Tag: web design

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IDW looks like an awesome event–can’t wait to go!

Posted on by TechCommGeekMom
"It's just a dream to go to Information Development World, so I can learn more about content strategy! C'mon gang, let's go!" says Barbie.
“It’s just a dream to go to Information Development World, so I can learn more about content strategy! C’mon gang, let’s go!” says Barbie.

Last year, I was really disappointed that I couldn’t go to the inaugural Information Development World (IDW) conference in San Jose, CA.  I knew, since it’s produced by The Content Wrangler and Content Rules, that it would be a top-notch event. After reading all the reviews and commentary from my friends and content strategy colleagues about how great the event was, I was even more disappointed that I wasn’t able to go.

But it’s different this year! This year, I’M GOING! I’m pretty excited about this, because I know this is a conference that is definitely geared towards content strategists who are like me–someone who not only does content strategy, but also does content management, web design, user strategy, works with customer experience, and has a love of localization and globalization issues as well. Of course, the event is also covering other topics like content marketing, data and analytics, digital publishing,  and content engineering. The point of this conference is to help those who touch content in any way, shape, or form and want to enhance the customer experience through content experiences.  Sounds like my kind of conference, as if it was custom-made for someone like me who is still building her content-based career!

I like that there are several workshops and presentations–80 in all–to choose from. I’m sure there will the dilemma of which ones to choose at a given time slot! While looking at the IDW schedule as it’s posted at this writing, there are several sessions I will have a hard time deciding between that I’d really like to see. For example, how does one decide between Work Smarter Not Harder – Remove the Guesswork from Content Creation and By the Numbers: Making the Case for Reuse Based on Facts during the same time slot? Or how can this former Barbie aficianado miss the Mattel Case Study: Maintaining Barbie’s Brand Fidelity Region to Region presentation?  I know I’ll have to make some tough decisions between a lot of excellent topics that I’d really like to learn more about. The fortunate thing for all those who attend is that this group of presenters is the “cream of the crop”. I’ve seen several of the presenters and workshop instructors in action before, so I know that this will be time well-spent, and I will come home with my head buzzing with many great ideas and new concepts to digest!

The main focus of IDW is customer-centric–which is something that will help a lot of information developers. Having originally come from a customer service/client services background before I entered the IT/techcomm world, I tend to have a better understanding than most people, so it comes a little more naturally to me. Today, content strategy really is all about personalization and making content speak to customers in a way that it feels like the content is talking to each customer specifically. That’s not an easy task. The goal of IDW is to help everyone get a much better understanding of how this is done, and how to make it work most efficiently so that content works for you, not against you. How could you not want to learn about that?

I’m not going to miss out this year. I’m going, and it would take a lot to stop me from going. There’s too much to learn and great content strategists to meet–why would I pass this up again? I’m not making the same mistake twice! It’s a fantastic investment in ME and what I can bring to my clients.

Have you registered for IDW yet? If so, great! If not, what are you waiting for? Register today!

You can find out more about IDW by visiting their website at www.informationdevelopmentworld.com

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You want more tech comm info? Let’s dig for buried treasure.

Posted on by TechCommGeekMom

MP900262716I was mentioning to my husband that the stats on this blog have been rather low as of late. I figured that the holidays had something to do with it, but I wasn’t convinced that was all of it. I couldn’t put my finger on what I was doing wrong.

It was at that moment that my husband stated the obvious–one of those “DUH, why didn’t I think of that?” ideas.

“You need to put some new content in,” he said. 

He’s totally right. As he pointed out, when he goes to his favorite websites, he’s often looking for what’s new to read. And I admit, while I have been adding content here, it’s not been a lot recently. The holidays kept me busy, and as it is, with my new job, that will most likely keep me busy too. I was aiming to try to put more original content on this site–more items written by me directly, but I also realize the value of curating good content when I can, and taking advantage of my ScoopIt account to help me post great content to share.

My new job is going well so far. It’s only been one day of orientation, but since my computer and password info weren’t ready yet, I got a couple days off before training commences. This allows me to have a couple of days of “catch-up” here to curate some content. My new position is that of “web publisher“, and from what I’ve been told, it’ll be a good mixture of all things tech comm, like user and content strategy, content management, and even a little bit of web design and video editing.  So, I imagine that much of the content I add in the next year or so will be related to those topics, as I’m hoping the new job will provide some inspiration. It’s been harder to come up with ideas for posts as of late, and even that, I’m sure, has been contributing to my lack of posts as well.

Alas, there’s no e-learning components related to my job, but I want to keep informed on all things e-learning and m-learning as best as I can, because I still think it plays a huge role in content creation in the world. Thus, I’ll be still digging up content related to that as well.

So, this blog isn’t going anywhere. It’s been a little sleepy lately, but I’m hoping with the next several posts that I’ll be curating, we can rouse it from its sleepy state…perhaps a little content curation will be like the much needed morning coffee for this little blog.

If you have any suggestions for blog topics you’d like to see here, please let me know! I’m always open to explore new ideas in tech comm and m-learning, as you know!

So, I’m off to go dig for some buried (content) treasure! And better yet, I won’t be keeping all the spoils to myself, but rather sharing it with all of my readers. 🙂

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Blast From The Past – Volume 3: Interior Design Influence on…Tech Comm and Social Media?

Posted on by TechCommGeekMom

For this week, I decided that I would post another one of my “Blast from the Past” entries from my graduate school blog. When I go back to review these, many of which were written when I was just starting to understand what technical communications were all about, I see some pretty decent reflections.

I’ve lost direct contact with the person in this entry, as life moves on, and Twitter exploded, but I still learned a lot from the experience. Perhaps I still need to follow-up on the blog entry I proposed at the end based on his books! He’s still out there and making the most of social media and media at large, and has always been ahead of the curve in this regard, continuing to make the most of both marketing communications as well as instructional design with his television shows and now instructional videos on his website.

Enjoy this entry that was originally from March 20, 2010, originally titled, “Interior Design Influence on…Web Design?”:

Recently, I’ve struck up a Twitter friendship with renowned interior designer, Christopher Lowell. He is a very thoughtful, sweet guy. He also posts these great dishes he’s having for dinner that make me hungry! But I digress…

Christopher has always been a little bit ahead of the curve when it comes to media and the wave of the future in communications. He was revolutionary in breaking down the basics of interior design in a user-friendly way, and bringing it to the public on the then-new media outlet of cable television. Between his shows and his books, which eventually branched out into his own product lines of furniture, fabrics and other home accessories, his goal has always been to make interior design about making a home, and making it with your own special stamp. All these years later, he still has that goal of bringing things that seem so lofty down to earth for all of us to enjoy.

One of the things I like about corresponding with him through Twitter is that he really seems to be exactly who you see on TV and read in his books. He’s down to earth, he can be silly, but he really does care about important issues and cares a lot about other people and really using social media as a means of communications. I know that I’ve certainly enjoyed getting to know him little bit by little bit.

So, today he posted on Twitter that he had a new blog post, in which he talked about how he likes how reality TV is starting to be used more constructively, and used Jamie Oliver‘s show about how Jamie is trying to change the diets of school lunches to more wholesome foods for kids as a good example.  He segueways into how he feels that the internet is what the next big wave of information and entertainment will be– more so than it is now, much like cable TV was in its infancy. He alluded to the fact that part of the reason we don’t see him on TV (cable or otherwise) much these days is that he’s exploring these new media. He wrote, “As we continue to open new portals and refine new media platforms, you can bet, I’ll be there, doing what I do best.” That seems appropriate for a guy who has always been on the cutting edge of things.

So what does this have to do with technical writing? Well, a lot. You see, I feel inspired by what Christopher has been talking about, because it’s not only about what he’s doing, but where the future in technology is going, and technical writing is part of that.  I’ve thought of two projects that he’s inspired me to do, but I don’t have the reason to do it other than “just because I feel like it” at the moment, so since I’m busy enough, I’ll have to wait until I have a little more time to work on them, or can work it into a school project for my e-Portfolio. The first idea was just to interview him, and get more details of where he thinks internet media is headed, and the sorts of projects he wants to do, or sees happening. You know, get inside the head of one of the big “movers and shakers” to understand future trends. The other idea is to write a piece called, “The Seven Layers of Technical Writing” or “The Seven Layers of Web Design,” or some similar theme, as Christopher was the one who revolutionized the idea of the “seven layers” of interior design. (Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if he invented the Seven-Layer Dip!) In my mind, it would be an article that would show, especially for the newbie technical writer, that by sticking to some basic rules of thumb, like the Seven Layer of Design, that you too can master what it takes to be a technical writer.  I’d really have to think it through, because I’m sure it’s not that easy to whittle anything down that has so many variables, like tech writing, like web design, or interior design.

Kudos to you, Mr. Lowell, for giving me some inspiration outside the (technical) box, and getting a new dialogue started in my head…