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    Archive for social media

    Graduate Research Findings about Technical Communication and Blogs in the Workplace

    January 22nd, 2012 | 3 Comments »

    Results of survey on technical communication and blogging

    The following is a guest post by Michelle Tompkins. Earlier this year she asked me to post a survey about technical communication and blogging. I posted it here, and then asked if she would follow up to share her findings. This guest post shares her findings. Earlier in December, Tom Johnson was nice enough to help me with my graduate research on how blogs are … more »


    Introducing Technical Writing World, a New Social Network for Technical Writers

    April 28th, 2011 | 5 Comments »

    arnold

    The following is a guest post by Arnold Burian, founder of the new social network Technical Writing World. When it comes to knowledge sharing, we technical writers have it pretty darn good. There are active mailing lists (HATT, TECHRL-W), many informative blogs (I’d Rather Be Writing, The Content Wrangler), a vibrant notification system (#techcomm on Twitter), and professional organizations (STC, TWIN) rich with content. We … more »


    Participatory Economics: Are Companies Budgeting for Social Media?

    December 23rd, 2010 | 8 Comments »

    Participatory Economics

    A podcast summary by David Armano from Edelman caught my attention yesterday. Armano writes: My theory is that social technologies and the online behaviors they enable leads to more participation from what use to be static audiences and “consumers”. But as a result of this, a demand is generated for participation to be reciprocated from business and brands. If this is true (and I think … more »


    Podcast: Finding and Creating Relevant Content — Strategies for Social Media

    October 8th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

    Finding and producing relevant content

    [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 70 min. In the barrage of information created by all the social media channels, how can you find relevant content? How can you move past forms of noise to actually produce content that engages users? What forms of social media do students respond to the most? These are some of the questions we explored in … more »


    New Variables for Technical Writing Project Managers: Larry Kunz at the STC Summit in Dallas, #stc10

    May 9th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

    This entry is part 10 of 19 in the series STC Summit in Dallas

    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 »


    From Overlooked to Center Stage [6]

    April 18th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

    This entry is part 6 of 12 in the series From Overlooked to Center Stage

    Catalyst 2: User Experience We didn’t have a very good support model for the application. It became clear that our service desk, which included mostly BYU students working part-time and supporting over 100 different applications, couldn’t answer questions that users had. They would only escalate the questions to us. And not many of our customers trusted the support desk anyway. Eventually the project manager started … more »


    When Social Media Becomes Hollow

    March 29th, 2010 | 20 Comments »

    I attended Podcamp Salt Lake City (Podcampslc.org) on Friday for the third year in a row. The attendees have fluctuated. The first year, about 30 attended. The next year, about 90 attended. This year, the attendees decreased to around 45. Sometimes events just suffer from poor timing. We are all so busy. But I noticed another trend: more and more sessions focused on social media, … more »


    An Interview About Technical Writing

    October 9th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

    [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 30 min. This is a special podcast for Carly Finseth at Clemson University who is thinking about entering the field of technical writing and wanted to ask me a few questions. After I recorded the podcast, she was kind enough to transcribe it. I polished up the transcription a bit so that it would be … more »


    Clive Thompson on the New Literacy

    August 28th, 2009 | Comments Off

    A scholar conducts a 6 year study of student writing and finds that, despite constant accusations that social media is taking writing downhill, actually “we’re in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven’t seen since Greek civilization.” I have to agree — it is a cool effect that the social web is creating. The world needs more writers.


    Podcast with Anne Gentle about her Conversation and Community book

    August 26th, 2009 | 4 Comments »

    [amazon-product align="right"]0982219113[/amazon-product][Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 40 min. As a follow-up to my review of Anne Gentle’s book, [amazon-product type="text" text="Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation"]0982219113[/amazon-product], I also interviewed her for a podcast. Now you can listen to Anne talk about some of the concepts in her book in a more personal way through the headphones of your … more »


    Are You Irrelevant? Engaging, Provocative Video

    July 30th, 2009 | Comments Off

    I saw this video on the Content Wrangler Community. The original source is on youtube. Talk about engaging. I completely agree with the person here. In a day when I’m arguing for the merits of moving the Intercom online, this video couldn’t be any more apropo.


    People First: The Key to Social Media Strategy

    July 18th, 2009 | Comments Off

    An insightful article about the struggle for associations to engage their members with social media. So appropriate for the STC right now. Thanks to Anne at justwriteclick.com for the link.


    Growing Happy Users – One Customer at a Time.

    May 9th, 2009 | Comments Off

    Growing Happy Users – One Customer at a Time. Using documentation as a way to engage and convert users into engaged community members.


    Managing Your Social Media Profiles and Badges

    March 8th, 2009 | 5 Comments »

    Each social media site has its own badge. If you participate in a handful of them — Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Tripit, etc — it can be cumbersome to manage all your social media profiles and badges. DandyID.org is a site that helps you manage your social identities. It contains a list of 300+ social media services with profile fields for each.


    Examples of blogs as online help and release notes | just write click

    February 6th, 2009 | Comments Off

    Examples of blogs as online help and release notes | just write click.