Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2005 SDK now includes a Help authoring tool that allows “authoring, building and deployment of documentation to be plugged into Visual Studio”. The tool, HelpStudio Lite, is a slimmed down version of the Innovasys’ HelpStudio. If you would like training in Help Studio or Help Studio lite, then please contact us.

Many online communities suffer from a lack of contributions by community members. Researchers from the University of Indiana have tested ways to encourage participation in online communities. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/ling.html They found individuals contributed when they were reminded of their uniqueness and when they were given specific and challenging goals. Were they correct?

We’ve been looking at some of ways in which Instant Messaging and audio support can be built into e-learning, so that delegates can contact an instructor when needed. We think this will help improve the effectiveness of online courses. What do you think of this approach?

Abdul Rauf Parker has written a free guide called “How to Rescue Projects”. Major causes of project failure include one or more of the following: The business objectives were unrealistic. The project scope was not well defined or agreed to. The underlying technologies were not mature enough. Effective project management practices were not followed. Appropriate… Read more »

Each year, organisations hire graduates for roles in technical authoring, courseware development, information development and user-centred design. Since there aren’t very many academic-level courses in technical authoring in the UK, very few people entering the profession have any formal training or prior awareness of the role. Cherryleaf’s Technical Author Apprentice Programme (TAAP) is a service… Read more »