The End of DocTrain Conferences: The Beginning of New Opportunities

May 18, 2009 Blog 11 Comments

It saddens me to announce that I just received word that PUBSNET, Inc.—the owner of the Documentation and Training Conference Series—has announced they are shutting their doors and going out of business. As program manager, I worked hard to make this a quality event series and to help raise the bar for others in our industry. But, all things come to an end, and in this case, the end of PUBSNET is upon us. As I am not an owner, board member, nor employee of the company—I was just contracted …

Usability, Mobile Devices, and the Future of Higher Education: Interview with Robby Slaughter

May 11, 2009 Blog No Comments

In this exclusive interview, business process re-engineering consultant and usability evangelist Robby Slaughter chats with Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler about web-based courseware systems, mobile computing devices, usability, and the future of higher education. Read this interview and you’ll learn why dramatic website redesigns can be detrimental to user experience, why innovation most often arises from working with something old in a new way, and what the future holds for those of us dependent on technological innovation. TCW: Robby, thanks for taking time to chat with us today. For those …

Endless Possibilities: Norm Walsh on the Changing Nature of Publishing

May 7, 2009 Blog No Comments

In this exclusive interview, XML guru Norm Walsh chats with Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler about structured content, content standards, and the future of publishing. Read this interview and you’ll learn why XML documents aren’t a good fit for relational databases, how university professors are creating custom text books for students, and find links to several innovative projects that are demonstrating the power of XML and its cousin XQuery. [Note: I’ll blogging from the MarkLogic User Conference, May 11-14, 2009 where I’ll be reporting on topics including those mentioned in …

Blogging from MarkLogic User Conference

May 4, 2009 Blog No Comments

I’ll be blogging from the MarkLogic User Conference, May 12 – 14, 2009, in beautiful San Francisco, CA. It’s the largest conference in North America devoted entirely to leveraging XML and related technologies. And, the line-up of presenters is outstanding. I’m particularly jazzed to hear the keynote presenter, James Surowiecki, speak about the Wisdom of Crowds – Why The Many Are Smarter Than the Few. I’m also excited about many of the breakout sessions. I’m also especially interested in hearing more about the American Psychological Association’s session entitled: “Successfully Building …

Your Color Almost, But Different: Why Localizing Content Without Personalizing It Is A Bad Idea

May 3, 2009 Blog 7 Comments

Localization is a hot topic among software manufacturers who make tools that they claim can help you provide your customers with relevant, laser-targeted content. More than ever, it seems, these firms are hyper-busy trying to get your attention. From webinars to white papers, from free trial software to conference presentations, from text messages to Twitter tweets, localization software vendors are vying for your attention in hopes you’ll finally make the move to localized content. Localization software and services vendors usually hail from the translation industry. Some claim to have created …