Why Do Web Startups Die? Lack of Alphalpha

Internet startups are generally as successful as a nerd in a singles bar. Ventures that get off the ground rarely get knee-high. Why? You don’t need a deckful of scatter charts to do this, but you do need the willingness to make some difficult decisions now—and stick to them later.The biggest problem I’ve seen isn’t lack of talent, enthusiasm or even funding. It lies in skipping a critical early stage of development I call the “alpha-alpha” stage, or “alphalpha” for short.

Goldenberg, Dave. Digital Web Magazine (2008). Careers>Management>Project Management>Technology

Webgrrls

Alle kvinder, der interesserer sig for IT, kan blive medlemmer af Webgrrls. Netværket er både for novicen og nørden, for den unge, den ældre og dem midt imellem.

Webgrrls. (Danish) Organizations>Technology>Regional>Scandinavia

Computers and Composition

Writing always has included technical components. In fact, writing itself can be considered a technology. Relatively recent developments in computers and digital media, however, have reshaped our understandings of relationships between technology and writing. This course will explore the cultural, institutional, professional, and pedagogical implications of such shifts. Our explorations will draw upon theories of technology as well discussions from the field of computers and composition.

Turnley, Melinda. DePaul University (2007). Academic>Courses>Writing>Technology

Tech Terms to Avoid

Why tech writers use so much jargon, I don't know. Maybe it's self-aggrandizement; they want to lord their knowledge over everybody else. Maybe it's laziness; they can't be bothered to fish for a plain-English word. Maybe it's just habit; they spend all day talking shop with other nerds, so they slip into technospeak when they write for larger audiences. In any case, I'm making available to all, for the first time, my list of pretentious pet-peeve words to avoid.

Pogue, David. New York Times, The (2008). Articles>Technology>Writing

First Fictions and the Parable of the Palace

this column will take the form of a journey through a wide range of topics at the intersection of user experience design and everyware.

Lamantia, Joe. UXmatters (2008). Articles>Technology>Ubiquitous Computing>User Experience

A Tale of Installation Frustration

The technology business is filled with frustration. Trying to hook something up, troubleshoot something, make it do something–on a deadline–is a weekly occurrence for me. But last week, I just about blew my stack.

Pogue, David. New York Times, The (2006). Articles>Technology>Usability>User Experience

Creating Quality Content with Open Source Tools  

The detailed notes for the presentation on creating quality content with Open Source tools that was given at DocTrain East 2008 (Oct. 31, 2008).

Nesbitt, Scott. DMN Communications (2008). Presentations>Technology>Open Source>Technical Writing

Feature Presentation

A spiral of complexity, often called “feature creep,” costs consumers time, but it also costs businesses money. Product returns in the U.S. cost a hundred billion dollars a year, and a recent study by Elke den Ouden, of Philips Electronics, found that at least half of returned products have nothing wrong with them. Consumers just couldn’t figure out how to use them. Companies now know a great deal about problems of usability and consumer behavior, so why is it that feature creep proves unstoppable?

Surowiecki, James. New Yorker, The (2007). Articles>Project Management>Technology>Collaboration

Literacy, Technology, and Society

This course will ask you to explore the ways that literacy, technology, and humanity interact. You will look at the ways that each of these entities affects the others. The course will begin with a historical look at human technological literacy, but the majority of the course will focus on present literacy and technology.

Whipple, Bob, Jr. Creighton University (2005). Academic>Courses>Technology>Writing

The Market for Accessible Technology

This report presents findings about individuals who are likely to benefit from the use of accessible technology. It also includes findings about working-age adults and computer users and presents data about the aging population in the US and its impact on computer use. This report concludes with statements about how these findings affect the information technology (IT) industry.

Microsoft (2003). Articles>Accessibility>Technology

Accessible Technology in Computing: Examining Awareness, Use, and Future Potential

Presents new findings about the use of computers among individuals with difficulties/impairments. It also discusses factors that influence the use of computers and accessible technology and includes data about the current awareness and use of accessible technology. This report concludes with a forecast of growth in the demand for accessible technology and an overview of the opportunities for the IT industry to make accessible technology easier to discover and use.

Microsoft (2004). Articles>Accessibility>Technology

The Ethics of Computers that Persuade

Ethics is an important perspective from which to view computers as persuasive technologies. Adopting an ethical perspective on this domain is vital because the topic of computers and the topic of persuasion both raise important issues about ethics and values.

Fogg, B.J. Stanford University (1998). Articles>Technology>Persuasive Design>Ethics

Avoid Santa Claus Approach to Content Management

The Santa Claus approach to content management creates a content management software wish list. It believes in the magic of technology to sweep away any and every problem. Typically, those who believe in Santa don't believe in defining their processes, or figuring out just why they need a website in the first place.

McGovern, Gerry. New Thinking (2004). Articles>Content Management>Web Design>Technology

Information Technology: Trojan Horse of Information Overload

Information technology has become the Trojan Horse of information overload. It has been invited into the organization as some magical gift that will bring greater efficiency and reduced cost. Once inside, it feeds on resources and spews out unimaginable quantities of low quality data. Information technology has become the problem. The solution is to invest in people again.

McGovern, Gerry. New Thinking (2002). Articles>Technology>Information Design>Content Management

The Technical Communicator's Transformation: Publishing On-Time and On-Quality  

Results from Aberdeen’s study of over 360 technical publications department indicate that most organizations adopting topic-based authoring see benefits primarily in terms of project schedule improvements. However, a few see consistent improvements to authoring budgets, localization costs, and the quality of communications. Aberdeen’s research suggests that these differences largely result from how topic-based methodology is implemented and supported. Making the transition to a topic-based authoring requires a dramatic shift in the daily operations of a technical communications department. Meeting the challenges transitioning to a structured authoring approach can result in a wide range of performance benefits. Failing to adequately address these challenges can add an unprecedented layer of complexity that can significantly burden technical communications projects. However, findings ways to successfully evade these obstacles provides the opportunity to achieve greater value from the initiative. This report identifies the attributes most common to the Best-in-Class and provides a guide for organizations attempting to realize the potential of topic-based authoring.

David Houlihan. Aberdeen Group (2008). Organizations>Technology>Technical Writing>White Papers

Hardware and Usability, Part 1

Usability studies tend to focus entirely on software, ignoring the impact of hardware design and features on a system's usability. In this first installment of a two-part miniseries, Peter takes a look at the interactions between hardware and usability.

Seebach, Peter. IBM (2004). Articles>Usability>Technology

Wired for Wireless

Now that I have had the chance to upgrade my wireless link in my studio network, I can report to you on how I did it and why.

Wardyga, Ed. Event DV (2008). Articles>Technology>Wireless Web

Discrete, Sequential, and Follow-Up Use of Information and Communication Technology by Experienced ICT Users    

Most prior media use research has assumed that people use information and communication technologies (ICTs) independently of other ICTs, that is, as discrete media. This study uses cross-organizational, in-depth interview data to uncover the important role that ICT sequences play in persuasion, information exchange, and documentation. The primary occasions for sequential ICT use were (a) preparing for meetings, (b) performing daily tasks, and (c) following up to persuade. When people need to follow up initial communication episodes, the overall groupings of ICTs represent two underlying attributes: degree of connection with others and extent of synchroneity. These findings support an expanded perspective on media richness theory and information theory by illustrating that ICT sequences can expand cues and channels and provide error-reducing redundancy for equivocal and uncertain tasks.

Stephens, Keri K., Jan Oddvar Sørnes, Ronald E. Rice, Larry D. Browning and Alf Steiner Sætre. Management Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Communication>Technology

Critical Engagement with Technology in the Computer Classroom    

This article proposes a model for critically engaging technology in technical communication graduate curricula. While computers and writing studies concentrates on academic writing, the development of the field provides a model for engaging technological issues in professional and classroom contexts. Technical communicators have an ethical as well as intellectual responsibility to engage the interface between technology and culture. This article describes one example, a graduate class in information architecture, as a model for engaging the nexus of literacy, technology, and culture.

Salvo, Michael J. Technical Communication Quarterly (2002). Articles>Education>Technology

A Technology Transfer Model for Program Assessment in Technical Communication    

In this article we seek to reframe accountability by means of an emphasis not on auditing but on student performance, not on the development of databases but on the creation of reflective practice. We attempt to demonstrate one model of program assessment that focuses on student performance as the center of a reflective assessment framework that can act as a technology transfer model for the diffusion of program assessment knowledge.

Coppola, Nancy W. and Norbert Elliot. Technical Communication Online (2007). Articles>Education>Assessment>Technology Transfer

Technology Transfer: An Unparalleled Opportunity for Technical Writing Professionals    

This nation does not effectively transfer expensively acquired knowledge into cost-effective, labor-saving tools and processes.

Roberts, Suzanne S. IEEE PCS (1991). Articles>Knowledge Management>Technical Writing>Technology Transfer

The WritersUA 2008 Skills and Technologies Survey

There is no question that the software development world offers a lot of excitement and challenging work. In the area of software user assistance we are particularly challenged by having to master a wide range of disciplines. From foundation skills like writing and editing—to the coding of content—to usability testing and user interface design, we find ourselves in a profession that is difficult to define. What is it that we really do? The objective of this survey is to take a snapshot of our collective professional life in an attempt to identify what we value in our daily work as user assistance professionals.

WritersUA (2008). Careers>TC>Technology>Surveys

Situated Software

I'm seeing is a change in the software ecosystem which, for the moment, I'm calling situated software. This is software designed in and for a particular social situation or context. This way of making software is in contrast with what I'll call the Web School (the paradigm I learned to program in), where scalability, generality, and completeness were the key virtues.

Shirky, Clay. Shirky.com (2004). Articles>Education>Programming>Technology

Does Technology Enable or Determine Communication?

Communication technologies, especially those that are participatory, clearly do both, determine and enable communication. They determine communication by function of display possibilities, editing capabilities, information-chunk size allowances, access affordances, cost implications, communicative capabilities (one-to-one, one-to-many, etc.). Clearly, however, these communication technologies enable communication that otherwise would not be possible.

Brown, Konstanze Alex. Konjektures (2009). Articles>Technology>Communication>Theory

Technology Of Writing

A collection of resources of the technology of writing.

Voice of the Shuttle. Resources>Writing>Technology