In this interview, I ask Brenda Huettner, who is writing a book on accessibility called Communicating with Everyone, to provide some practical tips for making my website, which includes audio, video, images, and text, more accessible.

In this video, I interview Saul Carliner about a post he wrote on his blog describing the “do-it-yourself” philosophy and whether this philosophy is something technical communicators should embrace or fear.

Ben Minson and I attended Don Moyer‘s session on drawing for technical communicators. Don explained simple drawing techniques to illustrate concepts. I asked Ben Minson, an artist, to comment on Don’s session and evaluate whether he thinks the techniques would be useful or practical in the workplace.

In this video, I interview Larry Kunz about new variables for technical writing project managers. Larry talks specifically about the ways agile and social media are changing the way technical writers manage projects. We recorded this video at the STC Summit in Dallas. The next day, Larry received the President’s Award at the STC Summit for his work with strategic planning. (I didn’t know it … more »

In this video, I asked Char James-Tanny and Bill Swallow to comment on the controversy over free versus pay-per-content models online, especially as it applies to STC content with the Body of Knowledge, Special Interest Groups (SIGs), and other information products.

In this video, I talk with Richard Hamilton, founder of XML Press, an imprint focused on technical communication, to share details about the upcoming books he is publishing. Richard also comments on how he identifies topics and trends for the technical communication publishing market.

In this video, I talk with Whitney Quesenbery and Caroline Jarrett about the feasibility of removing links embedded directly within paragraphs — which Kathryn Summers and Ginny Redish describe as “exit points” that confuse and disorient low-literacy readers.

In this video, I talk with Joe Welinski from WritersUA about strategies for entering the mobile market, particularly in landing contracts for iPhone and iPad application help and user interface design. Joe runs the WritersUA conference each year.

In this interview, I ask Rich Maggiani, who serves on the STC board, to comment on why questions are so important and what the art of questioning entails. Rich gave a presentation at the Summit titled The Art of Questioning.

Whitney Quesenbery has just published Storytelling for User Experience: Crafting Stories for Better Design. In this interview I ask her to elaborate on the story behind the story, how stories compare with user personas and user stories, and how to gather stories from users. We recorded this videocast at the STC Summit in Dallas.

In this videocast, I talk with Neil Perlin at hyperword.com about the trend toward mobile outputs for help and other information deliverables. Neil had just given a demonstration of a mobile output from Flare, and he mentioned to me that mobile was a direction he wants to specialize in. We recorded this video in the Expo hall at the STC Summit in Dallas.

Paul Pehrson and I sat down after Leadership Day at the STC Summit to talk about some of the strategies the board is taking to address the issue of trust. This is the first in a series of videocasts that I’ll be posting at the Summit.

The other week, by invitation, I was at a Missouri State University Workshop for Teachers of Technical Writing. I presented about trends in technical communication and highlighted multimedia, particularly video, as an important trend. Near the end of my presentation, I asked the academic audience why so many teachers don’t require students to create video (e.g., screencasts, e-learning, video tutorials) as part of their help … more »

As I implemented the Organize Series plugin for my long essay about moving From Overlooked to Center Stage, an interesting idea dawned on me: The Long Tail applies to writing as well. The Long Tail is an economic principle claiming that an abundance of little sales of niche products eventually outproduce the mega sales of mainstream products. For example, Amazon.com may not sell many 1970 … more »

I decided to record a short two-minute videocast to try out my new Kodak zi8 pocket camcorder. In this videocast, I share a brief thought about the similarity between creative writing and technical writing.