Could we use psychometric profiling of users in User Assistance?

In the How Powerful is Facebook’s Algorithm? (The Inquiry, BBC World Service), quantitative social scientist David Stillwell revealed computers can predict our personalities based on our Facebook activity. So could we use psychometric profiling of users in User Assistance?

Is re-using content a good or a bad thing to do?

Today’s BBC News Web site has a piece on Ofsted re-using sentences in more than one school inspection report: An investigation has begun into claims that Ofsted approved “cut and paste” inspection reports using identical sentences and phrases…both reports say: “Some teachers do not plan learning for pupils at their different levels of ability and… Read more »

Technical Communication’s top influencers

Mindtouch has compiled an updated list of the most influential techcomm bloggers. The top six most influential bloggers are based in the USA; Cherryleaf’s Ellis Pratt comes in at No. 7, making him, according to this list, the most influential techcomms blogger in Europe. It does conjure up images of someone stroking a white persian cat in… Read more »

The business case for SaaS (Software as a Service)

Intellect’s SaaS group has published recently a paper called “The business case for Software as a Service“. The paper lays out the technical and cost benefits of SaaS, together with checklists covering selection criteria, legal considerations and comparisons of SaaS applications to traditional in-house systems. Cherryleaf made some minor contributions to this paper – so minor we… Read more »

What I learnt from 21 hours of interviews with UK Documentation Managers

After conducting 21 hours of interviews with Documentation Managers and writing a 7,000 word report on the findings, two factors stand out: 1. The importance of usability testing documents.2. The importance of measurement. As the saying goes, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. UPDATE: The report is now available for purchase via the Cherryleaf… Read more »