2007
August: Janet Salisbury was a guest on Radio National's The Book Show on 17 August. Based on her success as the technical writer of the Lockhart Report (the review of legislation on cloning and embryo research, published in December 2005), Janet was invited to be one of three panellists discussing government reports — what makes some good and some not so good! See Radio National's website to download a podcast.
July: After many months of waiting, we heard that we were awarded an Excellence Award in the international STC competition for the Lockhart Report (see the February item below to refresh your memory about this competition). See the STC website for details of the other winners.
May: Janet, Hilary and Malini attended the Institute of Professional Editors National Conference in Hobart from 9 to 12 May. There were about 200 delegates and the program was varied and interesting. Janet and Hilary both presented sessions (Janet on ‘The language of evidence’ and Hilary on ‘Bare bones editing’) that were very well received.
The conference website has information about the sessions and speakers. Some papers have been posted there; more will be added to the website as they become available.
April: April: Janet, Meg and Eve attended the 5th World Conference of Science Journalists (http://www.scienceinmelbourne2007.org/) which was held in Melbourne from 16-20 April. Janet ran a satellite meeting for scientific editors which was attended by more than 70 delegates. Topics discussed included the fine dividing line between substantive editing and rewriting, the need for an Australasian science style guide and the potential for a professional organisation for science editors in Australia and/or the Asia-Pacific region.
On Wednesday, Janet, Meg and Eve presented an interactive professional development workshop, 'Introduction to science editing', as part of the main conference. Again, this workshop was well attended (with more than 30 participants from Australia and several other countries) and the feedback received suggests that it was well received.
And on Thursday, Janet (yes, she was busy!) was part of a panel discussion on 'Stem cells and bioethics'. Other panellists were Dr Mal Washer, federal liberal MP from Western Australia, Geoff Carr, Science Editor of The Economist (UK), Dr Peter Mountford , President and CEO of Stem Cell Sciences. The session was chaired by Robin Marantz Henig who has been a freelance science writer in the US for more than 25 years and is, among other things, currently a contributing science writer for The New York Times Magazine.
February: The Australian chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) awarded the Biotext team (Janet, Malini, Meg) a 'Distinguished' award in the 'Information materials' category for technical writing and production of the Lockhart Report (the review of legislation on cloning and embryo research published in December 2005), as well as ' Best in show' for the 'Technical publications' category overall. See the STC webpage for further details of this competition. The report has now been entered into the international STC awards.
Hilary and Janet were also awarded a 'Merit' in the same competition for technical writing of Making Decisions about Tests and Treatments — Principles for Better Communication between Healthcare Consumers and Healthcare Professionals.
February: Carolyn Weiller and Arran Dengate both joined the Biotext team.
January: Biotext opened its Melbourne office, conveniently located at 55 Flemington Road, which is in the Bio21 precinct. Our Melbourne-based consultant is Eve Merton. Eve welcomes visitors, if you are in the area (tel: 03 9329 4150).
2006
September: Malini and Hilary helped organise the 23rd annual conference of the Australasian Medical Writers Association.
June: Hilary gave a presentation on the 'bare bones of editing' at the Canberra Society of Editors' professional development day 'EdEx'.
May: Janet attended the 9th International Conference on Public Communication on Science and Technology (PCST) including the post-conference workshop Training scientists to communicate with lay audiences.
March: Vesna joined us as our office manager.