The impact of Web 2.0 technologies on technical documents

We've been hoping to publish a report on Tech Writing 2.0 (the impact of Web 2.0 technologies on technical communication) in time for Ellis' presentation on this subject at the ISTC conference.

Well, the conference is next week, and we've published the report today. We've made it.

This report outlines the developments in what many are calling "Web 2.0" and the impact that these developments may have on technical and user documentation. We've called these trends "Tech Writing 2.0".

Tech Writing 2.0 promises a new means of communication that business can use to promote and support their products and services. This means that the nature of technical communication will change.

It's probably the biggest change to technical communication since the Internet.

This report represents the situation as we move from 2006 into 2007.

See here for more details on Report on Tech Writing 2.0: The impact of Web 2.0 technologies on technical communication

Nice customer feedback

We received some nice feedback in a email from one of our customers today:

"I'm very pleased with the enhancements to the Help System. You created very clear topics for some areas that I find difficult to explain. You also identified a number of 'bugs' with the current version that have now been fixed. This just continues to improve the product."

This is broken - Is it?

Seth Godin made an entertaining presentation recently called "This is broken". In some cases, the "broken" items weren't broken at all, they were meant to be that way. It's just that their use wasn't explained properly.

As for the rest? Well, they were just badly designed.

Technical Author Mentoring Programme - TAMP

We've made a slight adjustment to one of our services, renaming it "Technical Author Mentoring Programme" - TAMP. We've made this change to more accurately describe this service.

TAMP typically comprises a one hour session at an agreed date and time, on a weekly or monthly basis. Mentoring can be provided through a combination of regular face to face coaching sessions, telephone and Skype calls, emails and Instant Messaging and Skype Chats. For groups of in-house authors, it can also include training courses.

You'll be asked to complete a questionnaire, enquiring about your current situation and what you want to achieve from the mentoring. This information is used to configure the programme in the most appropriate way for you.

When not reading the manual really did cost money

According to an article in the Virginian Pilot, a local man was able to reprogramme an ATM to give out $20 notes instead of $5.

What the article didn't reveal was that it's suspected that he did it by reading the operator manual for this machine. Unfortunately, the original installation engineer probably didn't read the manual, because he/she probably omitted to change the default access codes for switching the machine into diagnostic mode. This is a case, perhaps, where the manuals shouldn't be published on the Web!

According to eweek, it continued to dispense more money than it should have for nine days, until some honest individual pointed out the problem.

There's even a video of alleged thief in action. If you recognise him, do let the Virginian State Troopers know!

Some nice feedback about Cherryleaf

We received a nice email today:

"Your concept of how to run an agency to help authors as well as clients is truly inspired and I can tell you that your reputation is growing, not just in the author community but also companies. People out here are mentioning Cherryleaf in very positive terms. Most of the articles you're producing are very helpful for us authors - keep em coming!"

Well, of course, we're more than an agency, but it's nice to know our approach is appreciated.

New DITA Machine Industry Subcommittee

The OASIS DITA TC has formed a Machine Industry Subcommittee to promote best practices and develop a design for structured, intent-based authoring of content for the machine industry. The subcommittee will develop a top-level plan for topics and domains, DITA DTDs and schemas. It will validate designs against sample content and embed sample documents to the DITA-OT demo section for field tests and feedbacks.

Article on the Basics of Copywriting

Writing sales, marketing and advertising related text, or "copywriting", is a foreign field to a lot of people. You need to write something that catches someone's attention and convince to do something.

Taken from our e-learning course on copywriting, Dr Alan Rae has written a short article that introduces the basics of copywriting, helping you understand what you need to do in order to connect with your customers.

What's the future for technical documentation and technical writing?

What's the future for technical documentation and technical writing? This is one of two themes I'll be talking about at the ISTC conference next month.

Most of the discussions in the technical writing community focus on the process, focusing on Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA XML) and ways of writing online Help. There is less discussion on the deliverables.

I think the most important changes are likely to come from outside of the technical communication community (those writing Help and user manuals). It's unlikely to be Windows Vista's Help or the latest version of RoboHelp, whenever these finally ship.

Instead, I see the greatest influence will be the application of "Web 2.0" technologies. It's likely to be more conversational, more participative, and may not even be recognized as user manuals or online Help.

Poor mobile phone manuals

I caught part of Radio 4's "Word of Mouth" programme last night, where they were discussing the difficulties in understanding mobile phone user manuals. An expert was explaining what the jargon meant (the expert makes a living by helping people to work out how to understand the latest technology). You can listen to the programme this week via the "Listen again" link on the "Word of Mouth" Web site.

Telephones used to be one piece of technology you could use without using a manual. Not any more.

Adobe releases FrameMaker 7.2 packs for DITA

Adobe has released beta packs for DITA that extend the XML capabilities of FrameMaker 7.2 by adding support for core features of DITA. It consists of a set of plug-ins combined with a set of structure applications, which together provide core tools for DITA authoring and publishing.

Upcoming Technical Author Conferences

Justin Darley is speaking at "Online Help Conference - Europe 2006", which is being be held this week in Manchester.

Ellis Pratt will be attending the STC's Region 2 conference "Making Cents of Making Sense: Technical Communications and Business". It is being held 13-14 October, in London.

Ellis will be speaking at the ISTC conference about the current job market and future trends in documentation. It is being held 3-5 October at the Europa Gatwick hotel.

News on RoboHelp

News on RoboHelp for Technical Authors.

Last month, we mentioned Adobe's updated FAQs in our newsletter, but forgot to say there was a FAQ on RoboHelp. Apparently, the next major RoboHelp release is now planned for the first half of 2007, and you can submit new feature requests through the link on the FAQ page.

If you had problems activating RoboHelp recently, the activation servers are now up and running again.

There has also been a discussion on the Madcap Flare forums concerning the future of RoboHelp and Adobe's comments regarding Flare.