Today WebWorks released a new addition to its whitepaper library. Beyond Technical Communication is an inside, analytical look into the contributions a Technical Writer can make to maximize the customer experience while at the same time minimize associative costs. Click Here to read the latest WebWorks whitepaper.
Archive for the ‘White Paper’ Category
Whitepaper Series Completed: Let us know what you think!
WebWorks has completed their 3 part whitepaper series titled “The Evolution of Online Help.” Since its release, this whitepaper series received great feedback from the technical writing community.
We’ve prepared a short two-question survey based on your technical writing role. We’ll release the results once we have everyone’s responses.
We want to hear from you!
Comment on this blog post and let us know what you thought about this whitepaper series. Do you agree or disagree? What do you think the future holds for technical writers?
Parcel Publishing in an Agile World – New white paper available.
Traditional publishing tools have a single pipeline that moves the source content to the deliverable format. In most cases this means that once a system has been defined, it becomes locked and can only be used for that specific route. Adding new output formats or making adjustments to meet new requirements means starting from scratch and developing parallel processes. This effect is magnified in tools and processes that combine the content authoring and publishing in one environment.
Good security is not about patching holes..
Back in January, I posted a piece on this blog asking the question “Is Your Online Help A Security Risk?” The post was the result of our own recent experiences that lead to us issuing a security advisory for WebWorks Help 5.
During the course of our investigations we came to believe that this was an issue that should be discussed more openly. In particular we felt an obligation to help raise awareness of how and why you need to look at your Online Help as a potential security risk. (more…)
WIKI Publishing White Paper – now available in eBook format.
Last week we officially announced the publication of our newest white paper “WHY USE A WIKI? – An Introduction to the Latest Online Publishing Format.”
For the first week we only offered the paper to people who requested a copy directly after seeing the announcements on various sites such as Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn etc., as well as through the wwp-users group.
From various conversations over the last twelve months or so, I knew that interest in using wikis for delivering online content was high, but I never expected the response that the announcement of the paper generated. I spent a significant amount of my time last week just sending out PDF copies of the wiki white paper.
How to get people to use a wiki? – Invite them to a party.
Yesterday evening I was putting the finishing touches to my upcoming white paper on the use of wikis as an online publishing format, and was thinking back about the techniques we used here at WebWorks to make the use of our internal wiki such a success.
Here’s what I wrote in the white paper:
While the main focus of the wiki may be technical, you can speed acceptance by seeding the wiki with other topics that may have a broader appeal. For instance one of the things we use the wiki for at WebWorks is organizing the company Christmas Party!
Riding the Wiki Bus
If anyone’s heard me do a presentation over the last twelve months, you know I can’t get through one without using the word “WIKI.”
I’ll admit I’ve become a big proponent of wikis, and the possibilities they offer for a more intelligent and targeted delivery of information in a way that doesn’t just project information to the end-user; but actually engages them in a bi-directional exchange of knowledge.
I’m currently doing a fair amount of background reading on various aspects of wiki technology and the use of wikis for an upcoming white paper on Wiki Publishing.
What I hadn’t thought about until I started the research is why this open editing web based publishing environment is actually called a wiki. I had heard that it was an acronym for “What I Know Is.” But it turns out that this is more accurately a backronym.
Wiki doesn’t stand for anything.
“Wiki” is the Hawaiian word for “fast.”
The story goes that Ward Cunnigham, the creator of the first wiki site , installed in 1995, was looking for a name that reflected how quick it was to set up a his new style of website and remembered a counter clerk at Honolulu International Airport telling him to use the “wiki-wiki” shuttle bus.
Wiki Wiki Shuttle Bus at Honolulu Airport
Well this is one bus ride I, and the rest of the WebWorks team, is committed to. Hop on board and join us – they’ll be some interesting stops over the coming months.
DITA Publishing – "Free or Not To Free"
I just came across this great post entitled DITA Backlash? on Anne Rockley’s excellent blog. In the post Anne makes an excellent point.
Free tools are not always the best tools – output
Your job is to produce user guides, help systems, training material, etc. It is not merely to produce topics. The tools you use to create PDF and CHM files is as important as the authoring tool you use.
This paragraph had a particular resonance for me as I’ve not long finished authoring a white paper on just this very subject. The paper, “DITA PUBLISHING: The true costs of taking your DITA content online”, is scheduled to be released at the upcoming CMS/DITA Conference in Santa Clara in April, but if any readers of this blog would like an advance copy, just drop me an email (aporter@webworks.com) and I’d be happy to send it your way.
