MadCap Flare 5 to be released soon

On the tools front, MadCap Software will soon release Flare 5. The most significant feature is the addition of DITA as a project type. You can import DITA content, modify it, and publish it to various output types from Flare.

Paul Pehrson, a certified Flare trainer, developer, and MVP, has written an excellent, informative, pre-release review of Flare 5. In addition to providing detail about the new DITA capabilities, Paul covers other new features.

If you’re a Flare user, I hope that you will share your impressions. Which of the new features will you use the most?

Google unveils Google Wave

Google recently announced Google Wave, a product that will have far-reaching ramifications for online communication and collaboration. For those who may not want to watch a nearly 90-minute video on Google Wave, Austin-based writer/blogger Shannon Greywalker has done a thorough, effective job of explaining the technology. He has also written an intriguing, provocative take on how the technology will play a part in technical communication.

As a user of Gmail for personal and business email, I have long appreciated the threading and tagging features of Google mail. I used Gmail tagging long before I ever heard of folksonomies. I am excited to see Google take those features to a new level.

Even if you only use the Google search engine, check out Shannon’s post. If you’re curious and want to explore further, watch the Google video.

What others are saying about Google Wave

• Official Google Blog
• Mashable.com: A Complete Guide to Google Wave
• TechCrunch: Google Wave Drips with Ambition

What do you think?

Will Google Wave have a significant impact on the future of technical communication? What do you envision?

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As writers of technical content, we strive to help reduce the number of technical support calls. Yet, a recent post on the blog of LugIron Software refers to a quote stating that documentation can also increase the number of service requests.

Why?

Users feel overwhelmed

The first point in the quote states that overly comprehensive documentation scares users away. That may be true, but comprehensive simply means “of large scope” (Dictionary.com) and says nothing about the quality of the documentation, how it is organized, or how it is tuned for search.

If you deliver a voluminous, printed tome, users will most likely avoid it. If you deliver a help site without clear points of entry and orientation, users will probably look elsewhere. If your information is difficult to browse and search results are low to non-existent, users will give up.

You can improve the likelihood of user satisfaction by

• Performing a careful user and task analysis
• Single sourcing your content for modularity, reuse, and consistency
• Ensuring that your information provides maximum search returns
• Tailoring your information products to support roles and tasks.

For example, nearly all users can benefit from a simple Getting Started guide or tutorial. The guide can cover installation and configuration and then provide a basic orientation to your software. Emphasize what they can do with the software—not how cool the UI is. From there, give them branching options tailored to their roles and desired outcomes.

Users feel stimulated, but…

The second point in the quote bears repeating:

Documentation has so much cool stuff described, that it makes people’s imagination stimulated and they start thinking of other, even more exotic stuff they want to do but can not figure out and start a service request for it.

This statement is indicative of a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t problem. I have to wonder how user assistance information has been presented and organized if it is perceived mainly as describing “cool stuff.” I also wonder how it’s structured. My earlier comments about organization, orientation, and findability apply in this case, too.

Regardless, the “cool stuff” aspect of software is a two-way street. If users want to improve the product or take it to another level, they need to provide feedback in the form of feature suggestions and enhancement requests. Product development teams cannot read their minds or restrain their imaginations.

Users feel enabled

Documentation that’s engaging should also make users feel that they have control. So how do you enable users without giving them too much?

You have created user profiles for your product, right? So why not ask “what type of user are you?” and give examples of typical users and associated tasks? Or ask “what would you like to do with Product X?” Then give readers some suggested branching points based on their roles and relevant tasks. Software and documentation need to be integrated in a way that provides a solution for getting things done.

Too often we waste a lot of words that over-emphasize the UI instead of including a separate UI reference section. If you find that you are constantly referring to the UI in ways that are not essential to performing tasks, then ask yourself whether the product design is truly effective or overly cumbersome. That may lead to a separate, challenging but necessary discussion for your product team.

Users feel involved

Our industry is buzzing about ways to get users more involved in contributing to product documentation by applying their product experience. Give them a voice and a stake in the process.

I completely support this approach. As a user, I rely heavily on active, peer-to-peer forums that not only share troubleshooting information but also “cool” tips. I understand how such forums can lessen user frustration and generate user excitement.

If you implement a process to enhance your documentation with user-generated content, don’t be surprised if the regular contributors comprise a small subset. Many users just want to use the product to get their tasks done. They don’t want to write the documentation. So even your participating users need to understand that the documentation must motivate, engage, and most importantly, provide answers for all users.

Even when user-generated content becomes part of your process, someone must manage it and ensure that it is accessible and usable. The most effective forums in which I participate have strong leadership.

Users feel bored

Regardless of what motivates or scares users away, I believe that our industry overlooks some of the obvious reasons why documentation often sucks. One factor that we ignore is the pervasive, stodgy writing style.

Companies should take a long, hard look at their style standards, or lack thereof. In this day and age of more casual conversation, why not integrate a more conversational tone into your documentation? As a long-time editor of tech docs, I have lobbied for a less formal tone for years, and I’m a lot older than many of my vibrant young peers.

Examples:

• We continue to write about how software “allows” or “lets” users accomplish a task instead of how it enables them. The only contexts for the word allows are access and security. And in a software context, I think that “lets” sounds ridiculous.
• We write “If you wish to…” before notes and tasks. We’re afraid to use the stronger and less formal want, or simply the infinitive form: To do x, click y. Wish connotes longing.

  Read: “When you wish upon a star…”

  I’d wager that while using our software, users are longing to finish work and go home. Do you ask friends or colleagues if they wish to go to lunch?

• We use may instead of the stronger, more enabling can. This usage sometimes creates confusion about whether we are giving permission or expressing that something might happen (as in maybe).

These examples are often defended as “polite” usage. I simply believe that they make our words far less engaging and even a bit dull. They create the impression that software is controlling users instead of putting them in the driver’s seat.

Of course, software documentation isn’t the only kind of technical writing. Making policies and procedures sound more informal isn’t easy. Writing about the installation and operation of heavily regulated equipment is a serious business where inaccuracies and mistakes can have serious consequences. But I still believe that even those types of writing can benefit from clear, plain language that sounds more natural.

I’m not advocating a departure from formal writing, but I believe that we are redefining our definition of what’s formal. I have often wished—that is, longed for—a change, and I welcome it.

But I digress. Plain language is a subject for another post.

Users feel content

The rise of social media brings new possibilities and new challenges that are making us rethink how we provide user assistance. Regardless of what we try and what we find effective, we need to remember that what we are delivering is user assistance. The bottom line is, users use our products, read our policies, install, configure, and operate our equipment for one purpose: to get things done.

So when you develop information for users, keep these things in mind:

• Give them a clear orientation so that they can decide where they want to go.
• Stop focusing on the “cool” factor of your product.
• Strive to increase the likelihood that they will find what they’re looking for.
• Consider their roles and provide tailored information.

I welcome your comments and hope that you will share your own solutions for creating a better user experience.

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Having recently seen and enjoyed the 2009 Star Trek movie, I can’t resist a Borg-inspired title. I’m no diehard trekkie, but I have seen several of the movies. I also watched the original series as a kid and have infrequently tuned in to some of the other series over the years.

Does that make me a part-time trekkie? The level of trekkiness seems to have a scale based on participation and devotion. My partner has followed all of the series, knows all of the characters, and can explain story lines in technical and historical terms. Yet, he would never dress as a Romulan and go to a trekkie conference.

Social media seems to have a similar scale. Some love it. Some hate it. Some try it and “don’t get it.” Others approach it with hesitation and later become addicted.

I have friends who say that they would never use Facebook, and later I receive their invitations to connect. Many have stopped sending me email and only contact me in the Facebook space. Others who didn’t “get” Twitter are now tweeting so much that they’re sprouting wings.

So where does your level of participation fall on the social media scale? Have you joined the throng? Are you ready to become a publisher?

Becoming a citizen of Content Nation

In Content Nation: Surviving and Thriving as Social Media Changes Our Work, Our Lives, and Our Future, author John Blossom examines how the spreading wildfire of social media has transformed us into a “nation of publishers.” He traces this phenomenon back to its primitive origins, from nomadic tribes to “trade-oriented ownership economies” (p. xvi). Those economies created the need for published materials that began with monuments, scrolls, and primitive books. Subsequent publishing events shaped history and transformed society. Blossom cites Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and the arrival of the Gutenberg printing press as significant turning points.

The recurrent theme of Content Nation (used as the book title and as a description for the entity that we have become) is that the growth of social media publishing is the unparalleled phenomenon—the one that’s changing all the rules. This is most evident in the nomadic nature of free-form publishing. We’re running off in our own directions, tailoring our content to our own needs. Publishing institutions are trying to figure out how to domesticate us.

Most notably, we’re spreading influence in a way that is transforming the world. Our ability to publish on-demand content challenges news sources, exposes product weaknesses, and even saves lives.

Following your tribe

How we use social media can depend on which of the three publishing “tribes” we belong to (p. 60).

Personal publishers use social media to gain both personal and professional benefits. If your passion is cooking, you can blog about food and publish recipes. You can start a wiki to collaborate on recipes with other cooking enthusiasts.

Media publishers use social media to “market content and online services.” These publishers have traditionally been “manufacturers and distributors of content from centralized plants” (p. 44). Aggregation of content has traditionally been achieved through a layered pyramid structure. But that model has changed. We’re no longer bound to the layers used to filter and package published content. We can package and mix our own content, aggregating it from our own preferred sources. As consumers of information, this is great for us but challenging for traditional media publishers. Blossom cites The New York Times and The Houston Chronicle as examples of newspapers that have risen to the challenge and adapted well.

Enterprise publishers use social media to improve communication and promote collaboration. But because many businesses still perceive social media applications as frivolous, their adoption rate has been relatively slow. Those businesses are not ready to flatten the corporate hierarchy by giving everyone a voice. Businesses who want to attract and retain younger workers need to change this perception. Blossom includes several examples of forward-looking enterprises that are developing a social media strategy and integrating tools such as blogs, wikis, and messaging.

Understanding the new rules of buying and selling

Becoming a citizen of Content Nation brings both benefits and challenges. It creates new opportunities while requiring that we adapt to new ways of thinking and working.

One of the most significant paradigm shifts is the relationship between buyers and sellers. Buyers have access to a growing number of sites that compare products and prices, enabling them to better discover and understand supply and demand. Blossom points out that this “builds efficient economies that benefit the most people” (p. 97). He cites eBay and Craig’s List as examples.

Feedback from other buyers is more prevalent than ever. When you shop online, do you read the marketing fluff, or do you go straight to the consumer comments? Blossom refers to research showing that a clear majority of consumers seek peer advice and are influenced by consumer reviews and ratings. Last year I was minutes away from ordering two office chairs when I paused to read the customer comments more closely. As a result, I ordered different chairs from a different manufacturer and saved several hundred dollars.

Advertising is still prevalent on the web and elsewhere. Viral marketing still exists. But social media brings on a new method of marketing that Blossom calls the Big Sombrero model. In this model, mass markets give way to more effective small markets, which are based on more direct transactions. An example is the print-on-demand capability of Lulu.com.

With the prevalence of peer-to-peer advice and more power behind small markets, marketers need to rethink their approach. When joining an online conversation, they need to function as peers to gain the trust of the community.

Embracing change…

In politics

Milestones in the evolution of publishing often centered around politics. Newspapers, journals, books, and television all made us more politically aware. Early blogs piggybacked on existing outlets before becoming news sources in their own right. In Content Nation Redefines How Citizens Influence Governments, Blossom impartially covers ways in which social media now plays a major role in politics. Although blogs were influential in the 2004 election, their influence was ubiquitous in 2008. Regardless of how the political tide turns, we can expect that influence to continue.

In daily life

The chapter Content Nation Redefines How People Live Their Lives explores the “social” in social media. We create “spaces for common experiences” (p. 201). We organize events. We build communities that promote cultural identity. We reveal our natural tendency toward altruism. As an example, Blossom cites the role of social media in mobilizing disaster relief after the 2004 tsunami in south Asia.

In education

For learners, the concept of “just-in-time training” is more crucial than ever. Quoting the author:

…by the time young adults enter adulthood to put their education to use, the world has already changed significantly… Now, as our problem-solving needs shift from moment to moment, our need for education cannot wait for a book to put everything that we need together.

Learning professionals refer to the marriage of social media and education as Learning 2.0. I am very interested in this trend and welcome reader comments.

Looking toward the future

Content Nation is one of the more richly detailed and analytical books that I have read on social media. Each topic mentioned here is accompanied by a relevant set of social media rules and examples.

I periodically put the book down to ponder the rules, explore the examples, and oh, yes—get some work done. I took a break before reading the last three chapters, and nothing prepared me for their depth. In a way, everything else in the book was simply preparing for the story told in those chapters.

Blossom looks to the past to predict how publishing will play a part in our future. He returns to the subject of altruism—not as an innate abandonment of self-interest, but as a genetic predisposition to preserve our bloodline. This base genetic altruism eventually gave way to a clan-based version based on trade, setting the stage for the evolution of publishing.

To establish a system of trust, we needed contracts, which became a part of our first published content. As publishing became more sophisticated, it also became more centralized, setting the model for the institutions that we know today—the ones that are challenged by social media. With our “giving to get” nature, we are returning to our altruistic roots, this time with more interest in taking care of the earth and spreading global wealth through such online vehicles as microloans. Blossom brings our story full circle, linking our future to our nomadic, herd-chasing origins.

The book closes with glimpses of the future—50, 100, 1,000, and 10,000 years from now. In Blossom’s visions, what we now refer to as social media is fully integrated into our lives, our work, and in some cases, our chemistry.

I’ll stop there. Now read the book!

Informing by example

The Content Nation book is a product of social media publishing. The content was first developed and published through a collaborative wiki on Blossom’s Content Nation site. The “post-print” version continues online, demonstrating that “evolving social media forms use mass media more as a transient form than as a final goal” (p. 55).

The Content Nation site features links to many of the sites that are used as examples in the book. I encourage you to explore the site and the links.

Getting ready for the next wave

How will social media affect you? Why should you care?

You should care because it will affect your life in some way, even if it’s an indirect way. It’s not a matter of how, but when.

Just when you least expect it, you will be assimilated.

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