I'd Rather Be Writing » podcasts

Podcast: “Anyone Can Write”: Changing Roles for Technical Communicators

Tom Johnson — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:01:13 +0000

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 audience was students, I focused mainly on the changing roles technical communicators are playing.

My basic premise is that many IT environments have an assumption that “anyone can write.” Because of this assumption, technical writers are changing their roles, becoming hybrids with additional skill sets, or moving beyond the basics of writing in order to provide both value and find fulfillment.

Blog Sponsors

Podcast: Trends in Technical Communication

Tom Johnson — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:38:10 +0000

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, collaborative authoring, and multimedia. Here’s the description of my presentation:

In a sea of ever-changing technologies, tools, and methods for documentation, technical writers often find themselves gasping for air trying to keep up. At the lead of the current trends, the following topics continue to gain traction: multimedia, such as screencasts and other video content; wikis, as well as other collaborative authoring tools and methods; hybrid roles, especially with usability, quality assurance, and audiovisual tasks; and finally the messy, fragmented content of social media, which stands in sharp contrast to structured authoring.

Blog Sponsors

Podcast: From Overlooked to Center Stage [12]

Tom Johnson — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 08:12:29 +0000

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) oral delivery doesn’t exactly work like a written delivery. Nevertheless, I tried to communicate the same story.

Blog Sponsors

Podcast: Ten Voiceover Techniques (PodcampSLC)

Tom Johnson — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 03:55:04 +0000

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 for professional screencasts. Hence, I received no questions at all (okay, one person asked one question). It was still a good warm-up practice for the voiceover presentation I’m giving at the STC Summit next month.

After the presentation I kept thinking about a tweet Nancy Duarte, author of Slide:ology, posted a while ago. She said something like,

Inexperienced presenters worry about their presentations. Experienced presenters worry about their audience.

Sound advice, indeed. One technique I’ve seen some presenters do is start by asking the audience what questions they have or what they want to learn. Then for the bulk of the presentation, you just answer those questions. Usually all the questions are covered in the presentation you prepared previously, but it still gives the audience a more direct impression of addressing their unique needs and concerns.

I would have gladly abandoned my presentation on voiceover techniques if I knew the audience was full of people curious about how to break into podcasting, or people curious about social media tactics to market their podcasts. But alas, once I dived into the presentation, I heard nothing but silence in terms of feedback. Perhaps by then it was too late. No one wanted to ask a question so off topic. That or they were all hungry for lunch.

Blog Sponsors

Podcast: What’s New in Flare 6 — Interview with Mike Hamilton

Tom Johnson — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:00:13 +0000

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
Mobile targets
Multimedia integration

Mike also mentions some user interface improvements, usability refinements, and hints at upcoming integrations with SharePoint later this year or early next.

Check out Flare 6 on Madcap Software’s site. And if you’re looking for Mike Hamilton’s blog, see http://madcapsoftware2.wordpress.com. You can contact Mike by email at mhamilton@madcapsoftware.com.

With the Flare 6 release, I’m particularly excited about the multimedia integration and link viewer. I signed up for the beta but have been so busy with an upcoming project release that I haven’t had time to evaluate it. Madcap was kind enough to upgrade me to version 6 as a thank-you for the podcast, so I’ll probably be posting about the multimedia integration soon (along with some screencasts using my new mic).

Blog Sponsors

Sailboats and Cruise Ships, or, How My Work Podcast Was Dwarfed by a Mega Work Podcast

Tom Johnson — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:16:30 +0000

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 feed and Feedburner, I found that another department, Digital Media, was in the process of launching a full-scale dedicated radio station with 24/7 programming and more than a dozen new shows, with new episodes published weekly, also downloadable as podcasts. Radio.lds.org allows you to listen to a live stream of programming online or, if you have an HD Radio in certain cities, you can listen in your car. All the shows also have feeds in iTunes, so they double as podcasts on your iPod.

The podcasts at radio.lds.org target a Mormon audience, but you may find the Everything Creative show interesting. Some of the other podcasts include informal conversations with leaders, stories related at conferences, a history of hymns, scripture stories, and other topics. The focus on conversations and stories is right on target.

Seeing this full-scale podcasting effort (I hope they haven’t underestimated the work necessary to keep this going), made me rethink my work podcast. There’s no longer a need, because it is being fully filled elsewhere, through another department.

A few years ago, as I was transitioning from a startup to a large company and feeling a little frustrated by the bureaucracy of approval required for nearly everything, an older colleague explained this metaphor. She told me small companies are like sailboats, nimble, quick and able to turn sharply, without much notice. Large companies, on the other hand, are like cruise ships. Massive and heavy — it takes them half a mile just to turn around. But while slow, they can also do incredibly powerful things.

I apply this metaphor to the podcasts. My little work podcast, which strangely seems the product of an IT startup, even though it is part of the same organization, is buried in the shadows of Radio.LDS.org’s gigantic all-consuming 24/7 radio station/media outlet/podcast deluge.

While on the topic of podcasts, the other day Gordon McLean of One Man Writes asked listeners what their favorite podcasts are. Here’s what I listen to regularly on my iPod right now: IT Author, WordPress weekly, Boagworld, The WordPress Podcast, This American Life, InDesign Secrets, Brain Sparks, NPR Technology Podcast, This Week in Tech, and Grammar Girl.

My favorite podcast of the week is the IT Author interview of Geoffrey Pullum, an English professor who debunks many assertions in Strunk and White’s Elements of Style and Fowler’s Modern English Usage. I learned some interesting things about grammar from the interview. First, the that versus which rule, using “that” for restrictive clauses and “which” for non-restrictive clauses, appears to be an invention by Fowler in the early part of the twentieth century.

And Strunk and White’s enforcement of singular verbs with certain pronouns (for example, “None of us has an umbrella” rather than “None of us have an umbrella”) also seems to be a rule invention, not in keeping with the accepted grammar of his day.

I consider myself fortunate to live in a time when so much information is available and consumable for free.

Blog Sponsors

Podcasts | one man writes

Tom Johnson — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:19:00 +0000

Podcasts | one man writes.

Blog Sponsors

The Best Thing I Did This Week

Tom Johnson — Mon, 18 May 2009 01:09:24 +0000

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 podcasts. Lately I’d gotten a bit out of the podcast-listening habit, since I was carpooling with someone who didn’t like to take lunch but instead work eight hours straight. After I switched to the bus for transportation (a new bus route opened up in my city), I’ve been able to embrace a more flexible schedule.

Now that I’ve been exercising at lunch, I’ve noticed that I have a lot more energy in the afternoons. I’m not a big exercise guru by any means. I mostly run a little, lift a little, and jump up and down on a small ledge (in an effort to someday dunk a basketball). But the break refreshes my mind, gives me a change of pace, and allows me to feel alive again (unlike the numbness that sets in from sitting in an office chair all day).

This lunchtime hour provides me the only practical time for working out, because when I get home in the evenings, it’s so much harder to go for a run with three kids, a wife, dinner, and exhaustion. In contrast, after working for about four hours, I’m ready for a break, and running on a treadmill doesn’t look so bad.

If you have an opportunity to work out at lunch, definitely do it. Working out also gives you a perfect opportunity to listen to podcasts. In fact, I can’t imagine working out without a podcast. It would be like driving a car without a radio—doable, but not very fun.

Blog Sponsors

WordPress Tip: Podcasts on WordPress: WordPress Weekly from the WordPress Tavern

Tom Johnson — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:14:20 +0000

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 to this evening include an episode on WordPress theme frameworks (specifically, the WordPress Sandbox theme) and another on content generation and SEO. I find that podcasts are perfect for learning while driving, and today I spent about two hours in the car. (Podcasts are also great for long walks.)

WordPress Weekly goes in depth and has relevant content that directly applies to me. If you’re not into WordPress, you’re probably yawning at another one of my WordPress posts. But whatever your interests, I encourage you to check out some podcasts on the corresponding subjects. Although podcasts aren’t suitable for detailed step-by-step procedures, they’re perfect for communicating conceptual information. What other medium can hold a person’s attention for upwards of 45 minutes at a time?

WordPress Weekly is hosted on Talkshoe, a popular service for podcasting. You can call in with questions if you join the show on Friday nights.

WordPress Weekly podcast -- a podcast on WordPress that I highly recommend

Blog Sponsors

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

Tom Johnson — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:18:43 +0000

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