Communication

The cheapest path to translation

February 7, 2011 techcommdood

I found a question on Quora asking about the cheapest way to translate a document. My response follows. You need to define “cheapest” as there are costs to cutting corners to get a less expensive translation. Sure, you can pump your text through Google Translate and have something in a target language. It might be [...]

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Does this mean we’re still swimming upstream?

January 26, 2011 Odds & Ends

This really is a fantastic (and sadly humorous) mash-up between what was said at the State of the Union Address and what viewers heard. All America Heard Last Night: ‘Salmon’ — Daily Intel

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Interested in LavaCon? Time is running out!

September 16, 2010 techcommdood

There’s less than a week to go until late registration pricing begins for LavaCon. If you are planning to go, register before September 22 to save $200 off the full conference rate, and $250 off the single day registration price! LavaCon 2.0 is in San Diego Sep 29–Oct 2. Choose from almost 60 sessions and [...]

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Is user experience merely a fad or buzzword?

September 8, 2010 techcommdood

An interesting conversation on the STC Management SIG‘s mailing list about what to name a department that does more than just technical writing has produced some interesting comments about user experience. Comments mainly indicate that the term isn’t understood enough to name a department after it. “If it weren’t so jargony, I’d go for the [...]

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STC’s Project Phoenix – The Rebirth and Renewal of STC

August 25, 2010 techcommdood

Before I begin this post, I’d like to take a moment to apologize to many of my regular readers, to Mike and to STC. I’d posted about this project yesterday and then quickly deleted the post after truly stepping back to look at it (my bad for not “allowing the ink to dry” before publishing), [...]

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If I were to speak at STC 2011 Summit…

August 20, 2010 techcommdood

Image via Wikipedia Despite not knowing what 2011 will look like for me, I’m trying to plan conference engagements for 2011. The first open call for proposals I’m entertaining is for the STC 2011 Summit. I know there will be plenty of tools and tech writing sessions, so I wanted to focus on something different [...]

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Common Technical Communication Myths

July 19, 2010 techcommdood

Image via Wikipedia The whole certification thread on TechWr-L has me thinking that much of the certification opposition is unfounded. That is, most voicing opposition are doing so from a very subjective if not emotional standpoint. I’m neither for nor against certification at this time. I want to see what STC comes up with. So [...]

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Should STC Summit adopt social media event tools?

July 13, 2010 techcommdood

I’d posed this question in a few circles to mixed feedback. While some agree it is more than time for STC to step up and employ more interactive/informative technologies, others seem averted to the idea, in some cases seeing it as an attack on those who aren’t riding the tech/social media trend. The idea is [...]

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Video as a need-it-now content delivery medium?

June 4, 2010 techcommdood

Image via Wikipedia More and more I’m seeing references to videos for product walk-throughs and how-to information. While these are informative, I’m seeing a trend where as video is used more, context-appropriate traditional text-based information is in decline. When I have 30 minutes of down time, I enjoy watching these videos, but in the heat [...]

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Conflicting views of STC member value and a unified body of knowledge

March 29, 2010 techcommdood

This post plays off some of the feedback I’d received back when I wrote about what people want to get out of professional organization, and also plays off a rather energetic discussion that has grown into one about the STC body of knowledge in STC Ideas. It seems there is a strong divide over the [...]

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