Google’s search is so effective at finding information that it’s changed what we choose to remember, according to Friday’s issue of the journal Science. When we are aware of where to find information, we’re less likely to remember it, something called “The Google Effect” by lead psychologist Betsy Sparrow of Columbia University. The study asserts [...] Read more of this technical writing article »

There’s been a lot of discussion about “Help 2.0” in which users will be able to easily comment on the content you’ve written in a help topic. The Society for Technical Communication’s Intercom magazine recently published an article titled “Understanding the Help 2.0 Revolution.” I have to admit that I thought the article contained some [...] Read more of this technical writing article »

I don’t know how many times I’ve talked to technical writers who’ve said to me that they dislike self-marketing. If you’re employee and you don’t like marketing yourself, it may mean you suffer from a lack of visibility within your company. People know your name but they may not understand what you do or how [...] Read more of this technical writing article »

The Society for Technical Communication (STC) just isn’t that helpful to me anymore. I didn’t always feel that way. In fact, when I started my career 13 years ago, I loved the organization. The Vancouver chapter had monthly meetings, there were annual salary surveys published for Canadians, professional development sessions abounded, and I religiously read [...] Read more of this technical writing article »

I believe that technical writers will need to think more and more about creating online help for mobile devices as smartphone sales skyrocket. According to the Pew Research service, mobile devices will be the primary connection tool to the Internet for most people by 2020. With that in mind, I’ve started reading more about creating [...] Read more of this technical writing article »

Microsoft employees can use an “internal YouTube” platform to create podcasts, listen to other podcasts that are created by fellow employees, and even rate and comment on the digital files using Web 2.0 technology. Three years ago, Microsoft launched Academy Mobile, which is now hosting thousands of employee-generated podcasts. The idea behind the platform is [...] Read more of this technical writing article »

How has technical writing changed in the last 10 years? And how will it be different in the coming years? I started to think about these questions when an old friend asked my opinion about how the tools and deliverables have changed since the late 1990s. She was working as a technical writing manager back [...] Read more of this technical writing article »

Knowledge is power, as the old cliché goes. For anyone who has worked in high-tech, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise when I assert that mastering certain technologies can mean a pay raise or more responsibilities. Employees that “don’t keep up” or who don’t appear to possess the latest technical knowledge may not be [...] Read more of this technical writing article »

By using Google Analytics technical writers can discover what content they write is popular, how long users read their content, and where their customers live. This blog post is a summary of the main points I discussed at my recent presentation at the WritersUA writing conference in Long Beach, California. What is Web Analytics? First [...] Read more of this technical writing article »