[<a href=”http://storify.com/TechWhirl/tech-writer-this-week-for-april-5-2012″ target=”_blank”>View the story “Tech Writer This Week for April 5, 2012” on Storify</a>]<br /> <h1>Tech Writer This Week for April 5, 2012</h1> <h2>TechWhirl’s Weekly Roundup of the best technical communications and technical writing posts on the web.</h2> <p>Storified by · Fri, Apr 06 2012 10:54:29</p> <div>TechWhirl loves a good April Fools’ prank as much as the next person, or website. Well perhaps more than most of them. We launched our news site on Sunday, April 1, with a whole set of technical writing-related April Fool’s releases from Adobe, XML Press, Publishing Smarter, ComponentOne, Vasont, and the STC, plus great pranks on certification, Microsoft Manual of Style on tape (and the Valley Girl translation on tape). <div>In #TechCommNews, the US Occupational Handbook Updates “Technical Writers” (Psst…it’s *good* news!). Scout around through the rest of this roundup for perspectives on tech comm as conversation, tips and techniques in information design, being a technical writer in other parts of the world, crowdsourcing a book, and optimistic views and proactive steps in the career path.</div> </div> <div> <h1>#TechCommNews</h1> </div> <div>STC Election Results Posted – Tech Comm News – TechWhirlThe Society for Technical Communication has announced the results of its 2012 election: President: Alan Houser (automatically succeeds fr…</div> <div>GE Intelligent Platforms Introduces Work Process Management (WPM) Solutions http://bit.ly/HVBDuQ #techcommTechComm News </div> <div>#TechCommNews: US Occupational Outlook Handbook Updates "Technical Writers" http://bit.ly/HFrP6NTechComm News </div> <div>Technical Communications April Fools Day 2012 – TechWhirlFinal summary post on TechWhirl’s first annual Technical Communications April Fools Day. Technical Writing may never be the same.</div> <div> <h1>Technical Communications & Technical Writing</h1> <div>The debate on the field, the profession, and the whether we’re adapting to the nature of tech comm as conversation.</div> </div> <div>From Publications to Conversations | Every Page is Page OneI am grateful to Connie Giordano for the invitation to contribute to techwr-l’s Integrated Technical Communications series. My contributi…</div> <div>STC Carolina : Latest issue of Carolina Communique now availableThe Carolina Chapter of Society for Technical Communication (STC), serving the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina, seeks to ad…</div> <div>My Job as a Technical Writer | Shanghai Tech WriterThis is what I do at work:</div> <div>Do cave paintings reveal the origins of the Health and Safety user manual?Loading … Recent investigations into the famous Lascaux cave paintings in France suggest the images might actually be the first ever He…</div> <div>#Techcomm Slideshare Presentations: Best Practices for Documenting Technical Procedures http://slidesha.re/daLMnjSteyer Associates</div> <div>How to disrupt techcomm in your organization?Posted on by Kai If you need to "disrupt" your tech comm content, I believe it’s more beneficial to integrate content across the organiza…</div> <div>By David_Bowman An expert academic or technical writer needs only a few basic sentence patterns to produce easy-to-understand writing. Ea…</div> <div>A Technical Writer’s Guide to Technical Documentation in a Wiki http://atlss.in/HW1oqT #techcomm #confluenceAtlassian Confluence</div> <div> <h1>Content Strategy</h1> <div>Sarah O’Keefe’s fascinating project to crowdsource the authoring of a book on content strategy….</div> </div> <div>New updates available for Content Strategy 101 | Scriptorium PublishingNew updates available for Content Strategy 101 April 3rd, 2012 by Sarah O’Keefe Check out Content Strategy 101: Transform Technical Conte…</div> <div>Content Strategy 101 " Transform Technical Content into a Business AssetWelcome to the beta site for Content Strategy 101: Transform Your Technical Content into a Business Asset. Please look around, leave a co…</div> <div> <h1>Information Design & Writing Mechanics</h1> </div> <div>Drop Caps: Historical Use And Current Best Practices With CSS | Smashing MagazineThe practice of using a large letter to mark the start of a text has been around for almost two thousand years. Illustrated caps increase…</div> <div>I Came, I Saw, I Learned…: Writing & Grammar: Precise Placement of OnlyWhile reviewing the submissions from last week’s challenge, I noticed that many respondents moved the word to a position before the verb …</div> <div> <h1>User Experience</h1> <div>A little different perspective on the importance of conversation</div> </div> <div>UX Design as a Two-Way Conversation | UX MagazineThere was a Google Analytics video making the rounds back in the fall that resonated strongly with many UXers. In the video, a customer i…</div> <div> <h1>Career and Life</h1> <div>More optimism beyond the outlook for technical writing.</div> </div> <div>Why You Should Be Optimistic About the FutureIt’s a blizzard of bad news out there: an ongoing economic crisis, a burgeoning education crisis, healthcare turmoil, energy poverty, wat…</div> <div>The Magic of Doing One Thing at a TimeWhy is it that between 25 and 50 per cent of people report feeling overwhelmed or burned out at work? It’s less about the number of hours…</div> <div>8 Job Search Tips From the Co-Founder of LinkedInFeb 15, 2012 … http://mashable.com/2012/02/15/reid-hoffman-linkedin-job-tips/ … okay, i got it. @ MoniqueCloutier. March 16, 2012 16:4…</div> <div>Apply for a Tech Position That Doesn’t Exist – Wired How-To WikiFrom Wired How-To Wiki One of the best things about technology is its propensity to create opportunities where there were none before. Wi…</div> <div>10 Ways to Change Your Daily Routine for Job Search SuccessLife at Bad Rhino has been insane the last couple weeks and we have a pretty big week with a client grand opening and our day on IWearYou…</div> <div>Wordpress</div> <p>
