Today I ran an experiment to use Twitter for a discussion. It was an hour long and went quickly. There were excellent discussions by the participants. Here are some quick thoughts I have about the experiment.
Managing the Discussion
The discussions went in different directions than originally planned, but it was a good discussion; I didn’t want [...]
Twitter Discussion Experiment: Lessons Learned
July 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Your Docs: Thought About Adaptability?
July 7, 2010 By 1 Comment
There’s usability, accessibility, and readability that we’re all well aware of. I’d like to toss in one more to the mix: adaptability. By this I mean the ability to change docs on the fly to accommodate real-time actions in social media or due to user-generated content that needs to be addressed rather quickly.
How adaptable are [...]
7 Basic Privacy Settings to Check in Facebook
April 22, 2010 By 2 Comments
What’s nice about Facebook is that it provides a way to easily and quickly stay in touch with friends and family in ways we never could have imagined. I can see how easy it is to share information, and to share much more than you might have otherwise. It’s becoming the rule of the day, of [...]
Tech Writer or Tech Communicator? Or TechWtr?
April 4, 2010 By 8 Comments
For some reason, I just started thinking of the age-old debate of using Technical Writer or Technical Communicator (or variations thereof). My preference is neither: it’s Tech Writer. Short & crisp. Snappy. Other reasons are listed below.
1. I don’t want to be known as a Communicator, or have to introduce myself as such. I’m a [...]
5 Reasons to Write Procedures in Twitter
January 11, 2010 By 12 Comments
Recently, I’ve been exploring the need for writing procedures in real-time, focusing on Twitter in particular. This is the fourth post in the series. In my last post, I was asked by Larry Kunz in a comment for thoughts on situations in which one might write procedures in Twitter. Five come to mind; I’ve described [...]
Must-Follow Trends for Tech Writers
October 1, 2009 By 1 Comment
Tech writers have always needed to keep up with current technologies. That is the case today more than ever. I’ve been in the field for over 20 years, starting back before online help, back when you copied manuals to put in binders, back when you wrapped up docs weeks before a release because you had [...]
Legal Requirements in the New Age
July 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment
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, [...]