--- title: "Podcast: What’s New in the Field of Technical Communication?" date: 2008-09-05 description: "$( document ).ready(function() { // Handler for .ready() called. $('#toc').toc({ minimumHeaders: 3, listType: 'ul', showSpeed: 0, headers: '#content h2, #content h3, #content h4, #content h5, #content h6' }); /*..." canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/09/05/podcast-whats-new-in-the-field-of-technical-communication/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. # Podcast: What’s New in the Field of Technical Communication? **Listen here:** [Audio](https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/podcasts/writerriversep8_2008.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) Having taken a three-month podcasting break, it feels good to be back. In this podcast, I talk with [Charles Jeter](http://charlesjeter.com/) and [Heidi Hansen](http://heidilhansen.com/) about what's new in the field of technical communication. See the sections below for the four main topics we discuss. **Note:**If you've never listened to a podcast before, see my brief page on How to Listen to Podcasts. ## Hosts - Heidi Hansen (see [Heidi's blog](https://heidilhansen.blogspot.com/)) - Charles Jeteter (see [Charles' blog](http://charlesjeter.com/)) - Tom Johnson ## Major Topics Discussed ### 1. Flossmanuals.net Will this new wiki/help authoring/publishing tool hybrid take off? - [Flossmanuals.net: free manuals about free software](http://en.flossmanuals.net/) - [About Flossmanuals](http://en.flossmanuals.net/about) - [Charles' post on Flossmanuals: Getting FLOSSy: Acrobat Killer or HAT Replacement?](http://charlesjeter.com/2008/08/30/floss-manuals-acrobat-killer/) - [Anne Gentle on Booksprint Results](http://justwriteclick.com/2008/09/01/booksprint-results/) ### 2. Google Chrome's comic book white paper What can technical writers learn from Google's Chrome comic book? - [Google's Comic Book White Paper](http://blogoscoped.com/google-chrome/) - [Discussion of the comic book on Techwr-l](http://www.techwr-l.com/archives/0809/techwhirl-0809-00013.html) ### 3. "Why I Hate PDFs" Is the PDF a dying format? - ["Why I Hate PDFs,"](https://user-assistance.blogspot.com/2008/08/why-i-hate-pdfs.html) by Mike Hughes - ["Some more PDF Haters,"](http://www.foulwritersworld.net/blog/?p=93) by Noel Thethy ### 4. "Technical Writing -- Look Before You Leap" Is a career in technical writing incompatible with a secret life as a creative writer? - ["Technical Writing -- Look Before You Leap,"](http://www.techwr-l.com/node/771) by Lain Chroust Ehmann ## Minor Topics Mentioned The following links point to topics briefly mentioned during the podcast: - [Articulate](http://www.articulate.com/) - [Silke Fleisher going around the world](http://blogs.adobe.com/silke.fleischer/2008/08/leaving_on_a_world_trip.html) - [Silke work with bicycles](http://ativsolutions.com/) - [Writer River](http://writerriver.com/) - [WordPress as a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde application](https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/08/30/wordpress-as-a-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-application/) - [Pete's comment about the interview style of podcasting](https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/09/01/on-podcasts-reasons-for-the-break-and-plans-for-the-future/#comment-134052) - [Interview of a person who actually uses DITA in real life](https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/04/21/podcast-dita-from-the-perspective-of-someone-actually-using-it/) - [Captivate](http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/) - [Anne Gentle's blog](http://justwriteclick.com/) - [Uncompetition (Peer Review) at the Puget Sound Chapter](http://stc-psc.org/peerreview.php) - [Howcast.com](http://www.howcast.com/) - [Free PDF Alternatives](https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/08/05/free-pdf-alternatives-save-yourself-700-and-a-headache/) - WordPress seminars - [Contest to win a free copy of Flare 4](https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/09/03/flare-4-giveway-enter-to-win-a-free-copy-by-commenting-on-this-post/) - [Technical writing in India](https://idratherbewriting.com/2006/10/30/technical-writing-in-india-an-interview-with-sandeep-beepu-from-bangalore-india/) - [Intercom Online](http://www.stc.org/intercom/index.asp) - [Technical Communication Journal](http://www.stc.org/pubs/techcommGeneral01.asp) - [Keeping up with the latest technologies](http://stc-suncoast.org/2007/03/01/chat-transcript-march-2007/) (chat transcript) - [Reasons for the break in podcasting](https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/09/01/on-podcasts-reasons-for-the-break-and-plans-for-the-future/) - [Curt Rosengren's blog](http://mapmaker.curtrosengren.com/) - [Sharon Burton's blog](http://madcapsoftware.wordpress.com/) - [Charles' podcast with Mike Hamilton last year](http://charlesjeter.com/2007/12/27/madcaps-vp-mike-hamilton-speaks-dec-7th-2007/) ## Other Podcasts You Might Like If you like the Tech Writer Voices podcast, you'll also like [Alistair Christie's IT Author podcast](http://www.itauthor.eu/category/podcasts/) and the [DMN Communications podcast](http://dmn.podbean.com/). Check them out. Alistair has recently posted two new podcasts within the past couple of weeks. I also enjoy [This Week in Tech](http://twit.tv/twit) and the [WordPress Podcast](http://wordpresspodcast.org/).