Minimal Procedure Content: Reasoning
The procedure I wrote about creating a Twitter list uses abbreviated content. This post describes the reasoning behind and decisions made in writing the topic.
Title
Instead of using this:
Create a Twitter List
I opt for this construction:
Twitter List: Create
Reasons
It puts the topic first. You don’t have to dig through the content to get to it. For scanning, you can see immediately that it’s about Twitter lists. If there were an alphabetical list of “creating” topics, where would you find this? I know the training has always been to start topics with an action. However, I think it’s OK to break that rule.
I believe this construction would also lend itself to XML more easily. Twitter could be a tag and database record, as could Lists and Create. From a database design standpoint and rules of normalization, it would be better to have a “Twitter” record that could be referenced and reused more easily. It would make it easier to create tables, build queries, and add programming features to accompanying XSL files. If you have an XML tag/database record that contains just a topic title (e.g., Create a Twitter List) you may have problems down the road. Your database won’t scale very easily.
Also, it provides a way to automatically sort. As an example, I’ve made up some titles to show how it might work
Twitter Feeds: Block
Twitter Feeds: Follow
Twitter Feeds: Unfollow
Twitter Lists: Create
Twitter Lists: Edit
Twitter Lists: Delete
Facebook Pages: Create
Facebook Privacy Settings: Edit
In a sample table of contents (TOC) for Twitter:
Feeds
Follow
Unfollow
Block
Lists
Create
Edit
Delete
Traditional construction (both in title and TOC)
Block a Twitter Follower
Unfollow a Twitter Feed
Create a Twitter List
Delete a Twitter List
Edit a Twitter List
Create a Facebook Page
Edit Facebook Privacy Settings
Content
The audience I’m writing to is tech-saavy individuals that already know how to use Twitter. Any general usage procedures would be covered elsewhere. Content is abbreviated as much as possible, written with mobile devices and small screens in mind.
As I’m planning to include a short video showing this, I also don’t believe it’s necessary to go into as much detail in the written procedure. For example, step 2 mentions a “box at the top of the page (if visible).”
During testing, I closed the box, and was unable to reopen it. Rather than writing a long sentence or two explaining that, I just chose to put in “(if visible)” to quickly note it. Then, in the video, I can discuss it more. Commentary can be provided in a video that would just clutter a written procedure. I see the written procedure and video as a pair. Each has its own purpose.
Video
The video I’ll be adding won’t be fancy or long. I don’t think it’s necessary in this case. There will be times when it’s important to plan out and make thorough, polished presentations and tutorials, but perhaps they don’t all need to be. Allow for something quick to be made, tossed up on a server somewhere, and available right away. I believe we can make some quickly that do not have to be completely polished. Today, speed is increasingly important, as are budget considerations. I think it’s time for doc departments to let go a little. Determine when it’s OK to just get something out fast and when to go the distance and make a full presentation. Times have changed. Does it always have to be perfect?
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WordPress Rules! Goin' to WordCamp …
Oh boy. I feel like a kid at Christmas. I’ve signed up to go to WordCamp Seattle, taking place next month. That’s because, of course, WordPress is the coolest thing ever. I think that every tech writer needs to know it. How I ever lived without it before now I can’t say. I could easily see it being used for docs. Toss some words up on the blog. Collect comments for said entries; engage the users. Tag items and automatically sort them into categories for archiving. Add pages and subpages and more. Import a Twitter feed or two. Dig away; use the Search box to sift through the content. Wow. What possibilities.
WordPress has tons of functionality. It’s open-source, and people are constantly developing plug-ins and themes that can be used by anybody. It’s collaboration on a grand scale.
Collaboration. That’s the future. That’s WordPress now.
Sit back and take a long look. Not just at WordPress itself, but at how it’s developed and maintained. See how everyone contributes themes and plug-ins. Start thinking of your docs as becoming open-source. What can you develop? What can we, as tech writers, do to make it easier for users to generate their own content, to join the conversation, to collaborate? It’s not enough to just think about and advocate for the user. We have to throw open the doors and let them in. We have to build the framework that allows the input.
Legal Requirements in the New Age
With the recent news this past week about a woman being sued $50K for a tweet she wrote and the resultant backlash on the company that was suing, it started me thinking about legal ramifications of using social media for business. I’m all for using social media as part of an overall tech doc strategy, but this should give you pause.
If you’re a company that is addressed negatively over Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or whatever else comes out, how do you respond? Will the comments or your response go viral?
Let’s imagine for a moment that you’re using Twitter for real-time tech support. Would you provide an answer in your tweet? Or might you perhaps say a few words and have a link back to your company site, where you have all your legalese spelled out? If you always use links, will your users walk away? There may be a fine line to determine. Only time will tell.
If someone made a negative comment about your docs, might you contact them and write a tweet on their feed (or whatever else) or a direct message to say something along the lines of “hey – thanks for your input. We’ll address that problem.” Or would that run the risk of going viral? What will your response be? What do you address, and what do you let sit? And don’t forget that once something is out there, it can be transformed into something else for a different mode of social media – particularly video.
I believe that when planning a doc strategy, particularly use of social media, you should always consider legal requirements and ramifications as part of the review. Legal considerations are going to flush out with time, as new issues become known (and some very quickly).
Perhaps the best course of action is to come up with a plan now about what you’ll do if something related to your docs goes viral in a negative way. Have some wording worked out with Legal or Communications ahead of time. Have a process for incorporating some immediate sort of change to your docs, FAQ, Twitter feed, Facebook page, or whatever else you have.
Obviously, you won’t be able to address everything that someone might write. There are regular deadlines that must be met, of course. You should, however, be able to identify the type of comment that should be addressed. One suggestion: perhaps an alert level could be established. Go with a simple green-yellow-red stoplight scenario to start with. If you have a plan about what you will or won’t address in what sort of situation, and how to do so, you’ll be ahead of the game. Perhaps if you have a plan, comments won’t go viral because you’ve identified their potential severity and addressed them accordingly – and swiftly. Will your response fuel the flames or put them out?
Consider a plan that identifies who in your company will address phone or other inquiries if something goes viral (read the article and you’ll see what I mean). If you can respond along the lines of “We have a process in place and will have this addressed and fixed within a (set time period)” rather than a perceived-as-negative comment, a situation may calm down as quickly as it arose.
One more thought: if you run a real-time search on your company several times a day, perhaps you can find and address some negative comments before they even get picked up by anyone. Prevention, planning, quick action: those are the new realities.
Reference:
Article from Mashable.com: “Horizon Realty Responds to Lawsuit Twitter Controversy“
The Changing Roles of Writers and Editors
As my friends and family know, I’ve been mesmerized of late by a box of old letters I had stashed in my closet. The letters were from long ago – the late 70s and early 80s – before computers were in use, and definitely before e-mail.
The letters are a joy to read, as they recall wonderful memories and good times with people I’ve not seen in some time, or those I’ll never be able to visit again. Letters were often written over a period of days. Started, put down, picked up a different day. And then that was repeated, until the letter finally found its way to the mailbox.
In stark contrast to this is the technology of today: computers, e-mail, phones. We no longer write letters; we write snippets. In social media, we’re limited to the maximum character length allowed. Server capacity rules. Database limitations rule. Bandwidth matters. Plus we’re all in a hurry, so there’s not much time for reading, let alone writing.
How this applies to tech writing I haven’t completely figured out yet, but I have some ideas. I know content will be more snippet-like with quick delivery and review in mind. Finding, gathering, and monitoring the info is what will gain in importance. How much time will writers spend developing material, and how much time will be spent in searching the airwaves for existing material, determining what’s applicable and useful, and delivering it to users? How can we direct this burgeoning cloud of content?
Folksonomy – Taxonomy – Tags
Everybody puts some sort of tag on their content. Look at any post on any blog and you’ll see tags. What the tech writing community needs to do as a whole is determine some basic tags for all of us to use. This will ensure some consistency, make it easier for people to think of which tag to choose and then apply it, and provide more focused results listings. I’ll write a post and start listing some. Let’s get started.
Editorial Boards
Someone has to moderate all the user-generated content. The role of editor may be expanded from reviewing work of writers only. Writers will still need to prepare information of their own. They will also need to review what others develop to help ensure accuracy – to a point. They will undoubtedly need to look the other way at times, as the freedom to prepare one’s own information must be retained and to ensure that other points of view are represented. However, there will be times when it will be necessary to remove or delete some content. That’s where an editorial board comes in. Set the rules. Establish guidelines for submittals and content. Determine procedures for correcting or removing information. Establish your board now and get busy.
Make it Quick – Whip up a Video
Sure, there are times when it’s preferable to create a planned, long, official nice-looking online tutorial. Much of the time, though, I think you could just take out your little video cam and whip up a gem of a demo. Do we really need to have everything completely scripted and approved and run through the whole process? No. Definitely not. Not everything needs to be polished. Some videos could just be made in minutes and uploaded in seconds. They can’t – and shouldn’t – be too long in duration. For in-house uses in particular, it may be all that’s necessary. And if it’s wrong or outdated? Simply pull out the camera and make another one.
. . . . . .
After reading my letters, I’ve decided to turn off my computer sometimes and write some nice long letters to friends and family. I’ll save my snippets for another day. I don’t want to give up those snippets, but they’re like fall leaves being lifted off the sidewalk by cooling winds: there one moment, gone in the air the next. They’re meant to be momentary. Letters are meant to last.
Tech docs are not meant to last. The technology being discussed is changing so fast that the content is quickly rendered obsolete. People do not want to read that much any longer. We have to be fast, nimble, and prepared to gather, review, and move content quickly.
Might We Become Walking Computers?
What do an article in Wired magazine about attaching a sensor to your running shoe and uploading it via iPod for data analysis, a camping trip, an article about wearing video screens, a scientist husband, a discussion about wildlife parks, office work, and work by a W3C working group have in common? If you can bear with me for a moment, I’ll tell you.
We’re going to turn into walking computers. That’s what I think. This will enable us to leave cubicles and exist in our natural habitats – sans clunky laptops and the like. Crazy idea? Perhaps. Now for an explanation: here is how all this fits together (in my mind, at least).
First, a short while back I found the article on Technology Review about video screens on clothes (There’s a post about it on this blog: Use of Flexible Screens in Documentation.) Development is underway for video screens that can be “worn on wrists, and plastered on clothes.” Ok. So that’s the computer-on-clothes aspect of this.
Second, the Wired article is about how Nike and Apple have developed a sensor that you can hook on your sneaker and which uploads information about your run to the iPod you’re wearing, and you can access the data via iTunes and Nike. That’s more of the computer-on-clothes aspect, but which goes one step further: uploading data.
Third, on our recent camping trip at a lake, there was a duck family that swam around each day right by our campsite. They were in their natural habitat. My husband, in his work and in the group with which he works, focus on natural habitats. We had a family discussion at dinner the other night about wildlife parks and zoos, and I said I preferred to see creatures in their natural habitat. That made me think about office work and cubicles. Nobody likes cubicles. We would all prefer to be in our natural habitat – and an office doesn’t fit that description. Our lake campground was close to a resort town, so we saw many people in town in their natural habitat – one where they could have fun. Everyone was in casual clothes. Not a suit in sight.
Fourth, just yesterday I came across information about a W3C VoiceXML working group. I didn’t know that there was such a thing. Is there a future where one will be able to talk and have some data somehow uploaded somewhere? I haven’t read it in detail, but just the thought of it has my imagination running wild.
So here it is, all wrapped up: maybe we’ll be able to leave offices and work in our natural habitats (whatever or wherever that may be) and wear computers on our clothes, sneakers, and who knows what else, upload data via devices such as the sensor/iPod scenario, use VoiceXML for processing, and download videos and info onto our sleeves. Perhaps this could all be powered by using Velcro to strap a solar-panel strip on said sleeves. Who knows? Who needs a laptop when you just need a shirt, some sneakers and an iPod, and a mobile phone gizmo in your ear?
Wikipedia to Add Editable Video Functionality
Game over. Print is on its way out. I just read an article about Wikipedia adding video functionality down the road that will enable people to edit videos.
I’ve been figuring that video is key, and that people would take some video already made, come up with their own version, and post it somewhere. I’ve seen such videos on YouTube – not for docs, but for other topics. Functionality for people to “annotate your video, edit your video, and improve upon it–in the same way people have been doing to your text posts” makes it a whole new ball game.
See the article in Technology Review:
Wikipedia Gets Ready for a Video Upgrade
Use of Flexible Screens in Documentation
Lately, I’ve come across two articles about flexible screens. One is for small touch screens, the other is about video.
What’s particularly interesting about the video flexible screens is that the article in Technology Review states that there is a possibility that such screens could be “worn on wrists, and plastered on clothes.” Now imagine this for docs: what if, perhaps, you are working in a manufacturing facility and need some instructions on how to run a machine or something. What if you could just push a button on your sleeve and see a video about how to complete that task. Or who knows what else there might be? Could we really have video docs on our sleeves? The article doesn’t give much detail about types of information, but imagine the possibilities…(http://beta.technologyreview.com/computing/22758)
The other article, also from Technology Review, is about small, flexible touch screens. Perhaps you could have a device that fits in your back pocket that maybe could have an online quick reference guide on it? Or other instructions? Docs have to be designed with small devices in mind. (See link in the “A New Doc Strategy” post.)
A New Doc Strategy
In years past, a doc strategy was fairly straightforward: prepare print documents that were either in binders or printed into a book. Then came online help, so both were used. Then PDF was added as an option. For many, that’s as far as capabilities have progressed.
The new reality is that technology is rapidly changing and different methods of access are popping up all the time. Print and PDF, to some degree, are going to fade away. Some sort of online version will endure, but it won’t be what we’re accustomed to.
To wit, here’s yet another example of new technology: bendable, paper-thin screens and mobile device screens that “roll out” to a larger size.
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22232/?a=f
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9891347-7.html
How cool is that? And how will it affect or impact overall documentation strategy? If you’re developing for mobile access, but the screen can enlarge, but is likely still smaller than a desktop screen, how do you design your docs for all?
These are the sorts of questions that will continue to arise. The simple days of print, online help, and PDF are gone. The idea of a “document” may even fade away.
If I were developing a doc strategy today, I would have the following elements, at the very least:
- Use xml and databases to produce content that can be accessed over intranets and the Internet, including portals such as SharePoint
- Design for mobile devices
- Use online forms to set up docs so that they can be directly input to a database
- Use content management strategies to review, design, and write content accordingly
- Set up video libraries (such as YouTube)
- Use Twitter for tech support and to push information and updates to users
In With the New: Video
“Everything is on YouTube.”
So stated my son the other day, in response to a comment about looking to see if something might be there. I’d have to agree with him. Every time I look for something there, I’m surprised. The fact that younger kids think of YouTube as a primary source of information also gives pause.
For a while, I’ve been looking at videos on YouTube and other sites with tech writing in mind. What jumps out is that people use videos in varied, unexpected ways (to me, at least). It’s not just that people are creating videos and putting them up there. They’re also taking news broadcasts and movies and making them their own. For movies, I’ve seen videos where people have taken their favorite scenes, put them together, and added music. While some are similar, you can see that each person gives theirs a slightly different slant or uses different music. What’s important to one person is not so much to another.
Now think of that related to tech writing. You’ve researched a topic, talked to SMEs, and written something up. Still, it’s your slant on what’s most important. You’ve been trained what to look for, how to organize content, and how to prepare the info. With this usage in YouTube in mind, someone could just take what you’ve written and make their own version. Assume that users will (a) make their own videos, and (b) take something already made and create a new version. In may be from something in-house. Perhaps it may be from an external source. This has tremendous potential. Combined with comments, it could provide a wealth of information.
By now, I imagine (I hope) that companies are either using or already in the process of setting up an internal video site along the lines of YouTube. For documentation departments, I believe now is the time to try and move that along. The process may take a while to run through a company. There could be a number of issues to work out: technology requirements, security, processes, and usage guidelines are possibly a few.
We’re always the voice for the users while an app is in development. I believe that we now must be the voice for the users coming in that will expect to be able to post and review job-related videos.
I believe that the role of tech writers will change. We may shift more into content management and development of enterprise information and moderator of user-generated content. There will still be procedures to write and doc sets to create. We’ll just need to make room for whatever comes so the voice of the user is heard. All can participate. I’m looking forward to it.