Podcast: Does Your Documentation Jibe With Your Marketing Communications?

November 30, 2006 Blog No Comments

“Marketing provides the product content that customers read first,” writes Harry Miller, a technical editor at Microsoft. “This content introduces customers to features, to actions, and to parts of the user interface. Customers will then expect to find those things in the documentation, using the terminology they read in the marketing materials to search the contents or to check the index. For example, if the Web site says “Publish your documents using the Simple Deploy wizard from My Servers,” users will look for documentation about publishing, about the Simple Deploy Read the full article…

Gilbane Conference Explores Content Technologies

November 29, 2006 Blog No Comments

Day one of the Gilbane Conference on Content Technologies Boston kicked off with four half-day tutorials: Web Content Management Systems (Tony Byrne, CMS Watch), the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (Bill Trippe, Gilbane Group), Principles of Web Operations Management (Lisa Welchman, Welchman Consulting), and Taxonomy Development and Implementation (Seth Earley, Earley and Associates). The rest of the day offered attendees an opportunity to mix-and-match combinations of presentations or follow a pre-defined “track”. I elected to attend the “Automated Publishing” track, a kind of introduction to publishing technologies, including a session that Read the full article…

APEX 2007: Awards For Publication Design Excellence

November 29, 2006 Blog No Comments

So you think your design prowess is a step above the rest? Then prove it. Enter the 19th Annual APEX Awards for Publication Excellence (deadline: March 15, 2007). The awards recognize excellence in graphic design, editorial content and overall communications effectiveness. So if you’ve got a newsletter, magazine, journal, annual report, brochure, manual, white paper, website, or blog that you believe desrves some recognition, enter today. Not sure what or how to enter, check out the frequently asked questions for answers.

Semiconductor Webinar: Technical Content Reuse With Micron And JoAnn Hackos

November 28, 2006 Blog No Comments

For those of you interested in content reuse, you might consider attending this on-demand webinar from Astoria Software and featuring a case study from Micron.

Live From The Gilbane Conference on Content Technologies Boston

November 28, 2006 Blog No Comments

Today I’m attending the Gilbane Conference on Content Technologies Boston. As far as conferences go, this annual event dwarfs all others in the space. It’s larger, better organized, and frankly, focused on the really important content issues facing business today. There’s no over-reliance on trendy topics like DITA. And there’s not a lot of educator-focused topics that bore most folks to death. Instead, it’s a practical, hands-on, industry event—and a networking extravaganza. Lots of business deals are struck here, especially in the Technology Showcase, a “Who’s Who” of software and Read the full article…

CM Pros Fall 2006 Summit Boston Biggest, Best Yet

November 28, 2006 Blog No Comments

Content Management Professionals held a successful one-day Summit yesterday. The theme of the event—“Content Management and the World Enterprise”—echoed the real-world issues facing organizations attempting to address a fact the folks at Disney recognized years ago – “It’s a small, small world.” See the program for specifics. Presenters from around the globe helped attendees better understand numerous localization, translation, an globalization issues and explored ways to employ what they learned when they returned to the office. Many technical communication pros (including Mike Ball of Boston STC) attended the annual event, Read the full article…

Podcast: How to Increase Collaboration and Performance – Interview With Emma Hamer

November 28, 2006 Blog No Comments

In this TechWriterVoices.com podcast, Tom Johnson interviews performance improvement guru Emma Hamer. The discussion is an excellent and important one, focusing on how to set up the ideal collaborative workspace, overcoming fear of change, and addressing other common change-related problems in the workplace. Topics include: Helping writers cope with major changes (such as implementing a CMS) Understanding the difference between a group and a team Radically increasing collaboration and communication on project teams Changing the way your workspace is organized Encouraging your employees to present great ideas Dealing with lack Read the full article…

Content Management and the World Enterprise

November 26, 2006 Blog No Comments

Today I’m in Boston at the Westin Copley for the Content Management Professionals Fall 2006 Summit: Content Management and the World Enterprise. The Summit attracts an intimate group of influential content professionals from around the globe. Both non-members and members of the organization attend the Summit. We’re expecting 70-100 attendees—from well-known content management consultants to representatives of corporate content management project teams—from independent content strategists to important industry analysts—from writers, editors, and translators working in the trenches to business managers of content-heavy organizations. We will be working together to help Read the full article…

Understanding Hosted Content Management: Interview With Jim Howard, CrownPeak

November 26, 2006 Blog No Comments

Selecting a content management system (CMS) is an increasingly challenging task, especially if you don’t understand the various types of content management systems, how they work, and what the differences are between them. Most CMS shoppers lack the knowledge and experience necessary to find their way through the maze of CMS misinformation available on the web. It’s easy to see where the confusion comes from. Industry jargon and terminology misuse make comparing apples to aples difficult, if not nearly impossible. In this exclusive TheContentWrangler.com interview with Jim Howard, CEO of Read the full article…

Whose Content Is It Anyway? An Argument For Modular Writing

November 24, 2006 Blog 3 Comments

By Pamela Kostur, Partner, Parallax Communications Writing modular content that can easily be reused is important not only when working in a content management environment, but also in the world of “everyday” technical communication. However, after spending several years consulting with companies on their content management initiatives, I’ve noticed that many technical writers have problems creating modular content or reusing content that others create. Either they are not called upon to do so (it’s not how their company or group typically operates) or they are reluctant to do so for Read the full article…

Technical Writing: The New Black Gold Of India

November 22, 2006 Blog No Comments

If you’ve wondered whether India and its expanding network of 5,000 English-speaking tech writers will play a role in the globalization of technical communication, look no further. In Tech Writing: The New Black Gold Of India (The Economic Times), Rahul Prabhakar, 27, who runs a network called the Technical Writers of India says: “With many software development jobs moving to India, support functions like writing are moving base too.” According to him, this is due to two factors – more competitive costs, and quality “which is improving”. Higher paying tech Read the full article…

Results: World’s Largest Online Card Sort (World Usability Day 2006 Wrap-Up)

November 21, 2006 Blog No Comments

By Rahel Bailie, Intentional Design, special to TheContentWrangler.com World Usability Day 2006 has come and gone for 2006, and the results of the global online card sort are in. From the brief demographic survey before the card sort, we know that about five hundred people in 19 or 20 countries – it depends on how countries are counted – participated in the exercise. Participants represented six of the seven continents – the only one not represented was Antarctica, and that wasn’t for lack of effort. Just over half of the Read the full article…

And The Winners Are (Adobe Technical Writing Suite Naming Contest)

November 20, 2006 Blog 4 Comments

Last week we asked our readers to put their creative hats on and come up with an appropriate name for a suite of Adobe software tools (Adobe FrameMaker, Acrobat 3D, Captivate, and Robohelp) packaged together as one unit and aimed at technical communication professionals. Nearly 20 names were submitted. Some were pretty good. A few were spot on creative. Some others, well, you be the judge. Adobe BookGenerator Adobe TechPubs Suite Adobe TechCombo Adobe TechCommbine Adobe Structured Suite Adobe Multi-channel Publishing Suite Adobe Multimedia Publishing Suite Adobe Communication Suite Adobe Read the full article…

Assuring Personas Aren’t Just Another Deliverable

November 20, 2006 Blog No Comments

In Bring Your Personas to Life!, Zef Fugaz writes: “Most user-centered design (UCD) companies create personas (profiles of representative users) to guide their designs. To do UCD, you need to get the “U” in focus right from the start. So you’ve got your persona set, all neatly defined and documented. Now what? How can you ensure the persona isn’t ‘just another deliverable?’” Fugaz offers up guidelines for creating meaningful personas drawn from ‘Method’ acting—“a technique in which actors try to replicate the emotional conditions under which a character operates, in Read the full article…