For the past couple of years in October, I’ve gone up to Brigham Young University Idaho to talk to students at their professional writing conference. I’m going up there again this year. In preparation, I asked my colleague who teaches there whether students still think of technical writing as a sellout/fallback career, or whether they’re more seriously preparing for an actual career in technical writing. … more »

In one of Alistair Christie’s recent podcasts, he interviews his 70-year-old mother about how she uses computers. Although they cover many topics in the interview, her tech guilt is the most salient part of the discussion. She blames herself for not understanding how to work computers and navigate websites. When she can’t locate certain features on an interface (for example, Paypal), her first inclination isn’t … more »