Followup to "Profit ($) vs. profit (!)"

[Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

     In early March, I posted a message entitled "Profit ($) vs. profit
     (!)", in which I proposed that we could use this mailing list to
     solicit input from fellow professionals on various subjects of
     interest. My idea was that we could collect input from various
     respondents and put together a quarterly (or occasional) column for
     Technical Communication to share the results with a wider audience.

     To sum up, interest was underwhelming... only four responses.
     Nonetheless, the idea still has merit, so I'll cast my hat into the
     ring again. (The other respondents to my initial posting may follow,
     depending on the extent of their interest and their other
     commitments.)

     I'm actively involved in technology transfer activities... in short,
     without unnecessary splitting of hairs, technology transfer is the act
     of taking the results of research (in my case, forestry) and
     transferring it to real-world foresters so they can implement the
     results in their own operations. This differs from writing user manuals
     in various obvious ways. What I'd like to know is the following (but
     please add any other insights that you consider important):
     1. Do you perform similar work?
     2. If so, what are your preferred media, and why? (e.g., publications,
     videos, software, meetings/symposia, face to face meetings, etc.)
     3. How do you test the usability of your information?
     4. How do you determine whether your research actually becomes
     integrated into the operations of your clients?
     5. If you have any good journal or other references on this subject
     that you'd be prepared to share, please include them (with enough
     bibliographic detail that a good librarian could chase down copies
     through interlibrary loan... if you're unsure, please ask for
     details.)
     6. Finally, would you be interested in setting up (or participating in)
     a smaller mailing list that deals exclusively with technology transfer
     issues? (So we don't interfere with the other members of this list.)
     I'm aware of a usability testing list, and I hope to contact them as
     well. FYI, the list is utest -at- hubcap -dot- clemson -dot- edu (which existed as of
     April 1994, but I've never contacted them and I'm not certain they
     still exist).

     If your response is of general interest to the rest of the technical
     writing mailing list, please go ahead and respond to the list (but
     paraphrase my original message... it's far too long to quote). If not,
     please respond privately to me at the address below. I'll collect
     responses and summarize for the list and/or respondents if this would
     be appropriate.

     Two more notes:
     1. I may submit the results to a journal (unpaid!) if there's enough
     responses to write an article. Please indicate in your response
     whether you give me permission to quote you, whether you wish to
     remain anonymous, or any other conditions that you feel apply to the
     use of your response. (If no such information is provided, I'll assume
     that I have full permission to quote you.)
     2. Please include your full name and professional affiliation in the
     signature to your message. It's much nicer to say "Geoff Hart of
     FERIC" in an article than "user201 -at- abc -dot- org", and this might be your 15
     minutes of fame!

     --Geoff Hart  #8^{)}