Hyperviews Online

by Guy Ball, Senior STC member, Orange County (CA) Chapter
Reprinted from the December 2006 issue of TechniScribe. If you reprint this in your publication, please send a PDF copy or link to the author.

While text is still best for presenting many types of reference and procedural information, video can be very effective when illustrating product features, clarifying system configurations, and supplementing complex written procedures. The trick is to merge the two so they complement each other and deliver a dynamic documentation package as either an online or CD-based “Web seminar.”

Although the multimedia concept has been around for some time, creating a seminar like this traditionally requires a good-sized team of writers, videographers, graphic artists, subject matter experts (SME), and a manager, to keep the team working smoothly. If you already have a large staff or access to graphic professionals, congratulations!

Our staffing situation is totally the opposite. We have to make do with a single writer and a few subject matter experts (SMEs). The plus of this situation is that it allows us to deliver the final product faster and less expensively—both important considerations for our cost-conscious management.

We take advantage of our low-cost (but high-quality) video camera and simplified video-editing software to deliver additional “visual documentation” to our service support team and customers. For us the trick is to look “clean” and professional while not getting caught producing a Hollywood extravaganza that would demand tons of staff time and weeks of extra work with little extra benefit. Instead of “fancy,” we make sure our content and delivery is effective both from communications and cost perspectives. (more…)

Books:

Game Design Workshop: Designing, Prototyping, & Playtesting Games.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1578202221/

Chris Crawford on Game Design
http://www.amazon.com/Chris-Crawford-Game-Design/dp/0131460994/

Web site, collection of information on game design patterns:
http://www.gamedesignpatterns.org/

Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of the American Library Association. 2007 LITA National Forum: Technology with Altitude: 10 Years of the LITA National Forum. Denver, Colorado, USA. October 4-7, 2007.

Presentations will have a technological focus and pertain to libraries and/or be of interest to librarians. The scope of the conference call for papers included:

1. Social Computing: social tools, collaborative software, gaming technologies…

2. New Media: wireless connectivity, iPods, handhelds… (more…)

Thanks to Online SIG member Eileen Potter for these links.

You can set up an audio blog, a talk show online, at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ The “Writing” category has ]interviews with a “top, new poet” in Texas as voted by the Dallas Literary Society and a place where people can call in and share their writing with an audience.

Digital grafitti characterizes messages left “in mid-air,” tied to GPS coordinates for a given location and seen only when looking at that location through a special device. Look through it and see messages from other people, internet addresses, drawings, any messages entered on the device at that location, floating all around you). How will that change technical writing and copy writing? Eileen suggests we imagine creating content for a travel guide with this technology.
http://unrated.wordpress.com/2006/11/08/digital-graffiti-leave-messages-in-mid-air/

This is a presentation made by Ian Koss to the Suncoast Chapter in Tampa, Florida, on August 3, 2006, posted by chapter president Tom Johnson.

Ian Koss is founder of Ink19, which was at one time one of the largest free music magazines in the U.S. His team began publishing in the early 90s in the traditional print medium, but changed to an online format as the Internet emerged. In this 40 minute podcast, Ian explains how the online medium required their writers to rethink and restructure their writing.

Ian talks about such topics as the transience of print versus the permanence of content online, attention spans, online structure and layout, metadata, search engine optimization, semantic markup, single-sourcing and XML, readership anonymity, tracking users, profitability, banner ads, linking, designing for a range, milisecond judgment, the sense of incompleteness, and unpredictability.

The file is 16 megs. I recommend that you download it to your computer by right-clicking the Download link (yes, the small one on the bottom right) and selecting Save Target As. In Firefox, just click the file and download it using the Download Manager.

You can then drag the file into your MP3 player and listen to it wherever you may be — driving, working out, waiting in line or anyplace you choose.

Listen Now:

 Writing for the Online World: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (256)

Adobe has FAQs that address use Adobe products for technical communication.

by Dirk Manuel, Member Belgium chapter and ID-IA SIG with an introduction by Walt Jones, Senior Member, Online SIG

This article is based on a post by Dirk Manuel on May 11, 2006 on the ID-IA SIG email list, and appears by Dirk’s permission. The introduction was posted on the Online SIG list, and appears by Walt’s permission. These posts responded to a question about a tool called OnDemand Personal Navigator.

Introduction

Walt Jones begins:
OnDemand Personal Navigator (ODPN) from Global Knowledge is primarily a software simulation tool that also allows export of various forms of printable documents. Macromedia Captivate and Authorware provide smoother simulations, but ODPN provides more control over recording. Editing is relatively easy, though not as advanced as Captivate. (more…)

The entire on-line FrameMaker Help is now (June, 2006) available as a downloadable PDF.

OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, announced that the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 on Information Technology Standardization has approved the OpenDocument Standard for release as ISO/IEC 26300. The press release was posted today, May 8 2006.

The OpenDocument standard defines an open XML file format for office applications, so users of office suites can freely exchange text, spreadsheets, charts, graphs, presentations, and databases. OpenDocument was ratified as an OASIS standard in May 2005.

The April, 2006 issue of the newsletter of the STC UK Chapter has been posted at:
http://www.stcuk.org/newsletters/April2006/index.htm

“Tools, Tips, and Websites,” starting with Content Management Strategies, focus on several aspects of online communication. Desktop search, MS Word’s RD field code, and capturing an image from Windows Media Player are included, along with content management and Online Help.

Rosenfeld Media has announced (April 21, 2006) that Donna Maurer has agreed to write a book on card sorting. Rosendfeld Media’s initial books will provide user experience designers with practical help applying design methods such as card sorting. Donna is one of the world’s leading experts on that subject.

Donna’s book, and all Rosenfeld Media books, will be developed with input from readers. Each Rosenfeld Media book will have a dedicated site where readers and the author can share information and questions. Please visit the site for Donna’s book and subscribe to its RSS feed. Donna has started her exploration of card sorting for the book with a brief survey which you are invited to take.

A focus of the Online SIG is publishing by electronic means. Often the ouput is published only online, but electronic means are also used to publish printed materials and all aspects of electronic publishing are in scope for the SIG.

We have gathered some references to websites and articles related to electronic publishing which are listed here. (more…)