Gordon

Landing Pads – The concept is simple enough. You create a single topic that will be displayed to the user when they bash our old friend the F1 button. That topic is unique to the help system and, based on context, can be used to display a smarter set of links to potentially useful information.

HelpScribe: Why internal communications is the land of opportunity.

When a writer doesn’t allow sufficient time to work in an uninterrupted space, he or she can’t get immersed in the material. Without that immersion, the writing skims along the surface, draws on other peoples’ ideas, and uses short cuts like cliches to communicate.
via Creating Info Products: Getting the Work Done.

Trends: DITA for the masses?.

How We Talk About Social Media – interesting, if you are gearing up to embrace social media as a route for your documentation, well worth a read.

Why I joined the ISTC.

Language Log » Fark off – Professor Pullum responds to criticisms of his recent article about Strunk & White

Blogging: A New Role for Technical Communicators
Tom Johnson offers some excellent thinking about why you, as a technical writer, should be pushing to get involved (or start?) a product blog for your company. Worth a look in the current economic climate, more arrows to your bow!

Does size matter for a technical author?
“If your user assistance is too brief, you may also face problems. You may save the translation costs on the one hand, only to see them reappear in the other: via more calls to your support desk.”

Prediction: 2009 will be the year of documentation.