Retiring baby-boomers are used to paper and print docs. Gen Y up-and-comers are accustomed to using newer technologies and options. Today’s youth is growing up with cell phones, the Internet, and YouTube. Tech writing is being turned on its head by these demographic and technological changes. On this blog, I’ll discuss how these changes affect content development and management. I believe that much of what those of us in the technical writing field do now is becoming obsolete, and am excited about what’s to come.

I’m also starting to discuss and provide information for using various tools in social media. So stay tuned for those forthcoming articles!

– Julie Norris

My Background

I have a B.A. in English – Technical Communications, over 20 years of experience in the field, and have received four industry awards (three STC, one IABC). My company is Tailored Thoughts, which provides online community management including blogs, Twitter, and Facebook; writing; WordPress blog customization; and of course, technical documentation.

For all of these items, my focus is on use of social media.

Currently, I run my blog, handling all aspects of production: writing, WordPress site coding, and day-to-day management. I’ve become proficient with WordPress, and am familiar with the code, so am able to develop and maintain websites and blogs. I also maintain several Twitter feeds, as follows.

- @2moroDocs focuses on sharing current technology and industry topics of interest to technical writers. This is my main account. It’s been in existence since May 2009.
- @TailoredThought is the feed for my company, Tailored Thoughts. It focuses on social media and business information.
- @TC_Chat is the feed for the #TCchat Twitter chat, for which I am co-founder and co-moderator. This feed provides announcements regarding the chat, as well as information about other chats periodically. This was just set up in September, 2010.

My Facebook page is growing. It, too, provides information about social media and technical communication. I’ve also started a Facebook page for #tcchat.

#TCchat is a Twitter chat for technical communication, which was launched in September 2010. I am the co-founder and moderator of the chat. For more information, see the #TCchat menu item on this blog. As of 1/19/11, it’s in the process of transitioning to the community.

In July of 2010, I was named #16 in MindTouch’s list of 25 Most Influential Technical Communicator Bloggers. My blog is included on Alltop.com in the Technical Writing section, and is also included as a Daily Reviewer.com Top Technical Writing blog . A recent post was included as a Holy Kaw item on Alltop.com (for which I feel quite honored). Also, a number of 2moroDocs posts have been added to the EServer Technical Communication Library, an extensive database of articles related to the field of technical communication. For all of these items, I feel quite fortunate and appreciative.

My company website has been added to the StudioPress Showcase, which is quite an honor. The showcase includes examples of site designs based on use of the StudioPress themes for WordPress. There are some incredible designs, so to me, being included there is very exciting.

It’s been my good fortune to receive recognition for technical and blog writing, social media, and design work. I’d be interested in applying all these skills to your benefit. Let’s get to work! For more information about the company or services provided, please contact me at jnorris@tailoredthoughts.com or jnorris@2morodocs.com. You can also review the Services page for more information. For information about my background, check my LinkedIn profile.

Some Favorite Thoughts

- Why not?
- How cool is that? And how can it be used for docs?

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Contributors

Jill Freeman

Jill is an e-learning specialist and consultant. She has been in the training industry for over 19 years. She started out managing classroom training, has participated through the evolution to online tools and training materials, and is now looking forward to participating in the many changes in store for e-learning.

Jill’s company is Digital Harbor, and she can be reached as follows:
jill.freeman@digital-harbor.net
digital-harbor.net