One of the responses in our recent chapter survey showed that members want more information about other members (see #3). I think this means members want to interact more, to get to know their peers better. But going out to the meetings each month isn't always possible given the remote locations of some members. And others have family commitments or other obstacles that prevent them from interacting. To get around this, I've added a chat ...
Jakob Nielsen offers 10 principles for weblog usability. But it's #9 that really jumps out: Whenever you post anything to the Internet -- whether on a weblog, in a discussion group, or even in an email -- think about how it will look to a hiring manager in ten years. Once stuff's out, it's archived, cached, and indexed in many services that you might never be aware of. Years from now, someone might consider hiring you for a plum job and t...
In a recent survey we did with our chapter, 75% of the members said the blog was sufficient, and that we don't need to bring back the chapter newsletter. We archived our newsletter about 2 years ago because each newsletter editor kept getting burned out. When we converted our site to a blog, members contributed to it but the posts were not really articles as much as announcements., job listings, or requests for advice. I asked the newsle...
As a technical writer, I use styles for almost everything. That's why I almost died when I learned about this WordPress Easter egg in the visual editor. Go to where you would write a new post and look at your visual editor. Press alt+shift+v. You'll suddenly see an additional toolbar appear that wasn't there before. Uhm, isn't restricting heading tags and other formatting options one of dumbest omissions in a WYSIWYG editor? If it's poss...
Boagworld shares some worthwhile advice on podcasting. If you skip ahead to minute 37, you'll get to the part about podcasting. Here's what Paul and Marcus said that I found interesting: Your listeners are listening to your podcast while doing something else, such as driving, exercising, or working. So you only have part of their attention. The implication is that your content has to be somewhat light, not requiring 100% attention to abs...
You probably saw the brief descriptions of the two keynote speakers at the STC Conference in March, but did you know one is a podcaster. Or a videocaster, or a new media artist. The show with zefrank is an interesting new video art form. He does some creative, theatrical commentary while looking at your straight in the eye. Click the image above to see Ze Frank talk about Google and Valentine's day and "Googe." The show is a satire on Go...
I read a few STC articles from Doug Davis on the business side of technical communication today. He had some interesting things to say. The following 15 cities are where 50% of the technical communication jobs are found. So if you're looking for a job, you might have better luck living in one of these locations: San Jose, California ( Silicon Valley) Boston, Massachusetts Seattle, Washington Washington, D.C. Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minneso...
Like taking surveys? Even if you don't, there are two more that you might just want to take: The Innovations survey. This survey is an eye-opener as to what features are out there in help systems, and what features you believe are innovative. (Side note: The Hat-Matrix site, which lists a lot of the features of different help systems, is pretty interesting.) The WritersUSA Salary survey. This survey is particularly important because it h...
I have been thinking about how to monetize Tech Writer Voices. Most podcasters spend a lot of time creating and editing audio for their podcasts. What's the return on investment? You can make money with podcasting, but the ads (such as ads for hosting services or other products), don't seem to generate enough profit to be worthwhile. However, I just stumbled upon an idea that may prove to be a powerful revenue generator: selling job descr...
I just posted a first cohost podcast with Heidi Hansen, a technical writer in Seattle and my new co-host. If you listen to the podcast, let me know what you think of the new cohost format. I think it went well; it was different from a regular interview, and the new style is something I'll have to work on. We also tried a little recording trick to try to make the voices clearer. Heidi's voice sounded crisper and clearer than mine, so I wil...
Listen here: This podcast takes a different direction than the previous podcasts, which were more interview-driven. This time the podcast consists of Heidi Hansen (co-host) and me talking about various topics in technical communication. The flow is more conversational and spontaneous. Topics covered include an introduction to the new co-host, competition entries, an interesting entry from Microsoft, audio in instructions...
After Clyde posted his survey about technical writing blogs, we read the following from Fred Sampson's blog: ... I included a comment saying that discussing technical writing bores me. And Jenny comments: Well, apparently, it bores me as well. I haven't posted anything about it in at least a year (hell, I haven't posted about anything in quite a long time), and yet they still listed my blog on the survey. *sigh* I guess even a barely-acti...
DMN Communication's latest podcast is well-worth listening to. It is by far their best podcast to date. They've moved from a scripted style to one that is more natural and conversational. They also lengthened it to 16 minutes. I really enjoyed listening to them talk about their honest thoughts about RoboHelp 6 (which, by the way, they give a thumbs down.) They've also embedded the Podbean player directly into their blog posts. Overall, e...
I was reading a post by John Chow on 10 blogging mistakes that got me thinking about some basic usability principles when it comes to blogs. When reading blogs, here are 10 simple principles to follow. I've used some screenshots from John Chow's blog that illustrate some of my points. Allow me to easily comment. If you disabled comments because of spam, it ruins the interactive appeal of your blog. Blogs are two-way conversations. But ev...
My friend Clyde Parson has a blogging survey that I encourage you to take. He's gathering info on what makes blogs more appealing than others.
