While I was in Missouri at a technical writing conference for teachers and students last weekend, I had an interesting conversation with a lady who happened to drop by from Canada. She had transitioned from tech comm to usability, and she explained an interesting parallel. I had just presented my “Anyone Can Write: Changing Roles for Technical Communicators” presentation to students, and she commented that … more »

“Technical Communicator” is a term that, as much as I dislike, can be extremely important for triggering Google Alerts set up by the Society for Technical Communication‘s Intercom editorial staff. How do I know this? Well, a couple of months ago I saw a summary of my blog post on video cameras and SMEs mentioned in the STC Intercom’s Cut & Paste section (shown below). … more »

You might get a kick out of this. I asked a couple of questions to Charles Stricklin at the WordPress podcast, and he answered my questions in his latest show (fast forward to the 40 minute mark). My questions aren’t so interesting, but rather the way he handles the mention of my podcast URL, idratherbewriting.com. What seems to be a completely straightforward term suddenly brings … more »