Technical Communication, the peer-reviewed publication of the Society for Technical Communication, is soliciting article proposals for an upcoming special issue that examines the field and practice of content strategy. Guest Editor: Rahel Anne Bailie, FH-Joanneum University, Austria Special Issue Description Read more
Technical communication often intersects and informs Web design and Web applications. While generally not expected to spearhead Web design for their clients and companies, technical communicators can take on key roles in the planning and implementation of online content, and therefore need to have an understanding of the principles and process of developing Web content.
Users generally do not care if a system is based on an old method, technology, or computer system. Users want reliable, dependable, and secure systems. Every year, IT managers meet to discuss how to replace legacy systems. As long as these systems adequately serve the organization and the budget does not allow for modernization, they are likely to remain unchanged. IT managers need to weigh the cost and risk of keeping legacy systems, such as end user support, training, documentation, and security.
The convenience of mobility and an infinite number of mobile applications has changed the way we use a smartphone. Consequently, we store a lot of personal information on a smartphone such as email addresses, passwords, travel information, driver’s licenses, personal identification numbers, boarding passes, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, telephone numbers, and photographs. Would you want someone to break into your smartphone and retrieve the data for nefarious use? Obviously not, but nevertheless, few of us take the same precautions to protect our smartphone that we do for our laptop or desktop because we do not want to complicate its use
As you plan your STC Summit schedule, I highly encourage you to check out the variety of sessions offered in the design and testing track. These sessions were hand-picked from many excellent proposals for the Summit, and they were selected specifically to help you “Gain the Edge to Get Results.” The design and testing track offers sessions that target new technical communicators, as well as sessions intended to advance seasoned professionals. Here’s a sample of sessions that are on my must-see list
It can be overwhelming to figure out what type of technology solution your company needs, which often leads to inaction. Companies today realize that they need to take advantage of content reuse in order to save time, save money, and generate higher-quality documentation. A successful content reuse implementation requires a well-planned, well-thought-out content reuse strategy and technology that effectively supports this strategy. Often, technical communicators must lead this effort because they are working with the content, tools, and writing teams who are critical to the success of any content reuse and management efforts.
Passwords are required for all types of online activity to authenticate the user. One thing is certain: until technology provides a better solution to passwords, we must learn to create strong passwords and remember them in order to safeguard our personal data from hackers.
Here is your guide to a few of the exciting technology and development topics at STC’s Summit- including the Internet of Things, API documentation, video strategies, content for mobile devices and augmented reality, analytics for big data, tools like Jekyll and GitHub, and code samples for Java, PHP, Python, and Ruby.
A friend purchased a smartphone to replace her aging cell phone. She used the smartphone for one thing—to make phone calls. The other features and functions of her smartphone are unknown to her because she does not know they exist and does not know how to use them. She is easily confused by new technology because she won’t read the user guide. She relies on assumptions of how things should work and is frustrated when her assumptions prove incorrect. Eventually she “figures it out” on her own and rejoices with her new-found knowledge.
I work on a small project team that has just enough people to keep the project somewhat on schedule. When the quality assurance manager asked for help to test software—I volunteered. My manager was delighted and disappointed that I volunteered to test software because he believed that testing software would take me away from my primary job—writing a user guide. As it turned out, testing software helped me to learn the system’s workflows and logic, which helped me to write the user guide.