Tech Writer This Week – January 31, 2013 – TechWhirl
TechWhirl’s Weekly Roundup of the best technical communication, content, user experience, and technical writing posts on the web.
Storified by · Wed, Jan 30 2013 19:26:12
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Neither snow, sleet, nor freezing rain will cool off the hot, fresh tech comm views and commentary we offer in Tech Writer This Week. Let’s start with Technical Communication. According to David O’Dell (technicalcommunicationcenter.com), simplicity is key to good technical writing. Daniel Beck (hackwriting.com) chimes in, saying having subject matter expertise is never a bad thing. Tom Johnson (idratherbewriting.com) discusses four other types of technical writers that companies want, and shares some sad job news. And Charles Edge (techjournal.318.com) lists 25 tips for tech writers, including defining your goal, making an outline, and keeping your topics separate (I have trouble with this one).
Peaking over the cubicle wall into User Experience, we see Jesmond Allen and James Chudley (uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com) discussing how to get started with UX planning. Hilary Little (uxmag.com) gives us four reasons that your UX project hit a roadblock. And Colin Eagan (uxbooth.com) talks using yoga concepts to find balance in your UX
In the Content Strategy department, Tony Evans (curationsoft.com) shares some basic strategies you can use to curate content effectively. Melissa Rach (uxmag.com) discusses the buzzwords, the labels, and the processes involved in managing content strategy.
Career and Life offers some new advice, beginning with Ugur Akinci (technicalcommunicationcenter.com) detailing the new insurance program for technical communicators offered by the STC to members. Andrew Tarantola (gizmodo.com) shares the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip that motivated him to become a tech writer. And the open LinkedIn group “Technical Writer” gives advice to a member who asks for help breaking into technical writing roles.
Technical Communication
Technical Writing Is Not All About Writing | Technical Communication CenterBy David Odell If you are looking for a career in writing and somebody has suggested that you consider technical writing, ensure that you…
Expertise is an assetYesterday, I caught an interesting conversation started by Mark Baker ‘s tweet reflecting on the uncontroversial understanding that softw…
Four Less Common Types of Technical Writers Companies Are Looking ForThis week I had an interesting conversation with Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler. He mentioned that he recently surveyed around 500 comp…
25 Tips For Technical Writers25 Tips For Technical Writers January 9th, 2013 by Charles Edge At 318, we write a pretty good amount of content. We have 5 or so authors…
User Experience
Effectively Planning UX Design Projects | Smashing UX DesignPlanning user experience (UX) projects is a balancing act of getting the right amount of user input within the constraints of your projec…
4 Reasons Your UX Investment Isn’t Paying Off | UX Magazine"Every dollar spent on ux brings in between $2 and $100 dollars in re-turn." We all know the business case for doing user experience work…
The UX Chakra Model: Finding Balance in Your Latest Digital Project – UX Booth | UX BoothBy Colin Eagan Category Social Hindu Fables, National Storytellers League Tags collaboration, design process Workflows stuffed-up? Wirefr…
Content Strategy
Content Curation Strategies for 2013 – by Tony EvansContent is everywhere online. Type in any word into the Google search box and you’ll get results. But with so much information available …
Content Strategy and Its Cousins | UX MagazineIt seems like everywhere you look there’s an article about content: content strategy, content marketing, content management, content cura…
Career and Life
STC partners with MMIC to offer new Health Insurance Program for Technical Communicators | Technical Communication Center(If you are a technical communicator working alone as a freelancer, you may be interested in this health insurance option offered by Soci…
I’m a Tech Writer Thanks to This Calvin and Hobbes Comic StripI wasn’t supposed to be here today. Growing up, I was obsessed with dinosaurs and dreamed of becoming a paleontologist-the thought of sif…
Help breaking into technical writing roles.Hi, I am hoping for some help! I want to get into technical writing – I have done a lot of policy and procedure writing in my senior admi…
