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Looking for Corporate Examples of Web 2.0 Engagement

April 13th, 2008 Tom Posted in Blogging, Podcasting, Technical Writing, social networking 10 Comments »

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.

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Podcast — Social Networking and the Value of User Communities for Technical Communicators

April 12th, 2008 Tom Posted in Blogging, Tech Writer Voices, social networking 11 Comments »

Download MP3 (right-click, select Save Target As)
Duration: 20 min.

In this podcast, I talk with Scott Abel about social networking, in particular The Content Wrangler community he started at TheContentWrangler.ning.com. Scott talks about this new social network specifically for technical communicators. But he also explains the value of social networks for your help deliverables. Social networks can help users connect with one another and also help technical communicators better understand their users.

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