It seems likely artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-driven chatbots will play a key role in helping users in the future. So what does this mean for technical communicators and for User Assistance? This podcast is based on an article we’ll be posting to tekom’s Intelligent Information blog. The article is currently out for review, and… Read more »
Category: technology
Your policy and procedures manual as software
Jared Spool tweeted this morning: PLEASE, PLEASE! Tell me that Apple is going to release Hypercard for the iPad! — Jared Spool (@jmspool) September 9, 2014 HyperCard was a hypertext program that came with Apple Macintosh in the 1980s. It allowed you to create “stacks” of online cards, which organsiations used to create some of the first… Read more »
Getting information from Subject Matter Experts
Interviews with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are some of the most useful sources for Technical Authors when they are gathering information about a product or procedure. This often involves asking a developer or departmental manager a series of questions focused on the types of questions end users are likely to ask. Interviewing is one of… Read more »
Popcorn Maker – “freeing Web videos from the little black box”
Mozilla has released Version 1 of Popcorn Maker, a free HTML5 Web application that enables you to create videos that interact with images, text, maps and other media. This means you are able to add live content to a video. For example, if you have a video telling a user how to purchase an item, you could… Read more »
Searching for key words and phrases in training videos – Adventures in media synchronization
One of the limitations of video-based information has been the difficulties for users in finding a particular piece of information in a video. Usually, they have to watch the whole video, or “peck and hunt” to get to the moment containing the information they were searching for. As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, HTML5, an… Read more »