If you've been thinking about getting into podcasting, consider joining the Tech Writer Voices podcasting team. We only have several members right now, and we're just getting started, but we eventually want to grow into a dozen members, who are all creating interesting podcasts and publishing them on Tech Writer Voices. You'd be amazed at how much fun it can be to interview someone. Editing and post-production time are minimal. It's actu...
Listen here: John McGhie, technical writer and Microsoft MVP from Sydney, Australia, explains how to create a usable index for your help material. In this interview, John covers the following topics: Deciding whether to create an index Skills required to create an index Steps in creating an index Audience considerations in creating an index Time required for creating an index Pitfalls writers face when creating an index...
So far with Tech Writer Voices, I've stuck to interviewing other people who are experts in a topic. However, this past week, I changed it up a bit, delivering my own 30 minute podcast on Podcasting, and then being interviewed by Alistair Cristie from IT Author podcast. I came to a surprising little conclusion: being interviewed is fun; so is deliving the entire podcast yourself. I wish I were more articulate and graceful, but even with my...
Listen here: This podcast offers a 101 crash-course on podcasting. If you're intrigued by podcasting, or if you're looking to learn more about how to take advantage of the podcasting trend, listen to this podcast. Topics in this podcast include: What podcasting is How podcasting differs from radio Why podcasting can connect with listeners more profoundly How to monetize podcasts How to start your own podca...
Listen here: Neil Perlin, a renowned trainer, consulter, and developer, talks about how to implement single sourcing. He includes a discussion of tools, pitfalls to avoid, and practical steps to take. Topics covered in this 25 minute podcasts include: Definitions and benefits of single sourcing Different methods of single sourcing Myths about single sourcing Pitfalls with single sourcing you'll want to avoid Discussion ...
I did a couple of things tonight in my latest audio recording that made a big difference. First, I bought a new headset. It's a $30 plantronics headset from Best Buy. The earpieces/muffs are bigger and absorb the sound so that the speaker's voice doesn't feed into the microphone. More importantly, I'm using the mute feature of the microphone. For some reason, using Skype's mute feature had no effect in the recording, but the built-in mute...
What is podcasting? Podcasting refers to audio files on the Internet that you can download to your MP3 player and listen to on the go. You can add files to your MP3 player the old fashioned way—by downloading the files and dragging them into your player. But you can also use podcatching applications such as Juice, iTunes, or FeedStation to automatically download your subscribed podcasts to your computer. How can I listen to these podcasts...
The right column ("Podcasts") shows all the latest Tech Writer Voices podcasts. Previously, the podcasts were housed on a different domain (idratherbewriting.com). Recently I decided to integrate the podcasts onto this site instead. From now on, you only have to go to one site -- idratherbewriting.com -- to get both blog and podcasts. Although the podcast is now hosted on the idratherbewriting.com domain, I'm still calling it Tech Writer ...
Listen here: Sean Wheller, from Johannesburg, South Africa, talks about one of the most popular open-source content management systems available today — Joomla. Topics covered in this podcast include The meaning of “open source” applications Benefits of automated workflows and templates Uses of Joomla, from websites to newsletters Advantages of Joomla as a content management system Comparisons of Joomla with other open ...
Listen here: Knowledge Management focuses on how an organization identifies, creates, captures, acquires, shares, and leverages knowledge — its most valuable asset. People, systems, and processes support these activities and make them repeatable and sustainable. Organizations around the globe are recognizing that effective knowledge management strategies will give them the competitive edge they need for enhanced busines...
Listen here: Mike Hamilton, VP of Product Development at MadCap Software, talks about Flare 2.0, which will be released in early October. He also answers questions about the MadCap software suite, which includes Blaze, Mimic, Capture, and Flare. He talks about single-sourcing, snippets, variables, indexes, XML, and other topics related to Flare. If you're a RoboHelp user or are interested in Flare, this is a must-listen-...
Listen here: Interview with Scott Abel from Content Management Professionals about content management, the CM Pros upcoming summit, and the advantages of content management. Scott also talks about how content management systems increase productivity, help track content, automate processes, and allow writers to single-source their content. The music is from Rubber Band Banjo.
Listen here: Ian Koss is founder of Ink19, which was at one time one of the largest free music magazines in the U.S. His team began publishing in the early 90's in the traditional print medium, but changed to an online format as the Internet emerged. In this podcast, Ian explains how the online medium required their writers to rethink and restructure their writing. In this podcast, Ian talks about such topics as the tran...
The Photoshop TV podcast receives about 2 million downloads a month. If you create a podcast with a how-to focus, your popularity will explode. People search for information, research, knowledge. They want to learn how to do things. http://www.printondemand.com/MT/archives/008610.html I think all the podcasts on the idratherbewriting should convey this how-to focus -- as much as possible anyway. Most topics are really how-to, although the...
Ann Wiley just put a link to TechWriterVoices under the Online SIG Leads section on the Hyperviews site (part of the Online SIG). The online SIG (http://stc-on.org/online) is one of the coolest SIGs that the STC offers. It brings together people with an interest in new media tools, and there are about 2,000 members. My natural interests revolve around new media, such as blogs, podcasts, CMS, and the other thousand emerging web tools, so t...
