I get a lot of questions about my program of Englishnization – the goal I have set to make English the unified language of our business. Many ask me why I bother. If they could see my in-box,
Danielle M. Villegas‘s insight:
Found this thanks to Adriane Hunt on LinkedIn.
Is English becoming the "business language," much like French used to be (perhaps still is) the diplomat’s language? Is this a good thing or bad thing, or "it is what it is"?
It occurred to me that while I haven’t been writing or curating as much as I usually do, I still make sure that I’m reading my various social media feeds, so I can see what the latest trends and conversations are about these days.
The thought popped into my mind–what’s wrong with being a lurker, who is someone who reads but doesn’t comment online? After all, not everyone likes or wants to be writing all the time. I personally have a big mouth that translates here into writing, but that doesn’t mean that everyone likes to talk as much as I do. There is no requirement in social media that one needs to be posting or re-posting tweets or other information that they read every five minutes, after all. Even so, what’s the advantage of being a lurker online?
The way I see it, being a lurker is similar to being the person in the room who obviously isn’t saying a word, but is absorbing all the information that’s going on in the room. The lurker can read, observe and learn a lot just by staying still and not saying anything, and in the process, acquires a vast amount of information being given through comments made and by reading articles posted. This is not a bad way to learn a lot about any given topic, while learning about the people who shape those thoughts or trends.
In the end, however, the lurker loses out. Social media is not only about communicating information, but it’s also about the connections made through this kind of communications. Communication with each other is the key to why we can have discussions or debates on issues. The person who writes those posts or tweets those tweets appreciates it when you retweet, or even make a brief comment of, “I agree!” or “That was a great article.” It validates the position of the author, but it also shows your competence in the subject matter too–that you understand the concept being presented. By respectfully responding with your own commentary, it allows others to see YOUR perspective as well. You automatically become part of the conversation and the process.
Don’t be a lurker and sit back for too long. Feel free to participate! You might be surprised to find that your original perspective might be enjoyed and respected by others.
Global personal computer (PC) sales fall for the fifth quarter in a row, making it the “longest duration of decline” in history.
Danielle M. Villegas‘s insight:
This has been long predicted, and if you think about it, it’s not really all that surprising. Tablets have made everyday computing affordable and accessible. PCs, in my mind, are for the "heavy lifting" tasks beyond simple media, e-messaging and web browsing. Most people don’t do the heavy lifting on a daily basis, especially in their personal lives, so naturally tablets are an affordable way to stay connected.
Those in technically-related jobs, like tech comm, e-learning, web development, etc. need those heavy-lifting machines, but we’re also buying machines in a way that we don’t upgrade as quickly anymore. For example, I bought my laptop in 2010. I’ve upgraded the RAM, replaced the battery, but I also bought a machine that wasn’t the cheapest or slowest processor at the time. It’s a 1st generation Intel iCore 5. That’s a minimum now, but wasn’t then. I usually upgraded my machine every 2.5-3 years, but I think I can hold out on my laptop for another year–maybe two. PC manufacturers have to rethink their sales to be like cars. You could perhaps lease a laptop or desktop for 2-3 years (some actually do that), or think long-term where a person could have the machine for more time than the average leasing term, like 5-7 years–or more. If PCs were built and upgradable much like a person can maintain a car, I think laptops wouldn’t decline so much.
Even so, like I said, the average person on the street uses a tablet or smartphone to connect in ways that a PC isn’t needed. Perhaps sales expectations and dynamics need to shift.
This morning while reading the latest news, I came across a CNET news article, entitled “Flash quietly re-emerges on Amazon’s Kindle Fire.” Speaking to All Things Digital in an interview published …
Danielle M. Villegas‘s insight:
As always, RJ Jacquez is promoting the next level of interactive design, namely HTML5 instead of Flash. His blog post here is a little long (only because it’s images from Twitter of his Twitter conversation), but it really brings to life the pros and cons of full-conversion to HTML5.
For the moment, I can’t take a side because I’m undecided. I really understand both sides of the issue. Having spoken to my developer husband about the topic in the past, I know he says that getting the desired effect is easier with Flash. I’ve been in companies that are very slow to changing over to mobile, let alone change over to utilizing HTML5. Flash is still predominant and people like it, so it’s hard to push those kinds of changes.
What do you think? Post here, or feel free to post on RJ’s site as well.
I admit it. I’ve been a bad TechCommGeekMom lately.
I know I haven’t been doing much on the blog lately. I think part of it is that I was driving so hard on this blog for a long time that I burned out a bit on it. It happens. It doesn’t mean that I’m not passionate about technical communications or m-learning anymore. Quite the contrary! If anything, the real reason I haven’t been online as much is that I’m really busy these days–and that’s a good thing. I started writing this blog was because I was looking for an outlet for all the things I was interested in and was learning about, and I wanted to share it all with anyone who would “listen”, especially potential employers. Now, I’m in a great contract that’s already halfway over, and I’ve gained a lot of confidence through the blog and with this position to know that I have some competence in technical communications. I feel as if without this blog, I would be nothing. And yet, I’ve been not attending to it as I should.
I could make promises to do better. I will certainly try, yet right now, it’s difficult to keep up with my own blog. As I said–it’s a good thing. My summer has become rather busy. I’m incredibly occupied with my web publishing job right now, which I’m thoroughly enjoying. I put a lot of hours into it, and I’m glad that my hard work for them is producing great results. It’s one of the best gigs I’ve ever had in my career, and thankfully, it’s the first one as a full-blown technical communicator. But it’s not enough for me. For the next six weeks, I’m going back to grad school–even though I’ve already graduated with my Master’s degree–to take a course I felt like I missed during my tenure. It’ll be on Proposal Writing. I got a head-start on the reading tonight, and so far, it sounds like I’ll have a good grasp of how to approach it. The introductory chapter information sounded a lot like the creation of content strategy, of which I think I have a decent understanding. I’m also dealing with the usual parental duties that accompany summer, namely running around with my son for camps, all those medical and dental appointments I can’t do during the school year without taking him out of school, etc. I’m also dealing with a few of those kinds of appointments myself, as I’m still recovering from my hip injury that happened as soon as I got home from the STC Summit. That takes time out of my schedule as well. I have commitments to the STC to write for their blog as well once a month, and I do get a few other requests now and then, too. So, after doing all that, you could see why it’s hard to carve out some time to do any extra writing–or still have enough energy leftover to do anything extra!
It’s not an excuse, but rather, it is what it is. I don’t hate writing, but the hot days of summer are certainly pushing me to my limit, and these days I’m often too tired at night to do any deep thinking. Even finding time to curate content is hard, as I always want to be sure that I post articles that are relevant and useful, not random blatherings. I’m hoping that I’ll be introducing a new guest blogger soon, (I have to find more time to read more of her past articles and talk with her), and I still have a book review or two that are pending (I haven’t forgotten! I’m still reading the books as thoroughly as I can in the little bit of time I have!).
So, there’s just a lot on my plate, as the saying goes, and I’m trying to work my way through all of it without making myself burn out completely.
The current Doctor Who–bowtie and all!
If I was as popular as the Kardashian sisters above, I don’t think I’d have to worry. My audience would be waiting for me. It’s much like my beloved Doctor Who series. It’s a long time between seasons and episodes right now, but it’s worth the wait.
For me, I don’t always know that. I’m not a glamourous Kardashian, nor am I a cool, bowtie-wearing Time Lord. I used to get all worked up about my blog stats until a wise woman reminded me that in the end, it’s not the blog stats that matter most. They are great, but they aren’t everything. Keeping the integrity of the blog is what’s important. If I write or curate good content, they will come (much like the Field of Dreams). I’ve chosen to embrace that approach because I would otherwise work myself into a frenzy, and we don’t want that, do we? (When is it EVER good to work a mom into a frenzy, especially a TechCommGeekMom?)
So…that’s the deal. Right now, I’m just not as vocal as I usually am. I haven’t stopped doing TechCommGeekMom, but I can’t do it as much right now. Hopefully, you understand and hopefully, at some point, when things calm down a little more, perhaps I can get some new information up more often. I felt a responsibility for telling those of you who are regular readers what’s been going on, so that you didn’t think I fell off the face of the Earth. I haven’t been so great in keeping up on social media outlets lately as well, or promoting the few items I have posted as vigourously as usual. 😦
In the meantime, there are 403 posts on this blog– so there’s plenty to read. Go back to the beginning, and see if there’s anything you missed in the early days of TechCommGeekMom. Perhaps things have changed in the last year and months since that post was first posted. Feel free to constructively comment, and perhaps even start a dialogue on some of those old posts. That was my intention for this blog in the first place–to create a central area for technical communicators, both experienced and newbies, to come together to openly discuss current topics in a professional, respectful, and casual arena. (Kumbaya!)
Do stay tuned! I hope to have something great to post in the near future to share with you! And thank you for your continued support!
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