Key Concept Archive

For more information about how our library science background (and our love of all things metadata) guides the way we catalog information, see the Techcomm and Arbortext Resources page.

The Interplay of UX and Technical Communication

User experience includes every interaction people have with a company and its products…from opening the box to using the product. When using an app to interact with a product, the visual and written content must work together seamlessly to deliver a simple and delightful experience. In this presentation, we’ll learn…

Leading a Content Strategy in Small to Medium Enterprises

Convincing the administration in a small-medium business is just as hard as for the bigger businesses. You need a strong case, but how do you get through? You will after this session. You will learn what is the lean approach. You will learn how to see signs your company is…

How to use root-cause analysis to promote information supply chain methodologies

If your documentation process is implicated in a customer quality incident (CQI), Congratulations! You have the platform needed to shine a light on the problems you’ve been escalating for years. In this presentation, Seth Park will argue that errors in documentation are actually symptoms of underlying data flow issues. If…

Conference notes from: World IA Day 2016

Last month I went to World IA Day 2016 in Seattle. I’m based in San Francisco, which also hosted World IA Day event, but every now and again it’s good to get out of your little corner of the world and see what is going on elsewhere. I have a very…

Using Controlled Language to Improve Reuse and Global Readiness

Mindful and enlightened TCs working in a CMS environment maximize re-use and create global-ready content that meets their audiences’ needs while reducing costs and improving efficiency. Controlled Language, implemented correctly, can help you achieve these goals. However, many companies implement Simplified Technical English or other controlled language initiatives, but struggle…

Information Architecture Bottom-Up

The advent of electronic media and particularly the Web has profoundly changed how people seek and use information. Information seeking today is dominated by search, and not by search of individual works, but search of the whole: whole sites, whole doc sets, and, in particular, the whole Web. With search,…

Unhappy Customers are Just the Beginning: Potential Costs of Skimping on Documentation

A perennial question in the technical communication community is how to justify our work in financial terms that management will understand. One partial answer is to consider potential consequences of putting insufficient resources into technical documentation. What happens if the material is poorly written, or not written at all? Consequences…

To DITA or Not To DITA: How to Choose?

To DITA or Not To DITA? That is the question. DITA isn’t the right answer for every situation. In this session we’ll discuss the differences between the two doctypes to give you a foundation to decide between them. Janice Summers, Single-Sourcing Solutions, specializes in helping people who’ve only ever used…