For the ISTC’s YouTube Channel, Ellis Pratt (Cherryleaf) is interviewing a number of technical communicators. Here is Adrian Warman (IBM Cloudant): A day in the life of a technical communicator – Adrian Warman, IBM CloudantWatch this video on YouTube Here is Brian Harris (Red Gate Software): A day in the life of a technical communicator – Brian Harris,… Read more »
Category: Technical Communication
What it’s like to be a Technical Author
We’re planning to carry out a number of videoed interviews with a range of Technical Authors this week. This is to help promote the profession. We’ll be asking questions such as what their role is inside their companies, and how they became a Technical Author. The videos will be uploaded to the YouTube Channel for the Institute of… Read more »
The need for empathy in technical communication
One of the subjects Doug Kim covered in his TCUK14 presentation, on the changes to Microsoft’s user documentation, was how Microsoft now normally begins its Help topics with an empathetic statement. The writers seek to understand the user at the moment they’re reading the content. For example, if someone is reading the topic on auto save,… Read more »
Microsoft’s “No more robot speak” in action
Our post about how Microsoft is changing its writing style (Microsoft moves away from “robot speak” in its user documentation) generated a lot of interest, so I thought it might be useful to post some examples of it that we’ve spotted. These examples are from Office 365 Premium Edition.
Microsoft moves away from “robot speak” in its user documentation
One of the highlights from the Technical Communications UK 2014 conference was the keynote presentation from Microsoft’s Doug Kim. Doug is Senior Managing Editor for Office.com, and leads guidelines and best practices for Voice in Office. By Voice, he means the tone of voice and style of English used in the User Interface and user documentation…. Read more »