Part I: What’s a persona? Most documentation written by professional writers, whether printed or online, is well written and easy to navigate, but in my experience, an unfortunately high proportion omits important content or provides inadequate depth of content. Worse yet, the information may seem perfectly acceptable from a textbook perspective, yet fails to reflect […] Continue reading ...
Taking Advantage of Social Media Part I: The Media Are the Message
In 1964, Marshall McLuhan published Understanding Media, in which the famous phrase “the medium is the message” appeared (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Media:_The_Extensions_of_Man). McLuhan’s insight was that the medium and the message you convey via that medium are inseparable, but that the medium you choose sometimes has a sufficiently strong impact that it outweighs the message. Although MacBeth’s “tale […] Continue reading ...
Avoiding Repetitive Stress Injuries: A Guide for Technical Communicators
Much though I love my computer, I’m aware of its drawbacks. One serious problem is the risk of so-called “repetitive-stress injury” (RSI)–simplistically, any injury that results from overuse of a body part without giving it time to recover. In fact, “overuse injury” is probably a more immediately obvious term, and given how much time many […] Continue reading ...
Taking Advantage of Reflexive Responses
While prospecting for information on a Web site that I visit fairly regularly, I recently fell victim to a fascinating Web page trick. The trick took advantage of the kind of reflexive (“programmed”) response we each develop once we grow so familiar with a task that we no longer consciously think about what we’re doing. […] Continue reading ...
Inspiring Reviewers to Review Your Tech Writing Documents
Even the most skillful technical writers face the task of persuading Subject Matter Experts (“SMEs”) to review our documentation for technical correctness; after all, they’re the experts, not us. If pressed, even the most reluctant SMEs acknowledge the value of these reviews. For example, where the interface is in a state of flux, you may […] Continue reading ...
Dealing with Difficult Employees in the Technical Communication Workplace
Tips for dealing with difficult employees when working in Technical Communications. Continue reading ...