Last week one of my kids broke my ASUS laptop screen (she closed it while something was caught in the lid). At first I thought it would be the end of life for my laptop, but then I found that replacing a laptop screen was somewhat inexpensive (about $75 + shipping) and easy (according to Continue Reading »
Tag Archives: community
Update on the Search for Enterprise Authoring
It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted about my team’s search for an enterprise authoring strategy. So far, we’re just as split as ever about the problem. It seems that you can go four separate routes: DITA, HAT, Web, or Wiki. Here are some of the paths and difficulties we’re encountering. DITA DITA Continue Reading »
Do community efforts work?
Some of my projects include community-involved documentation. When you work for a church, it’s not hard to find dedicated members willing and committed to sacrificing a few hours for a higher cause. To harness community efforts, I gathered up a large pool of volunteer names and formed a listserv. I communicated project needs with the Continue Reading »
The Role of the Gatekeeper
Sarah O’Keefe’s guest post — The Role of the Gatekeeper is Changing — on Peg Mulligan’s blog is interesting. Sarah writes, The Internet is removing the traditional gatekeepers for content. This may seem obvious, but its implications in my life have been profound. I majored in English and then earned an MFA in creative writing. Continue Reading »
From Overlooked to Center Stage [8]
Catalyst 4: Wiki Manager As if I wasn’t already doing enough, I also started to wear another hat: wiki manager. It turns out I failed in this role, but I’ll still include it here because it segues into another topic I want to explore, which is spreading yourself too thin. At the beginning of this Continue Reading »
Together or Apart: Collaboration Models for Technical Writing
Fragmented Communities and the Chapter/SIG Web Site Problem
Recently Will Sansbury and I gave a webinar to STC community leaders on chapter and SIG websites. Rather than giving a static, one-way presentation about theoretical concepts with web design, or boring people with technical details they probably didn’t care about, we held the webinar more like a design review workshop, not too different from Continue Reading »
Design Reviews and Posting Without Answers
Recently our technical writing team at work (Information Strategies and Design) started holding regular design reviews. The review sessions are patterned after meetings that our interaction designers hold regularly, in which they get together and critique each others designs and approaches toward user interfaces. In our design review sessions, a couple of members from our Continue Reading »
A Few Surprises in Using a Wiki for Documentation
How Do Blogs and Wikis Fit Together?
Although many people put blogs and wikis in the same social media category, blogs and wikis are actually quite different. Blogs are individually authored mini-magazines or journals where one author (or sometimes a small authoring group) crank out article after article (or entry after entry) usually with a common theme. After each article is published, Continue Reading »