Consumer
Technical Communication Certification: Beware of Fake Diploma Factories
Training and certification is important for all technical communicators who want to stay relevant, productive and happily employed. However, when you are choosing a certification or diploma program for yourself, don’t fall for cash-for-diploma schemes. If you want to read the amazing story of one such scam and that of George Gollin, the physics professor…
Read MoreTransparency and Clarity: Hallmark of Modern Technical Communication
Transparency and clarity are two of the most important characteristics of modern technical communication. Most such communication is directed at end users and consumers who are more than ever demanding transparency and clarity in the information products that they consume. Disclosures of every kind are now a regular part of almost all forms of technical…
Read MoreDocumentation for Consumer Products
Do you read the documentation for consumer products at all? Confession time: I don’t read enough of the documentation for the things that I buy. I used to think it was a combination of arrogance and hubris. That I could figure out how to use just about anything by playing with it. That was true,…
Read MoreWhy Does Persistence Pay? The Mathematical Proof
We’ve all heard it a million times that “persistence pays.” We’ve seen countless examples of people succeeding in something just because they’ve kept trying at it until… SHAZAM! Something gives away, an invisible lever in the sky flips over, and the obstacles disappear like magic. We use the phrase “lucky break” to describe the mysterious…
Read More5 Things You Might Not Know You Can Do on Google
1. Enter “define” in the Google search box, then a colon, then a space, and then the word or expression you want defined. 2. Find out what Google thinks about just about anything or anyone (including you) at www.googlism.com 3. Enter an airplane’s tail number in the Google search box to find out the plane’s…
Read MoreTranslation and Localization in a Recession
by Nabil Freij GlobalVision International I’ve answered many calls recently from localization managers complaining that their budgets are being cut, asking for advice. If you are suffering from the same symptom, here are a few pointers to consider. Don’t panic! In a recession, it is normal to cut budgets in an effort to reduce costs.…
Read MoreStewart, Cramer, and the Question of Values in Technical Documentation
© Ugur Akinci Did you watch the way Daily Show’s Jon Stewart grilled Mad Money’s Jim Cramer yesterday? It was a trashing well deserved by Jim Cramer in particular, and CNBC in general. As an American citizen who has lost 40% of all his life savings within the last 9 months, I thought it was…
Read MoreHow to "Whitelist" a Vendor's Email Address
by Early to Rise Unsolicited, unwanted advertising e-mail, commonly known as “spam”, has become a big problem. It’s reached such proportions that most e-mail services and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have put blocking and filtering systems to keep these messages out. The systems work… but sometimes they work too well, blocking messages that you have…
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