Tech Writer Voices Podcasts

PodcastDirectory / Education / Unknown
PodcastDirectory / Regions / UN / Unknown

Podcasts for Technical Writers -- interviews, tips, and presentations for those who author help content Primary Format : Unknown Also Listed as: City : Tampa State/Province : FL Country : Unknown Country : UN User Tags: User Votes: RSS Feed Website People found this Podcast Searching for: View this Podcast on a Google Map. Add to iTunes Text Only listing of Tech Writer Voices Podcasts Trumix.com listings available of Tech Writer Voices Podcasts Click Here to Update the directory of this podcasts programs.

Trumix.com listings available of Tech Writer Voices Podcasts Build your own playlists with this podcast. Podcast: Repurposing Content for Multichannel Publishing (Single Sourcing) Download MP3 (right-click and select Save Target As to download) Duration: 60 min. In this podcast, Liz Fraley, founder of Single Sourcing Solutions, talks to the Intermountain STC chapter about “Repurposing Content for Multichannel Publishing.” See this flyer for a more detailed description of the presentation. Liz Fraley is the founder of Single Sourcing Solutions. You can read [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: Flare 4 — Ten New Features, Interview with Sharon Burton Download MP3 (right-click and select Save Target As to download) Duration: 60 min. Flare 4 was just released today by Madcap Software. In this podcast, I talk with Sharon Burton — product manager at Madcap Software — about all the main features of the Flare 4 release. Flare 4 topics we discuss include the following: Page layouts New outputs [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: What’s New in the Field of Technical Communication? Download MP3 (right-click and select Save Target As to download) Duration: 45 min. Having taken a three-month podcasting break, it feels good to be back. In this podcast, I talk with Charles Jeter and Heidi Hansen about what’s new in the field of technical communication. See the sections below for the four main topics we discuss. Note: [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: Using Video in Training and Documentation, Interview with Todd O’Neill Download MP3 Duration: 20 min. In this podcast, rich media specialist Todd O’Neill explains how to add video to your training and documentation deliverables. Many technical writers are intimidated by the learning curve, equipment costs, and software they think they need to create video, but actually you can create engaging videos with minimal equipment (e.g., $150 for [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: Analyzing Your Users and Needs Before Creating the Help Deliverables; Interview with Nicky Bleiel Download MP3 Duration: 10 min. With all the buzz about web 2.0 deliverables, it’s easy to get caught up in the frenzy and think we need to quickly create blogs, wikis, social networks, podcasts, videos, and other new media for our users. Actually, we have to step back and analyze our users and their needs before creating [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: How to Create User-Centered Documentation, Interview with Joe Sokohl Download MP3 Duration: 15 min. In this podcast, Joe Sokohl explains how to create user-centered documentation by contacting, observing, and interviewing users to gather information about what types of information they use and the help deliverables they actually want. In his experience, Joe found that almost no one used the user manual, but instead wanted quick information for specific [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Thinking About a More Personal Style of Podcasting You can either listen to this post as a mini-podcast or just read it. They’re mostly the same, but not entirely. Download MP3 Duration: 7 min. I listened to a couple of podcasts back to back tonight that, taken alone, might not have had as strong an impact on me as they did together. The first was Mark [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: Workspaces, Collaboration, and Information Sharing — Interview with Emma Hamer Download MP3 Duration: 15 min. IT project teams often need to increase collaboration and communication, but they’re hampered by the cubicle walls and other physical silos they set up in the workplace. These physical obstacles force teams to have frequent meetings — which can be long and inefficient — just to keep each other updated. In this podcast, [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: Why Content Management Projects Fail, Interview with Rahel Bailie Download MP3 Duration: 27 min. Many content management projects fail because organizations are either too focused on tools before properly researching their needs and processes, or because they underestimate the difficulty of migrating and restructuring their content to fit the new content management system. In this podcast, Rahel Bailie explains these pitfalls and what companies can do to [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: How XML Enables Information Sharing and Reuse — Interview with Joe Gollner Download MP3 Duration: 15 min. XML, a way of tagging and structuring your content, can help solve a number of problems, including storing, mining, reusing, and sharing content. XML helps enable the interoperability of information between systems, allowing you to export and import your content from one application to another. XML is behind much of the collaboration and [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: XSL, Flash, and Live Blogging — Interview with Sarah O’Keefe Download MP3 Duration: 15 min. In this podcast, Sarah O’Keefe talks about XSL, Flash, and live blogging. XSL (extensible stylesheet language) is a programming language that transforms XML content into a specific format, such as HTML. She explains what you can do with XSL, why it’s unique, and how the output is created. Sarah also presented on [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: Document Engineering, Interview with Robert Glushko Download MP3 Duration: 15 min. In this podcast, Dr. Robert Glushko, a professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Information, explains the concept of Document Engineering — the process of developing document models to make information sharing, reuse, or syndication more efficient. Glushko gives several examples of document engineering, such as creating a calendar event model that allows an [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: Living Multiple Lives — The New Technical Communicator, Interview with Noz Urbina Download MP3 Duration: 15 min. In this podcast, Noz Urbina talks about how Web 2.0 is changing the role of the technical communicator into one who drives product R&D and interaction design. My discussion with Noz was a light-bulb moment for me at the Doc Train West conference. Podcast topics include the following: How the role of the [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: Embracing Wikis — Interview with Stewart Mader Download MP3 Duration: 18 min. Stewart Mader was one of the coolest people I met at Doc Train West 2008. He is a person driven by his enthusiasm for wikis. In this podcast, Stewart talks about the following: Advantages of using a wiki for your technical documentation Why lack of advanced styles in wikis isn’t a major problem The relentless [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: Moving 50,000 Pages of Unstructured Content to DITA Download MP3 Duration: 5 min. In this short podcast, David Holmes talks about how he and his team migrated 50,000 unstructured pages to DITA. Here’s his official presentation title and a brief description: From Planning to Publishing: How Business Objects Migrated Documentation to DITA One Step at a Time In 2006, Business Objects faced a major challenge. How to [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: Leading Your Company into the Wikis, Blogs, and Social Networks of Web 2.0 Download MP3 (right-click, select Save As) Duration: 43 min. In this podcast, I talk with Alan Porter, vice president of Operations at WebWorks, about the Web 2.0 technologies they’re using to reach out to their customer base. In addition to using blogs, wikis, and social networks to connect with customers, WebWorks also uses wikis to facilitate communication [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast — DITA: From the Perspective of Someone Actually Using It Download MP3 (right-click, select Save As) Duration: 42 min. DITA is a topic I’ve wanted to do a podcast on for a long time. When I heard a local technical writer express her enthusiasm about how she was using DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) at her company, I knew I found the right person. In this podcast, Marlene [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast — Social Networking and the Value of User Communities for Technical Communicators Download MP3 (right-click, select Save Target As) Duration: 20 min. In this podcast, I talk with Scott Abel about social networking, in particular The Content Wrangler community he started at TheContentWrangler.ning.com. Scott talks about this new social network specifically for technical communicators. But he also explains the value of social networks for your help deliverables. Social networks [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast — Transitioning from Technical Writing into Usability Download MP3 (right-click, select Save Target As) Duration: 30 min. In this podcast, I talk with Theresa Putkey, a usability consultant in Vancouver, about how she transitioned from technical writing into usability. This is part II of the previous conversation with Theresa. Learn more about Theresa by reading her blog. You can also read Theresa’s articles on Boxes [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast — Tackling Godzilla: A Writer/Usability Consultant Reflects on the Largest Project of her Career Download MP3 Duration: 30 min. In this podcast, I talk with Theresa Putkey, a writer/usability consultant in Vancouver, about the largest project of her career. She explains how she approached a project that had upwards of 2,500 help topics, many of which consisted of duplicate content. She explains how she transitioned from RoboHelp to Flare, the advantages [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website My Blogging and Podcasting Presentation — the MP3 and Video Recording For those of you who missed my blogging and podcasting presentation to the STC-Intermountain chapter, here is the mp3 file of the audio recording. Download MP3 (right-click and select Save Target As) Duration: 1 hr 13 min. H4 File size: 65 MB Additionally, if you’re sitting at your computer, you can’t watch the PowerPoint slides with the audio in [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Jing Screencast: Getting Up and Running with Jing In this Jing video tutorial, I explain how to get up and running with Jing. What’s Jing? Check out my previous post that includes several sample Jing videos showing how technical writers can benefit from Jing. You can also see the Note: If you’re seeing some bracketed text and a link rather [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Interview with STC President Linda Oestreich: Directions the STC Is Heading Download MP3 (right-click and select Save Target As) Duration: 35 min. In this podcast, STC President Linda Oestreich talks about the direction that the Society for Technical Communication is heading. She explains the strategic objectives of the STC and the ways the Board is trying to meet those objectives in a financially conscious way. She also provides [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Going Beyond Technical Writing: Practical Advice for Diversifying Your Skillset — Podcast Interview with Mark Hanigan Download MP3 Duration: 35 min. In this podcast, I talk with Mark Hanigan, former international STC president, about ways to go beyond technical writing. I knew Mark at the STC-Suncoast chapter in Florida and often, during “post-meeting-meetings,” listened to him talk about ways to transition from technical writing into tasks that companies perceive as having higher value, [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website All About Madcap Flare: Podcast Interview with Paul Pehrson, MVP in Madcap Software Forums Download MP3 Duration: 35 min. Madcap Flare is one of the most powerful online help authoring tools on the market today. In this podcast, Paul Pehrson, MVP in the Madcap Software forums, talks about Madcap Flare in depth. If you create online help, this is definitely a podcast you should listen to. Paul is a really sharp [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcast: The Impact of Social Media on Technical Communication — Interview with Bill Albing Download MP3 Duration: 27 min. In this podcast, I talk with Bill Albing, founder of KeyContent.org, about the impact of social media on technical communication. Bill talks about different ways social media helps audiences interconnect and interact. Good social media technologies enable professionals to collaborate easily, without being encumbered by complicated technology or even burdened by managing [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Technical Communication Suite from Adobe — Interview with RJ Jacquez Download MP3 Duration: 22 min. RJ Jacquez, senior product evangelist at Adobe.com, talks about the new Technical Communication Suite from Adobe, which includes RoboHelp 7, Captivate 3, Acrobat 3D version 8, and Framemaker 8. Topics we discuss include the following: What the Technical Communication Suite includes and how each product interacts Integration of Captivate with RoboHelp Integration of Framemaker with [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Technical Communication Suite from Adobe — Interview with RJ Jacquez Download MP3 Duration: 22 min. RJ Jacquez, senior product evangelist at Adobe.com, talks about the new Technical Communication Suite from Adobe, which includes RoboHelp 7, Captivate 3, Acrobat 3D version 8, and Framemaker 8. Topics we discuss include the following: What the Technical Communication Suite includes and how each product interacts Integration of Captivate with RoboHelp Integration of Framemaker with [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Technical Communication Suite from Adobe — Interview with RJ Jacquez Download MP3 Duration: 22 min. RJ Jacquez, senior product evangelist at Adobe.com, talks about the new Technical Communication Suite from Adobe, which includes RoboHelp 7, Captivate 3, Acrobat 3D version 8, and Framemaker 8. Topics we discuss include the following: What the Technical Communication Suite includes and how each product interacts Integration of Captivate with RoboHelp Integration of Framemaker with [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Technical Communication Suite from Adobe — Interview with RJ Jacquez Download MP3 Duration: 22 min. RJ Jacquez, senior product evangelist at Adobe.com, talks about the new Technical Communication Suite from Adobe, which includes RoboHelp 7, Captivate 3, Acrobat 3D version 8, and Framemaker 8. Topics we discuss include the following: What the Technical Communication Suite includes and how each product interacts Integration of Captivate with RoboHelp Integration of Framemaker with [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Show Me Demos and Captivate — Interview with Kevin Siegel Download MP3 Duration: 24 minutes Kevin Siegel, president of IconLogic, talks about show-me demos and Captivate. In this audio-visual age, technical writers need an easy way to deliver Flash-based, dynamic screen demos for their help content. Topics Kevin and I discuss in the podcast include: The effects of video games on learning styles The power of audio in show [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Show Me Demos and Captivate — Interview with Kevin Siegel Download MP3 Duration: 24 minutes Kevin Siegel, president of IconLogic, talks about show-me demos and Captivate. In this audio-visual age, technical writers need an easy way to deliver Flash-based, dynamic screen demos for their help content. Topics Kevin and I discuss in the podcast include: The effects of video games on learning styles The power of audio in show [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Special DMN Communications Podcast with Tech Writer Voices (me): Are you Hurting Your Career By Not Blogging or Podcasting? Last week I had a good conversation with Scott and Aaron from DMN Communications about the value of blogging and podcasting. Although this is a DMN Communications podcast, they allowed me to post the audio on Tech Writer Voices as well. (If you’re not already subscribed to DMN Communication feed, see their site here.) [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Special DMN Communications Podcast with Tech Writer Voices (me): Are you Hurting Your Career By Not Blogging or Podcasting? Last week I had a good conversation with Scott and Aaron from DMN Communications about the value of blogging and podcasting. Although this is a DMN Communications podcast, they allowed me to post the audio on Tech Writer Voices as well. (If you’re not already subscribed to DMN Communication feed, see their site here.) [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Special DMN Communications Podcast with Tech Writer Voices (me): Are you Hurting Your Career By Not Blogging or Podcasting? Download MP3 Duration: 45 min. Last week I had a good conversation with Scott and Aaron from DMN Communications about the value of blogging and podcasting. Although this is a DMN Communications podcast, they allowed me to post the audio on Tech Writer Voices as well. (If you are not already subscribed to DMN Communication feed, see [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Special DMN Communications Podcast with Tech Writer Voices (me): Are you Hurting Your Career By Not Blogging or Podcasting? Download MP3 Duration: 45 min. Last week I had a good conversation with Scott and Aaron from DMN Communications about the value of blogging and podcasting. Although this is a DMN Communications podcast, they allowed me to post the audio on Tech Writer Voices as well. (If you’re not already subscribed to DMN Communication feed, see [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Top 10 Worst Things SMEs Say or Do — Interview with Brenda Huettner Download MP3 Duration: 25 min In this podcast, I interview Brenda Huettner about strategies for overcoming the top 10 Worst Things SMEs Say or Do. The top 10 list includes the following: The user will know how to do this. Do not worry about it. I just do not have time to review all of this. Oh, I will [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Top 10 Worst Things SMEs Say or Do — Interview with Brenda Huettner Download MP3 Duration: 25 min In this podcast, I interview Brenda Huettner about strategies for overcoming the top 10 Worst Things SMEs Say or Do. The top 10 list includes the following: “The user will know how to do this. Don’t worry about it.” “I just don’t have time to review all of this.” “Oh, I’ll just write it [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Top 10 Worst Things SMEs Say or Do — Interview with Brenda Huettner Download MP3 (right-click to save) In this podcast, I interview Brenda Huettner about strategies for overcoming the top 10 Worst Things SMEs Say or Do. The top 10 list includes the following: “The user will know how to do this. Don’t worry about it.” “I just don’t have time to review all of this.” “Oh, I’ll just write it [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Building Online Communities: Interview with Svi Ben-Elya about Elephant.org.il Download MP3 Duration: 27 min. In this podcast, I talk with Svi Ben-Elya about Elephant.org.il. Elephant is an online community he and others created to empower technical communicators in Israel (originally in the city of Yokneam) with relevant salary information to make them more market savvy when they negotiate jobs. About Tech Writer Voices Tech Writer Voices features podcasts [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Building Online Communities: Interview with Svi Ben-Elya about Elephant.org.il Download MP3 Duration: 27 min. In this podcast, I talk with Svi Ben-Elya about Elephant.org.il. Elephant is an online community he and others created to empower technical communicators in Israel (originally in the city of Yokneam) with relevant salary information to make them more market savvy when they negotiate jobs. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Building Online Communities: Interview with Svi Ben-Elya about Elephant.org.il Download MP3 (right-click to save) In this podcast, I talk with Svi Ben-Elya about Elephant.org.il. Elephant is an online community he and others created to empower technical communicators in Israel (originally in the city of Yokneam) with relevant salary information to make them more market savvy when they negotiate jobs. About Tech Writer Voices Tech Writer Voices features [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Answering Tough Questions About Wikis — Interview with Anne Gentle Download MP3 Duration: 29 min. In this podcast, Anne Gentle, author of The Quick Web for Technical Documentation, tackles some of the toughest questions about wikis, such as, How do you reuse and possibly single source your wiki content? If only 1 percent of your users contribute, is the wiki even worth it? How do you deal [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Answering Tough Questions About Wikis — Interview with Anne Gentle Download MP3 Duration: 29 min. In this podcast, Anne Gentle, author of “The Quick Web for Technical Documentation,” tackles some of the toughest questions about wikis, such as, How do you reuse and possibly single source your wiki content? If only 1% of your users contribute, is the wiki even worth it? How do you deal with [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Answering Tough Questions About Wikis — Interview with Anne Gentle Download MP3 (right-click to save) In this podcast, Anne Gentle, author of “The Quick Web for Technical Documentation,” tackles some of the toughest questions about wikis, such as, How do you reuse and possibly single source your wiki content? If only 1% of your users contribute, is the wiki even worth it? How do you [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Usability Research Behind Microsoft’s Ergonomic Keyboard Download MP3 Duration: 34 min. In this podcast, Microsoft Usability Researcher Hugh McLoone talks about Microsoft’s Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. Hugh originally gave this presentation to the Puget Sound (Seattle) SIGCHI group on January 25, 2007. SIGCHI stands for Special Interest Group for Computer-Human Interaction. Heidi, who attended the presentation, says, “As you’ll hear, Hugh was a driving [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Usability Research Behind Microsoft’s Ergonomic Keyboard Download MP3 (right-click to save) In this podcast, Microsoft Usability Researcher Hugh McLoone talks about Microsoft’s Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. Hugh originally gave this presentation to the Puget Sound (Seattle) SIGCHI group on January 25, 2007. SIGCHI stands for Special Interest Group for Computer-Human Interaction. Heidi, who attended the presentation, says, “As you’ll hear, Hugh was a [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Location is everything when it comes to getting information from SMEs — Carcast Download MP3 file Duration: 21 min. In this carcast, I deliver a 20 minute monologue about the best way to get information from SMEs — sit by them, permanently if possible. Many IT organizations station the writer remotely from the developers, programmers, and other SMEs, but nothing could be more damaging to getting the information you need. [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Location is everything when it comes to getting information from SMEs — Carcast Download MP3 file (right-click to save) In this carcast, I deliver a 20 minute monologue about the best way to get information from SMEs — sit by them, permanently if possible. Many IT organizations station the writer remotely from the developers, programmers, and other SMEs, but nothing could be more damaging to getting the information you [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Virtual Ways of Communicating — Char James-Tanny Download MP3 file Duration: 46 min. This podcast features Char James-Tanny’s June presentation to the Suncoast Florida chapter on virtual ways of communicating. Char is the secretary of the STC and a well-known expert on AuthorIT, RoboHelp, and other tools. In this presentation, she talks about second life, blogs, wikis, mashups, skype, and other virtual ways of [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Virtual Ways of Communicating — Char James-Tanny Download MP3 file (right-click to save) This podcast features Char James-Tanny’s June presentation to the Suncoast Florida chapter on virtual ways of communicating. Char is the secretary of the STC and a well-known expert on AuthorIT, RoboHelp, and other tools. In this presentation, she talks about second life, blogs, wikis, mashups, skype, and other virtual ways [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Information Architecture — Organizing Chaos, Metadata, Taxonomy vs. Folksonomy, and the Dublin Core Download MP3 file Duration: 27 min. In this podcast, I talk with Kevin Shoesmith about information architecture and the challenge of organizing complicated websites. Kevin explains about the importance of metadata, providing user-driven organization, taxonomy vs. folksonomy, the Dublin core, the usability of web menus. Music from Podshow. Check out Kevin’s blog. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Information Architecture — Organizing Chaos, Metadata, Taxonomy vs. Folksonomy, and the Dublin Core Download MP3 file Duration: 27 min. In this podcast, I talk with Kevin Shoesmith about information architecture and the challenge of organizing complicated websites. Kevin explains about the importance of metadata, providing user-driven organization, taxonomy vs. folksonomy, the Dublin core, the usability of web menus. Music from Podshow. Check out Kevin’s blog. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Information Architecture — Organizing Chaos, Metadata, Taxonomy vs. Folksonomy, and the Dublin Core Download MP3 file (right-click to save) In this podcast, I talk with Kevin Shoesmith about information architecture and the challenge of organizing complicated websites. Kevin explains about the importance of metadata, providing user-driven organization, taxonomy vs. folksonomy, the Dublin core, the usability of web menus. Music from Podshow. Check out Kevin’s blog. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A New Approach: Tech Comm News Download MP3 file In this podcast, Heidi and I try to cover the latest news related to the technical communication field. We amassed a number of newsworthy items on a wiki and talked about most of these items. For shownotes, see the wiki archive page. There you can find links to everything we covered. If [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A New Approach: Tech Comm News Download MP3 file (right-click to save) In this podcast, Heidi and I try to cover the latest news related to the technical communication field. We amassed a number of newsworthy items on a wiki and talked about most of these items. For shownotes, see the wiki archive page. There you can find links to everything [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Vista and Office 2007 — Presentation by David McNamee from Microsoft Download MP3 (right-click) David McNamee presented on Vista and Office 2007 to the Suncoast chapter in May 2007. This is a recording of his presentation. He talks about how the purpose of Vista and Office is to help you create, find, and share information more efficiently. Don’t worry that you can’t see Vista or Office [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Vista and Office 2007 — Presentation by David McNamee from Microsoft Download MP3 (right-click)  David McNamee presented on Vista and Office 2007 to the Suncoast chapter in May 2007. This is a recording of his presentation. He talks about how the purpose of Vista and Office is to help you create, find, and share information more efficiently. Don’t worry that you can’t see Vista or Office 2007 [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Podcasting at the STC Conference: Reasons, Methods, and Reflections I interviewed about three dozen people at the STC Conference in Minneapolis this year. If you scroll down and look at the last 34 podcasts published on this site, you’ll see that they’re tagged with STC Conference or Leadership Day (which is part of the conference). Each podcast is short, about 5-10 minutes. Interviewees include both [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Tips from Leadership Day at the STC At Leadership Day at the STC Conference, chapter leaders (presidents, membership coordinators, SIG managers, newsletter editors, vice presidents, and so on) get together to learn ways to improve their chapters and SIGs. I spoke with about a dozen people in little short interviews, asking the lessons they were taking away. Note: If the audio players stop [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Creating Help in the Web 2.0 Age — Presentation by Neil Perlin Download MP3 file (right-click to save) This is a presentation titled “Creating Help in the Web 2.0 Age” that Neil Perlin gave to the Suncoast Chapter in Tampa, Florida in February 2007. Neil talks about what Web 2.0 is, and how help can be delivered on the fly according to specific user requests. This is a [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Special Announcements: Add your blog to techwriterblogs.com wiki, and also support Tech Writer Voices Download MP3 (right-click to save) This is just a brief 5 min. podcast to cover two special announcements. The first is that I’ve created a blog directory wiki called www.techwriterblogs.com. This is a central directory for all blogs related to technical writing. Please add your blog info (URL and feed) there so that others can find [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Special Announcements: Add your blog to techwriterblogs.com wiki, and also support Tech Writer Voices Download MP3 (right-click to save) This is just a brief 5 min. podcast to cover two special announcements. The first is that I’ve created a blog directory wiki called www.techwriterblogs.com. This is a central directory for all blogs related to technical writing. Please add your blog info (URL and feed) there so that others can find [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Presentation on Writing and Web 2.0 by Keith Hoffman — Given at the University of Wisconsin Download MP3 (right-click to save) This is presentation Keith Hoffman gave on writing and Web 2.0 at the University of Wisconsin a few months back. If you recall, Keith wrote the feature article in January’s Intercom on Web 2.0. This podcast also has a video component, which you can watch it here. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Presentation on Writing and Web 2.0 by Keith Hoffman — Given at the University of Wisconsin Download MP3 (right-click to save) This is presentation Keith Hoffman gave on writing and Web 2.0 at the University of Wisconsin a few months back. If you recall, Keith wrote the feature article in January’s Intercom on Web 2.0. This podcast also has a video component, which you can watch it here. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Wikis Are Coming: An In-Depth Exploration of Using Wikis in Documentation — Interview with Katriel Reichman (Israel) Download the MP3 file (right-click & select Save Target As) In this podcast, Katriel Reichman, a technical writer at Method M in Jerusalem, Israel, talks in-depth about how to use wikis for documentation. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Wikis Are Coming: An In-Depth Exploration of Using Wikis in Documentation — Interview with Katriel Reichman (Israel) Download the MP3 file (right-click & select Save Target As) In this podcast, Katriel Reichman, a technical writer at Method M in Jerusalem, Israel, talks in-depth about how to use wikis for documentation. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Few Conversations at Doc Train — User Personas, Data Conversion, and Simplified Technical English While I was at Doc Train, I recorded a few brief podcasts with several people. Unfortunately I had some microphone issues so the sound quality isn’t good. But you can still hear them. I’ll do better next time.I talked with Joan LaSalle of Lasselle-Ramsay about user personas, ethnographies, and user-centered design.Download Lasselle MP3I [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Few Conversations at Doc Train — User Personas, Data Conversion, and Simplified Technical English While I was at Doc Train, I recorded a few brief podcasts with several people. Unfortunately I had some microphone issues so the sound quality isn’t good. But you can still hear them. I’ll do better next time.I talked with Joan LaSalle of Lasselle-Ramsay about user personas, ethnographies, and user-centered design.Download Lasselle MP3I [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Few Conversations at Doc Train — User Personas, Data Conversion, and Simplified Technical English While I was at Doc Train, I recorded a few brief podcasts with several people. Unfortunately I had some microphone issues so the sound quality isn’t good. But you can still hear them. I’ll do better next time. I talked with Joan LaSalle of LaSalle-Ramsey about user personas, ethnographies, and user-centered design. Download LaSalle MP3 I [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Carcast: Thoughts While Driving Home From Vancouver This podcast is my first carcast—a podcast recorded while driving in a car. It’s a podcast that you’re either going to love or hate. While driving home from the Documentation and Training Conference in Vancouver, I had a lot of reflections from the conference. And I also drove through Burlington, a little town about 60 [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Carcast: Thoughts While Driving Home From Vancouver Download the MP3 file (right-click & Save Target As) This podcast is my first carcast—a podcast recorded while driving in a car. It’s a podcast that you’re either going to love or hate. While driving home from the Documentation and Training Conference in Vancouver, I had a lot of reflections from the conference. And I also [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools — Interview with the authors In this podcast, I talk with Katherine (Kit) Brown, Brenda Huettner, and Char James-Tanny about their latest book, Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools. Some of the topics from the podcast include the following: Challenges with virtual teams How to hold meetings virtually Selecting tools for virtual interactions Managing employees on a [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools — Interview with the authors Download the MP3 file (right-click) In this podcast, I talk with Katherine (Kit) Brown, Brenda Huettner, and Char James-Tanny about their latest book, Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Interview with George Hayhoe, editor of Technical Communication Journal, on Technical Writing in China and Korea Keith Hoffman, president of the Madison Wisconsin Four Lakes Chapter, talks with George Hayhoe, editor of the Technical Communication Journal, about the technical communications’ emergence in China and Korea, and the forces behind the push for technical communicators. The interview touches on some of the following questions: What is the technical writing profession like in China? Did anything [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Interview with George Hayhoe, editor of Technical Communication Journal, on Technical Writing in China and Korea Download the MP3 file (right click to save) Keith Hoffman, president of the Madison Wisconsin Four Lakes Chapter, talks with George Hayhoe, editor of the Technical Communication Journal, about the emergence of technical communications in China and Korea, and the forces behind the push for technical communicators. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Defining Experiences: Five STC Candidates Share Influential Stories from the Tech Comm Field In this podcast, five STC candidates share stories about the defining experiences that shaped their current views about technical communication. The five candidates who shared their experiences in this podcast include: Leah Guren Steve Jong Robert Young Nicky Bleiel Katherine (Kit) Brown Other links: You can read about all candidates here. See the initial invitation for the candidate’s stories. Music is from Podshow. Read a [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Defining Experiences that Shaped their Views: Five STC Candidates Share Influential Stories from the Tech Comm Field In this podcast, five STC candidates share stories about the defining experiences that shaped their current views about technical communication. The five candidates who shared their experiences in this podcast include: Leah Guren Steve Jong Robert Young Nicky Bleiel Katherine (Kit) Brown Other links: You can read about all candidates here. See the initial invitation for the candidate’s stories. Music is from Podshow. Read a [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Making Help More Human, and other discussions In this episode of Tech Writer Voices, Heidi and I talk about a number of cool trends in the technical writing world. A few of the topics we cover include the following: Kathy Sierra’s keynote at the South by Southwest conference How to make help more human The state of mind of our users Where to put FAQs Twitter Live blogging [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Making Help More Human, and other discussions In this episode of Tech Writer Voices, Heidi and I talk about a number of cool trends in the technical writing world. A few of the topics we cover include the following: Kathy Sierra’s keynote at the South by Southwest conference How to make help more human The state of mind of our users Where to put FAQs Twitter Live blogging [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Susan Burton Provides an Inside, In-Depth Look at the STC’s Most Pressing Issues In this special presentation podcast, Susan Burton, executive director of the STC, provides an inside, in-depth look at the most pressing issues and challenges the STC faces. She also explains the initiatives underway to reshape the STC and provide more value to members. Susan delivered this presentation to the Suncoast chapter on December 15, 2006, in [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Susan Burton Provides an Inside, In-Depth Look at STC’s Most Pressing Issues In this special presentation podcast, Susan Burton, executive director of the STC, provides an inside, in-depth look at the most pressing issues and challenges the STC faces. She also explains the initiatives underway to reshape the STC and provide more value to members. Susan delivered this presentation to the Suncoast chapter on December 15, 2006, in [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is Technical Writing Boring? Tech Writers as Information Architects In this week’s podcast, Heidi and I consider a probing question: Is technical writing boring? We discuss a post that spawned a lot of comments and exchanges. We also talk about an article on information architecture in the Tech Comm journal. “Is technical writing boring?”post Information Architecture article in Tech Comm Journal Grammar Girl podcast Web 2.0 podcast Music [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Online Communities, Member Maps, Virtual Chats, Sparkpeople, Intercom, and More In this podcast, Heidi and I talk about the following:Suncoast Member mapVirtual ChatZe Frank ShowGoogle Maps APIMaking a mapBatchgeocoderSearchmashAsk a NinjaSparkpeopleDMN C0mmunicationsSoftware SaturdaysWeb 2.0Fitting podcasts into your daySTC ConferenceSuncoast Chapter (Florida)Puget Sound Chapter (Washington)IntercomMusic from Achtung SpitfireTom’s blogHeidi’s blogFor feedback/comments, email tom@techwriter ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Review of Word 2007, Tool vs. Industry Experience, the Slow Movement, E-mail Tips, and More In this week’s Tech Writer Voices podcast, Heidi and I talk about some innovative research from Microsoft, Word 2007, convincing upper management you’re not a cost, focusing on information users actually want, tool versus industry experience, the curse of knowledge, the slow movement, and a tip for handling your e-mail inbox.Links mentioned in the ShowTom’s [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Review of Word 2007, Tool vs. Industry Experience, the Slow Movement, E-mail Tips, and More In this week’s Tech Writer Voices podcast, Heidi and I talk about some innovative research from Microsoft, Word 2007, convincing upper management you’re not a cost, focusing on information users actually want, tool versus industry experience, the curse of knowledge, the slow movement, and a tip for handling your e-mail inbox.Links mentioned in the ShowTom’s [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Review of Word 2007, Tool vs. Industry Experience, the Slow Movement, E-mail Tips, and More In this week’s Tech Writer Voices podcast, Heidi and I talk about some innovative research from Microsoft, Word 2007, convincing upper management you’re not a cost, focusing on information users actually want, tool versus industry experience, the curse of knowledge, the slow movement, and a tip for handling your e-mail inbox.Links mentioned in the ShowTom’s [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cohost Podcast — Feb 14, 2007 This podcast takes a different direction than the previous podcasts, which were more interview-driven. This time the podcast consists of Heidi Hansen (co-host) and me talking about various topics in technical communication. The flow is more conversational and spontaneous.Topics covered include an introduction to the new co-host, competition entries, an interesting entry from Microsoft, audio [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cohost Podcast — Feb 14, 2007 This podcast takes a different direction than the previous podcasts, which were more interview-driven. This time the podcast consists of Heidi Hansen (co-host) and me talking about various topics in technical communication. The flow is more conversational and spontaneous.Topics covered include an introduction to the new co-host, competition entries, an interesting entry from Microsoft, audio [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cohost Podcast — Feb 14, 2007 This podcast takes a different direction than the previous podcasts, which were more interview-driven. This time the podcast consists of Heidi Hansen (co-host) and me talking about various topics in technical communication. The flow is more conversational and spontaneous. Topics covered include an introduction to the new co-host, competition entries, an interesting entry from Microsoft, audio [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Discussion about RoboHelp 6 — Interview with Rick Stone When Adobe released RoboHelp 6, they touched off a hot debate among technical communicators. Rick Stone is one of the most ardent supporters of RoboHelp, and is the one behind the infamous Skinny on Skins file that shows you about a hundred ways to tweak your RoboHelp skin. In this podcast on RoboHelp 6, the [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Discussion about RoboHelp 6 — Interview with Rick Stone When Adobe released RoboHelp 6, they touched off a hot debate among technical communicators. Rick Stone is one of the most ardent supporters of RoboHelp, and is the one behind the infamous Skinny on Skins file that shows you about a hundred ways to tweak your RoboHelp skin. In this podcast on RoboHelp 6, the [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Discussion about RoboHelp 6 — Interview with Rick Stone When Adobe released RoboHelp 6, they touched off a hot debate among technical communicators. Rick Stone is one of the most ardent supporters of RoboHelp, and is the one behind the infamous Skinny on Skins file that shows you about a hundred ways to tweak your RoboHelp skin. In this podcast on RoboHelp 6, the [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website How to Create a Site Where Users Can Actually Find Information — Thom Haller Thom Haller, information architect and director of the Center for Plain Language, talks about how to create a site where users can actually find the information they’re looking for. Specific topics in this podcast include: The GECKO method (Gather, Evaluate, Chunk, Know, Optimize) for organizing content for websites Arranging information based on user tasks Clarity traps such as [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website How to Create a Site Where Users Can Actually Find Information — Thom Haller Thom Haller, information architect and director of the Center for Plain Language, talks about how to create a site where users can actually find the information they’re looking for. Specific topics in this podcast include: The GECKO method (Gather, Evaluate, Chunk, Know, Optimize) for organizing content for websites Arranging information based on user tasks Clarity traps such as [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website How to Create a Site Where Users Can Actually Find Information — Interview with Thom Haller Thom Haller, information architect and director of the Center for Plain Language, talks about how to create a site where users can actually find the information they’re looking for. Specific topics in this podcast include: The GECKO method (Gather, Evaluate, Chunk, Know, Optimize) for organizing content for websites Arranging information based on user tasks Clarity traps such as [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ten Lessons Learned as a Technical Communicator — Rahul Prabhakar Rahul Prabhakar talks with us today about ten lessons he has learned as a technical communicator. Rahul is an Indian technical writer living in South Korea working for Samsung. You can read more about the lessons he talks about from his ten lessons learned post. Here’s a snapshot of the 10 lessons: Lesson 1: Choose the Right [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ten Lessons Learned as a Technical Communicator — Interview with Rahul Prabhakar Rahul Prabhakar talks with us today about ten lessons he has learned as a technical communicator. Rahul is an Indian technical writer living in South Korea working for Samsung. You can read more about the lessons he talks about from his ten lessons learned post. Heres a snapshot of the 10 lessons: Lesson 1: Choose the Right [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Mike Hamilton Gives Flare Demo to the Suncoast Chapter Mike Hamilton from Madcap Software visited the Suncoast chapter in Tampa, Florida, and presented on Flare. In this presentation, he talks about the following topics: The real story behind RoboHelp and Macromedia/Adobe (this blew my mind) Importing and exporting Flare projects (more impressive than you might think) One major limitation of Robohelp with single-sourcing when it comes to [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Mike Hamilton Gives Flare Demo to the Suncoast Chapter Mike Hamilton from Madcap Software visited the Suncoast chapter in Tampa, Florida, and presented on Flare. In this presentation, he talks about the following topics: The real story behind RoboHelp and Macromedia/Adobe (this blew my mind) Importing and exporting Flare projects (more impressive than you might think) One major limitation of Robohelp with single-sourcing when it comes to [...] Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download |