If you’ve ever struggled to explain something to someone considerably less expert than yourself, you may have experienced “The curse of knowledge”. It’s a curse that technical authors resolve everyday, although they may not know they’ve been doing it. It’s a phrase that comes from a great book called “Made to Stick” by Chip and… Read more »
Category: Technical Communication
How many technical authors know about Mooer’s Law?
In 1959, Calvin Mooers, a researcher into the science of Information Retrieval, developed Mooer’s Law: “An information retrieval system will tend not to be used whenever it is more painful and troublesome for a customer to have information than for him not to have it.” Its original meaning meant: people will avoid an information system… Read more »
DITA – Slaying sacred cows or burying problems?
There have been a number of posts recently on whether some commonly accepted best practises in technical writing are actually needed these days. This has come about as people question how they can develop the DITA standard to handle things like lead-in sentences and stem sentences. These don’t fit into the standard, and a number… Read more »
Ten Challenges for Technical Authors in the Network Age
The Supernova 2008 conference is currently running in San Francisco – on the theme of “the Network Age”. Professor Kevin Werbach has outlined ten challenges: “In the Information Age, computers and communications networks produced a global village and astounding gains in economic productivity. The Network Age incorporates those advances into an environment where anything connects… Read more »
Is this video on advertising-customer break up also true for technical communication?
Brian Solis, Principal of FutureWorks PR and New Media agency in Silicon Valley, has posted a blog on the need for organisations to listen directly to the needs of the customer. Solis states: “You can’t manage a relationship, you need to be a part of it, fully engaged… …If a conversation takes place online and… Read more »