by DMN Communications

What’s on our radar  Clip to Evernote

One of the things that we enjoy about the wacky profession of technical communications is that there’s the potential for so many things to learn and do. We try not to sit still for too long, if nothing else because that’s part of our nature. But we also like to learn and broaden our experience.

Below are a few of the things that are on our radar at the moment:

  • A look at HelpBurner and how it may (or may not) mesh with some of our ideas about delivering documentation
  • A new round of guest posts. These sound really interesting and we can’t wait to get them
  • A FLOSS Manuals book sprint that we’ll be sponsoring and hosting at Toronto Open Source Week in October
  • Collecting a bunch of thoughts and ideas on careers in technical communication into … well, some format or the other
  • Taking another (very close) look at Open Source tools for documentation
  • A few presentations and seminars

Keep checking this space for more information about all of those points.

Photo credit: Eray Haciosmanoglu from Photoxpress

by DMN Communications

On being influential  Clip to Evernote

Time for a bit of self indulgence …

We got a bit of surprising and flattering news earlier today: we’ve been named among the 25 most influential technical communications bloggers by the folks at MindTouch. Thanks to Mark Fidelman and the folks at MindTouch for the vote of confidence.

In case you’re wondering, we’re number seven on the list. And while we will try harder, we’re OK with that ranking. Just take a look at who’s in positions one to six. Or for that matter, positions eight to 25. Even the people who rated an honourable mention. Every one of those folks deserves to be there. We’re honoured to be in such great company.

To be honest, neither of us view ourselves as influencers. We see ourselves as communicators. As learners who want to share what we’re learning. In our weaker moments, we see ourselves as teachers. But influential? It’s nice to be thought of as that!

That new badge you see in the sidebar? We’re hoping to be able to proudly display it for as long as we can.

A quick aside: If, like the folks at MindTouch, you can’t distinguish Aaron from Scott on their blog or Twitter, don’t worry. That’s by design. It’s a team blog and a team feed. We’re intentionally indistinguishable in those spaces. In case you’re wondering, in the photo that accompanies the post, Aaron is on the right and Scott’s the guy with the goofy smile on the left.

by Scott Nesbitt

Documentation: the granny figure standing behind you  Clip to Evernote

A while back, I wrote a post in this space about Sugata Mitra and his Hole in the Wall project. The project involved, literally, putting a computer and a track pad in a hole in a wall in several locations in India, and letting children (who’ve never seen or used a computer before) discover and learn to use the device.

I was browsing the BBC News Web site recently and stumbled across an article describing how Mitra not only continued the experiment, but also how he’s been expanding on it.

A paragraph in the article sparked a thought about the role of documentation:

Further experiment showed that having a person – known as “the granny figure” – stand behind the children and encourage them raised standards even higher.

Here are a few thoughts on that idea.

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