What I learned from my pattern recognition talk at STC12

My session on pattern recognition for technical communicators was a very rewarding experience which taught me a lot. I thank Paul Mueller, Conference Manager, and Alyssa Fox, Program Committee Chair, for inviting me to speak, even though this was my first summit. Their friendly, indefatigable support set the tone for a high-energy, well-run conference. If you [...]

Art vs. online: 2 dimensions of curating

Curating is a cool word, or trendy jargon, for what happens in web technologies and in art museums, but they are fundamentally different activities. In this post, I want to add an alternative view to Rachel Potts who recently wrote about “When software UX met museum curation“. Where Rachel emphasises similarities, I’d like to focus [...]

Proving the benefit of consistency in tech comm

To ensure efficiency and accessibility of technical communications, use consistent, common formatting, for example, for interface elements. What sounds obvious to many technical communicators is actually proven in academic studies. This post is for people looking for proof that consistency has a benefit in technical communications. I’m taking my cue from a question that appeared [...]

“Statistics without maths” workshop at #TCUK11

Technical Communication UK 2011 is off to good start with around 100 people attending six pre-conference half-day workshops on Tuesday. Even the night before saw about 20 attendees joining the organisers to help with last-minute setup chores, not to mention drinks and dinner. On Tuesday afternoon, I attended the workshop “Statistics without maths: acquiring, visualising [...]

Are serifs or non-serifs easier to read?

Are serif fonts easier to read than non-serif ones? No, is the conclusion in Alex Poole’s exhaustive post. After reviewing more than 50 studies, Alex comes to the conclusion that “serifs or the lack of them have an effect on legibility, but it is very likely that they are so peripheral to the reading process [...]

Recommended read: Degree helps tech writers

Here’s an example of how graduates of a tech comm program put their skills to use in a high tech company. Specifically, National Instruments at Austin contributes two guest posts to the Texas Tech STC Student Chapter blog. Yes, these are recruiting posts, but they do ring true. I think they reflect well how a [...]

How a degree helps a technical writer

A college degree can help you in technical writing, though maybe not in the ways you expect. How relevant is a college education for the field of technical communication? A couple of very good and influential tech writing blogs have recently discussed this issue: Why Tech Comm Is a Career Path of Last Resort for [...]

Psychology & technical communication, Chris Atherton at TCUK

Technical communication benefits greatly from cross-pollination with related disciplines, such as cognitive psychology. That was my conclusion after the presentation “Everything you always wanted to know about psychology and technical communication … but were afraid to ask” by Chris Atherton (@finiteattention). Chris is an applied cognitive psychologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Central [...]

What can tech writers learn from history?

Histories … can reflect on how technology led the field [of technical communication] to this point, … provide a springboard for predicting how technology might affect the field in the years to come, [and help us] make informed decisions about the future… This is Saul Carliner‘s claim in his concise, yet comprehensive historical essay called, [...]