Content
Whether in medical writing or general technical writing, there is a clear understanding that a document needs to be helpful and it needs to provide a certain amount of information to the user. But is there a way, after the writing is done, to determine the effectiveness of the document?
Let’s take the example of a user manual that might be used in a hospital for a certain medical device. When a person uses the content of the manual, they can expect to have a positive result, assuming the content of the manual is accurate and well designed.
In this example, is it fair to say that hospitals that use this manual and have positive results with the documented device are able to quantify the results of the technical writing? That’s where things become unclear. Though the document’s information is being used, there’s still a case for human error and device error – beyond misunderstanding its content – that can cause the outcome to be less than desirable, even though the actual document is correct.
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Editor’s Note: This was the feature article in this month’s TechCom Manager newsletter, reprinted here with permission. Click the previous link to subscribe to the newsletter.
Val Swisher
If your company is like most these days, you have been tasked with creating more (and more) content with fewer (and fewer) people. In the never-ending quest to cut expenses, many companies have laid-off content developers. At the same time, in the quest to drive revenue, companies are shipping more products, in more languages, and at a more rapid pace. That begs the question, “How do you get more out of the same resources when you create content?” Resources are both the people who create and edit the content, and the content itself. When it comes to increasing operational efficiency, companies can do several things to enhance their content output without adding more resources.
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Navigation – it’s what takes a reader from their current learning experience to a completely new experience, one that hopefully results in their learning a new skill or task. With a user manual, a user can instantly know what they need to know, assuming they read it from start to finish. But what’s the best format for learning?
According to some, this learning format for a user manual works best:
- Cover
- Title page
- Copyright information
- Table of Contents
- Chapter 1
- Chapter summary
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It makes sense that when you’re writing a technical document that you need to get the facts right. If the user can’t use the handbook or manual, that can spell trouble and it can be dangerous. But does the writing matter at all? Other blogs have already talked about this topic and it seems that the discussion is one without a clear answer.
Just the Facts, Ma’am?
What’s interesting about the quote, ‘Just the facts,’ is that Joe actually didn’t ever utter it as Friday on Dragnet. But it’s been repeated enough in popular culture that everyone assumes that he said it. He didn’t.
What does this have to do with technical writing? When you’re creating a document, you need to focus on the facts first, to be certain. But when your writing isn’t accurate, that can mangle the facts and cause a reader to interpret what you’re writing in a different way than you meant.
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Editor’s Note: This was the feature article in this month’s TechCom Manager newsletter, reprinted here with permission. Click the previous link to subscribe to the newsletter.
Scott Abel
I’m going to let you in on a secret. You’re sitting on a gold mine of content that is just lying around hogging up server space. Some of it may even be hidden in physical archives, concealed in printed documents, or stored on microfiche.
A goldmine, you say? Yep. A big, untapped source of revenue just waiting for someone to claim it. If you’re smart, you’ll tap it as soon as possible…before your competitors realize they should be doing the same thing and beat you to it.
Let’s consider the music industry. Apple revolutionized the biz by making it possible for music lovers to easily and affordably download music to mp3 players, devices that didn’t exist just a decade ago. Despite their overwhelming success, they — and their music industry partners — are still missing opportunities for making money.
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Technical writers and trainers aren’t always in an office or at a desk. When technical documentation or training materials need to be updated, the person responsible may be on the road at a customer site, snowed in or otherwise not in reach of the office desktop. While having laptops, netbooks, or tablets and access to the Internet is a good start, how can multiple users access the same file from different locations?
Cloud computing offers new answers to these problems for many professions.
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Back in late 2007, early 2008, we published an article by Rahel Anne Bailie, principal of Intentional Design Inc. in Vancouver, BC. In that excellent article, Rahel pointed out that “Internet 3.0″ or Web 3.0 was just emerging.
The article took a look at how content was becoming considered a corporate asset and how technical content, such as technical manuals, would increasingly become valuable assets to corporations in the “new age of content”.
Without a doubt, much has happened since then. The Web has become a social “monster” of sorts. Sharing content has become commonplace. Cloud computing has evolved allowing for centralized Web access to both applications and content. The popularity of mobile devices has exploded. The phrase, “There’s an app for that.” has become ubiquitous.
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