I just got back from a 4 mile jog up and down the night sidewalks of my city. I’m not much of a jogger, but after a day of sledding, parenting, traveling, cooking, and changing baby diapers, I needed to get out for an hour on my own. It’s relatively cold in Utah at night. About 34 degrees right now, so I wear a balaclava … more »

A couple of weeks ago I gave an STC webinar called Designing Quick Reference Guides. This was a general STC webinar, and usually I am not allowed to repost the recording, but due to some audio difficulties, I had to re-record it, and the STC gave me permission to post the re-recording. Here are the files to watch or download the webinar: Webinar recording | … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 45 min. Powerpoint This podcast is a recording of a presentation I gave to students at the Missouri State University technical writing conference on April 23, 2010. This presentation has some overlapping content from the previous presentation on Trends in Technical Communication that I gave to the teachers, except that with this presentation, because the … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 45 min. Powerpoint This podcast on Trends in Technical Communication is a recording of a presentation I gave at the Missouri State University Workshop for Teachers of Technical Writing on April 22, 2010. Although trends in technical communication could cover a variety of topics, I chose to focus on four trends: hybrid roles, social media, … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 45 min. Powerpoint This podcast is a recording of the presentation I gave at the STC Currents conference titled “From Overlooked to Center Stage.” If you read the essay and then listen to the recording, you’ll notice some differences because (a) I can’t remember everything I wrote in the moment that I’m presenting, and (b) … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 45 min. A couple of weeks ago I presented on voiceover techniques to an audience of about 35 people at PodcampSLC. I should have researched my audience a little more before the presentation because, from what I could tell, most people were there to learn how to start a podcast rather than learn voiceover techniques … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 45 min. Flare 6 is available today from Madcap Software. This weekend I interviewed Mike Hamilton, VP of Product Management, about the new features Flare 6 contains. In this podcast, we talk about five of the new features in Flare: Batch processing GUI and macro targets Topic metadata (e.g., owner, status) The new link viewer … more »

A couple of months ago, I wanted to start a podcast at my work, and so I interviewed someone who has been in our IT department for 28 years about the evolution of the department over the years. The podcast took about a month to get approved, and the week before it was posted, as I was tracking down the person who controlled our iTunes … more »

Podcasts | one man writes.

This past week I started exercising at lunch—it was the best thing I did all week. Given how sedentary the job of technical writing is, you’d think this would be a no brainer. But in fact, it’s not. My company’s gym is rarely used. I see just two or three people (out of hundreds) in there during lunch. While working out, I also listen to … more »

Podcasts on WordPress are an excellent way to stay updated with the latest WordPress news, trends, plugins, themes, and other development. I recently discovered a WordPress podcast that I enjoy quite a bit: WordPress Weekly from the WordPress Tavern. The hosts include Jeff Chandler and David Peralty — both knowledgeable, passionate people about WordPress and blog design and development. The two WordPress podcasts I listened … more »

Below the Line: Podcasters report their top 3 podcasting tips – part 1

Top Technical Communication News for January 2009 | I’d Rather Be Writing – Tom Johnson.

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 »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 (to download, right-click and select Save Target As) Duration: 28 min. In this podcast, I interview Alyssa Fox, an information development manager at NetIQ, about technical writing in agile environments. Agile environments involve short iterations of product development, such as three to six weeks to complete a release, rather than the longer one to two years … more »