[Editors] MIT Editors' Club Minutes: Jan. 2012

[Elizabeth A Thomson]

I think I've solved the Mystery of the Missing Minutes (an errant bracket). Sorry for the extra mail. And thank-you to everyone who helped me with this! 

Elizabeth
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Elizabeth A. Thomson
Associate Director of Communications
MIT Resource Development
Office of Communications
600 Memorial Dr., W98-300
617-258-5563, 857-756-9457
<thomson at mit.edu>, giving.mit.edu
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MIT EDITORS' CLUB

*Meeting Notes from January 11, 2012*

*Helping Melanie*

Can you say "quasquicentennial"? Better yet, do you know what it means? An MIT Editor's i-Phone got a workout at this meeting as we figured out both. The topic came up when Melanie Miller of chemical engineering asked if anyone had suggestions for commemorating an anniversary--in this case, ChemE's 125th.......its quasquicentennial (kwos-kwi-sen-ten-ee-uhl).

We not only had fun with a new (for some of us) word, but also helped Melanie. For example, Debbie Levey of civil and environmental engineering said that for CEE's 125th in 2000, she produced a 24-page pamphlet in which she "tried to have a mixture of new and old news." It included interviews with all living department heads (way cool) and reprints of key articles from the department's newsletter (one described how computers were introduced into the department). Other Editors suggested that Melanie touch base with Alumni Association communicators like Nancy Duvergne Smith for additional ideas.


*RoboHelp*

Kiirja Paanenen, web producer with the Office of Sponsored Programs, is wondering if anyone is using RoboHelp, an Adobe application. According to Kiirja, among other benefits it can take content, index everything, and allow searches on key phrases. Sounds great to me! (For more, go to http://www.adobe.com/products/robohelp.html)

Anyway, Kiirja thinks the application might work well for her group, but first wanted to show her OSP colleagues what it can do. And what could be better than giving them an example from another MIT office? So: if you use RoboHelp, send Kiirja a note at <kiirja at mit.edu>.


*Perfect Segue*

Kiirja's query made the perfect segue for a topic I wanted to bring up: Lynda.com. The online site, free for us because MIT has a subscription, is packed with tutorials about techie stuff ranging from web design to social media. And, it apparently also includes courses on....RoboHelp!

Recently MIT Information Services & Technology introduced lyndaCampus, an enhancement to lynda.com. LyndaCampus personalizes the site. Among other benefits, this means you can now view your lynda.com history and bookmark courses of interest. For more info, go to <http://ist.mit.edu/services/training/lynda>.


*MIT Facts*

The 2012 MIT Facts booklet is now available, says Danyel Barnard, senior communications specialist at Communication Production Services. To get a limited number of free copies (or info on buying more), send a note to <referencepubs at mit.edu>. You can also find it online at <http://web.mit.edu/facts/>.


*Thank You!*

Many thanks to Kiirja Paananen, who hosted this meeting at the Office of Sponsored Programs. 


*Next Meetings*

The next meetings of MIT Editors' Club, which are always from 12-1 but in different locations around campus, are as follows:

Monday, Feb. 13
1-216 (Civil and Environmental Engineering)

Tuesday, March 13
4-303 (Physics)

Wednesday, April 18
W98-302 (Resource Development)

Friday, May 18
46-3015 (Brain and Cognitive Sciences)

Monday, June 11
66-360 (Chemical Engineering)


Cheers!

Elizabeth

P.S. Did a spellcheck of this note just now, and quasquicentennial "was not found" in the Mail dictionary. LOL!