Month: June 2012

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Whitepaper: The Future of Mobile Learning: Empowering Human Memory and Literacy

Posted on by TechCommGeekMom

Yes, it’s official. I’ve written a whitepaper.

Actually, I wrote it a while ago, but just haven’t gotten around to reformatting it. This is actually a paper that I wrote for one of my classes recently just before I graduated, and it was edited by Mayra Aixa Villar. When editing the paper at the time, it was she who suggested that I either present this somewhere, or post it as a whitepaper here on my blog. Since I’m not able to get to any professional meeting anytime soon, I’m taking the latter suggestion, and posting it here. So, before anything else, many thanks to my friend Mayra for not only editing and providing criticism on this paper, but for helping me feel confident to put my work out there. (Muchas gracias, mi amiga querida!)

That being said, this whitepaper is entitled, “The Future of Mobile Learning: Empowering Human Memory and Literacy.” The basic concept behind this is that many of the basic elements that humankind formulated to enable memorization and literacy throughout history are basic elements that are used and needed in formulating the foundations of creating effective m-learning.

I hope my readers like the paper and find it helpful. Please download, pass around, and/or refer to this page! (Oh, and if you’d like me to present this somewhere, let me know! ;-))

Whitepaper: The Future of Mobile Learning: Empowering Human Memory and Literacy

Edited to add July 2015: This paper has now been presented three times as of July 2015, at the 2014 e-learning 3.0 Conference at Drexel University, at the 2015 STC-PMC Conduit/Mid-Atlantic Technical Conference, and as a presentation/workshop at the 2015 IEEE ProComm.

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I’ve hit the “Big Time” in Tech Comm!: I’m an Adobe Webinar Presenter now

Posted on by TechCommGeekMom

It’s been rather exciting in the last week or so for me. Much like being in Times Square where there are so many lights and sights and sounds that one can’t possible keep up with it all in one outing.

Last week was a big week for me. My much-publicized webinar that was hosted by Adobe was presented last week. It went by so fast that it almost feels like a dream! But now I have evidence that it really happened, as Adobe just published the recording of the webinar presentation on its Technical Communications Suite -OnDemand Seminar  website today.  I’d been waiting all this time to comment about it, but wanted to have the link first.

You can find my webinar–now an Adobe OnDemand seminar here:

Transition from Content Consumer to Content Creator: Dual Viewpoints.

(There is a sign in at the Adobe site, but it’s free.)

I need to thank Maxwell Hoffman for his guidance in the process. He gave me a lot of fantastic advice and things to think about, as well as some great editing of the drafts for the slideshow that accompanied the talk.  If you ever have the chance to work with him, you will definitely enjoy yourself and learn from a master.

I also need to thank Adobe and especially Parth Mukharjee for the opportunity of a lifetime to do this. It was Parth who read my posting here and contacted me through Twitter to make it all happen.  Thank you, Parth! Another Adobe “shout out” to Saibal Bhattacharjee as well for his assistance in this process. I have to say, all I did was use my voice, and to know that people at Adobe were listening, well, that feels rather great, and again, I appreciate this fantastic opportunity. I was already an Adobe fan, but this experience made my loyalty to the brand even deeper. I would readily welcome the opportunity to do another webinar or any other opportunities that Adobe might bring my way. 🙂

I also can’t forget to thank Mr. Mobile himself, RJ Jacquez, blogger of The m-Learning Revolution blog. In the past few months, this former Adobe evangelist has become my friend and a mentor, and I felt that before I took on this endeavor, I needed his blessing. (I didn’t really need his blessing, but it felt right to talk to him about it first.) He definitely supported me and encouraged me to take advantage of this webinar opportunity, and I’m glad he did. So, thanks RJ. You da man. 😉

And then there are the other friends from all walks of my tech comm life that attended–many thanks for your support as well!

I’m proud of the work I did for this presentation, and I hope that anyone who takes the time to listen and watch it will get something helpful out of it, and learn something. I will never claim to be an expert on anything, but as this entire experience has taught me, it is worth it to try new things out by doing and not be afraid to use your own voice now and then to express yourself. You never know what good things might happen. 😀

(Update 9/17/2015 – The links to the webinar have been updated as Adobe has archived the presentation’s location on their website.)

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“I wouldn’t change a thing…” STC President’s thought-provoking quote

Posted on by TechCommGeekMom

See on Scoop.it – M-learning, E-Learning, and Technical Communications

A couple of months back, STC’s new President, Alan Houser was on a closing panel of an event, and his answer to a frequent question has haunted me for weeks. The question?

See on blogs.adobe.com

Thanks for the mention, Max!
–techcommgeekmom

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TechComm Event of the Year! Please attend my first Webinar presentation!

Posted on by TechCommGeekMom

OK, I don’t know that it’s THE techcomm event of the year, but it is to me!

Please come attend my first webinar presentation, “Transition from Content Consumer to Content Creator: Dual Viewpoints,” graciously hosted by Adobe Systems.

It’s tomorrow, 5 June 2012, from 1:00 PM- 2:00 PM US/Eastern / 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM US/Pacific.

Here’s the description for the webinar:

The technical communications world is changing quickly with technological advances. It can be a difficult transition from content consumer to becoming a content creator. If you are new to the technical communications field and trying to find some direction, how do you make that transition and learn the tools of the trade? Join technical communicator Danielle Villegas, who blogs and tweets as TechCommGeekMom, as she discusses the challenges of being a content manager, pursuing a professional course in Technical Communication, and moving ahead in a technical communications career. Danielle will concentrate on content for mobile devices while sharing her first hand experiences learning about the most desired skills. She will be discussing how visual and web design, technical writing and editing, and content management skills come together to create good technical content.

I am very excited to be doing this, and truly hope that you will attend and hear what I have to say. I’ve been working hard to create a presentation that will be . It’s merely based on my own experiences, and I hope it opens up some great discussions in the tech comm world.  Registration is free, too!

You can sign up by clicking on the link above for the title of the webinar.

See you there!

(Updated 9/17/2015 – The webinar link has now been archived, so the link in the article to the webinar has been updated.)

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Blast from the Past – Volume 2: International English?…Not here…

Posted on by TechCommGeekMom

For today’s “Blast from the Past” from my graduate school blog, I point out something that should be fairly known– there is no such thing as International English. There just isn’t. Roger E. Axtell wrote a marvelous book titled, Do’s and Taboos of Using English Around the World  (1995, Castle Books) to prove the point. He gives a fantastic example taken from a Brigham Young University study posing the question,

What country is being described?

This country is about two hundred years old. It was colonized by England. The people are rugged individualists who value their independence in their large, not yet fully developed land. Their founders were strong pioneering men and women, and many of the modern inhabitants believe if they were faced with the same difficulties as today, they could overcome them as well as their forebears did. They love sports and the outdoor life and enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world. (64)

If you guess the US, then you’d also be partially right. South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Canada can also make that same claim. Additionally, there are lots of Commonwealth countries around the world that are also former English colonies that can speak a different version of the English language than these larger countries mentioned.

So, when I saw this reference below, while it’s all in good fun, I had to bring it up. It makes a big point that still holds now, more than a year after I’ve written it. Simplified English is still something that all technical communicators should try to achieve with any and all projects they do. It could literally make a world of difference in whether a concept is understood or not, especially in a world that’s communicating on a more global–and mobile–level every day.

Enjoy the good giggle.

–techcommgeekmom

Since last year, I’ve had an interest in the concept of “International English”, or, it might be argued, the lack thereof.  One of the things that I had read through the sources of my International English podcast I had done for my PTC 624 class (found here) was that there was a theory that given enough time, there would be no commonality between dialects of English, and that these different dialect would become new languages unto themselves.

My thinking is that despite the fact that there are some colloquial differences between British English, American English, Australian English, South African English, etc. that the base language is still the same. It’s no different in other languages, where different South American, Caribbean and Mexican Spanish dialects are still generally understood by someone living in Spain.

Well, I guess I was proved wrong when I saw this clip on SNL this past weekend.  It is a parody of many of the modern-day British gangster movies that have come out in the last decade or two.  Watch this, and tell me if that divergence of the English language hasn’t already happened:

SNL: A British Movie – ‎’Don’ You Go Rounin’ Roun to Re Ro’

(Again, if this copy of WordPress allowed me to embed the video player here, I would have. Enjoy!)