#21111
Jess McMullin, a Usability Analyst at Cognissa, and a long time reader of WebWord, wrote me a lettera couple of days ago. His basic complaint was that I don't give my readers enough credit. I'm pretty sure that he feels offended that I have called my readers a bunch of 'freeloaders'. What does that mean and what is freeloading?
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Articles>Publishing>Online
#29152
The Added Value Features of Online Scholarly Journals 
Online scholarly journals have become an important tool for the generation of knowledge and the distribution and access to research. The purpose of this article is to analyze the features of online scholarly journals and to determine whether they incorporate new Internet-enabled features and functions which help to meet the needs of the members of the scholarly community more effectively. Drawing on Taylor's concept of added value [1], the features of online scholarly journals were classified into the following types: features which enhance ease of use and facilitate access to data, features that provide selected information and thus reduce noise, features which improve quality, features which address specific user needs, and features which contribute to time or cost savings. The analysis revealed that, although some online journals operate in the same way as print journals, there are others which incorporate innovative features which are transforming the journal to make it a more effective tool for scholarly activity.
Luzón, María José. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>Research>Publishing>Online
#23839
Applying Hypertext and Hypermedia to Scholarly Journals Enables Both Product and Process Innovation
Early uses of hypertext technologies were associated with scholarly communication. New electronic-only journals have been quick to adopt hypertext/hypermedia technologies. Existing print journals have also started to adopt such technologies as they make the transition to parallel delivery. The widespread uptake of the World Wide Web has enabled journals to improve, enhance and transform what they do. This paper surveys these developments and places them in context.
Treloar, Andrew E. ACM Computing Surveys (1999). Articles>Publishing>Hypertext
#30463
Are you Hurting Your Career By Not Blogging or Podcasting?
Talks about myths, rewards, trends, tips, and issues surrounding blogging and podcasting, especially in terms of how it affects your career.
Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Publishing>Online>Podcasts
#24553
A Basic Guide to Power Blogging
Blogs (web logs, online journals) are nearly mandatory now. From presidential candidates and CEOs to avid hobbyists and local clubs, blogs are being used to share ideas and opinions. As the next new communications/community building/marketing tool beyond conventional web sites, blogs offer a more dynamic, timely, and personal interactive experience. Join over 4 million other bloggers by following these easy steps to Power Blogging.
Streight, Steven. Blogger.com (2004). Articles>Publishing>Online>Blogging
#25008
Most writers have no idea how much money they can expect when their book is published. The formular, however, is fairly straightforward. To begin with, a writer generally receives an advance. An advance is payment, in advance, based on the expected initial earnings of the book. Royalties (ranging from 4% to 8% in most cases) are generally based on the cover price of the book, but that does not include books that are discounted or remaindered. So, for the sake of argument, say you sold 20,000 full-price copies of a paperback priced at $7 (I know it would more likely be $6.95 but I am going to use round numbers.) If your royalty percentage were a generous 8% you would make a total of $11,200.
Hewitt, John. Writer's Resource Center (2004). Articles>Writing>Publishing>Writing
#20277
Be An Author, Not a Writer: Breaking Into Retail-Market Computer Book Publishing 
Many experienced technical communicators already have the skills and experience required to be successful authors of retail-market computer books. What they generally lack, however, is an understanding of the retail computer book publishing industry: the roles of the various players, options and techniques for landing that all-important first contract, navigating the ins and outs of money and contracts, developing book proposals, and working on their own. By learning more about the industry, technical communicators gain two things: an increased chance of becoming a first-time author and, more importantly, whether this is an appropriate career choice for them.
Benz, Christopher J. and Michelle Corbin Nichols. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Writing>Publishing
#30081
This session will help participants understand how to write and submit a manuscript for publication in Technical Communication. It covers the types of articles the journal publishes, its audience, and suggestions for choosing topics, doing research, and preparing a manuscript.
Hayhoe, George F. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Writing>Publishing
#30082
Becoming a Journal Peer Reviewer
This session will help participants understand the process for reviewing manuscripts submitted to
Hayhoe, George F. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Publishing>Editing
#10191
Best Practices for Digital Archiving
The rapid growth in the creation and dissemination of digital objects by authors, publishers, corporations, governments, and even librarians, archivists, and museum curators, has emphasized the speed and ease of short-term dissemination with little regard for the long-term preservation of digital information. However, digital information is fragile in ways that differ from traditional technologies, such as paper or microfilm. It is more easily corrupted or altered without recognition. Digital storage media have shorter life spans, and digital information requires access technologies that are changing at an ever-increasing pace. Some types of information, such as multimedia, are so closely linked to the software and hardware technologies that they cannot be used outside these proprietary environments [Kuny 1998]. Because of the speed of technological advances, the time frame in which we must consider archiving becomes much shorter. The time between manufacture and preservation is shrinking.
Hodge, Gail M. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2000). Articles>Publishing>Online
#23682
Blogging as a trend has gained enormous popularity with the simplification of automated self-publishing systems, such as Blogger at www.blogger.com, or MT at www.moveabletype.org. Blogging as a way of life is also gathering adherents at a rapid pace.
Young, Lisa. MetroVoice (2003). Articles>Publishing>Online>Blogging
#25113
An overview of the typical components of a printed technical book and the typical content, format, style, and sequence of those components.
McMurrey, David A. Illuminati Online (2001). Articles>Document Design>Publishing
#12931
I was a tech writer long before I wrote my first book, although I had to jump through some difficult hoops to land my first tech writing job (a series of six tests on technology); however, a great deal of my work later, especially my consulting jobs, came about as a result of my books and the reputation they bestowed on me. Being published between covers brings you respect almost as quickly and surely as becoming known as a millionaire business owner does. Even now, it happens. A reader who owns a small business in Baltimore hired me recently to do some consulting with him, after reading one of my books published a few years ago. The gentleman had read several books on the subject of proposal writing and contracting, and he decided that my book reflected the kind of thinking he needed, although it was one of my most slender volumes.
Holtz, Herman. TECHWR-L (2001). Articles>Writing>Publishing
#18470
This article has two purposes. A number of people have asked me what has been involved in producing the current version of JAC Online, and so the electronic archive’s history and technical development is presented here for them. In the process of working with JAC Online, I have come to some tentative conclusions about the role electronic research plays in scholarship, the significance electronic publications hold for paper publications, the question of e-publication and tenure, and how much technical knowledge is relevant to current and future scholarship in the humanities. I present these tentative conclusions in the context of my experience as an online editor. It is important to emphasize that my experience is limited to a single journal and my role with that journal is limited to that journal’s needs, and thus what I say is local knowledge. But like a lot of people I see all knowledge as local, even in cyberspace. To create the context for what I will suggest about the current state of online scholarship, I will first recount the history of JAC Online.
Pullman, George. Kairos (2002). Articles>Publishing>Online
#19538
Business Model Issues in the Development of Digital Cultural Content
This paper examines business model aspects of digitizing cultural content. It is based in large part on a Study conducted by the author and his colleagues for the Department of Canadian Heritage. Based on data collected from several cultural institutions regarding their efforts to digitize content, the study found that implications for the cost side have been significant, leading to explorations of facilities and content sharing programs, formalized budgeting, the need for better copyright expertise and improved mid to long term planning. On the revenue (funding) side, a clear need for more rigorous assessments of user demand emerged. In addition, the possibility of revisiting organizational mandates was identified, as well as various revenue-generating opportunities including sponsorship, user-fees and private/public sector partnerships.
Wall, Gerry. First Monday (2003). Articles>Publishing>Online
#24806
CD-ROM Publishing: Personal Coaching from Industry Experts
Are you considering publishing your documentation on CD-ROM? Sign up for an individual consultation with industry experts. NOTE: This "workshop" takes place in individual 15-minute one-on-one sessions; with three consultants, we can offer 20 sessions. Please try to arrive early and sigh up for your time slot; then you're on your own (for example, to visit exhibits or meet with colleagues) until your session time. This way all participants receive the complete attention of a CD-ROM consultant. We'll work with drop-ins if any time slots remain unassigned.
Gale, John, Stephanie L. Rosenbaum and Pamela Sansbury. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Publishing>CD ROM
#24678
The Challenges of Managing Print Operations 
As organizations seek to outsource non-core functions and reduce costs through improved efficiency, in-house print operations face a number of challenges. They must meet customer need for high throughput and consistent quality; deliver the same degree of variety, personalization, and flexibility available in the commercial print market; maintain visibility over print operations; more efficiently allocate resources; and maintain high service levels. Health Care Services Corporation turned to Infoprint Workflow for a solution.
On Demand Journal (2004). Articles>Publishing>Prepress>Case Studies
#20152
Changing the Way the Profession Communicates: A Workshop for Prospective Journal Authors
This session will help participants understand how to write and submit a manuscript for publication in Technical Communication. It covers the types of articles the journal publishes, its audience, and suggestions for choosing topics, doing research, andpreparing a manuscript.
Hayhoe, George F. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Publishing>Writing
#24775
Choices, Challenges, and Constraints: Putting Documents on the World Wide Web
A case study of the Unidata Program Center’s efforts to move information into online formats on the World Wide Web. Types of documents placed on line are discussed, as is the appropriateness of the medium for those documents. The conversion process is looked at. Obstacles to placing information online are also reviewed.
Hicks, Matthew B. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Publishing>Web Design
#25178
The Cigarette Papers: Issues in Publishing Materials in Multiple Formats
This paper will describe the products resulting from the Brown and Williamson document collection - two Internet products, one hardcover book, a series of journal articles, and one compact disc (CD) - and comment on associated issues in electronic publications.
Butter, Karen, Robin Chandler, and John Kunze. DLib Magazine (1996). Articles>Publishing>Single Sourcing
#27159
The Complete Beginner's Guide to Writing Articles
So how do you get started? What do you write about? What do you actually DO with your articles once you've written them? It seems daunting, I know. I was petrified myself when I first started writing articles, I still get nervous every time I start submitting a new article all over the net.
Stewart, Anna-Marie. DevBay (2005). Articles>Writing>Publishing>Online
#25658
Conditions for Viable Scholarly Electronic Journals: The Role of Digital Libraries
Three characteristics of hard-copy scholarly journals--visibility, immutability and longevity--which electronic journals might emulate to gain more acceptance and trust of potential authors and readers, are pointed out. The role of digital libraries in helping electronic journals in the emulation is also discussed.
Yamamoto, Takeo. ISRDP in Digital Libraries (1997). Articles>Publishing>Online
#20752
Desktop publishing has evolved tremendously over the last 10 years, coming from manual paste-up and manual design to complete digital photo-editing and digital graphic design. The challenges and issues we face in the translation industry are directly related to the authoring methods and build-environments of today’s writers. One of the biggest issues to date is the use of more than one platform for the authoring and localization (translation) of texts, ads, publications and software. The two most prominent platforms used for publishing media are the PC platform (Win 95 & 98) and the Macintosh. When a document is created, it is often authored for the source language; in other words, the authoring is not done with translation in mind.
Knoerndel, Dan. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Publishing>Document Design
#22930
This essay summarizes the editor's views of publication in the field of human-computer interaction. Digital technologies have begun changing the way journal articles and conference papers are produced, reviewed, published, accessed, and used. This period of profound change presents challenges and opportunities for both new and existing channels of scientific and technical communication.
Grudin, Jonathan. ACM TOCHI (2004). Articles>Research>Publishing>Online
#30653
Database Management: Data Into Dollars
Imagine controlling your customers' information, including how it is updated, managed, printed and distributed. Printers that provide database management services don't have to dream about such a scenario.
Bauer, Chris. Printing Impressions (2006). Articles>Publishing>Databases
