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...
The new podcasting site is finished. Check it out at ----------------. We have a couple of new interviews up there, including Mike Hamilton and Scott Abel. You can subscribe either via RSS or e-mail, thanks for Feedburner. Let me know what you think. More importantly, if you want to contribute audio content to the site, or just have suggestions for topics, let me know. 12/23/2007 Update: The podcasting site has been merged into this site....
Check out this audiovisual tutorial on using podpress, a plugin that allows you to podcast from your wordpress blog. http://www.mightyseek.com/podpress/podpress-tutorial/ The tutorial uses Camtasia Studio to deliver a video tutorial with audio content. Unlike more elaborate tutorials using tools like Captivate, the Camtasia Studio allows you to put more focus on your voice. There's something that's really nice about hearing someone speak ...
I'm almost ready to announce our new podcast site. This weekend we'll make the final adjustments and then announce it on Tuesday. I'm hoping to launch with 5 solid podcasts. Last weekend I interviewed Scott Abel of Content Management Pros. I tried to integrate music and everything, but realized in listening to the podcast that I didn't keep the microphone far enough away from my mouth during the interview, so while Abel talks you can hear...
Scott Abel with the Content Wrangler has been the one of the advocates behind the mergence of DITA and Structured Blogging, and he promises that it wouldn't be too long before DITA is offered as one of the microformats. This would enable lay people to publish DITA structured posts by merely filling in fields in a blog post. The emergence of DITA as the next-generation help format for technical writers is growing in popularity, but the per...
I think I'm finally getting ready to start recording some phone interviews. This article from hotair.com gives specific instructions for recording phone interviews and turning them into podcasts: http://hotair.com/archives/2006/04/24/how-to-podcast-record-phone-interviews-and-have-your-own-talk-radio-show-for-less-than-fifty-bucks/ Here is roughly how to do it: 1. Get a headphone/mic set from Radio Shack or wherever ($20). 2. Download and...
I recently compiled a list of tech writer bloggers here: http://techwriterblogs.com. I noticed that a lot of people use Blogger and other platforms other than Wordpress. My thoughts: Are you crazy? Just kidding. But really, Wordpress offers some definite advantages: Ability to categorize your posts by topic, not just by date Ability to choose from hundreds of themes/skins Ability to integrate plugins Large user community with help forums...
