TechWhirl: Technical Communications Recap for March 2, 2012

[INKtopia Admin <admin -at- inktopia -dot- net>]

This week’s update on technical communications and the TechWhirl community
is supported by Gold sponsor ComponentOne & their Doc-To-Help Help
Authoring Tool <http://bit.ly/doc-to-help> | http://bit.ly/doc-to-help


In Case You Missed it: This Week  @ TechWhirl

*New features and articles on http://TechWhirl.com <http://techwhirl.com/>:*


   - Pinterest: What My Mother Can Teach You About Content Strategy and
   Technical Communications, Jacquie Samuels | http://bit.ly/waMa5J
   - TechWhirl Technical Communications Poll: Biggest Translation
   Challenges| http://bit.ly/ztoHKF
   - Taking 3D Graphics for a Spin in Technical Communications, by Chris
   Goolsby | http://bit.ly/wOAKTP

*Tech Comm News:*


   - Tech Writer This Week: March 1, 2012 | http://bit.ly/wM8z0u
   - MadCap Updates Flare, Contributor, Analyzer and Capture in MadPak 2012
   | http://bit.ly/waMa5J
   - MadCap Flare 8.0 Offers Ease-of-Use and Single-Source Advances |
   http://bit.ly/y3tHQh
   - Vasont® Adds Enhancements and Upgrades to ST 2.3 Content Management
   System (CMS)| http://bit.ly/xcKcJZ
   - SDL, LivePerson Launch Integrated Live Chat and Automatic Translation
   Solution | http://bit.ly/wOaRvI

Technical Communications: What You’re Talking About

A quick *shout out* to our Technical Writers and their discussions in our email
discussion group <http://goo.gl/YUrbb>:


   - Sean McKean has a document to write that also needs classification.
   He asked Whirlers “What type of document is this?” 50 pages that describe
   what the software does with high level overview of the product’s features.
   The debate swirls around what to call it, with emphasis that it’s a
   customer-facing, post-release document. Regardless whether technical
   communications or marketing “should” be writing it, Sean has the task.
   He’s narrowed his list to Feature Guide, Functional Description, Product
   Description Document or Product Guide.
   - Kevin McLaughlin described another marketing-tech comm related issue
   occurring within his organization concerning “spam and who you formerly
   were.” As mergers and acquisitions are a part of the business world, so
   goes the customer lists, and often the acquiring company does not provide
   clear information on how customers of the old organization may opt out.  In
   addition to sparking some discussion on ensuring that customer messages
   provide clear alternatives for opting out and reporting spam, the scenario
   also highlights the fact that technical communications pros take on many
   more customer-facing tasks than they have in the past.  It’s a “cautionary
   tale” on several levels.
   - Katarina Bovin is looking for recommendations for or alternatives to a
   Wiki for maintaining an internal glossary. Among others, Robert Lauriston,
   Tony Chung and Richard Hamilton listed a number of alternatives (including
   tikiwiki, twiki, Confluence, Drupal, and others), and security. Thanks to
   Richard for providing a great resource on comparing wiki solutions:
   http://www.wikimatrix.org/


*Social Media and the Chance to Follow TechWhirl:*

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   - Or, try our RSS feed (great on Flipboard) | http://goo.gl/msLzu

SPONSOR-Luv

We want to send a very special “thank you” to our sponsors for their
support.



*Platinum*: Adobe Systems
Incorporated<http://www.runaware.com/clients/adobe/techsuite/>

*Gold: *ComponentOne Software <http://bit.ly/doc-to-help>,* *Madcap
Software<http://www.madcapsoftware.com/products/flare/overview.aspx#whatsnew>
**

*Silver*: Society for Technical Communication (STC)
<http://www.stc.org/>, Vancouver
Island University <http://pr.viu.ca/techcomm/>

-- 


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