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Subject:TechWhirl Recap for October 14, 2011 From:INKtopia Admin <admin -at- inktopia -dot- net> To:Techwr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:58:26 -0500
TechWhirl Recap for October 14, 2011
This week’s update is supported by Platinum sponsor ComponentOne & their
Doc-To-Help Help Authoring Tool (http://goo.gl/QcMWA).
Another week, another few thousand miles travelled and some big activities
happening at this little biz called TechWhirl. This month we’re doing a
hybrid theme of user experience in design, networking and Halloween, while
desperately trying to rollout another website and start a news division.
Thanks to the very Special Writers Unit <http://goo.gl/1BNaa> ( http://goo.gl/1BNaa) this little magazine is really moving along. This week
Laura McNeilly looked into what you should consider *when planning a mobile
help project, <goo.gl/aZGyk>* (goo.gl/aZGyk)* *Ryan Minaker looked at
Net-Twittering (*Networking meets Twitter <goo.gl/BdnG7> (*goo.gl/BdnG7)),
for the record that’s our phrase not his) and Keith Soltys did a review of
Geoff Hart’s book* Effective Onscreen Editing <goo.gl/Mk2Qu> *(goo.gl/Mk2Qu)
*. *This leads us to wonder if there’s a hybrid book potential if we
combine his book with our *Biggest Lies Tech Writers Tell <goo.gl/OPcc6> *(
goo.gl/OPcc6) piece from a few weeks ago: *Effective Onscreen Lies*, fine –
probably been done already but if any of you are inspired we’d like a little
credit and a SEO enhance link – thank you very much.
We’re ten days away from the start of *Tech Writer Halloween Horror Story
Week <goo.gl/DjfI0> (*goo.gl/DjfI0 ) and one week away from the deadline for
submission (next Friday). Are you participating? Got a story to tell. They
can be short or long stories, fiction or cleansed non-fiction and really
only needs to have some technology angle – we’re really looking for a little
Scott Adams meets Hitchcock.
We’ve mentioned that another website is in the offering, but unless memory
has failed us, we haven’t mentioned what the new site will be about until,
you know, now. The working title is *TechWhirl Jobs* and it’ll be a job
site for technical communicators. We’ll launch in beta hopefully later next
week, endure the many, many bugs, but our preference is to get it out there
sooner rather than later. Got jobs to offer? Contact Us<http://goo.gl/3IB29>( http://goo.gl/3IB29)
Since we’re sharing, we also had an organizing call on Wednesday for our
News Division. Since “All the news that’s fit to print” is taken, we’ve
decided “Hey, It’s News to Us” will be our tag line. Yes, a lame joke but
things have been busy. We need a little help on this one. First, we
need *news
*and second we need folks to help us organize the news. Interested in
either? Contact Us <http://goo.gl/3IB29> (http://goo.gl/3IB29)
We have another huge announcement but why put all in one post, when we can
wait until next week, eh?
Aloha for now,
The gang @ TechWhirl
Social Media and the Chance to Follow TechWhirl:
Will you be our Friend? Please, you know you want to click | http://goo.gl/tDrW7
Want all this TechWhirl goodness a few characters @ a time | http://goo.gl/itjDg
Typing TechWhirl.Com too much for you? Try RSS | http://goo.gl/msLzu
What You’re Talking About
*
*A quick *What you talkin’ ‘bout* to our Tech Writers and their discussions
in our email discussion group <http://goo.gl/YUrbb>:
· Roxana Schoen asks the list for experiences and advice on “How long
and what effort for Microsoft to move help content to its current
incarnation?” as she considers how to implement help in her company’s latest
software release. Great questions and debate on moving help out of the
software and* *to the cloud, or some mixture of options, and the tools
available.
· Keith Hanson wants to know more about “Single sourcing, RoboHelp, and
Frame: Newbie”. Newbie or not, some good explanations of the basics of
single sourcing, the advantages that exist, particularly in maintenance of
docs, and general information on using Framemaker and RoboHelp to do it.
· Check out the latest in the thread from Andrew Plato (“Help My
Consultants Cannot write”) and Mark Griffin’s lessons learned (“FrameMaker
10 trial removes my Acrobat installation?”).
In Case You Missed it: This Week @ TechWhirl
· New: “What you should consider in planning mobile help projects for
field personnel,” by Laura McNeilly | goo.gl/aZGyk
· New: “Real Networking with Twitter” by Ryan Minaker | goo.gl/BdnG7
· New: Review of Geoff Hart’s book “Effective onscreen editing: new
tools for an old profession,” by Keith Soltys | goo.gl/Mk2Qu
Upcoming Articles
· New: “Networking Opportunities for the Online Student,” by Julie
Clarke
· New: “Integrated Technical Communications: Defining our Sphere of
Influence” by Connie Giordano
· New: “Getting New Clients through LinkedIn,” by Mike McCallister
· Poll Question: Are you satisfied with the current level of your
basic tech writing skills?
SPONSOR-Luv
We want to send a very special “thank you” to our sponsors for their
support. They are the greatest sponsors – ever and you should buy all their
stuff.
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