http://tc.eserver.org/publisher/Tech-Writer A listing of works published by Tech Writer in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Tech-Writer http://tc.eserver.org/35544.html http://tc.eserver.org/35544.html The technical writing process consists of four main phases. These are planning, writing, delivery, archiving. These phases are not necessarily set in stone and some variations do exist. Every writer is different and they each have their own way of writing that is distinct. http://tc.eserver.org/35545.html http://tc.eserver.org/35545.html The technical writing process consists of four main phases. These are planning, writing, delivery, archiving. These phases are not necessarily set in stone and some variations do exist. Every writer is different and they each have their own way of writing that is distinct. http://tc.eserver.org/35546.html http://tc.eserver.org/35546.html Many organizations produce in-house tools or modify commercially-available tools for their own use. These tools should get documented so they are of use to others in the organization. If this documentation is not created or is poorly written, it costs you twice. http://tc.eserver.org/35471.html http://tc.eserver.org/35471.html Doc whisperers are more commonly known as "senior technical writers", but what's in a name anyway? So if you want to be a great tech writer—start whispering. http://tc.eserver.org/35326.html http://tc.eserver.org/35326.html Although getting a job is the focus of the podcast, I also talk about what technical writers do, how they approach a project, how they decide what to create, and how they generate ideas for tasks. Specifically, I talk about about a project people can work on at tech.lds.org. People can start writing help for the project here. http://tc.eserver.org/34570.html http://tc.eserver.org/34570.html Devoted followers stay updated with each new post, podcast, or screencast, eagerly awaiting the next new one. They’re intimately familiar with your content and either comment regularly or regularly return to your site. http://tc.eserver.org/34571.html http://tc.eserver.org/34571.html Devoted followers stay updated with each new post, podcast, or screencast, eagerly awaiting the next new one. They’re intimately familiar with your content and either comment regularly or regularly return to your site. http://tc.eserver.org/34401.html http://tc.eserver.org/34401.html In this podcast, Sarah O’Keefe of Scriptorium Publishing explains the results of their recent survey about the state of structured authoring in technical communication. In the survey, they found that 84% of respondents are either thinking of moving to structured authoring, are in the process of moving to structured authoring, have already adopted structured authoring, or are undecided. Only 16% of respondents said they were not moving to structured authoring. She also discusses other survey results, such as the adoption of DITA and mistakes people make in moving to structured authoring. http://tc.eserver.org/34402.html http://tc.eserver.org/34402.html In this podcast, Mike Hamilton of Madcap Software talks about their phased approach to handling DITA with Flare. In Phase I, you’ll have the ability to import DITA topics and export to webhelp and other targets. In this sense, Flare functions as a transform engine. In Phase 2, you can use Flare for native DITA authoring. Phase 1 is on the cusp of release, but Phase II won’t be available until quarter one of next year. http://tc.eserver.org/34270.html http://tc.eserver.org/34270.html By having consumers perform furniture assembly themselves, Ikea is able to both lower costs and slowly drive their customers insane. To be fair, Ikea assembly instructions are not that bad. They brilliantly only use pictures, which are clearer than text and require no translation. Still, recognizing that some people may still have difficulty understanding them, I offer this handy explanation of some typical Ikea instructions that came with a bookshelf I recently bought. http://tc.eserver.org/34271.html http://tc.eserver.org/34271.html Dark text refers to the many layers of hidden meaning in any text segment. It ranges from the implied meaning that the author intended, or that the reader infers, to much deeper, more hidden meanings. As technical writers, we must be aware of dark text, and where possible, try to minimize it. http://tc.eserver.org/33726.html http://tc.eserver.org/33726.html I commented that many tech writers aren't interested in doing more tech writing in their spare time, but might be interested if doing so can help them professionally. In particular, folks coming into the field, either out of school or as career changers, need writing samples for their portfolio to show to prospective employers. http://tc.eserver.org/33603.html http://tc.eserver.org/33603.html All this talk of a depression is so....depressing. Still, it is what can happen when the economies of nations are so intertwined, so "single-sourced". America sneezes, and the world throws up. http://tc.eserver.org/33527.html http://tc.eserver.org/33527.html This article is the last of three in a series. It’s based on my presentation at the STC Career Day and describes the six basic principles to follow for both job interviewing and informational interviewing. http://tc.eserver.org/33528.html http://tc.eserver.org/33528.html This article is the second of three in a series. It’s describes the six basic principles to follow for both job interviewing and informational interviewing. http://tc.eserver.org/33529.html http://tc.eserver.org/33529.html This article is based on a presentation I gave at the STC Career Day, held at Seneca@York, September 22, 2003. It describes the six basic principles to follow for job interviews and informational interviewing, including asking and answering the right questions, of the right people, at the right time. http://tc.eserver.org/33290.html http://tc.eserver.org/33290.html Several weeks ago I wrote about my trip to Brigham Young University-Idaho and the presentation I gave there titled “Debunking the Boredom Myth of Technical Writing.” This podcast is a recording of my presentation. http://tc.eserver.org/32696.html http://tc.eserver.org/32696.html This blog is about technical writing and related topics, particularly for the software industry. Topics include technical communication, open source software, user assistance, interface design, and whatever else I find something to write about. http://tc.eserver.org/32348.html http://tc.eserver.org/32348.html It all comes down to managing and reusing source. Recycling content (chapters, graphics, etc.) is not new. What is new here is the common set of back-end structure in XML form and the fact that more than one set of tools — including small, mission critical custom tools — are explicitly focused on the specific needs of a given project. Reusing and repurposing content is all about improving efficiency: automating, accelerating, and merging applications, systems, and processes. In a multichannel publishing environment, it is critical that content development — source development — and its management are as efficient as possible. http://tc.eserver.org/32079.html http://tc.eserver.org/32079.html In SharePoint, we are likely to think of developers as people who work to customise SharePoint, but there are a lot of developers out there who are simply end users of SharePoint. How do they like the system? http://tc.eserver.org/32081.html http://tc.eserver.org/32081.html Joomla is more complex than WordPress but it has more power. Because it’s a real content management system—unlike WordPress which is a blog with content management capabilities—you don’t have to customise it to make it look like one. Other people have also created templates you can use. http://tc.eserver.org/32082.html http://tc.eserver.org/32082.html I know that some users of high-end CMS’s may dispute this definition, as a high-end CMS does a lot more. But what is a content management system really? It is content, stored in some kind of database, accessed via a front end. That is exactly what WordPress is. http://tc.eserver.org/32083.html http://tc.eserver.org/32083.html Microsoft has a lot of information on their sites about these products. Unfortunately, I can never find it. I usually only know it’s there when I stumble on it months after I really needed to know it. The steepest part of the learning curve is at the start. Likewise with another program I use occasionally—DITA. DITA is an xml schema used for writing documentation. http://tc.eserver.org/32084.html http://tc.eserver.org/32084.html I spent the last three days at the AODC. Lots to think about, which I may cover in other blogs, but here are some general impressions. Of course, these are my own impressions, and it may be just who I talked to on the day. http://tc.eserver.org/32085.html http://tc.eserver.org/32085.html The Content Wrangler’s 10 DITA lessons learned from Tech Writers in the Trenches really nails down some vital things you should know if you want to implement DITA. More than that though, you can apply the lessons learned here to almost any project, not just technical writing and not just implementing new software. http://tc.eserver.org/32086.html http://tc.eserver.org/32086.html First of all, understand that you don’t have to learn it. Every year more and more toolds come out that help place a layer between you and the native XML. In a few years time you will hardly even realise there is XML underneath. http://tc.eserver.org/32087.html http://tc.eserver.org/32087.html XML is the future. You hear it at every conference you go to, in every magazine you pick up, in every article you read on-line. For technical writers, right now that future comes down to two products—DocBook or DITA. But what exactly are they, and which one should you choose? They are schemas for creating XML. http://tc.eserver.org/32045.html http://tc.eserver.org/32045.html I have spent the last two weeks switching between Captivate and Camtasia Studio. Talk about schizophrenic. I spent a lot of time trying to remember which command I had to use in which program, but overall it’s been an interesting experience. http://tc.eserver.org/31893.html http://tc.eserver.org/31893.html In this podcast, Nicky Bleiel says we should talk to as many users as we can — conducting on-site visits, sending surveys, gathering information from Marketing, Support, and other departments — so we can have a better understanding of our users’ needs and the formats and mediums that will work best for them. After completing this audience and needs analysis, we can then go out and create the deliverables that will best serve our users. http://tc.eserver.org/31894.html http://tc.eserver.org/31894.html In this podcast, Joe Sokohl explains how to create user-centered documentation by contacting, observing, and interviewing users to gather information about what types of information they use and the help deliverables they actually want. http://tc.eserver.org/31897.html http://tc.eserver.org/31897.html XML, a way of tagging and structuring your content, can help solve a number of problems, including storing, mining, reusing, and sharing content. XML helps enable the interoperability of information between systems, allowing you to export and import your content from one application to another. XML is behind much of the collaboration and information sharing Web 2.0 technologies, such as RSS (really simple syndication) and blogs. By storing content in XML, technical writers can ensure greater flexibility among technologies for authoring and publishing their content. http://tc.eserver.org/31892.html http://tc.eserver.org/31892.html In this podcast, rich media specialist Todd O’Neill explains how to add video to your training and documentation deliverables. Many technical writers are intimidated by the learning curve, equipment costs, and software they think they need to create video, but actually you can create engaging videos with minimal equipment (e.g., $150 for a Flip video camera) and using software you probably already have (e.g, Windows Movie Maker or iMovie). In this podcast, Todd lays out the basics for those who know nothing about video. He explains the equipment you need, techniques for minimizing editing time, ways to publish the video online, filming techniques to focus on, and creative ways to package your video for your users. http://tc.eserver.org/31896.html http://tc.eserver.org/31896.html Many content management projects fail because organizations are either too focused on tools before properly researching their needs and processes, or because they underestimate the difficulty of migrating and restructuring their content to fit the new content management system. In this podcast, Rahel Bailie explains these pitfalls and what companies can do to avoid them, as well as how companies can climb out of problems they’re currently in. Rahel also talks about how technical communicators can influence business executives and other key stakeholders to make better decisions about content management. http://tc.eserver.org/31895.html http://tc.eserver.org/31895.html IT project teams often need to increase collaboration and communication, but they’re hampered by the cubicle walls and other physical silos they set up in the workplace. These physical obstacles force teams to have frequent meetings — which can be long and inefficient — just to keep each other updated. In this podcast, Emma Hamer talks about both physical and virtual workspaces that project teams need to increase their performance. She also outlines the rationale for teams to gather better feedback from users, project members, and others who aren’t domain experts. http://tc.eserver.org/31737.html http://tc.eserver.org/31737.html Heidi Hansen takes 15 minutes to discuss five books that she read over the past year and published book reviews for. http://tc.eserver.org/31584.html http://tc.eserver.org/31584.html In this podcast, Sarah O’Keefe talks about XSL, Flash, and live blogging. XSL (extensible stylesheet language) is a programming language that transforms XML content into a specific format, such as HTML. She explains what you can do with XSL, why it’s unique, and how the output is created. http://tc.eserver.org/31489.html http://tc.eserver.org/31489.html In this podcast, Stewart talks about the following: the advantages of using a wiki for your technical documentation; why lack of advanced styles in wikis isn’t a major problem; the relentless focus on simplicity with wikis; choosing the right wiki among dozens of wiki engines. http://tc.eserver.org/31490.html http://tc.eserver.org/31490.html In this podcast, I talk with Alan Porter, vice president of Operations at WebWorks, about the Web 2.0 technologies they’re using to reach out to their customer base. In addition to using blogs, wikis, and social networks to connect with customers, WebWorks also uses wikis to facilitate communication and collaboration within their company. http://tc.eserver.org/31488.html http://tc.eserver.org/31488.html In this podcast, Noz Urbina talks about how Web 2.0 is changing the role of the technical communicator into one who drives product R&D and interaction design. The interview covers how the role of the technical communicator has evolved into a diversity of roles; how awareness of user needs and requirements allows technical communicators to get involved in product R&D and user interaction design; and how implementing a backwards flow of data from hundreds of internal and external users changes the role of a technical writer to one who aggregates, synthesizes, and ensures quality rather than one who merely writes. http://tc.eserver.org/31487.html http://tc.eserver.org/31487.html In 2006, Business Objects faced a major challenge. How to migrate over 50,000 pages of unstructured non-topic based documentation it had acquired through rapid growth and acquisitions. The answer was to use DITA to standardize content creation, management, translation and publishing processes company-wide. In this short podcast, David Holmes talks about how he and his team migrated 50,000 unstructured pages to DITA. (DITA is an XML architecture that allows you to better single source your content.) http://tc.eserver.org/31171.html http://tc.eserver.org/31171.html In this podcast, Marlene Martineau of New Dawn Technologies explains why they adopted DITA, how they adopted it, the benefits they're experiencing, and the reasons why she'll never go back. http://tc.eserver.org/31090.html http://tc.eserver.org/31090.html In this podcast, I talk with Theresa Putkey, a usability consultant in Vancouver, about how she transitioned from technical writing into usability. http://tc.eserver.org/30772.html http://tc.eserver.org/30772.html Madcap Flare is one of the most powerful online help authoring tools on the market today. In this podcast, Paul Pehrson, MVP in the Madcap Software forums, talks about Madcap Flare in depth. http://tc.eserver.org/30774.html http://tc.eserver.org/30774.html It turns out that you can get out of a slump or handle pressure situations comfortably by merely changing your facial expressions. I have been trying this over the past several days and have been completely stunned with what happens. http://tc.eserver.org/30773.html http://tc.eserver.org/30773.html We're moving toward a shared network model, where people publish and subscribe. The really appealing sites integrate feeds for a community of users in an invisible, seamless way, making it easy to see what we're all up to. http://tc.eserver.org/30775.html http://tc.eserver.org/30775.html In this podcast, I talk with Bill Albing, founder of KeyContent.org, about the impact of social media on technical communication. Bill talks about different ways social media helps audiences interconnect and interact. Good social media technologies enable professionals to collaborate easily, without being encumbered by complicated technology or even burdened by managing and filtering feeds. Bill explains that the web is more than just a venue for publication -- it's a medium that allows people to interconnect and work/collaborate with information. This is the direction we're moving towards, and technical communicators are starting to integrate social media, such as user forums, directly into their help. http://tc.eserver.org/30463.html http://tc.eserver.org/30463.html Talks about myths, rewards, trends, tips, and issues surrounding blogging and podcasting, especially in terms of how it affects your career. http://tc.eserver.org/30464.html http://tc.eserver.org/30464.html In this audio-visual age, technical writers need an easy way to deliver Flash-based, dynamic screen demos for their help content. http://tc.eserver.org/30465.html http://tc.eserver.org/30465.html R.J. Jacquez, senior product evangelist at Adobe.com, talks about the new Technical Communication Suite from Adobe, which includes RoboHelp 7, Captivate 3, Acrobat 3D version 8, and Framemaker 8. http://tc.eserver.org/30256.html http://tc.eserver.org/30256.html In this podcast, I talk with Svi Ben-Elya about Elephant.org.il. Elephant is an online community he and others created to empower technical communicators in Israel (originally in the city of Yokneam) with relevant salary information to make them more market savvy when they negotiate jobs. http://tc.eserver.org/30255.html http://tc.eserver.org/30255.html In this podcast, I interview Brenda Huettner about strategies for overcoming the top 10 Worst Things Subject Matter Experts Say or Do. http://tc.eserver.org/30005.html http://tc.eserver.org/30005.html A 20 minute monologue about the best way to get information from SMEs--sit by them, permanently if possible. Many IT organizations station the writer remotely from the developers, programmers, and other SMEs, but nothing could be more damaging to getting the information you need. Increasing your proximity also increases the communication you receive. http://tc.eserver.org/29919.html http://tc.eserver.org/29919.html This podcast features Char James-Tanney's June 2007 presentation to the Suncoast Florida STC chapter on virtual ways of communicating. http://tc.eserver.org/29172.html http://tc.eserver.org/29172.html An interview with Kevin Shoesmith about information architecture and the challenge of organizing complicated websites. Shoesmith explains about the importance of metadata, providing user-driven organization, taxonomy vs. folksonomy, the Dublin core, the usability of web menus. http://tc.eserver.org/28849.html http://tc.eserver.org/28849.html David McNamee presented on Vista and Office 2007 to the Suncoast chapter in May 2007. This is a recording of his presentation. He talks about how the purpose of Vista and Office is to help you create, find, and share information more efficiently. http://tc.eserver.org/28795.html http://tc.eserver.org/28795.html This podcast talks about the convergence of web 2.0 with help documentation. It mentions examples of Web 2.0 sites, such as Flickr, Payscale, and Digg, and what help files need to incorporate these same Web 2.0 features. http://tc.eserver.org/28792.html http://tc.eserver.org/28792.html Thom Haller, information architect and director of the Center for Plain Language, talks about how to create a site where users can actually find the information they're looking for. http://tc.eserver.org/28794.html http://tc.eserver.org/28794.html Mike Hamilton from Madcap Software visited the Suncoast chapter in Tampa, Florida, and presented on Flare. In this presentation, he talks about the story behind RoboHelp and Macromedia/Adobe (this blew my mind). He also provides a lot of inside detail on Flare. http://tc.eserver.org/28793.html http://tc.eserver.org/28793.html Rahul Prabhakar talks with us today about ten lessons he has learned as a technical communicator. Rahul is an Indian technical writer living in South Korea working for Samsung. http://tc.eserver.org/28797.html http://tc.eserver.org/28797.html In this podcast, Karen Bachmann, manager of the Usability and User Experience SIG, provides an overview of the user-centered design process. This is part one of a two part series. http://tc.eserver.org/28796.html http://tc.eserver.org/28796.html This is part two of Karen Bachmann's presentation on Usability. In this part of her presentation, Karen gets more in depth with principles and methods for usability. http://tc.eserver.org/28782.html http://tc.eserver.org/28782.html Ann Rockley shares information about an upcoming report on component content management systems her group will be releasing this summer. She also says the Rockley Group is launching a blog to provide quicker information to users in a more interactive way. She talks about the growing presence companies have in the blogosphere, and why they chose WordPress as their blogging tool. http://tc.eserver.org/28784.html http://tc.eserver.org/28784.html Jarrett is one of the authors of User Interface Design and Evaluation, a beginning text for technical communicators moving into user interface design. Jarrett says this book is a perfect start for users looking to add usability basics to their toolbox. She also talks about forms, and how the best forms are ones you barely notice. http://tc.eserver.org/28783.html http://tc.eserver.org/28783.html Thompson talks about his search for the right content management system. He talks about the importance of content reuse across an entire system and having a workflow for editing, reviews, and translation. He discusses AuthorIT as a possible CMS solution. He also gives tips for talking with CMS vendors without being suckered in. http://tc.eserver.org/28790.html http://tc.eserver.org/28790.html Kennedy's presentation on modular writing and reusability was attended by about 200 people. In her presentation, Debbie explained how to chunk content by first looking at different content types: procedures, processes, facts, principles, and so forth. She also mentions a tool called Content Mapper that writers can use to chunk and reuse information through Microsoft Word. http://tc.eserver.org/28778.html http://tc.eserver.org/28778.html Geoff Sauer is one of the founders of tc.eserver.org--the largest online index for all works related to technical communication. The library indexes works by technical communicators in dozens of categories, and allows users to add new works, rank them, and get RSS feeds of specific titles. There are over 25,000 RSS feeds generated on the site and 15,000 visitors each day. http://tc.eserver.org/28786.html http://tc.eserver.org/28786.html Miller, a technical editor at Microsoft interested in multimedia documentation, talks about why multimedia documentation is a growing trend and how writers can get started. He discusses Microsoft's Channel 9 and the human element with instructional screen demos. http://tc.eserver.org/28779.html http://tc.eserver.org/28779.html Shares some trends in the technical communication industry, arguing that writers need to become hyphenated to move forward and be successful in the future. Molisani owns a technical writing staffing company and also produces the Lavacon conference, which is in New Orleans this year, but is traditionally in Hawaii. He says users aren't concerned about polished language these days; they just want accurate, relevant content. http://tc.eserver.org/28789.html http://tc.eserver.org/28789.html Daigle, an Adobe community expert for RoboHelp, shares his reaction to the RoboHelp 7 sneak peak, and also explains the main features RoboHelp 7 will have: drag-and-drop functionality across the topics, double-byte language support for translation, the ability to have multiple topics open at the same time, snippets with graphics, removal of kadov tags, automatic breadcrumbs, and tighter integration with other Adobe products. Daigle speculates on reasons for Adobe's lack of transparency, and comments on the globalization of Adobe's development for RoboHelp. http://tc.eserver.org/28788.html http://tc.eserver.org/28788.html Brazill gives tips for writers who document APIs or write other information for developers. He says that because developers are busy and want to get started, you have to write less and provide more examples. Developers are more goal-oriented than task oriented. He also explains the different levels of API writing. http://tc.eserver.org/28780.html http://tc.eserver.org/28780.html Rob explains how you can use Captivate to create nontraditional e-learning materials, such as on-the-job training, sales and marketing training, or even bird-watching training. You aren't just limited to technical how-to information in screen demos. http://tc.eserver.org/28781.html http://tc.eserver.org/28781.html Abel's presentation on Web 2.0 was the most popular presentation of the STC 2007 conference (at least this is my impression from these interviews). In his presentation, Abel touches upon RSS feeds, wikis, blogs, geospatial positioning, social networking, tagging, podcasts, and other Web 2.0 technologies. He expands here on geospatial positioning and tagging. Abel also explains why he uses a newsletter in addition to a feed for his popular blog, www.thecontentwrangler.com. http://tc.eserver.org/28787.html http://tc.eserver.org/28787.html Bryant talks about videoblogging as a tool for promoting yourself or for communicating with others. She explains the equipment she uses and the process for producing videoblogs. Her book, Videoblogging for Dummies, is available from her website: www.mortaine.com. Bryant also discusses interesting ways lawyers can use videoblogging to educate their clients. http://tc.eserver.org/28785.html http://tc.eserver.org/28785.html Quesenbery is one of the authors of Content and Complexity: Information Design in Technical Communication. Quesenbery explains the five E's -- a simple way to talk about product usability. The five E's are efficient, effective, engaging, error-tolerant, and easy to learn. She elaborates on what it means for a product to be engaging/satisfying. Quesenbery also explains the importance of personas, which she has written about in the Personas Lifecycle by Tamara Adline and John Pruit. She says stories are essential to personas. http://tc.eserver.org/28762.html http://tc.eserver.org/28762.html Keith Hoffman, president of the Madison Wisconsin Four Lakes Chapter, talks with George Hayhoe, editor of the Technical Communication Journal, about the emergence of technical communications in China and Korea, and the forces behind the push for technical communicators. http://tc.eserver.org/28766.html http://tc.eserver.org/28766.html Is technical writing boring? We discuss a post that spawned a lot of comments and exchanges. We also talk about an article on information architecture in the Tech Comm journal. http://tc.eserver.org/28764.html http://tc.eserver.org/28764.html Discusses a number of trends in the technical writing world, particularly the need to make help more human by adopting conversational tones and addressing the angry/frantic state of the user. http://tc.eserver.org/28763.html http://tc.eserver.org/28763.html I talk with Katherine (Kit) Brown, Brenda Huettner, and Char James-Tanny about their latest book, Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools. http://tc.eserver.org/28769.html http://tc.eserver.org/28769.html An introduction to the new co-host, competition entries, an interesting entry from Microsoft, audio in instructions, screen demos, the STC annual conference, other technical communication tools, wikis, blogs, NetVibes, Get me the Geeks video, David Pogue, Walt Mossberg, and more. http://tc.eserver.org/28767.html http://tc.eserver.org/28767.html In this podcast, Heidi and Tom talk about online communities, member maps, virtual chats, Sparkpeople, Intercom, and more. http://tc.eserver.org/28765.html http://tc.eserver.org/28765.html In this special presentation podcast, Susan Burton, executive director of the STC, provides an inside, in-depth look at the most pressing issues and challenges the STC faces. She also explains the initiatives underway to reshape the STC and provide more value to members. http://tc.eserver.org/28749.html http://tc.eserver.org/28749.html This is a presentation titled 'Creating Help in the Web 2.0 Age' that Neil Perlin gave to the Suncoast Chapter in Tampa, Florida in February 2007. Neil talks about what Web 2.0 is, and how help can be delivered on the fly according to specific user requests. http://tc.eserver.org/28753.html http://tc.eserver.org/28753.html This is presentation Keith Hoffman gave on writing and Web 2.0 at the University of Wisconsin. If you recall, Keith wrote the feature article in January's Intercom on Web 2.0. http://tc.eserver.org/28752.html http://tc.eserver.org/28752.html This wiki is a central directory for technical writing blogs. If you are a technical writer/communicator and you blog, or if your blog contains information of interest to technical writers, please list it here. http://tc.eserver.org/28754.html http://tc.eserver.org/28754.html In this podcast, Katriel Reichman, a technical writer at Method M in Jerusalem, Israel, talks in-depth about how to use wikis for documentation. http://tc.eserver.org/28548.html http://tc.eserver.org/28548.html In this week's Tech Writer Voices podcast, Heidi and I talk about some innovative research from Microsoft, Word 2007, convincing upper management you're not a cost, focusing on information users actually want, tool versus industry experience, the curse of knowledge, the slow movement, and a tip for handling your e-mail inbox. http://tc.eserver.org/28743.html http://tc.eserver.org/28743.html Tech Writer Voices is a podcast specifically intended for technical writers. Podcasts include all topics relevant to the profession of technical writing, from single sourcing to collaborating with SMEs. http://tc.eserver.org/22034.html http://tc.eserver.org/22034.html Your resume must persuasively answer at least four key questions to win the interview. http://tc.eserver.org/22052.html http://tc.eserver.org/22052.html The whole idea of “brainstorming” is to get ideas on paper. No particular order or structure, just get them ideas down. All you need is a quiet room, a clock, and pencil and paper. The procedure is simple: think about the subject and write down every idea that pops into your head within a set time. http://tc.eserver.org/22041.html http://tc.eserver.org/22041.html A template to describe a company's business plan, in Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat formats. http://tc.eserver.org/22032.html http://tc.eserver.org/22032.html If you welcome and appreciate the freedom of a consulting or contract position be prepared to d the homework. You’ll need to have current information about the job market, rates, staffing firms, benefits, and all the thing that are a part of living that independent life. As you are working an assignment you’ll want to be preparing for the next one, monitor the jobs out there, basically look for the next assignment. http://tc.eserver.org/22051.html http://tc.eserver.org/22051.html Between 25-30 percent of the overall writing time is typically devoted to developing the document specification, meaning how the document will be formatted and actually present the information. This is true even when the organization has a style guide with a prescribed format, but no “standard” for documentation overall. Although this may seem an inordinate amount of time and effort on the front end, before getting any information onto the paper, it is far more cost-effective than spending unplanned time rewriting and reformatting the document late in the production process. http://tc.eserver.org/22055.html http://tc.eserver.org/22055.html If you’ve done any writing at all, you’ve experienced the dilemma of selecting the right “level” for the project. In academic and technical writing there tends to be less concern about this, though there should be. In my opinion, given two cents, the more natural my writing seems, meaning more as it would be spoken, the more comfortable it will be to the reader. It’s unclear to me whether it takes more time and effort to write at this level, but it serves readers well and that’s the key. Edit and revision is the key to excellence. http://tc.eserver.org/22049.html http://tc.eserver.org/22049.html This is an example of a typical agreement used for freelance writing assignments. Not that there is specific limitation of rights granted to the “buyer.” In no case do you want to sell blanket rights to your writing. It may be necessary to do it, but make every effort to negotiate a first national rights condition. If the clients wants more, get them to pay more. http://tc.eserver.org/22056.html http://tc.eserver.org/22056.html If getting into the technical writing business is a challenge, and it assuredly is, defining our employment status often poses a few questions too. Naturally, there’s the common full-time employee status we all know and understand fairly well, but when we find ourselves dealing with a technical services or technical consulting firm there can be some murky waters, and more than a few aberrations of the “traditional” understanding of the term. So, we need to define some “terms” of employment since the majority of technical writers will ultimately encounter variations. http://tc.eserver.org/22054.html http://tc.eserver.org/22054.html Any document has three distinct parts: front matter; text; and back matter and reference material. http://tc.eserver.org/22040.html http://tc.eserver.org/22040.html A template for technical writers developing new personal resumes. http://tc.eserver.org/22044.html http://tc.eserver.org/22044.html Generating a site plan is an optimal approach to starting your site. http://tc.eserver.org/22045.html http://tc.eserver.org/22045.html Four things support your actual site implementation -- getting your pages 'out there': your site design, collection and preparation of the content material, selecting a hosting service, and registering a domain name. http://tc.eserver.org/22042.html http://tc.eserver.org/22042.html There's no 'school solution' to designing Web pages, as you can easily tell with one visit to the Internet. http://tc.eserver.org/22050.html http://tc.eserver.org/22050.html One of the more powerful features of Microsoft Word rests in the capability for the user to develop specialized document templates. I have found it beneficial, as you will see in the Template Library area of this site, to develop a “library” of specialized templates I rely on to speed document production for my clients. The templates allow me to get through that difficult document design phase. Much time and effort has been devoted to defining effective documentation formats and I have integrated those features in the templates. I overcome any “design” debate by presenting a proposed format (sometimes with outline) for approval. This way unique requirements are identified and implemented immediately, in this early stage. http://tc.eserver.org/22038.html http://tc.eserver.org/22038.html A list of verbs one should consider when writing a resume. http://tc.eserver.org/22053.html http://tc.eserver.org/22053.html If there’s a single step in writing that makes the process easier, it’s right here. Ask yourself this question: Why does a writing task -- whether a memorandum or document -- seem to come together easily for one writer and not for another? Well, one answer is the successful writer spends more time planning than writing. I call this my pre-writing time, or phase, and for me the planning phase is actually pre-writing. http://tc.eserver.org/22035.html http://tc.eserver.org/22035.html Select a high quality paper. Standard bond, office, or copy paper is not the answer here. A 100 percent cotton fiber or other high quality paper is essential. http://tc.eserver.org/22033.html http://tc.eserver.org/22033.html Although there may be a dozen books out there that say something to the contrary or offer 'The' correct resume format, there really is no universally accepted template. A little common sense and some wordsmithing will go a long way to making an effective resume, irrespective of what format you choose. http://tc.eserver.org/22037.html http://tc.eserver.org/22037.html It’s simple…Don’t lie! Don’t embellish! It’s not only unethical, but eventually you’ll get caught. You may get away with it for a time, but it will catch up with you. Whether technical skills, training, or particular accomplishments, keep it honest. It’ll work better for you. http://tc.eserver.org/22036.html http://tc.eserver.org/22036.html Resumes should be written in language that is as plain and simple to read as possible. Don’t use a lot of jargon that may or may not be understood by your prospective employer. Avoid overusing buzzwords or slang. http://tc.eserver.org/22048.html http://tc.eserver.org/22048.html A bibliography of style guides useful for technical writers. http://tc.eserver.org/22057.html http://tc.eserver.org/22057.html A phpBB-based discussion forum for users of the Tech-Writer website. http://tc.eserver.org/22043.html http://tc.eserver.org/22043.html What's the 'mission' of your site? This is the first and, perhaps, most important question to answer before you embark on developing your site. http://tc.eserver.org/22039.html http://tc.eserver.org/22039.html A press release is a (candidate) news story written by a firm for distribution to the media. The purpose of a press release varies from announcing new products, services, and business activities, to introducing the hiring of a new employee. It is not advertising in the classic sense, i.e., there is no hard sell involved although there is a more subtle intent to reach the prospective buyers. http://tc.eserver.org/22027.html http://tc.eserver.org/22027.html The essential equipment and software include a current PC -- should be a Pentium II or better -- and licensed software. Ideally, the PC should have at least 128 MB of RAM, a 19-inch monitor (min.), a high performance video card with a minimum of 64 MB of video RAM, and adequate storage for graphics and photos – at least an 80 GB hard disk. These are general specifications. Your requirements may be different depending upon what area you specialize in and to what extent you work on your own. http://tc.eserver.org/22031.html http://tc.eserver.org/22031.html One of the more challenging parts of being a contractor or managing a writing project is developing an estimate of the fee or costs. Sure, there are various techniques out there, some more accurate than others, but generally no hard and fast rules applicable across the spectrum of potential assignments. Therein rest at least part of the key to doing a viable estimate, i.e., what kind of document development are you doing. http://tc.eserver.org/22029.html http://tc.eserver.org/22029.html Job search websites for technical writers. http://tc.eserver.org/22028.html http://tc.eserver.org/22028.html The essentials for the budding tech writer including reference, style manuals, optional recommendations, and other various books on Technical Writing. http://tc.eserver.org/22030.html http://tc.eserver.org/22030.html As you might expect, salaries vary considerably based on location. I’ve looked over various surveys and believe the following are representative of salaries currently being offered. http://tc.eserver.org/22026.html http://tc.eserver.org/22026.html A college degree in English, journalism, fine arts, or even technical communication does not a technical writer make. That may not seem to ring true, but spending any time at all out there in the field will quickly demonstrate the veracity of the statement. A degree is probably of greatest benefit in gaining access for an interview, and, later, in negotiating salary or bill rate although other factors will be operative in this area too. In my experience, it seems some of the truly talented technical writers I've encountered come from the engineering and marketing fields, and there have been a few 're-engineered' programmers that made the transition too. The key rests in an ability to explain technical material and processes in a concise, descriptive way, using non-technical language and eliminating the jargon. I think it's important to have a special interest or skill in writing, enjoy the writing process. Being a good wordsmith and editor certainly helps too, as does a strong vocabulary. http://tc.eserver.org/22024.html http://tc.eserver.org/22024.html Information about all aspects of Technical Writing, from 'How to Break-in the field' to 'Using Color.' http://tc.eserver.org/22025.html http://tc.eserver.org/22025.html Perhaps the first question should be, What’s a the difference between a Technical Writer, Technical Communicator, or Document Developer? And the answer is: None, Nada, Zero, etc. The basic task remains and that is to interpret and effectively communicate technical and business-oriented information. http://tc.eserver.org/20700.html http://tc.eserver.org/20700.html Even if a tech writer did have an itch to produce micro-docs, the odds of the writer putting everything together on his own might be next to non-existent. http://tc.eserver.org/20699.html http://tc.eserver.org/20699.html It seems Microsoft is foregoing technical writers for technology writers. Apparently they want technology journalists writing the online help for the next version of Windows. http://tc.eserver.org/20679.html http://tc.eserver.org/20679.html The Creative Tech Writer is a work in progress, loosely centered around the art and craft of technical writing as it applies to a variety of fields, and vice versa. http://tc.eserver.org/20683.html http://tc.eserver.org/20683.html The latest on the STC Transformation blog mentions that of the thousands of STC members, only 1% are contributing their views to the blog. So, they wonder, what do the other 99% have to say? One commentor thinks that this 99% are silent because they're happy with their memberships. I think this group has probably just forgotten they're members. http://tc.eserver.org/20680.html http://tc.eserver.org/20680.html The more I think about certifications and the issue of 'specialist vs. generalist' I just have to wonder if it would be better to just get a bag of shiny new dice and start rolling one's own. http://tc.eserver.org/14476.html http://tc.eserver.org/14476.html This site is a compilation of advice and resources for those who are new to technical communication and want to know what it takes to break into the field. What this site is not: It is not an introduction to the field. It is not an authoritative reference. It is not a guarantee of employment. http://tc.eserver.org/14477.html http://tc.eserver.org/14477.html Scannable resumes are frequently requested. They are scanned into a database and pulled up through keyword searches. Use left justification for everything and use the dreaded ALL CAPS for headings. When you are done, pray that you can redeem yourself with a properly formatted resume at your interview. http://tc.eserver.org/10844.html http://tc.eserver.org/10844.html A guide to job types, employers, work environment, and salaries.