This week’s technical writing news is thin on product news but has lotsa nice goodies.
Janet Swisher on how everybody wins, Ellis on wikis for technical documents, Larry’s DITA jumps sharks, Techsmith integrate Jing (video capture app) into Facebook, Gordon McLean, Tom Johnson, Anne Gentle, and Bill Swallow. I try to follow as many RSS feeds as possible; if I’ve missed something drop me a line. Go on, click that link!
Wikis for technical documents – interview with Alan Porter
The edited version of Cherryleaf’s transatlantic Web interview with Alan Porter on wikis and their use for technical documentation.
Has DITA jumped the shark?
Larry Kunz Last week a commenter on another blog asserted that DITA has “jumped the shark.” It’s not a new idea. I’ve heard other people say that DITA has already seen its best days, that it’s struggling to remain relevant in a world that’s passed it by. I was amused, I admit, because it was the first time I’d seen DITA compared to a TV show. Still, it was a serious statement and it merits a serious response. While it’s true that DITA is sometimes overhyped, here’s why I think it has a long and bright future.
Ensuring That Everybody Wins
Janet Swisher describes the importance of user assistance to the success of open source projects and offers some suggestions on fostering community contributions to open source user assistance. “The term “user assistance” encompasses all the ways that users get help in figuring out how to use a product, spanning the traditional categories of both documentation and support. User assistance provides opportunities for participation by community members who are not software developers.”
Jing + Facebook Integration
Mike Curtis and his team are addressing some of our top feature requests from customers; among the improvements on tap is Facebook integration. “We’ve asked for feedback before, but this time, let’s do something different. We want to invite you to be a part of the Jing team. If Jing is going to work with Facebook, and we have people who use Jing and Facebook, it seems we should work together to learn what people really want and nail this feature.” .
ISTC & Community
Gordon McLean is planning, designing, and building, a community focussed extension to the website (or sub-website, or side-website or.. well that bit has still to be agreed). “I’m still figuring out how best to collate the information and requirements for such a website, and where would be best to hold those collaborative conversations that will be required throughout the build and test phase of the website. I’ll announce things here as well as the ISTC mailing list (unless it’s something of particular sensitivity, but as I can’t even dream one up at the moment I doubt that’ll be an issue).”
Become a Link Journalist for Technical Communication
The title says it all. Join the Writer River link collectors today! You are already reading good articles on the web – why not share at the same time, adding a little comment about *why* you choose to share that particular link.
Last sprint, first step
Anne Gentle: “I’m finishing up an Agile sprint. Not just any sprint, though, my last sprint as a technical writer embedded on a sprint team at ASI. I’ve learned so much there in the last couple of years that I’ve decided to make a go at consulting. I want to help people with content strategy, social media, and any tools they need along the way such as collaborative authoring, wikis, web content management systems, or DITA.”
Why You Should Join a STC Chapter
Bill Swallow offers some sage advice: “If you’re an STC member, you’ve probably heard all about the new dues models and likely the new chapter funding model. What you likely aren’t aware of is the level of confusion and misinformation around these changes. I will attempt to clarify this a bit, as there seems to be a growing misunderstanding that chapters do not get money to work with from STC, which couldn’t be more wrong.”
Podcast: Riding the Tide of Technical Communications Consulting
Over on Idratherbewriting.com, “Lyn Worthen presented to the STC Intermountain chapter tonight on running your own business as a technical communications consultant. She covers almost everything you need to know as a consultant, including rates, billing, contracts, marketing, taxes, business structures, hours, salary, tools, locations, niche services, portfolios, client communications, and more.”
5 Keys to a Successful Remote Writing Project
Will Kelly, on Web Worker Daily, gives five keys to successful remote writing projects gleaned from my technical writing career:Good documentation.I couldn’t agree more with Thursday’s recent post about the need for telecommuters to have good documentation. Managing a remote writing project can be a challenging task, so project artifacts like statements of work (SOWs) and status reports can be a helpful audit tool for both the writer and the client. You should also consider documentation for remote writing projects to include style guides, templates and source material for the writing assignments.
Interesting people you might want to follow:
- Tom Guamera http://www.yourwritingdept.com/blog/ Sacramento-based Tech Writer
- Hadley Freeman http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/hadleyfreeman
- John Hayton http://johnhaydon.com/2010/01/twitter-techniques-i-shouldnt-be-showing-you/
I try to follow as many RSS feeds as possible; if I’ve missed something drop me a line.
Related posts:
- Technical Writing News – FrameMaker Shortcuts, Life-Saving Checklists & Twitter for Professional Development Why are most technical writing blog written by men?...
- Technical Writing News – Nov 20th Meet Captain Jing, eat Alphabetti Spaghetti, create lists in Robohelp,...
- What Macaulay Culkin Can Teach You About Tech Authoring & Jumping Sharks Larry says that last week another technical writer asserted that...
- Technical Writing News – Nov 27th This week’s technical writing news. Paragraph Autonumbering in RoboHelp 8,...
- Technical Writing News – Crystal Balls, Salaries, Metrics & Twitter The first Technical Writing Newsletter of the year includes some...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
