I’d Rather Be Writing – Tom Johnson

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Duration: 35 min.

In this episode of Tech Writer Voices, Heidi and I talk about a number of cool trends in the technical writing world, particularly the need to make help more human by adopting conversational tones and addressing the angry/frantic state of the user.

A few of the topics we cover include the following:

• Kathy Sierra’s keynote at the South by Southwest conference
• How to make help more human
• The state of mind of our users
• Where to put FAQs
• Twitter
• Live blogging from the Writers UA conference
• Team blogs and the importance of voice
• South by Southwest podcast archive
• Twitter trends
• 9 Lessons for Would-be bloggers
• Overcoming the fear of blogging
• Believing you have something valuable to say
• How having a focus for your blog gives you something to say
• Heidi’s trail metaphor for blogging
• Keeping actions on a page grouped together, notes from a SIGCHI meeting
• Apple TV
• The paradox of choice
• How to sell the most jam in a supermarket
• Cognitive dissonance and the multitude of choices
• Applied Software Project Management by Andrew Stelman and Jennifer Green
• Authoritative sources for education
• Music from Podshow

Send feedback to tom@idratherbewriting.com or hhansenseattle@gmail.com.

About Tech Writer Voices

Tech Writer Voices is a podcast specifically for technical communicators. The weekly show features interviews, conversations, tips, and other information for those who write help content.

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