This week’s update on technical communications and the TechWhirl community is supported by Platinum sponsor Madcap & their Ultimate Communications Suite, MadPak | http://bit.ly/zBI0Uj
The old saying March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, apparently doesn’t hold true in technical communications. TechWhirl finishes up the month of March with a great set of articles on translation and globalization, more valuable recaps from WritersUA 2012, and some interesting news items (well, on the news front it was more like a lamb, but we figure it’s end of quarter quiet period for lots of companies.)
Our guest contributions from Bernard Aschwanden of Publishing Smarter, and Val Swisher of Content Rules focused on choosing a translation vendor and making content global-ready. Even if you’re not actively involved in a translation project, these two features have loads of valuable insight for your job as a technical communicator. Cheryl Voloshin is back this week with a new humor piece on translating corporate speak, so if you take a little fun with your coffee, this one’s for you.
As we move into April, we hope to avoid too many showers, but at the same time, we know that technical communications is going through a lot of transition and growth in new directions. We’ll begin a two-month focus on “Reframing the Community,” looking at the evolving technical communications framework—what still works, and what changes are being wrought in collaboration, user experience, social media and more that are already changing how we view ourselves and our profession. We start things off on Monday, with one of the most insightful commentaries you’ll ever read on a New Tech Comm Doctrine, guest-authored by Mark Baker of Analecta Communications and the blogger behind Every Page is Page One. Mark’s piece is part of our continuing series on Integrated Technical Communications (ITC), which is sponsored by Adobe, and we’re thrilled to have him join the ranks of amazing guest contributors on TechWhirl.
Enjoy your weekend.
-the gang at TechWhirl
In Case You Missed it: This Week @ TechWhirl
New features and articles on TechWhirl.com:
- Technical Communications Poll: Ready to Embrace a New Role?
- Session Summaries: HTML5 and CSS3 to the Point and User Annotations with HTML5, by Keith Soltys
- Technical Writing Trends: Translating Corporate Speak, by Cheryl Voloshin
- Session Summary: Adobe Tech Comm Suite Tool Seminar, by Julie Grady
- Writing for Global Readiness: What Technical Writers Need to Know, by Val Swisher
- How to Choose a Translation Vendor for Tech Comm Projects, by Bernard Aschwanden
- Session Summary: Reworking Existing User Assistance (UA) for iOS Apps, by Ashley Brown
Tech Comm News:
- ComponentOne Seeking Input on Technical Communication Trends
- Tech Writer This Week: March 29, 2012
- New Microsoft Research Shows More SMBs Leveraging Cloud Services
- Vasont® Content Management System (CMS) Integrates with oXygen® XML Editor
Technical Communications: What You’re Talking About
A quick shout out to our Technical Writers and their discussions in our email discussion group:
- Cindy Daoust, another Techwhirler back from a multi-year hiatus, is looking for “Help with fake names issue.” The list responded quickly with a whole variety of creative ways to come up with fake names, including a website that automatically generates Elf names. Good advice on avoiding celebrity, and branded IP (Does Michael and Minerva Muridae count?).
- Rebecca Hopkins wants to hear about experiences where “Training and documentation teams play well together?” Whirlers report that bringing the two teams together happens more often than perhaps in the past, but the teams success is varied, usually based on leadership and corporate culture.
Social Media and the Chance to Follow TechWhirl:
- Our Google Plus Page – what’s happening behind the scenes | http://goo.gl/SO0R4
- Will you be our Friend? Please, you know you want to click | http://goo.gl/tDrW7
- Want all this TechWhirl goodness a few characters @ a time | http://goo.gl/itjDg
- Updates from TechWhirl delivered to your email in box | http://bit.ly/tjshxU
- Or, try our RSS feed (great on Flipboard) | http://goo.gl/msLzu
SPONSOR-Luv
We want to send a very special “thank you” to our sponsors for their support.
Platinum: Adobe Systems Incorporated
Gold: ComponentOne Software, Madcap Software
Silver: Society for Technical Communication (STC), Vancouver Island University
