Podcast: Documentation in the Cloud
Listen here:
In this podcast, Michael Hiatt at mashstream.com presents to the STC Intermountain chapter on documentation in the cloud. By documentation in the cloud, he's referring to our move to the web of everything we do on the computer -- the running of applications, the saving of our data, the way we access and interact with all the information. He covers at a lot of ground in this presentation, touching on web 2.0, web 3.0, the semantic web, knowledge mashups, documentation mashups, lifestreaming, linked data, meshing, raw data, and more.
Here's the official presentation description:
Web 2.0 cloud computing, interactive social groups, and real-time global communication promise major changes in software programming, IT management, medical care, and scientific research.
So how will it affect technical communication? Significantly. Major changes are coming for all types of writers, editors, and technical developers as personalized data is streamed to Facebook accounts, web applications are mashed, and content is stored in the cloud.
Our world of in-house authoring of proprietary help files, closed doc sets, and isolated knowledge bases is coming to an end. As web creators and communicators, we need to evaluate our place in the new protocol society where content is king and authors are needed to publish entertaining and relevant information.
About Michael Hiatt
Michael Hiatt is a technical writer and manager with 20 years of experience. He has worked for software companies large and small across multiple products and varying depths of technical communication. Michael co-founded Mashstream.com, where he blogs and develops e-books, application mashups, and integrated linked data solutions.
Sponsored
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, agent skills, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my AI courses for more on the latest in AI and tech comm. If you're looking for info about documenting APIs, see my API documentation course.
If you're a technical writer and want to keep on top of the latest trends in tech comm, be sure to subscribe to email updates below. You can also learn more about me or contact me.
Finally, I want to note a couple of things. I usually write the first drafts of my posts myself and then use AI to improve accuracy, clarity, and detail in places, so my writing is a mix of human and AI. (Hopefully that's not too off-putting.) Also, the opinions I express on my blog are my own perspectives, not those of my employer.