The Australian Society
for Technical Communication
Welcome!
The Australian Society for Technical Communication (ASTC) Incorporated is a not-for-profit national group of people who design, write, and edit technical and business information. Our aim is to promote and support technical communication in the Australasian region and to provide networking and learning opportunities for our members.
Because we're a volunteer organisation, members are key to our society. Our members come from all different fields and industries and have a huge range of knowledge and experience. We help members by providing information, networking, support, job advertisements, and professional development opportunities.
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To learn a little about the history of the ASTC, see About the ASTC.
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To see who's on this year's executive committee, see ASTC Committee.
International Journal of Technical Communication
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Our new online digital publication platform, the International Journal of Technical Communication (IJTC) is available for you to sign in!
The IJTC is a collaborative effort between the ASTC, the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC) in the UK, and the Technical Communicators Association of New Zealand (TechCommNZ). The site includes articles, book reviews, videos, and other content of interest to technical communicators. Content will continue to expand as we add new articles and posts.
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To access the IJTC, go to https://www.ijtc.net/, and click Sign in. Use your ASTC account email address and a link will be sent your email address. Click on the link and you're in. No password required!
If you have any problems, email us at info@astc.org.au, give us as much information about the problem, and we'll try to sort it out.
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Can you contribute content?
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Yes, we'd love for you to contribute to the IJTC! For contributor guidelines and instructions, see Guidelines for Contributors. For more information, contact the IJTC editor.
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Can you advertise on the IJTC website?
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For information about advertising options, contact the IJTC editor.
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Don't want access to the IJTC?
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If you don't want to access the IJTC, email us at info@astc.org.au and we'll unsubscribe you.
Latest Issue of the ISTC Communicator
Just one of the great benefits of being an ASTC member is access to the Communicator, the quarterly publication of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC) in the UK.
The Spring 2025 (Northern hemisphere) issue is now available and includes articles on:
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Artificial Intelligence
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Technical drawing
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Book and course reviews.
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ASTC members can access this and all other issues at ISTC Communicator.​
Members Meeting
We had our first Members Meeting of the year on Tuesday, February 25. Jason Xiros gave us a wonderful presentation about Cybersecurity for Technical Writers.
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Jason spoke to us about the personal security measures we can take to project against intellectual property theft, identity theft, financial fraud, and data loss. He also discussed how to mitigate common threats such as SPAM, phishing, malware (viruses, trojan horse attacks, etc.), spyware, botnets, and ransomware. He finished off his presentation with some data backup basics, such as the 3-2-1 rule, and why you shouldn’t trust everything to the cloud.
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If you missed it, or would like to watch it again, you can access the recording (approximately 90 minutes) from the Members Only pages of our website.
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March Members Meeting
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We're still planning the details for our March Members Meeting, so watch this space!
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ASTC latest news and upcoming events
Courses
Information Mapping®
Master successful policies and procedures and become a certified Information Mapping® Professional™ with this virtual training course.
News
Australian Style Guide
From the Plain English Foundation, the ASG reflects Australian writing practice for both print and digital environments. It has an easy-to-use interface. And it’s free.
Job Opportunities
Subscribe
As a member, you can receive our Job Opportunity email.
We publish details of jobs and send the details to members.
NETWORKING
The ASTC promotes networking in many ways although these have changed since the advent of COVID-19. Our annual conference is the main networking event, but we also have formal and informal meet-ups conducted via Zoom. Technical communicators often work alone, or maybe in a small team. Our networking allows for support and sharing of information and ideas, and to meet other people in similar roles. Check out our LinkedIn and Facebook pages.
EDUCATION
The ASTC supports professional development through education and learning to keep up with changes in the way we work and the tools we use.
We are always looking for new opportunities for members and non-members to update or advance our knowledge and skills.
Training delivery has changed dramatically and now allows access to content both locally and globally.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
ASTC members can elect to receive our Job Opportunity emails. We publish details of jobs we hear about. If you are thinking of making a change, constantly looking for new challenges or just curious about what’s out there, why not subscribe? It’s free to our members, and to employers and agents alike.
If you hear of a technical writer job going, let us know via our contact us page and we’ll advertise it.
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PARTNERSHIPS
We have agreements with related associations in Australasia and other regions around the world.
Through this we open career doors for our members and provide resources and services at member rates.