Tech Writer This Week – February 21, 2013 – TechWhirl
TechWhirl’s Weekly Roundup of the best technical communication, content, user experience, and technical writing posts on the web.
Storified by · Thu, Feb 21 2013 06:30:18
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To help everyone through another chilly February week, Tech Writer This Week serves up warm and hearty portions of tech comm opinion and commentary. In Technical Communications, we have a double-shot from Writing Assistance, Inc. (writingassist.com). First, TechWhirl’s own Jacquie Samuels discusses how top-notch docs can save you piles of cash in terms of support. Then a separate article asks if writing is dumbing down. Meera Jensy Moorkoth (technicalcommunicationcenter.com) hands down 10 commandments for technical communicators, with something for everyone. Her list includes proofreading, and I’m glad for the reminder. And Tom Johnson (idratherbewriting.com), I’m happy to say, has landed a new job.
Checking in with Content Strategy, we find Ann Smarty (internetmarketingninjas.com) wondering about the definition of content curation. It seems that content curators struggle with how to define themselves as much tech writers do. And Teresa Rodriguez (sbh.hotfrog.com) shares a “How To” on Content Curation.
Taking a peek into User Experience, we have a double shot from Joe Macleod (uxmag.com) discussing customer-generated service. Greg Zapar (uxmag.com) tells us how to improve our odds when doing UX hiring. And Jack Springman (mycustomer.com) discusses how to use text analytics in measuring the customer experience.
In the Career and Life grab bag, we find the Creative Bloq (creativebloq.com) discussing the nuts and bolts of making a tutorial video. Daniel Ritzenthaler (blog.wurkit.com) wonders if you are an expert or a professional. I’d rather be a professional. And iFixit shares a YouTube video about their technical writing program for students.
Technical Communication
How Great Documentation Saves Money | Writing Assistance, Inc.By Jacquie Samuels Let’s get back to the basics for a moment. Technical documentation has many diverse drivers, but ultimately, it all st…
Is Writing Dumbing Down? | Writing Assistance, Inc.You’ve been online for some time now, long enough to see that writing has gone a bit downhill – to say the least. Is this a sign of the t…
10 Commandments for Technical Writers | Technical Communication CenterBy Meera Jensy Moorkoth The main goal of a technical writer is to convey an idea in a terse and concise way. A good technical writer need…
Moving to California and Starting a New JobBig changes are in store for our family. We’re moving from Utah to California, and I’m starting a new job in Redwood City (which is in th…
Content Strategy
How Do We Define Content Curation?The social web has long since been a primary focus of the savvy marketer. Over the years, the type of widely available and popular platfo…
Hotfrog Small Business how-tos – Content curationAlthough a lot of us like to think we have been granted the gift of a superior writing ability, reality tends to put us in our place and …
User Experience
The Customer-Generated Service Revolution | UX MagazineSince the 1970s, changes in the economic structure of countries like the United States and the UK have created a marked shift from produc…
Improve Your Odds when Hiring for UX | UX MagazineWe’ve all seen the flurry over the past several years of both agencies and corporate entities investing in hiring UX talent. (To spare de…
Text analytics: How to completely measure the customer experiencePractical advice on how text analytics can form part of a customer strategy dashboard. Standard approaches to measuring customer experien…
Career and Life
Make a tutorial video | Video production | Creative BloqAdvertisement Tutorials are a great way of building an audience on your blog. But there are so many bloggers offering this type of conten…
Are you an expert or a professional?A while ago, I was planning to head out to brunch with a few friends. The restaurant we had in mind looked more like a bar, and several w…
The iFixit Technical Writing Programifixityourself
