TechWhirl: Technical Communication Recap for April 18, 2014

It’s a thoughtful week on TechWhirl—not that it isn’t always pretty thoughtful around here, but this week’s features seem have a higher than usually quotient of thought provocation. From the mutual interview between Tom Johnson and Marcia Johnston on writing in a tech world, to Lois Patterson’s take on conferences you might not have thought about attending, to Jacquie Samuels’ latest DITA article that gives some reasons for caring about DITA.

As a community of thoughtful people, we’re always interested in hearing what you’ve been thinking about content and tech comm. Register for the forum or subscribe to the email list. Don’t forget to check out the archives for lots of background and historical perspective. Doesn’t even cost a penny, it’s totally free!

Have a great weekend!

-Connie and the gang at TechWhirl

Are you at the beach?	Tech Writer This Week for April 17, 2014 Thinking about the beach and curious on the best articles in tech comm and customer experience? Tech Writer This Week is here to help.
	Word Wise: Johnson and Johnston at Intelligent Content Conference 2014 As part of his report, “Videos and Reflections from the 2014 Intelligent Content Conference,” blogger and technical communicator Tom Johnson interviews Marcia Johnston on the importance of writing skills in today’s techno-savvy world.
	Gaining Inspiration, Knowledge, and Fatigue from Conferences I love attending conferences, and I have attended a bunch in the past few years, including a couple as a “reporter” for TechWhirl (LavaCon 2011 and 2012). Although the majority relate to technical writing, or at least have a general information orientation (InfoCamp Berkeley 2011, for example), I take every chance to attend conferences on other subjects too.
	Why Should I Care About DITA? Once you’ve gotten the answer to the “What is DITA?” question, you’re probably ready to think about “Why Should I care?” And it’s a question you should be asking yourself if you work on creating technical content as part of your day-to-day job.

Technical Communication News:

• OpenText Launches Experience Suite to Provide an Omni-Channel Experience

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