---
title: "Making Help More Human, and other discussions"
date: 2007-04-07
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canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2007/04/07/making-help-more-human/index.html
---

> For AI agents: a documentation index is available at https://idratherbewriting.com/llms.txt. Markdown versions of all pages are available by appending .md to any page URL.

# Making Help More Human, and other discussions

**Listen here:**

[Audio](https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/podcasts/idratherbewriting_april7_2007.mp3)

[![](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/apple_podcasts.png)](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id-rather-be-writing-podcast/id277365275) [![](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/watchonyoutubeblack.png)](https://www.youtube.com/@idratherbewriting) [![](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/spotify.png)](https://open.spotify.com/show/4HeOZfPGMMfViOhVS40QBD)

In this episode of Tech Writer Voices, Heidi and I talk about a number of cool trends in the technical writing world, particularly the need to make help more human by adopting conversational tones and addressing the angry/frantic state of the user.

A few of the topics we cover include the following:

- [Kathy Sierra's keynote at the South by Southwest conference](https://idratherbewriting.com/2007/03/18/help-needs-to-be-human-conversational-and-geared-towards-panicky-users/)
- How to make help more human
- [The state of mind of our users](http://blog.brian-fitzgerald.net/?p=159%20)
- Where to put FAQs
- [Twitter](https://twitter.com/)
- [Live blogging from the Writers UA conference](https://heidilhansen.blogspot.com/2007/03/not-at-writersua-conference-this-week.html)
- Team blogs and the importance of voice
- [South by Southwest podcast archive](http://2007.sxsw.com/coverage/podcasts/)
- [Twitter trends](http://twittervision.com/)
- [9 Lessons for Would-be bloggers](https://heidilhansen.blogspot.com/2007/03/acm-sigchi-3-22-07-meeting-notes.html)
- Overcoming the fear of blogging
- Believing you have something valuable to say
- [How having a focus for your blog gives you something to say](http://www.longbarcorp.com/blog/index.php/2007/03/22/of-blogs-and-novels/)
- Heidi's trail metaphor for blogging
- [Keeping actions on a page grouped together, notes from a SIGCHI meeting](https://heidilhansen.blogspot.com/2007/03/acm-sigchi-3-22-07-meeting-notes.html)
- [Apple TV](https://heidilhansen.blogspot.com/2007/03/apple-tv-screen-interface.html)
- [The paradox of choice](http://www.changethis.com/13.ParadoxOfChoice)
- How to sell the most jam in a supermarket
- Cognitive dissonance and the multitude of choices
- [Applied Software Project Management by Andrew Stelman and Jennifer Green](http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2006/02/27/what-corp-projects-learn-from-open-source.html)
- Authoritative sources for education
- Music from [Podshow](http://music.podshow.com/music/listeners/artistdetails.php?BandHash=7bd198d20d6b185187331f3e078c96ef)

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**About Tech Writer Voices**

Tech Writer Voices is a podcast specifically for technical communicators. The weekly show features interviews, conversations, tips, and other information for those who write help content.