In my previous post (“Less Text, Please”), I argued that users want shorter texts. I also explained how social media and Internet sites have possibly rewired our brains to incline us toward shorter content — according to some, our gnat-like attention spans can only consume a few short paragraphs before tapping out. The Onion has a great parody of how a single block of uninterrupted … more »

At the last STC Summit in Dallas, one of the most attended sessions was Don Moyer’s Building Visual Explanations: Practical Advice for Writers. I was recently listening to the recording of the session. I’ve been feeling more and more lately that I need to develop my visual imagination. Illustrating concepts isn’t difficult, Moyer said. The hard part is coming up with the idea of the … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 (to download, right-click and select Save Target As) Duration: 55 min. Several weeks ago I wrote about my trip to Brigham Young University-Idaho and the presentation I gave there titled “Debunking the Boredom Myth of Technical Writing.” This podcast is a recording of my presentation. My presentation was part of the professional writing conference that BYU-Idaho … more »