Archive for 2009
Technical Communication Certification: Beware of Fake Diploma Factories
Training and certification is important for all technical communicators who want to stay relevant, productive and happily employed. However, when you are choosing a certification or diploma program for yourself, don’t fall for cash-for-diploma schemes. If you want to read the amazing story of one such scam and that of George Gollin, the physics professor…
Read MoreHow to Write a Technical Reference Manual as a Team
What are the things you should keep in mind if you’re working as a part of a writing team authoring a reference manual? Or what are the things you should keep in mind if you are managing such a team of technical writers? Here is a good blog post by Lesley Hays, an Aussie technical…
Read MoreTechnical Writing – What is DITA?
© Ugur Akinci DITA is an acronym which stands for Darwin Information Typing Architecture. It is a method of technical writing and publishing based on XML (Extensible Markup Language). Just like the web language HTML is based on tags like <title>, <p>, etc. XML is also based on tags some of which it shares with…
Read MoreWhitelisting – a Comprehensive List of Instructions
Most mail servers protect their users from spam by a robust firewall and spam filter. That’s the good news. The bad news is, sometimes they do that too efficiently so that they end up blocking the email that you would like to receive as well. The solution is “whitelisting” such sources, that is, defining them…
Read MoreTransparency and Clarity: Hallmark of Modern Technical Communication
Transparency and clarity are two of the most important characteristics of modern technical communication. Most such communication is directed at end users and consumers who are more than ever demanding transparency and clarity in the information products that they consume. Disclosures of every kind are now a regular part of almost all forms of technical…
Read MoreMS Excel – How to Add Names and Addresses to a Searchable Database
© 2009 Ugur Akinci If you’d like to create a searchable address database in MS Excel, the best way to do it is to assign a separate column to every data component with which you’d like to sort or search your database. For example, here is a good example of how to do it: In…
Read MoreHow to Use Twitter to Promote Your Writing Services
© 2009 Ugur Akinci There is a good way to use the Twitter to promote your writing services, and another way that’s not that good. I’m finding these things out myself by trial and error and I wanted to share some of my findings with you. 1) Always share something useful and relevant, either by…
Read MoreWriters: Searching Through the Job Ads is not Marketing
© Ugur Akinci Generally speaking, we writers are not good at marketing our services. We love what we do and yet expect to be “discovered” and paid well for it too. Think again. This blog entry was prompted by an email from an obviously-very-qualified reader who asked whether she needs to get a technical writing…
Read MoreFinding Your Way Back: Re-Entering the Science Work Force
(Excerpts) By Brianna Blaser In the idealized career path, a scientist goes straight from earning an undergraduate degree to graduate school, and then on to a postdoc and eventual employment, without breaks between positions. For various reasons, however, not all scientists’ career paths are nearly so linear. Although the most common reason scientists might leave…
Read MoreDifferences Between Different Guides
Introduction Some of my readers asked the differences between three types of technical documents used frequently in the software-hardware sector: User Guide, Startup Guide, and Quick Reference Guide. Sometimes the demarcation line gets blurred, especially if you’re new in the business. User Guide A USER GUIDE is the easiest to define: it’s the “bible” of…
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