Tech Writer This Week – January 17, 2013 – TechWhirl
TechWhirl’s Weekly Roundup of the best technical communication and technical writing posts on the web.
Storified by · Thu, Jan 17 2013 04:36:08
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Sleet is falling in northeastern Pennsylvania right now, and frigid weather is forecast here this coming week, but opinions and commentary in technical communication are being served piping hot to tech writers and other communicators. Ray Gallon (humanistnerd.culturecom.net) suggests we embed concepts right into our tasks (rather than keeping them traditionally separate), so that after you learn one, you can generalize to others.Other Technical Communication entrees: SDIcorp (sdicorp.com) offers a list of the eight top tech comm blogs — and TechWhirl makes the cut! Rhonda Bracey (cybertext.wordpress.com) discusses dealing with “wishy-washy” words like “it” and “this.” And Monalisa Sen and Debarshi Gupta Biswas (tcworld.info) share a look back at the timeline of technical communication, from 1949 to 2002.
It’s time to try out the User Experience cuisine, where we find Ken Mueller offering an intriguing story about a user experience at Disney World. Imagine something SO personalized that, unless carefully governed, it could cross the privacy line and get creepy fast. And Mike Long (thoughtworks-studios.com) urges us to design for activities, not for individual users.
When we lift the lid to see what’s cooking in Content Strategy, Meghan Casey (uxmag.com) explains how to pull content strategy out of the drawer using authority and tact. Peter Lenkefi (curationsoft.com) shares five essential ingredients for writing a well-curated article. And Heidi Cohen follows up with seven ways to make your content shine and fill your pipeline for 2013.
Better than dessert and a cappuccino, Career and Life tempts us with delicious fare. We find Shevonne Polastre (chicwriter.com) has a few suggestions on how tech writers and other freelancers can best leverage LinkedIn. Brandon Vogt (brandonvogt.com) clues us in on the proper steps to take in recording a Skype interview. And Gayle Turner (workshifting.com) shares proofreading tips for the writers among us who are working without the benefit of editors.
Technical Communication
Let’s Break a Tech Comm RuleI’ve been a technical communicator for nigh on 20 years. I teach technical communications. I theorize about technical communications. And…
Technical Communication BlogsFor over 30 years, SDI has been providing services and solutions to our Fortune 1000 clients specializing in technical documentation, eLe…
Wishy-washy words like ‘it’ and ‘this’Based on a writing tip sent to my work colleagues. Some identifying content removed and replaced with […]. My colleagues and I work in …
tcworld.info – technical communicationFrom the user manual to social collaboration In an endeavor to keep pace with the ever-changing world of technology, user manuals gave wa…
User Experience
When Privacy and Enhanced User Experience Collide OnlineThe newest proposed innovation at Disney World has some interesting online parallels.
Stop Designing for "Users" | ThoughtWorks StudiosMingle, Agile Project Management by Mike Long – October 22, 2012 "How often we neglect to address the purposes of those who are in the sy…
Content Strategy
Get Your Content Strategy Out of the Drawer with Governance | UX MagazineAll too often, strategies of every kind get stuck in a drawer-sometimes without being implemented or even reviewed after their initial cr…
5 Crucial Steps To Creating Valuable Curated ContentWriting curated content is way of providing good value by using existing articles on the internet. Let us understand what curated content…
7 Ways To Create Stellar Content | Heidi CohenDo you ever feel at a loss for what to write? It doesn’t matter whether it’s a blog post, article or presentation. There’s that empty whi…
Career and Life
How Writers and Freelancers Can Make the Most Out of LinkedInLinkedIn is the best known social networking site tailored for business. It’s a great way to keep in contact with people you worked with …
How to Record a Skype Video Interview in 7 Easy StepsThe average person visits a website for 48 seconds, but if it has video we stay for almost six minutes. Video is powerful. We live in a Y…
Proofreading Tips for Writers without Editors – WorkshiftingIn my version of paradise, every writer has an editor – a colleague with a trusted eye for catching grammar, style and design flubs and a…
