On the heels of their top 25 techcomm bloggers, MindTouch gives a sneak peak at 15 of the top 25 most influential content strategists. Congratulations to STC members Maxwell Hoffman and Elena Melendy. Who are the top ten? We’ll link to the announcement when it’s made.
We visit twice with Tom Johnson this week at I’d Rather Be Writing. First we find out his first-person experience of how you can learn more from users in five minutes than you do from two weeks of project meetings. Tom also took a look at elearning and instructional design versus technical communication.
The blog TechComm for Life explains why those writing material should spend at least a little time doing training for the product in order to better understand it.
CMS Wire attempts to redefine content strategy.
Which of the big three social media sites works best to find work? One person says that from his experience, it’s LinkedIn.
The New York Times announced the death of former NBC newsman Edwin Newman. Newman was a keynote speaker at the STC Summit in the mid-1990s, speaking on the eternal struggle between proper grammar and being understood.
And finally, Scott Adams provides a funny look at some of the potential stumbling blocks people working in social media might face.
Mr. Newman was the keynote at the 1995 STC Annual Conference held in New York City. I was program manager that year and had the honor of helping to select Mr. Newman and then of hosting him. Liz Babcock was the President that year, and she had a special dinner for him in her suite. I recall him “holding court” at our Sunday evening welcome reception (he was one of the few who arrived the night before his keynote so he could find out more about us). He and I sat at a small cocktail table and throngs of STC members came to give him their greetings. He was articulate, funny, and the most proper gentleman I have ever met. I remember that each time he was introduced to someone, he would stand up! Keep in mind that he was 76 at the time…already what I thought of then as an old man. I was worried about him getting up and down so often! He lived in New York then and he had the courtesy to send me a couple of notes over the next few years. I remember receiving congratulations from him in 1996 when I received the honor of becoming an STC Fellow. He took being in touch with STC seriously and followed the Society for several years. I have not connected with him in many years, but have often thought about him and wondered if he had passed away. Now I know.