#19731
The needless repetition of words and the repeating of ideas is everywhere - in newspapers, books, magazines, e-mails, television, and even in conversation. They’re called redundancies and the English language is full of them. In fact, research shows that about 50 percent of English is redundant.
Dowling, Dave. Indus (2003). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Minimalism
#26057
One Cannot Live by Salary Alone
Once our profession is known outside IT, the scope for technical writers will grow in geometric proportions. Clearly, there are good times ahead.
Kamath, Gurudutt R. Indus (2005). Careers>Salaries>Statistics
#19736
Principle-Centered Leadership for IT
The IT revolution has been a much-needed boon for India. It has not only changed the fiscal reserves ($), ushered a new economy and created numerous job opportunities but also caused worldwide recognition of Indian talent. The revolution has been slow, but never a result of chance accidents. In earlier revolutions, Indians missed the bus and became followers, but the IT revolution is different as we have taken the lead and demonstrated our capabilities in the software sector to the world.
Pathak, A.K. Indus (2003). Articles>Management>Technology
#26065
Project Management for the Technical Communicator
Tasks need to be managed to be completed on time, with available resources to achieve the required result.
Bhatt, Sita Chandrakant. Indus (2005). Articles>Project Management>TC
#26061
The Responsibilities of an Information Architect in the Technical Information-Development World
In working with information-development groups who want to move into content management and a structured writing environment, I often find that the potential for role of information architect is not well understood.
#19734
Retronyms: Looking Back on Progress
Technology changes the way we live. It also affects the way we speak. As the gadgets we make and use grow more complex, we’re sneaking in complexities into the words we use too. Like ‘printed book’. What was always called just a ‘book’ (hard cover or paperback) is now called a printed book, simply because now we have e-books. What was once simply a guitar is now an acoustic guitar, because of the growing popularity of electric guitars.
Dalvi, Meghashri. Indus (2003). Articles>Language>Technology
#26058
Salaries in India: Boom or Bust?
The movement of jobs from the U.S. and other countries to India has really fueled salary growth.
Abedrabbo, Francisco. Indus (2005). Careers>Salaries>Regional>India
#19730
It's the information age, you know... it has been for a while. You hear people say that you can find anything on the Internet. What they don't tell you though, is how. Sure, there are search engines and there are SEARCH engines, but nobody tells you how to use them properly. Well, this is about how to make the most of search engines. While this article is written with a focus on Google (www.google.com), the principles can be applied to other search engines as well.
Alfred, P.M. Indus (2003). Articles>Research>Search
#29361
The biggest impact of globalization is our vast exposure to diversity. Compared to earlier generations, we regularly come across a variety of different people. As professional communicators, it is extremely important for us to recognize this diversity and represent it sensitively in content that we develop.
Dalvi, Meghashri. Indus (2007). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric
#26067
Sentence Types and Sentence Structures Revisited
Before we discuss sentence types and structures, let us regard writing as a donut. When talking of sentence types, we will consider four building blocks of the donut.
Gururaj, B.S. and N.R. Prabhat. Indus (2005). Articles>Writing>Grammar
#26069
Want to know more abou words? Or want some more brilliant snippets? Log on to The Word Spy. It is a site maintained by Paul McFedries, the well-known author and word-follower.
Dalvi, Meghashri. Indus (2005). Articles>Reviews>Web Design
#19729
Technical Communication in Power Systems
A technical writer in power systems must be a perfect jack-of -all trades, with flair to glean information on materials, equipments, systems, applications – and the related skills! A keen eye for detail is critical. The smallest slip can cause a serious mishap. But curiosity never killed a good technical writer! Being a good electrical engineer inherently takes care of most of these requirements - certainly not all. The scope is limitless to the self-motivated communicator.
Chaudhuri, Udit. Indus (2003). Careers>TC>Engineering
#19728
Technical Writing in 1993 and 2003
Ten years ago, if someone had asked me about my profession, I would have spent a good 15 minutes explaining what I did for a living. Today, ‘Technical Writing’ is answer enough. This is one notable change in my life. In the last 10 years, I have witnessed many important changes in the field of technical writing. Here are a few.
Pandit, Makarand M. Indus (2003). Careers>TC>Writing>Technical Writing
#26059
These Numbers Tell Many a Tale
While there are a few obvious anomalies in the numbers, the average salary of people with less than a year's experience being more than that of 1-2 years range, mostly the numbers appear to be credible.
Akkunoor, Pradeep. Indus (2005). Careers>Salaries>Regional>India
#19741
Tools for Authoring Knowledge Products
Authoring tools are used to create and integrate the components of knowledge products. They include tools used by designers, writers, editors, artists, animators, photographers, videographers, and others involved in producing knowledge products.
Horton, William K. III and Katherine W. Horton. Indus (2002). Articles>Knowledge Management>Software
#19746
Usability is an abstract quality by itself. However, it can be divided into measurable attributes.
Natarajan, Prashant. Indus (2002). Articles>Usability
#19737
Weaving in the Cultural Context
If you are reading this you’re probably responsible for preparing print, electronic, or visual materials for a client base that is marketing, selling, informing, and/or teaching in another part of the world. If that doesn't exactly describe you at this moment, it will be part of your job description in the future.
Winters, Elaine. Indus (2002). Articles>Writing>Cultural Theory>Technical Writing
#26060
#25984
Where Do You Want to Work Today?
This article explores the work habits of technical writers in different regions of the world. The article is based on a a survey and publishes the results based on the responses of 900+ technical writers worldwide.
Doulton, Melanie. Indus (2005). Careers>TC>Regional
#19742
Why Technical Communicators Make Good Usability Advocates
Usability is rapidly becoming an important skill for technical communicators and a growing interest for those seeking to expand their role as technical communicators into other areas of product development. The STC usability SIG now has over 2000 members, and the conference sessions at STC regional and annual conferences increasingly focus on usability. This year, a new 'stem' was created at the annual conference, which combined Information Design and Usability, because they just naturally belong together. It worked so well that it will be continued in future conferences.
Barnum, Carol M. Indus (2002). Careers>Usability>TC
#32489
Sustaining the Readers' Interest
Sometimes, we come across articles on technical subjects that are hard to put down. They even make us ruminate over their content, and talk about them. Though these articles are just for our information, they end up staying in our heart by chance or by design. It is not possible to get so far a reach through the technical coverage alone. The authors have presented them so nicely that we even resist any demand to stop in the middle while reading them. We find such articles mostly in news papers and magazines. As an editor, I have my own reasons for that 'Coup de grâce'! We, the technical writers, can surely pick up some of the clues from our brethren - the journalists.
Shankar, Kiruba. Indus (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Rhetoric
#32490
Developing Mentoring Programs for Technical Writers
Mentoring is an effective strategy that can contribute significantly to the career development of employees. It provides a cost-effective work-based learning strategy to achieve career development outcomes for individual employees. It is an effective method for the transference of professional, technical and management skills.
Singh, Alok Kumar. Indus (2008). Careers>Mentoring>Writing>Technical Writing
#32491
Attaining Review Nirvana with Acrobat 8 Professional
Getting documents reviewed has always been a tricky proposition for writers. From pleading to coercion to bribery just stopping short of third-degree torture, writers have documented many methods for getting reviews done effectively and in time. For those writers who gave up altogether and for those who just did not care too much for reviews, there is bad news coming – companies are asking for user feedback on the content that you wrote. Users, as we know them, can shame the most cynical movie critic when it comes to commenting. In my quest many a tool tried to lure me, but when Acrobat 8 strut its shared review stuff in front of me, I finally succumbed.
Kurnool, Preran. Indus (2008). Articles>Editing>Collaboration>Adobe Acrobat
#32492
Here’s a complaint I’ve heard from most of the technical writers I’ve met: “I never get to meet my users.” User input helps us decide what content to include and in what form, and can confirm whether our books are effective. But getting user input can be difficult—at least I thought so, until I discovered a fun way to meet hundreds of users each year.
Heninger, Barbara L. Indus (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Community Building>Audience Analysis
#32493
Interviewing Technical Writers
Surprisingly, my first experience as an interviewer was as uneasy as my first job interview. I then realized that being on the other side of the table is not as easy as it is made out to be, especially if conducting an interview is unfamiliar territory. Later on, as I matured into this role, I created a style of my own and soon found it to be an interesting and inspiring proposition, though challenging.
Bhanu, Sindhu. Indus (2008). Careers>Interviewing>Management>Technical Writing
