http://share.opml.org is a site that shows you the top 100 blogs and top 100 podcasts based on OPML files that users submit. (OPML files are lists of all the feeds you're subscribed to with your news aggregator.) I wish I could create something like this for technical writers.
I've come across a couple of free tools that may prove useful for surveys and webinars. Surveys: www.Surveygizmo.com Allows you to create surveys with up to 250 responses for free Webinars: www.vyew.com Free webinar tool (but I need to explore it more) Has anyone had any experience with these two tools?
Here's an interesting site: www.oneword.com. It gives you a word to start writing about -- something to get your creative juices flowing. More interesting is to read other people's one-word writes.
As of Nov 1, here are the number of unique downloads for the podcasts on Tech Writer Voices (https://idratherbewriting.com). Technical Writing in India (Sandeep): 42 Another Perspective on Single Sourcing (O'Keefe): 132 How to Create a Usable Index (McGhie): 88 Podcasting 101 (Johnson): 101 How to Implement Single Sourcing (Perlin): 175 Joomla, a Free Open-Source Content Mgmt Sys (Wheller): 130 Flare 2.0 (Hamilton): 237 CM Pros (Abel): 5...
Listen here: In this podcast, I talk with Sandeep Balakrishna, a seasoned technical writer based in Bangalore, India. He has been a technical writer for 10 years, and has observed the explosive growth of technical writing in India. According to Google Trends, seven of the top ten cities where the term "technical writing" is searched is India. What does that mean? Is outsourcing growing or shrinking? What is the Indian pe...
I'm happy to say that we've been blogging at my work for the last 3-4 months and it has been well-received. We're using SharePoint as a blogging tool -- not really the normal tool for blogging, but it actually works pretty well. People can subscribe to alerts to a discussion, and you can also sort your discussion by specific categories. I find that if it makes a nice substitute for email. When you have something to share, but don't want t...
This is pretty big news in the Wordpress blogging world. Wordpress multi-user edition 1.0 has been released. Wordpress multi-user editions enable others to actually create blogs from your install. I mean, you can essentially host thousands of blogs on your blog. For a long time this was the one advantage that Movable Type had over Wordpress. This is good news for STC because now the STC can provide free blogging for all of its members. Of...
Listen here: In this podcast, Sarah O'Keefe talks about how to implement single-sourcing, particularly for writers with medium-level reuse needs, such as those using RoboHelp and Word. Additionally, she discusses the resistance writers have to change, how to calculate business costs versus savings, and tool options for producing online help and print deliverables. Specific topics in this podcast include: Determining whe...
Download MP3 (from Alistair's site) Duration: 30 min. If you like the Tech Writer Voices podcast, then you'll probably also like Alistair Christie's podcast, which is called IT Author Podcast and can be found here: http://www.itauthor.com/wordpress/category/podcasts. Alistair is a technical writer from the UK, and has a pleasing conversational style to his podcasts. He also has an incredible depth of information about technical writing. ...
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 podc...
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...
