Tom Johnson

I've seen lots of presentations about reviews, but I didn't feel that any of them really defined the review problem(s). And if you don't define a problem, you can't develop solutions. Between reuse and generative AI, tech writers will produce even more content for review in future. This trend makes it even more important to figure out how to ensure that our final content is reliable. Since no-one else has given me the answers, I will be leading a workshop on the challenges of review at tcworld 2024. I think that I have some interesting insights, and I look forward to getting insights from the workshop participants too. So, if tech writing is your thing, come along to tcworld 2024 for this fun workshop!

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TECH WRITING PRO TIP Initial caps in your social media hashtags (#TechnicalWriter vs. #technicalwriter) allow users employing screen readers (such as the blind and those with dyslexia) to hear the correct hashtag. Initial caps enable the speech-generating text parser to discern and correctly pronounce the individual words. They also improve readability for any user (#CurtRobbinsTechnicalWriter vs. #curtrobbinstechnicalwriter).

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Reflection-Llama-3.1-70B available on Ollama  Reflection is the name of a new training method that encourages the model to "think out loud" and plan its responses before committing to a "final response" (essentially just Chain of Thought built into the model?), which has shown to be very effective, and there's a big model that just got released that takes advantage of this method, also called Reflection https://lnkd.in/g_ekZTQN ____ I share my learning journey here, join me and let's grow together Repost to your network and follow @GaoDalie_AI for more insight

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The Future of Tech Writing: Trends & Technologies to Watch in 2024 "Technical content writing has experienced immense growth in the past few years. Any technical development, invention, new product, or product version requires support through technical documentation to convey necessary information to users." From ClickHelp #TechnicalWriting #documentation #IT

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Do you know the difference? Over the years, I've encountered many people who are hesitant to adopt structured content authoring because in their minds, they are already working “in structure.” They’re not wrong. Alas, they’re not right, either. Here's why it can be confusing and why understanding the function of both matters: https://lnkd.in/gevEPwNG #contentstrategy #contentmanagement #contentorganization

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Scriptwriting requires us to think about storytelling in a different way. Here are a few things I had to look at when converting my post-apocalyptic novel into a screenplay.

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Check out this interesting piece from Michael Andrews about how content management systems (CMS) have shifted from focusing on content to focusing on the developer experience: https://lnkd.in/gqVTYXCT Note: My opinions are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer. #contentmanagementsystems #developerexperience #documentation

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Golden rule of writing: Do not write a single word until you know: >Your target audience >Purpose of document >Your product >What it does >How it works Spending more time on upfront research, saves time (and frustration) on rewrites later. Agree? #technicalwriting #technicalwriter #marketing

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Strategic decision or proofreading accident? Some of the comments in my original post feel it's the former. Here's why I think it's the latter: 1. *It was spelled wrong deliberately.* In other ads, Naked has successfully used deliberate misspellings to great effect. The most immediate example is "Lose wait." This one = brilliant. It effectively uses a well-known phrase, while tackling a call-centre pain point. "Negotiantions"? Not so much, IMO. 2. *It's piggybacking on an inside joke.* Hmmmm. These are only funny if you're on the inside and 'get it'. If you're not, you could potentially be sharing it with a snarky comment about proofreading while rolling your eyes. If there's a joke attached to this, please put me in the loop, because I'm definitely on the outside with this one. 3. *It was done because they knew there would be a reaction and it would increase reach.* I can't argue with the reach part. This has definitely got people talking. (Mostly marketers and writers/editors, though, from the looks of it. LOL!) BUT... Despite Naked's playful brand persona, insurance is a pretty serious business. What does a nonsensical spelling (see point 1) say about the way their underwriting has been done? In a world where companies can be sued over a missing Oxford comma or misused apostrophe (see links in comments), is this not potentially damaging the brand (accidentally, if it was deliberate)? This is where my brain went immediately, but as a niched technical writer, I haven't done B2C marketing for ages. I'm genuinely interested to hear your take, especially if you think this is a deliberate strategic decision. Please educate me in the comments.

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How AI is Helping Technical Writers Collaborate More Effectively

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What is Data Analytics? Data analytics is an important subset of technical writing and business analysis. How can technical writers and documentation experts leverage data analytics to help their clients?

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TGIF! Here are some tips for designing interactive emails on #figma from a rookie who thinks he knows what he is doing. 📌Avoid big blocks of information. 📌Break them down into small chunks. 📌Use headings for clarity of information. 📌Use center alignment for headings and keep it consistent. Left to right alignment is more legible. 📌Do not overdecorate your text especially if it is a block. 📌Add visuals to support your text. Use images, emojis, and icons to make the reading experience pleasant. You can also use videos. #Day12of14 #Linkedinpowerup #14dayslinkedinpowerupchallengewithAlice #TGIF #Emaildesign #Figma #Copywriting

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Family, this is awesome 👍 RapidLayoutRecover: Converts document-like images into editable text format while preserving the layout. In other words, it can convert document images (such as scanned book pages, PDF pages, etc.) into editable text formats like Word or TXT files, while keeping the original layout of the image. RapidLayoutRecover can automatically recognize text, tables, formulas, and other content in the image, helping users convert these images into formats that can be further edited and processed. This way, users don't have to manually input or recreate the content of the document, saving a lot of time and effort. GitHub: https://lnkd.in/gNHRD_SX ____ I share my learning journey here, join me and let's grow together Repost to your network and follow @GaoDalie_AI for more insight

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I'm a tech writer and editor. I've been doing this a long time. (Waves hello to former president Taft.) I've learned some things over the years and probably forgotten more. One thing stands out for me, though, when I think about technical support communications: Tech support writing is not about flowery language. It is not about "fun" narratives and excessively intrusive pleading or unnecessary language that "seems more complete." Tech support writing is a language variant that uses predictable patterns and methods to communicate to the reader what they need to _know_ so that they can _do_. That's it. It's not training. It's not teaching. It is, in reality, telling. The reader comes to the communication (written, aural, or vocal) to get the one true answer to resolve a particular issue. They don't come to the medium to learn about how a feature or app was invented. They don't come to be pleaded with social niceties ("Please consider the following") or to read throw-away words that neither the writer nor the reader needs to see because the semantic value is empty ("that best suits your needs"). Tech support writing is simply this: clear, concise, complete _for the question_. No more words are used that needed, and just enough words are used to respond to the question with the One True Answer. You might not agree! That's fine. We all have opinions and we all have experience, so you should do what best suits your needs. :) But after years - decades, really - of working with people who don't know the entire conceptual universe behind their answer & just want to get the d**ned thing working, support is about _them_. Training has its place. Teaching has its place. Certification has its place. These are all tools and methodologies that help someone to gain competency with the tools and applications that they use. But they aren't the same as support content, and they should not (again, IMO) be part of support content. I use the phrase to my writers "We are not the Everything Bagel." Personally, I like such a bagel whenever I'm in New York City. (The only city that makes bagels correctly. I can tell you the place I go to in Brooklyn if you want.) What I mean is that we do not try to do the work of all the methods of helping customers such as training or teaching or certifying. We have a single mission, and that is to help them solve their problem as quickly as possible with the fewest steps and the least amount of "work" _which includes the work of reading and comprehending_. In my opinion, technical support writing has a journey ahead to improve its focus, but I think that as we who are in technical support see the increase in customer satisfaction we'll see the value of limiting our content to improve the customer experience.

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Technical writers have been underappreciated and disregarded by engineers for decades, despite their critical role in product development and user understanding. Contrary to popular belief, technical writing requires both linguistic skills and a deep understanding of the technical domain and target audience. Check out the link below to see what you can learn. #technicalwriting #techwriters https://lnkd.in/gYguX2r8 

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