Inspired by Dr Aleks Krotoski’s Connections talks at the Royal Institution, Cherryleaf will be curating and hosting The Trends in Technical Documentation Talks during 2012.
At these sessions, there’ll be a presentation from a respected member of the Technical Communication profession, plus the opportunity to network with your peers. Each talk will be hosted by Cherryleaf in central London, and will last approximately two hours.
The first talk is:
- What will be the future for Technical Communicators if everything ‘just works’?
It will be held on 3.00pm-5.30pm on 24th January 2012, in Birdcage Walk, London SW1H. Spaces are limited to around 15 delegates.
We intend to hold these events once per quarter, and we’re looking for three people in 2012 who would like to present a case study or share their view of the future trends in technical communication with their peers. If you’ve got something interesting to say, then why not become a speaker at this event. It may be useful as a testing ground for any presentations you’re preparing for conferences such as UAEurope or Technical Communications UK.
There will be a nominal fee (between £20-£30) for attending this event. Contact us for more information.
Big topic, modest venue. I hope you’ll make arrangements for these sessions to be posted to the web — in the form of slides, audio recordings, or transcripts — so that the wider community can receive them and discuss them.
I appreciate your taking the initiative to open a dialog about the important topic of trends in technical documentation.
From small acorns, Larry…
Also, you might be seeing an extended version of this presentation, next May in Chicago. Watch this space.
“…if everything ‘just works’?”. To which audience, and within what contraints?
Many aspire to provide solutions that ‘just work’ for the majority. And the work behind understanding, specifying, setting up, and evolving those solutions is immense; just recall that big government IT ‘just never, ever works’.
Yes, many things may come to need no more than a ‘Common Craft’ video (or less, because only a kidder would claim they’re easy), including things we now think of as ‘difficult’. But I would hope for a more profound insight than say:
* Even when technology begins to look like magic, there’ll still be a need for the recorders of spells and incantations.
* We’re doomed from the day we can get structure and republishing out of a wiki or video CMS.
So, while I eagerly anticapate this talk, and wish it every success, I’d reflect that your speaker is far braver than I…