Technical Writing
How to Use Wikis for Your Technical Writing Projects
Today I’d like to talk about how you can use a Wiki for your technical document project. A wiki (which means “quick” in Hawaiian) is a collaborative writing software with which you can set up a “wiki site” as well. With wiki’s powerful database, editing and messaging functionalities you can accomplish much for your technical…
Read MoreGive Speeches to Supplement Your Income as a Writer
by Gary Karbon Guest Writer Have you considered giving talks as a natural way to supplement your income as a writer? If you haven’t, you should. It’s a powerful shortcut to become known as an “instant guru” in your field without receiving a Ph.D. degree. Writers are natural speakers since they know how to organize…
Read MoreHow to Avoid "Gender Ambivalence" in Technical Writing
© 2009-2011 Ugur Akinci One of the hardest things in writing English is to avoid using the third person singular pronouns, unless you are writing for an exclusively male or female group. Every time I see a document with a sentence like “the operator must configure his or her machine according to…” I cringe. Some…
Read MoreINDIA: Technical Writing as a Career Option
Technical Writing also known as Technical Communication is all about communicating an idea to readers in an easily understandable way. A technical writer’s job is to gather information about a product from various sources, comprehend the technology, and put it in simple and easy-to-understand language. According to a Nasscom-McKinsey report of 1999, India needs to…
Read More4 Layers of "Learning Pyramid" For a Junior Technical Communicator
© 2009-2011 Ugur Aknci Once you take an interest in technical communication and documentation you’ll quickly discover that’s it’s an “endless country,” really. There is so much to learn and track since both the market and the technology changes constantly. But this does not mean that you can learn things randomly and become a successful…
Read MoreXML Authoring is Here to Stay in Technical Writing
by Nabil Freij Guest Author Global Vision If you’ve been following the Technical Communications industry, you may have noticed the obvious migration that is happening towards XML (Extensible Markup Language) processes, tools and formats. Based on a recent survey implemented by scriptorium (scriptorium.com), only 16.2% of 328 respondents indicated that they do not plan to…
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 MoreCan Technical Writers Write Business Plans?
The other day, a colleague asked if I write business plans. My first thought was, “No, except for my own.” Then, she said, “After all, it is rather technical.” Well, of course, technical writers are perfectly skilled for writing business plans. Let’s see, what does it entail? Research Presenting information in a nontechnical manner Designing…
Read MoreWhat type of training you like best?
Would you help me understand what type of training you like best? Right now I’m preparing a set of new courses to offer in various technical communication topics. It would help me a lot to know what type of training you prefer the best so that I can offer you a training platform that you…
Read MoreHow to Use Twitter to Share Software Release Notes
© 2009 Ugur Akinci Here is a rather cutting-edge use of Twitter, posted by fellow tech writer Sarah Maddox. It remains to be seen whether this method will be adopted as yet another channel of release note distribution but it definitely deserves some consideration (confidentiality considerations aside). Excerpt: What we did Here’s the plan of…
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