Predictions for technical communication in 2017 and beyond

Our predictions for 2017 are…the same as they were for 2016! Having said that, there are a few adjustments we can make to the comments we made last year. Below, you’ll see our 2016 predictions In italics and some thoughts for 2017: As documentation becomes to be seen more as part of product design, so… Read more »

Writing documentation in an Industry 4.0 world

Industry 4.0 must be one of the “words of 2016′. We’re seeing a number of discussions on how this will impact on instructional design and User Assistance. Ray Gallon has blogged on the question, what role should you have in machine-machine information?, exploring the differences between automatic, programmed dialogues, and non-programmed ones. Sarah O’Keefe has also blogged… Read more »

Thyssenkrupp to make HoloLens goggles available to field-service staff

Thyssenkrupp is making Microsoft’s HoloLens goggles available to field-service staff, to assist them in diagnosing and repairing elevators. “HoloLens with Skype capabilities enables over 24,000 thyssenkrupp technicians to receive remote assistance by subject matter experts who can provide visual and audible advice using HoloLens’s mixed reality capabilities. These remote subject matter experts can see what… Read more »

Towards content lakes

One of the trends in both data and content management is the move away from silos. In data management circles, there is a trend towards the collection and aggregation of customer data into “data lakes”. According to Margaret Rouse, a data lake is: A storage repository that holds a vast amount of raw data in its… Read more »