TechWhirl Technical Communications Recap for March 31, 2012

[TechWhirl Admin <admin -at- techwhirl -dot- com>]

This week’s update on technical communications and the TechWhirl community
is supported by Platinum sponsor Madcap & their Ultimate Communications
Suite, MadPak <http://goo.gl/eO3ls> | http://bit.ly/zBI0Uj



The old saying March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb,
apparently doesn’t hold true in technical communications. TechWhirl
finishes up the month of March with a great set of articles on translation
and globalization, more valuable recaps from WritersUA
2012<http://techwhirl.com/focus/writersua-conference/>,
and some interesting news items (well, on the news front it was more like a
lamb, but we figure it’s end of quarter quiet period for lots of companies.)



Our guest contributions from Bernard Aschwanden of Publishing
Smarter<http://www.publishingsmarter.com/>,
and Val Swisher of Content Rules <http://www.contentrules.com/>
focused on choosing
a translation vendor<http://techwhirl.com/skills/development/translation/how-to-choose-translation-vendor-tech-comm-project/>and
making
content global-ready<http://techwhirl.com/skills/development/translation/writing-global-readiness-technical-writers-need-know/>.
Even if you’re not actively involved in a translation project, these two
features have loads of valuable insight for your job as a technical
communicator.  Cheryl Voloshin is back this week with a new humor
piece on translating
corporate speak<http://techwhirl.com/technical-writing-humor/technical-writing-trends-translating-corporate-speak/>,
so if you take a little fun with your coffee, this one’s for you.



As we move into April, we hope to avoid too many showers, but at the same
time, we know that technical communications is going through a lot of
transition and growth in new directions.  We’ll begin a two-month focus on
“Reframing the Community,” looking at the evolving technical communications
framework—what still works, and what changes are being wrought in
collaboration, user experience, social media and more that are already
changing how we view ourselves and our profession.  We start things off on
Monday, with one of the most insightful commentaries you’ll ever read on a
New Tech Comm Doctrine, guest-authored by Mark Baker of Analecta
Communications <http://analecta.com/> and the blogger behind Every Page is
Page One <http://everypageispageone.com/>.  Mark’s piece is part of our
continuing series on Integrated Technical Communications (ITC), which is
sponsored by Adobe, and we’re thrilled to have him join the ranks of
amazing guest contributors on TechWhirl.



Enjoy your weekend.


In Case You Missed it: This Week  @ TechWhirl

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


   - Technical Communications Poll: Ready to Embrace a New Role? |
   http://bit.ly/H20Joq
   - Session Summaries: HTML5 and CSS3 to the Point and User Annotations
   with HTML5, by Keith Soltys | http://bit.ly/HjSXIo
   - Technical Writing Trends: Translating Corporate Speak, by Cheryl
   Voloshin | http://bit.ly/HfYWA7
   - Session Summary: Adobe Tech Comm Suite Tool Seminar, by Julie Grady |
   http://bit.ly/HbpL8N
   - Writing for Global Readiness: What Technical Writers Need to Know, by
   Val Swisher | http://bit.ly/GVaSIs
   - How to Choose a Translation Vendor for Tech Comm Projects, by Bernard
   Aschwanden | http://bit.ly/GQFFpB
   - Session Summary: Reworking Existing User Assistance (UA) for iOS Apps,
   by Ashley Brown| http://bit.ly/GSiNWW

* *

*Tech Comm News:*


   - ComponentOne Seeking Input on Technical Communication Trends |
   http://bit.ly/H3Ex2Z
   - Tech Writer This Week: March 29, 2012 | http://bit.ly/H3qUxU
   - New Microsoft Research Shows More SMBs Leveraging Cloud Services |
   http://bit.ly/GYUgQK
   - Vasont® Content Management System (CMS) Integrates with oXygen® XML
   Editor | http://bit.ly/H83GnT

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>:


   - Cindy Daoust, another Techwhirler back from a multi-year hiatus, is
   looking for “Help with fake names issue.” The list responded quickly with a
   whole variety of creative ways to come up with fake names,
including a website
   that automatically generates Elf
names<http://online-generator.com/name-generator/elf-name-generator.php>.
    Good advice on avoiding celebrity, and branded IP (Does Michael and
   Minerva Muridae count?).
   - Rebecca Hopkins wants to hear about experiences where “Training and
   documentation teams play well together?” Whirlers report that bringing the
   two teams together happens more often than perhaps in the past, but the
   teams success is varied, usually based on leadership and corporate culture.




Social Media and the Chance to Follow TechWhirl:

   - Our Google Plus Page – what’s happening behind the scenes |
   http://goo.gl/SO0R4
   - Will you be our Friend? Please, you know you want to click |
   http://goo.gl/tDrW7
   - Want all this TechWhirl goodness a few characters @ a time |
   http://goo.gl/itjDg
   - Updates from TechWhirl delivered to your email in box |
   http://bit.ly/tjshxU
   - 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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