I created a special board of directors page with an archive of minutes, administrative documents, membership lists, and so on. I created several online registration forms for tournaments, and I created PayPal functionality when requested by other tournament directors.

I designed a new format for the tournament flyers and introduced chunking, contrast, graphics, directions, map links, and typographic standards, and I eliminated inappropriate formatting such as all caps, underlining, and excessive bolding or italics. I created about ten tournament flyers per year from 1996–2000 and about three flyers per year from 2000–04. I created two specially designed flyers for the Spring and Fall Tournaments.

I redesigned the Tournament Director’s Guidelines document using technical communication principles, I designed a tri-fold USGA mini-rules quick reference card for use during play, I designed a tri-fold Ready Golf quick reference card to help members speed tournament play, and I created special tournament calendars/skill prize sheets for several tournaments.

University of Montana. I’ve been a very active volunteer for the University of Montana in several capacities. I have assisted with fund-raising, coordinated several events and short trips, made arrangements, and distributed informational documents from the university to alumni and friends.

I created a Web site for an informal group of archaeology students in 2000 and maintained the site for four years. One special project was the creation of Web pages for an archeology dig in Rostov, Russia in the summer of 2002 for which information about the area was difficult to find (content included Rostov history, economy, entertainment, and other guide links).

From late August to just before Christmas, I produce a daily e-mail newsletter that is sent to alumni and friends around the country and gets posted on the related site of the university. Maximum readership (for one note) is estimated at about 6,000 people, although the typical readership is much less. From late December to late August, the notes are less frequent. The notes contain news articles with links and some original information. Typical notes can be eight to fifteen pages when dumped into a Word document. To assist in this, I created two Web sites in 2000 that require extensive annual overhauls, updates, and additions. Other interested persons including non-alumni from other parts of the country also use the Web sites.

For up to fifteen weeks in the fall, I created and publish a handout for weekly alumni and friends gatherings. From about 1997–2000, I created and published twenty-eight handouts that were eight pages in size, from 2001–2004 I created and published fifty-seven two-to-four-page handouts. In 2005, I created and published two four-page handouts. In 1995, I created and published a twelve-page summary for the year.

In 2004, I created an alumni and student Web site for a special group at the university (umsae.net) to help with fund raising, recruitment, networking, and homecoming activities. One goal was immediately achieved with a huge upswing in alumni participation and contributions. I created an online database of alumni for this group from records provided by the international office.

Food Drives. I have been a longtime donator to food drives. For the past six years, I have held an annual neighborhood food drive on St. Patrick’s Day. For the special chapter meetings that fall on full moon nights, as Fun SIG commander I have scheduled to have “Howl Against Hunger,” at which I will be contributing money for hunger causes for those attendees courageous enough to howl.

Volunteer Roller Skating Instructor. From 2001 to the present, I have been giving my time on Saturday mornings to instill confidence and pride in school kids by teaching them how to roller skate. Since the skating rink does not provide a list of requirements to the students, I designed a quick reference card with summarized instruction modules for my class and the next two class levels above mine. I created a Web site that contains links to instruction sites, local and national rinks, and skating equipment resources. I also designed a volunteer instructor badge for the rink.

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A volunteer site to help STC members and other technical communicators by Tom Barnett, Gilbert, AZ.
Launched on April 15, 2003. Launched on azsrp.com January 1, 2001 (01/01/01).
Last updated March 13, 2006.