Tagging: People-Powered Metadata for the Social Web I recently read Tagging: People-Powered Metadata for the Social Web (2008), by Gene Smith. Smith dives into tagging as a method for adding metadata to resources, which in turn increases the organization and findability of the resources. Traditional help authoring tools categorize resources through folders (a carryover from Windows folders), whereas web platforms typically use tags. Tags...
Students and others trying to break into technical writing are always wondering what tools they should use. The latest tools survey from WritersUA seems helpful in answering this question. The survey concludes that some of the most popular tools for technical writers are Adobe Acrobat, Camtasia Studio, Adobe Captivate, Dreamweaver, Madcap Flare, Framemaker, Photoshop, Robohelp, Snagit, and Visio. Of these tools, Flare scores highest as a ...
In Scrum and the Single Writer, Kathee Kuvinka mentions Kanban as a technique implemented in her agile-based company to keep the workload under control. Kathee writes, Kanban is a lean, or just-in-time methodology which is often used in manufacturing for inventory control and, like many good methodologies (including Scrum), originated in Japan. The philosophy is that you should only take on as much work as you have the capacity to perform...
Apparently the Matrix was somewhat prophetic in showing us the future of learning. The idea that you can download knowledge is becoming more of a reality. According to Fox News: Scientists from Boston University and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, have used a functional magnetic resonance machine (fMRI) to decode the process of learning. The procedure - known as Decoded Neurofeedback or “DecNef” – stimulates t...
Mark Baker's post, Why documentation analytics may misread, presents an appealing argument about why it doesn't matter if just a few people read the manual. In his post, Mark argues that a small number of key influencers who read the manual can share the knowledge with a much larger group who do not read the manual. The effect of the manual, therefore, disseminates out to a much larger group, even if that group never reads the manual. Mar...
I was talking with my wife's uncle last week about writing strategies for fiction, and whether it's better to outline everything ahead of time, or figure it out as you go. The former is apparently called a "plotter" method and the latter a "pantser" method (called pantser because you fly by the seat of your pants). He said there's no right way, but if you're planning to figure it out as you go, it's still a good idea to write your last ch...
A couple of weeks ago, I had to calculate some metrics at work to gauge volunteer efforts. I realized that when I tallied up the metrics, I came to some astonishing revelations about productivity versus management efforts. The experience turned me on to the idea of metrics, and I decided to start keeping track of the food I eat. I downloaded a great iPhone app for this: Fitness Pal. It allows you to keep track of all the calories you're consum...
When Grandma Nana came to visit, she brought clip-on earrings (among other jewelry) for the kids. The kids wore these clip-on earrings for practically an entire week straight. Avery is sporting some very smart-looking clip-on earrings here: Apparently last week Avery couldn't find her bra, and she couldn't go to school without it, so she and Shannon went to the mall to get a couple of bras. At the mall, they passed an earring shop. Shannon sa...
Grandma Nana came to visit last week. It was a short visit, so we didn't have time to do much, but we did do a few fun things. We spent half a day at the Clark Planetarium and watched the Hubble 3D at the IMAX. We attended the Hyatt Family Christmas party together, and Grandma Nana got to see the kids swim in the pool. She also baked some peanut-butter toffee cookies for the party. Grandma gave the kids art kits and jewelry, and a wooden puzzl...
