The following is an interview with Ugur Akinci, a technical writer for Honeywell Corporation. Ugur asked me these same questions for an interview on this site. After answering them, I was curious about how he would answer the same questions, so I asked Ugur to respond to the questions for my site as well. (1)   How long you’ve been a technical communicator? Where do you … more »

In looking back over 2010, mobile trends dominated the marketplace. MobileFuture.org created the following video to illustrate: Here are a few of the surprising mobile stats: FIVE BILLION apps downloaded — up from 300 million in 2009 347 PERCENT growth in Twitter mobile usage 100 MILLION YouTube videos played on mobile devices everyday 3,000 PERCENT growth in one carrier’s data traffic since 2008 3,339: average … more »

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 a recent email to me, Jake from California (not his real name or location) writes, I’ve spent most of today exploring the world of technical writing, and I find that you’re very central and visible. I’ve read, listened to, and watched a good deal of content you’ve produced, plus viewed snippets of threads on the STC listserv where you either weighed in or were … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 15 min. In this brief podcast, I discuss the results of the podcast poll that I published on my site earlier this week. I mostly wanted an opportunity to try out my new Behringer mixer/preamp, and the results of the poll served as perfect fodder for a podcast. In this 15 minutes of audio, I … more »

The following 10 minute video shows what’s new in the help system for the upcoming release of Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2. The key trends are as follows: Help is embedded in a browser because the browser is the predominant mode people use to find information. Search is the main method for navigating content. There’s still a table of contents, but no more index. When … more »

Fascinating NYTimes.com article about why teenagers don’t use Twitter (linked by Eddie VanArsdall). A few reasons teens avoid Twitter: it makes it difficult to hide what they’re doing, parents don’t want teens interacting with strangers, the communication is less friend driven and more professional oriented, the tweets are better for marketing or asking questions or broadcasting ideas. Although I tweet, I certainly wouldn’t want my … more »

Identity and Authority. Why the Foundation of Documentation is Changing. | The LugIron Software Blog. In this post, LugIron says documentation departments now have competition from other sources, whereas previously they dominated this arena without challenges from other sources. He pulls together several posts by various bloggers and suggests a trend in the industry. He ends by arguing, “This shift [in the tech comm industry] … more »

oDesk Reports “WordPress” Fastest Growing In-Demand Skill in 2008 « WordPress Publisher Blog Writing is second, SEO is fourth, CSS is about tenth.

Technical communication, past, present and future: a review [TechScribe software documentation].

HelpScribe: Current trends in technical communications.