The problem of tech comm WINOs
If you have worked in or around technical communication, you have probably met at least one WINO (Writer In Name Only).
Structured content
Webcast: Content strategy for technical communication
In this webcast recording, Sarah O’Keefe discusses how to get started with content strategy for technical communication.
Webcast: Ending the Cold War between techcomm and marcom
In this webcast recording, Sarah O’Keefe discusses various strategic initiatives that require coordination between marcom and techcomm and addresses how to begin to thaw out the relationship.
Webcast: DITA and content strategy
In this webcast recording, Sarah O’Keefe discusses content strategy and the role of DITA in content strategy.
When IT is MIA, content strategy crumbles
Last year, I told you to hug it out with your IT department. Play nicely with your IT group, but you also need to ask tough questions and get commitments. Otherwise, IT problems can derail your content strategy.
Structured authoring AND the web
We read Tom Johnson’s post on Structured authoring versus the web with some dismay. Tom is a persuasive, influential writer, but his article misses the mark in important ways.
Cheap writers can be expensive
Given the choice between an inexpensive writer with a limited skill set and a professional technical communicator, which should you choose?
Pay no GREAT attention to that man behind the curtain
Every department has its resident tech wizard: the maintainer of the templates, the DITA Open Toolkit, the wiki, and so on. What happens when that wizard flies off to a new kingdom?
Adapt or die: Managing increasing content velocity
Content velocity is the speed at which we create and produce content, the speed of the publishing process itself, and the speed of change in content requirements—what we need to produce and the delivery mechanisms.
Dodging the dragons of content strategy
Some patterns are beginning to emerge as we apply content strategy to technical information.
Webcast: The business case for better techcomm
This webcast recording is a preview of our new Content Strategy 101 book, which will be released in September. Here, Sarah O’Keefe discusses why content strategy is important and how you can use it to transform your technical content from “necessary evil” to a business asset.
The true cost of incumbency bias
When selecting authoring and publishing tools, there is an unfortunate human instinct to cling to the familiar. This ranges from a slight preference for the tool currently in use to “You will pry this software from my cold, dead hands.”
The convergence of information science and tech comm
Until I started working at Scriptorium, my educational and work background was in information and library science.
New to tech comm? Expect the unexpected
When I started at Scriptorium a year ago, I knew almost nothing about tech comm. I knew what technical content was, having used it many times, but I’d never really thought about how it was produced.
Webcast: Transition to XML
Simon Bate provides a planning framework for implementing an XML-based structured authoring environment.
Hug it out with your IT department: collaboration beyond content
The stereotypical technical writer working in isolation is an endangered species—if not already extinct.
“Trust me” isn’t a business plan
Knowing you can rely on someone is vital to professional relationships. But when it comes to proposing process change, the words “trust me” are never, ever enough.
Webcast: Content strategy in technical communication
In this webcast recording, Sarah O’Keefe explores how to develop a content strategy specifically for technical content. That means stepping back from the temptation to focus on tools and instead taking a hard look at what the users need and how best to deliver it.
Drink me: starting small like Alice
“What a curious feeling!” said Alice; “I must be shutting up like a telescope.”
And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going though the little door into that lovely garden.
Lewis Carroll in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
2012 resolution: Explore the frontiers of tech comm with Scriptorium
Our 2012 event schedule is starting to come together. Our guest speaker lineup includes Char James-Tanny, Peter Lubbers, and Sarah Maddox, with more to be announced.
This year, we are changing our conference schedule somewhat. I am looking forward to participating in Intelligent Content for the first time, and Simon is going around the world for tcworld India.
Webcast: The economics of information
In this webcast recording, Sarah O’Keefe discusses how the cost of developing content affects what is actually created. She leads with a discussion of Gutenberg and how we went from gorgeous, unaffordable, artistic books that took years to produce to more plebeian but affordable books. Then she considers today’s situation, with particular attention to the possibilities of video, information apps, and a look at what has NOT changed.
Webcast: Content strategy for software development (with Ray Gallon)
Content strategy is usually thought of in the context of web development. But today’s software is increasingly information-rich. Software is a content vector, and we need to manage the life cycle of that content. This webcast from guest speaker Ray Gallon adapts content life cycle management principles, taken from web-oriented content strategy, to software development cycles. Some examples from real experiences illustrate this adaptation.
