I’d Rather Be Writing - Tom Johnson

A strange thing happens when you take an audio file of someone speaking and set it to music — the two separate tracks combine such that the result is greater than the sum of the parts. For example, listen to the 3 minute track below that combines a 1981 speech by Shakespearean English scholar Arthur Henry King with Kiln’s Fyrepond.

I have not altered either track in any way. I simply layered them together. Listening to both the speech and music brought together this way gives more depth to both.

If you’re going to the STC Summit in Philadelphia, check out my presentation on podcasting.

The Art of the Podcast

Room: 111AB
Format: Demonstration
Skill Level: All
Time: Tuesday, 4:30 -5:30 pm

Learn how to capture audio from presentations, in-person interviews, phone conversations, and tutorials and deliver them as professional productions that can build relationships with listeners and strengthen their knowledge.

I have a PowerPoint for this presentation here. Even if you’re not into podcasting, but you still read my blog, come up and introduce yourself to me at the conference.

I’m also going to be on a panel about marketing yourself in a web 2.0 world. The title is as follows:

Evangelizing, Proselytizing, and Preaching: Strategies for Marketing Yourself and Your Expertise To Others

Room: 108A
Format: Presentation
Skill Level: All
Monday: 5-6 p.m.

This session will explore ways entrepreneurs and captive employees can market themselves externally (to the greater world) and internally (to their organization) to position themselves as the “go-to” folks for domain knowledge in their niche.

Scott P. Abel, The Content Wrangler
Tom H. Johnson, EMC
Ann Rockley, The Rockley Group Inc.
Chris Hester
Rahel Bailie, Intentional Design Inc.

Both of these sessions are going to be well worth your time (and mine).

You can either listen to this post as a mini-podcast or just read it. They’re mostly the same, but not entirely.

Download MP3
Duration: 7 min.

I listened to a couple of podcasts back to back tonight that, taken alone, might not have had as strong an impact on me as they did together. The first was Mark in Canada’s “Musings of a Tech Writer — Episode 21,” in which he lists the top 10 most annoying things podcasters do. Then I listened to Scott Nesbitt’s interview of Theresa Mulvihill Talbot about XML. Both are excellent podcasts, but I realized that I’m more drawn by the personal podcast, even if it’s not as informative. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m trying to gather as many examples as possible about how companies are engaging in web 2.0 activities. Do you know any companies that are using blogs, wikis, social networks, forums, podcasts/videocasts, or interactive online help? If so, let me know by either adding a comment below or by contacting me. (It doesn’t have to be restricted to tech comm examples.)

In May I’m giving a virtual presentation to STC-Phoenix and I hope to use some of this info to liven the presentation up. In case you’re interested, my presentation summary is below.

Combining Social Media with Help Authoring

The web landscape has changed considerably in the last several years. Users are no longer passive consumers of information (web 1.0), but instead are active contributors of content (web 2.0). They expect to interact and share information, not only with other users, but with project teams and companies.

Although interactive technologies have flourished on the web, much of the help authoring community remains in the one-way communication model. We treat our users as if they have little or nothing to contribute back.

In this virtual meeting, I’ll discuss six of the most compelling technologies that enable users to become contributors: blogs, wikis, social networks, forums, podcasts/videocasts, and interactive online help. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of each medium, and how technical writers can use these technologies to better connect with users.

Attention podcasters and podcaster wannabes, we’re having a podcast meetup at Doc Train West. If you’re heading to this conference in Vancouver, stay tuned to more details about this meetup. It’ll probably be during one of the evenings of the conference (which takes place May 6-9).

The podcaster meetup will involve an informal exchange, possibly at a restaurant or lounge somewhere, where podcasters introduce themselves to each other, share their recording methods, ask questions, talk about podcasting gear and setups, and in general just enjoy each other’s company. The meetup will be a great way to get to know other podcasting peers.

I’ve been to Vancouver once, but I don’t know where the best place would be to meet up. So if you have a good suggestion, let me know.

Also, so far on the list of meetup participants, I have Scott Nesbitt, Aaron Davis, Scott Abel, Rahel Bailie, and Tony Chung.

If you also want to participate, send me your name and contact info (cell, email, or twitter) so that I can send you the details at the conference.

Also, be sure to catch one of the two sessions I’ll be presenting in: Meet the Bloggers (includes a blogger panel of 6 fabulous bloggers, moderated by Anne Gentle), and a session on WordPress.

My iTunes podcast page is updated (finally). I’m using Feedburner’s iTunes podcasting elements options to meet all the iTunes specifications. I hope this works better than Podpress did.

Subscribe to my podcast in iTunes.

(I ended up burning a new Feedburner feed and resubmitting it, so if you still see the old one in there, ignore it.) Note also that I have an iTunes subscribe button in my left sidebar now.

By the way, how many of you out there are iTunes listeners? If you ever feel inclined to rate my show in iTunes, I’ll thank you with a link to your site or blog, if you want.

Although the podcasts I listen to are usually tech podcasts, such as the highly entertaining TWIT (by Leo Laporte), I also enjoy a good alien podcast now and then. Mysterious Universe, produced by Benjamin Grundy, is one of the most fun-to-listen-to podcasts I’ve come across.

I’m not someone who believes in aliens, but dude, you should hear some of the content Grundy plays on the show. For the sake of pure imaginative entertainment (similar to perhaps WWF wrestling), the podcast keeps me coming back.
Read the rest of this entry »

Heidi Miller has some excellent tips on interviewing. In a presentation she gave at the Portable Media Media Expo, she explained several techniques that have encouraged me to change my interviewing style. Here are four key points from her presentation:

Don’t send the interviewee the questions before the interview.

I guess I’m a latecomer to this style, but I’m now totally convinced that it’s best not to send questions beforehand. Sure you want the interviewee to be prepared, but he or she is most likely an expert on the topic anyway. Having a list of expected questions detracts from the flow of the interview. It makes the exchange less natural, and leaves less room for surprises and unexpected turns. Instead of a list of questions, Heidi recommends sending the interviewee 4-5 topics you plan to cover.  Read the rest of this entry »

In a moment of mental relapse, I volunteered to be my chapter’s virtual meeting coordinator. I already do podcasts, which are virtual one-on-one meetings/discussions, and I’ve been wanting to make my podcasts more Web 2.0-ish. So, I thought hey, why not make the last 20 minutes of a podcast open to whoever wants to listen, allowing them to ask questions themselves? How cool, yes, this will spin my podcasts into a more interactive, web 2.0 realm. And I could easily get sponsorship from some company with a conference calling service to lube the virtual meeting wheels.

However, the more I think of virtual meetings, the more I’m having second thoughts. Here are some of my reservations:
Read the rest of this entry »

Ning (”peace” in Chinese) is a social network application that allows groups to communicate and connect with each other in seamless, convenient ways.

Scott Abel just recently started a new social network community called The Content Wrangler Community. Within a couple of weeks, it already attracted 824 868 members. This community on Ning is quickly becoming the social network community for technical writers and others in our field.

Read the rest of this entry »

I watched a couple of interviews this week that spiraled downhill. The first is a Luke Burbank interview with the Icelandic band Sigur Ros. The second is a Sarah Lacy SXSW interview with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you asked me 6 months ago how much I used my Zoom H4 digital recorder, it wasn’t much. I initially got it to record live interviews at conferences, and donations from my podcast listeners paid for the device. (Thanks, once again, guys.) But this past month, I’ve carried the Zoom with me everywhere I go. I use it almost every day at work. I can’t imagine getting by without it.

If you’re a serious technical communicator, you probably need a high-end digital recording device like this. Seriously. It will change your career by allowing you to deliver more powerful content. It allows you to add the audio dimension to your deliverables, which will take you into new territory and expand your technical writing world.

Read the rest of this entry »

The 2008 South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW) festival, currently underway in Austin, Texas, until March 16, is one of the most popular, high-energy tech conferences of the year.

This Interactive conference “celebrates the creativity and passion behind the coolest new media technologies.” Basically, everyone who is doing anything cool on the Internet ends up speaking there. 37 Signals, Facebook, Wired — they’re all there.

Many of the presentations are interactive panel discussions. Everyone twitters and blogs and texts during the presentations, etc. It’s like a gathering of the Internet geeks and hackers and designers and content creators.

Important: Because almost every session is recorded and distributed practically the same day, you can start attending sessions yourselves. Here’s a list of all the feeds available.

Read the rest of this entry »

Recording a presentation can be tricky. Not only do you face the challenge of capturing audience questions, you also usually have a PowerPoint presentation everyone is looking at, the hum and whir of a projector, and a mobile presenter who wants to walk around a room.

Although you can use a variety of digital recorders, the inexpensive Olympus digital recorders will sound a little scratchy, like sizzling bacon in a worst-case scenario. (To hear a sample recording with a higher-end Olympus digital recorder, listen to this.)

I haven’t experimented with other recorders such as the Zoom H2 or Edirol or Marantz. I’m sure that any time you start spending upwards of $200 on a recorder, the sound quality increases.

My Pitch for the Zoom H4

I like the Zoom H4 because, not only is the audio quality crystal clear, it also doubles as an audio interface for your computer. In other words, you can use your Zoom H4 as a USB mic to record Camtasia or Captivate tutorials — and the audio quality sounds excellent.

And if you’re recording in-person interviews, the Zoom’s built-in mics actually record better sound than many external XLR mics (that you plug into it). But you can also use an external mic to put in front of someone. This might be preferable at times. Since the Zoom’s mics are so sensitive, they’ll pick up every movement of your hand on the device.

Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you who missed my blogging and podcasting presentation to the STC-Intermountain chapter, here is the mp3 file of the audio recording.

Download MP3 (right-click and select Save Target As)

Duration: 1 hr 13 min. H4
File size: 65 MB

Additionally, if you’re sitting at your computer, you can’t watch the PowerPoint slides with the audio in real time.

Topics covered:

• Arguments for blogging
• Who reads blogs, and how
• Liabilities and assets of blogging
• Gaining visibility and readership
• Power in search results
• Podcasts
• Recording audio
• Making money from blogging
• Blogging and technical writing
• Why people don’t blog

Here’s a more detailed description of the presentation. As a reminder to those interested in podcasting, Podcamp Salt Lake City is coming on March 15.

Update: Listen to the presentation here.

I’m no longer president of my STC chapter in Florida. But I’m excited to give a presentation to the local STC-Intermountain chapter on blogging and podcasting next week. Here are the details of my upcoming presentation.

Have a Blog? a Podcast? Want one? Come learn everything you need to know

Date: Feb 28, 2008
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Location: SLCC South City Campus, Room W111 E, 1575 S. State St., Salt Lake City, Utah.

With over 120,000 new blogs started every day, and an average of 1.5 million new posts per day, blogging has become mainstream. Almost every writer I meet either has a blog or has contemplated starting one.

Although blogging seems, on the surface, to simply be another form of writing, the online and social contexts of blogging have given rise to a fascinating culture of complex “rules” about what to write, strategies for gaining an audience, and theories on which formats, gimmicks, and content appeal most to readers.

The blog format can be a writer’s paradise, full of opportunities to exercise your writing talents and interact with other professionals in your field. Drop the notion that blogs posts involve cat adventures and baby updates. Your blog can be a powerful vehicle for professional growth and job marketability. And the interactivity and immediacy of blog writing will help you find creative fulfillment in a profession where dry procedural writing leaves your literary talent unused 90% of the day. Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to everyone who participated in my recent survey. Seventy four people participated — this is roughly 9% of my readers.

You can view the survey results here, including all kinds of colorful graphs, such as the one below.

Results Summary

Here’s a summary of the survey results:

• 79% of you work in the field of technical communication, with another 4% who want to break in, and about 3% who want to transition out.
• About 50% of you read my blog during work as a “break,” or else you read it at random times. About 13% read it before work, 12% read it after work, and only 9% read it on the weekends.
• 67% of you prefer my blog posts over podcasts, but 26% of you like both the blog and podcasts.
• 58% of you listen to my podcasts directly from the computer; 30% of you use an MP3 player or iPod; others actually burn the files onto CDs.
• 65% of you read my blog through your feedreader, 34% read it by visiting my site, and 9% from email notifications.
• 42% of you are between 30-39 years old, and 29% of you are 40-49.
• 78% of you prefer topics about technical communication, and 48% enjoy innovation.
• 77% of you create user guides, 76% of you create online help, and 59% of you create quick reference guides.
• 41% of you also have a blog, 34% of you don’t have a blog, and 11% of you are thinking of starting one. Another 11% of you have blogs but rarely post to them.
• 37% of you like the podcast as is, while 19% want more interesting topics
• 40% of you like the blog posts as is, 25% want me to focus more on technical communication, and 25% want me to focus more on personal stories and experiences.

New Directions for the Blog

Based on these results, I’ve decided to do the following: Read the rest of this entry »

I made a short survey to get a better understanding about you, the readers/listeners of my blog and podcast. If you can spare a second, will you take my survey? Thanks.

Take the Survey

(If the button doesn’t work for you, click click here).

PodcastFAQ.com is a new site developed by Todd Cochrane of the Geek News Central podcast and several other prominent podcasters from RawVoice. PodcastFAQ is intended as a much-needed information resource for podcasters.

I was exploring the site yesterday and discovered several things I was unaware of:

• Ioda Promonet — a resource for podsafe music (music you can play on your podcast without violating copyright or paying royalties)
• Podcasting meetups — I’d heard of meetup.com before, but I didn’t realize there were so many podcasters interested in meeting up in my area
• A list of podcast communities, including Blubrry, Podcaster News, Podshow, Podtech, and Tech Podcast Network

PodcastFAQ.com also has a forum, which I hope will grow in participation. On the topic of podcast forums, the Podcasters List Google Group also has an active community of users.

I’m glad to see the creation of this site, PodcastFAQ, since podcasting involves a lot of technical information about audio engineering and creation that can be overwhelming at times. Equipment is expensive, and the methods for producing, editing, and publishing podcasts vary widely.

If you’re a podcaster and you live in Utah, be sure to attend the upcoming podcamp in Salt Lake City. Details are as follows:

Saturday, March 15, 2008
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Neumont University
10701 S River Front Parkway, Suite 300
South Jordan, Utah 84095

Podcamp homepage: http://www.podcampslc.org/. Original announcement: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/319547/

I’m learning that several big podcasting names are in Utah, including Phil Windley, executive producer of IT Conversations; and Podango, a podcasting network.