How Jing Can Benefit Technical Writers
Jing, a new project by TechSmith, is a tool that allows you to quickly capture video or an image from your computer and share it with others, such as project team members or customers.
After you capture images or video with Jing, you click a Share button to quickly upload the capture to a web host, file directory (e.g., SharePoint), or Flickr. Within seconds Jing gives you a URL to share with others. Jing is a cool, easy-to-use tool, and it can have a big impact on IT project teams in the areas of technical support, quality assurance, and development.
To demonstrate Jing, here's a quick example. Let's say you're documenting a project and you suddenly have an idea to enhance the usability. But you know how developers hate to read long explanations when they could watch a movie instead, so you Jing it.
https://idratherbewriting.com/jing/2008-02-08_2225.swf
Or let's say that you also provide support for the applications you document, and someone sends you an email asking how to do a task. Instead of writing out a long, tedious procedure, just create a quick jing.
https://idratherbewriting.com/jing/2008-02-08_2310.swf
Or suppose you're documenting an application when you notice a bug, but it's kind of hard to explain, and someone really just needs to see it. You can't call over the entire team, but you can create a quick Jing and send it to everyone.
https://idratherbewriting.com/jing/2008-02-08_2319.swf
It's often easier to create a jing than to compose an email.
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About Tom Johnson
I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my API documentation course if you're looking for more info about documenting APIs. Or see my posts on AI and AI course section for more on the latest in AI and tech comm.
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