Podcasts on Tech Writing

http://www.techwritervoices.com/ has podcasts highlighting latest trends, practices, and news related to the field of technical communication. This site is worth checking out from time to time.

Can Wiki render us jobless?

As I foraged a number of wikis for some crucial information, I had one of those moments where you can see beyond the next few years of your life… a point where the clarity of today meets the obscurity of tomorrow; an “aha” moment. Can Wikipedia take my job?

I don’t mean all jobs but mine or those in my league. I have always earned my living as a writer—a practiced, well-read, well-rehearsed, yet spontaneous writer from a commonwealth country, where a vast majority don’t converse in English (not that we have any other common language; between 22 recognized languages and a zillion others, we are a confused bunch of polyglots).

I am not a doomsday predictor or a negativist – I happen to love Wikipedia and use it extensively; more extensively than I can admit to my clients. But hey, there lies my fear – a lot of people out there are using Wikipedia very extensively. Now, mind you, Wikipedia or wikis in general, have no paid editors or writers. What they have is a bunch of regulars (besides the general public) who edit content passionately for no fee! It’s a case of “have knowledge, will share” syndrome. Can there truly be a better example of an open economy and open source? Now who does that these days—have all those editors come into some form of inheritance? I guess, a good cause finds its backers and I am none the less happy for it. What’s more fascinating is that the company that runs Wikipedia is an NGO – they do not want to sell and shape out, they do not want to be a conglomerate, these guys are out there to genuinely make a difference, to create a world where knowledge is uniformly accessible.

I grew up at a time in India where the encyclopedia cost the earth; well, definitely out of reach for the middle class as it was then. My parents bought me books, yes, but the encyclopedia was the ultimate yet unattainable thing on my wish list. So, I love to visualize a time when every child and adult has access to every word that they want.

But what about my job? What about people like me who get by with their love of the written word besides sheer grit? Let’s see, in the last few years, I have been paid to design and write e-learning courseware and design documentation that uses multimedia. All learning and knowledge is going online, so how long before all of it is wikified. It makes perfect sense to enterprises to allow people to edit and share content. It helps them cut costs and it keeps people engaged. Now come on, don’t tell me you don’t get a high just reading, sharing, and revisiting what you have written. Even as I type this, people are decoding complex content for others through their blogs. This is an “of the people, by the people, for the people” movement that is already fantastic, yet far from its zenith. Is it a matter of time before animators jump into the bandwagon too and create sharable multimedia? The possibilities are indeed endless. And my redundancy imminent!

So, my fellow writers, do you need to find alternative sources of income? I, with my limited vision and knowledge would say no. But it wouldn’t hurt to be flexible, be open to different types of writing assignments, and learn as much as possible (yes, you can use Wikipedia to expand your knowledge). As history has shown, fortune favors those who adapt, those generous at heart, and open to change—now doesn’t that sound a lot like a wiki?

Celebrating the Astute Learner / User

A case to induct a mainstream fiction writer to the e-learning hall-of-fame

This is not exactly a very famous quote and it does not exactly appeal to traditional design sensibilities but it is one that needs to go down in Instructional Design or Technical Writing history as the most relevant passage (for instructional or technical writers) ever written by a mainstream fiction writer.

Quote: “I like to believe that the audience is actually intelligent, because it’s made up of people like yourself. People don’t like to have their intelligence insulted. If you do something with sufficient enthusiasm and put enough into it, people are bound to respond, unless your judgment is totally cock-eyed.”

- Douglas Adams – Author of the famous or infamous Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I like the above passage much more that the professors who taught me English Literature at the university would like me to. Among all the famous literary passages, I, as an English Major, blasphemously pick this one as a passage that can inspire many an instructional or technical writer (henceforth referred to as “writer”–may egos be suppressed until the end of the article please).

Not much is known about the background of the passage–probably because it has not found its place in any Hall of Fame yet. But, I do believe that the words were Adams’ reply to why people respond to his writing. The words are in tune with Adams’ tongue-in-cheek brand of humor. But, the inherent humor does not belie the message. People understand and respond to any writing that is sincere and relevant. And, that’s why this passage is extremely significant to writers.

A common complaint from many writers is that people do not understand–concepts need to be broken up to smallest possible terms and explained in complete detail. And yes, if users do not follow the information given despite all this, we do get defensive and place the blame squarely on the poor user’s inability to understand or reluctance to read.

But, it’s time we got less defensive and listened to what the user really needs. People do read and they do respond provided we write well enough. As writers, we need to revisit some writing fundamentals and make sure that we present information in a style that users want to read. Essentially, we need to begin by asking ourselves a few key questions: How does this help the user? What does the user really want? How does this help the user accomplish what he or she wants? Am I focusing on the product features or what the user can do with them?

Then, all we need to do is bring back the “fun” without being funny and add “engaging” to the terms instructional and technical writing. The best part is that this approach makes our jobs much more interesting.

The bottom line is users will understand what we write as long as we write in a style that is relevant (to the users and not us necessarily), sincere, and does not insult their intelligence. Finally, as expressed and proven by Adams, writing is not meant to be boring and the sooner we appreciate this fact as writers, the better it is.

So, with no further ado, I would like to see Adams’ assigned his rightful place in the instructional and technical writers’ Hall of Fame as a valuable inspiration. I know it is mine as these words are tacked up on my soft board as a constant reminder to write in a way that users respond.

A Head Rush and Other Inspirations

There’s a blog I stumbled on when doing some random research on usability. It’s called Creating Passionate Users and it’s maintained by Kathy Sierra, a game developer and co-creator of the bestselling Head First series. I have been terribly inspired by her blog, almost as much as I have been inspired by users and all things that concern them. If you feel the same, read on because the rest of the piece is about the latter inspiration.

Users cannot ask for something they cannot conceive of. The iPod was not invented because a user asked for it.

This does not reflect badly on the user, but it does reflect on our ability to understand the user. Get to the root of the users’ suggestion (do not accept it at face value)... often times it will lead to something much more radical and relevant like the iPod (I wish:).

Experts say that we have moved from the knowledge economy to the experience economy. This means that every little word, graphic, animation, line, tone influences the user’s experience. The litmus test of whether is design works – Check if it meets the user’s true intended message and not the one that the user communicated to you.

So how do you do this? Put yourself in the user’s shoes, ask questions, role play, observe the user and then keep focusing on the user even as you design. Resist the temptation to highlight what you think is great about the product. Remember when a user says, “I don’t think I can use this feature,” the user may actually mean, “I have no clue what to do with it.” So set context–Context setting is overrated and underrated at the same time–I guess we do it, but we don’t do it right all the time.
Also, I try to keep these points in mind during the design phase:
· Provide intuitive and task-based content based on sound learning principles. Focus on what the user might want to do with the product. Also, the user should actually learn without trying too hard.
· Add motivation through progression path and other means. In other words, give people a sense of accomplishment for figuring out the solution themselves
· Maintain modularity, extendibility of content.
· Customize within limits of cost and localization
Typically, learning materials need to be generic to take care of budgets and localization. Consider customizing content to some extent based on the key features of the product– maintain a fine balance between leveraged content and customized/customizable content. The tasks the user can accomplish using the product hold the key. Identify such tasks for every product and use them to give a customized feel to the help files.
· Add relevant visuals and games that aid learning and not distraction
· Provide non-linear access to information with tips, super tools, intuitive troubleshooting pop-ups

In fact, I can summarize all of the above into five points. It almost sounds like a lyrical jingle to me. If someone is ready to set it to a tune, I would be game.
Use a wee bit of instruction,
Add a lot of motivation,
Allow for great navigation,
Now, how about some smart games and sims,
And oh, doing away with visuals is a cardinal sin.
(Repeat in chorus)

And more that anything else, keep the content simple and fun and you will have a happy user!

Here’s a great example I found in the Kathy’s blog: http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/07/usability_throu.html

Now, get out of this web page and go to Kathy’s.

Of Beginnings and Other Matters

--A Not-So-Essential Deconstruction of the ID Track Construction

A regular day at work finds me playing the role of an ID. Cut to a different scenario–that of creating in-house training material–now that’s where a seemingly simple role expanded to include that of a client, an SME, and an instructor, besides of course that of a writer, reviewer, and an ID.

But hey, you must be thinking of the first thing we are taught to think of as writers–‘What’s in it (this article) for me?’– A rather polite way of saying ‘Why in heaven’s name should this matter to me?’

All right, I will cut to the chase and tell you what does and doesn’t matter.
Yes, I reviewed a few courses, I worked with an external vendor over another, I will work as an instructor for a few courses–my story is as simple as that.

So, what does matter? The fact that one actually learns a lot in the process of teaching matters. The fact that the company I work for is keen to invest in employee growth matters a great deal too. The fact that e-learning stalwarts like Punam Medh were involved in giving this project shape makes a whole lot of difference too.

And, what else matters? Creating 14 courses for the first ID track–each course ranging from a modest 2 hours to a whopping 20 hours–a humongous effort that sounded just a little farfetched, just a tad too ambitious to begin with is now approaching its final stages. A vision of a virtual, actually a real ID university, where employees learn and grow even as they work is something that drove every one of us. The vision and the effort made to fruition matter.

So, for posterity’s sake, here’s a quick account of the people and some initial efforts which will pretty much fade into the horizon as things move on to the next level. Let’s start at the beginning. It all began with the Training Director's entry to Lionbridge. Actually, it began even before with the GM’s vision of a fresher-to-guru path where learning goes hand-in-hand with growth. Then came Reshma Kotwal, the former SDD for the Writing team, who created the road map and defined the first track. After that, over cups of tea or coffee based on required the caffeine dose, Preeti B., Vidya G., Reshma K., Renuka G., and I defined it further and worked on taking it ahead. For professional IDs, we were quite a motley mix–Preeti B. would scuttle in and out of meetings in between her numerous training sessions, Vidya G. would be exploring the internal newsletter angle for cross promotion and ideas, Reshma K. would pretty much come up with all the best ideas for us to nod in unison, Renuka G. would join in by phone to add the ‘remote’ to effective teamwork, and I would tear myself away from project work simply to bask in some superlative ID brain waves.

Among us and the rest of the people who worked on the first track, we have tried to keep the fun in learning, tried to make the courses less didactic and more engaging, and yes, we had a lot of fun ourselves. But, the day I am looking forward to is one when this article and the rest in its league are relegated to the background in favor of new ones heralding the release of the second track. Wishful thinking! That’s what we thought the first time too.

E-Teaching

As Instructional Designers, a typical question we get asked is how can you possibly teach a subject you barely know? My answer (depending on who is asking the question) varies from a staid ‘The SME knows the subject and I know the medium’ to a provocative ‘Instructional Design is actually a science that includes methods to decipher and present alien content.’

The point is that designing and writing for e-learning requires an Instructional Designer to deal with a variety of subjects. The ingenious Instructional Designer is required to sift through realms of information to actually create a structure that works. Finally, the ensuing product should not just COMMUNICATE but also TEACH the audience in question.

So, who is this audience? The audience could be eager children, who are conveniently categorized in the K-12 segment. At other times, we design to help a teacher teach. But often times, in case of adult learning, we are desperately trying to teach people who don’t really want to learn.

Does this mean that we have a tougher job than real-time teachers? Not really! We don’t have to contend with different personalities in a classroom setup. But, at the same time, we need to keep the virtual students engaged from the time they begin the course to the time they successfully complete their assessments. This, in fact, is the crux of effective instructional design.

As a child goes back home thinking about a nice game that helped him or her learn about addition or as a production manager drives back home happy at having finally cracked the principles of financial management, I know that they will not thank the virtual teacher behind what they learnt. But, I do know that we, in some small way, are helping in making learning more accessible, more cost-effective, and yes much more funJ
So, when caught in realms of alien-sounding content, just think about what you want to say to the person who will view the course, and there you will have your answer.