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?

tcworld interview: Technical Communication and social media

The July 2013 edition of tcworld magazine contains an interview with Cherryleaf’s Ellis Pratt on technical communication and social media. The magazine also includes an article by Sarah Maddox (now at Google) on how technical communicators can use Twitter in technical communication. We’re not certain when/if the online version will be uploaded to the tcworld… Read more »

Unifying conversation and instruction in business communication

One of the challenges organisations face is how to create a system that unifies all the different ways its staff communicate information. That’s because conversation (written and oral) can be very different from instructional information. For example, conversations are often reflective, insightful and repetitive, whereas instructions are typically results-driven, concise and commanding. We can see… Read more »

Fitting technical documentation into a Social Web strategy

Social Media experts, such as David Armano, of Dachis Corp, are proposing new business measures for assessing the effectiveness of social media marketing. Armano is proposing five key measurement factors: Attention: how many people are clicking on your site, blogs or tweets? Engagement: how much interaction there is between the community and you? Authority: your… Read more »