While I was traveling to California on AirTran, I read their GO magazine. In the magazine was an article about using their online comunity to design t-shirts that they sell for $12 to $25. They have on-going design contests where the winners receive $2000 prize and the company gets the design.
Have you ever heard of the term "crowdsourcing"? It comes from Jeff Howe from Wired magazine. The term describes "using an open-call model where a web-based community replaces work done by a small group of professionals." This is the ultimate use of Web 2.0, in my opinion.
Could we use this sort of thing to design usable websites or Help or other technical communication products? Here are four of the company's commandments:
1- Allow users to help create your content. Whatever the project, let your users help make it better. (Usability anyone?)
2- Make sure your project is in the hands of the community. Listen to what the members of your community have to say and make them part of your company.
3- Let your community grow itself. Nurture the community and give them the tools to spread the word.
4- Reward the community that makes your project possible. They started with prize money of $50 for winning designs and now they pay $2000.
What do you think?
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
T-COMmons Event
As a member of the Technical Communication Advisory Board (TCAB) for SPSU, I felt it important to post this. Hope to see you there.
Looking to broaden your network of technical communication peers?
Want to socialize with other SPSU students? Want to connect with alumni and other professionals?
You need to attend the T-COMmons Summer Meet and Greet!
WHAT: T-COMmons Summer Meet and Greet
WHERE: Delkwood Grill, 2769 Delk Road, SE, Marietta, Georgia
WHEN: Thursday, June 21, 2007, 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. Come mingle with other technical communication professionals, students, and supporters.
Order off Delkwood Grill’s menu of Americana food and learn more about the T-COMmons community. Information available on www.tcommons.org/events.htm or email events@tcommons.org for more details.
Looking to broaden your network of technical communication peers?
Want to socialize with other SPSU students? Want to connect with alumni and other professionals?
You need to attend the T-COMmons Summer Meet and Greet!
WHAT: T-COMmons Summer Meet and Greet
WHERE: Delkwood Grill, 2769 Delk Road, SE, Marietta, Georgia
WHEN: Thursday, June 21, 2007, 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. Come mingle with other technical communication professionals, students, and supporters.
Order off Delkwood Grill’s menu of Americana food and learn more about the T-COMmons community. Information available on www.tcommons.org/events.htm or email events@tcommons.org for more details.
Thanks, Carol!
Dr. Carol Barnum of Southern Polytechnic State University sent me an email recently that she was unable to comment on this blog because she didn't have a Gmail account. I had inadvertently set up commenting for logged in members only.
I have since changed that and opened commenting to one and all. So please comment.
I have since changed that and opened commenting to one and all. So please comment.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Pardon the lack of posts
I just wanted to mention the reason for my lack of posts over the past week or so. I was on vacation taking my grandson out to California.
My daughter, Robin Rainwater (whom many of you know is a technical communicator), is working remotely for the summer from California. (Not many companies would allow that, but Robin's company, ECS of Woodstock, GA, is allowing her to do just that.) Her husband, Jeremy, re-enlisted in the Marine Corps and is stationed at Twentynine Palms, CA. In October, he is being deployed to Iraq for six months, so Robin doesn't want to move to California yet. So she drove out a few weeks ago and we flew with her son, Ansel, (our grandson) to bring him out for the summer. At the end of August, Robin and Ansel will return to live with us until Jeremy returns from Iraq.
I don't know if any of you have traveled with an 8 year old, but I didn't have much time to spend blogging. So I apologize for that. I am very glad there are people like Jeremy willing to defend this country we live in!
I should be back on schedule now.
My daughter, Robin Rainwater (whom many of you know is a technical communicator), is working remotely for the summer from California. (Not many companies would allow that, but Robin's company, ECS of Woodstock, GA, is allowing her to do just that.) Her husband, Jeremy, re-enlisted in the Marine Corps and is stationed at Twentynine Palms, CA. In October, he is being deployed to Iraq for six months, so Robin doesn't want to move to California yet. So she drove out a few weeks ago and we flew with her son, Ansel, (our grandson) to bring him out for the summer. At the end of August, Robin and Ansel will return to live with us until Jeremy returns from Iraq.
I don't know if any of you have traveled with an 8 year old, but I didn't have much time to spend blogging. So I apologize for that. I am very glad there are people like Jeremy willing to defend this country we live in!
I should be back on schedule now.
STC Atlanta Community Service Project
On Saturday, June 16, led by our Community Service Manager, Julie Brock, approximately 12 members of STC Atlanta donated their time to helping sort and box up surplus medical supplies at MedShare International.
Check out the pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8482243@N08/sets/72157600392844721/
According to Sarah Jacobson with MedShare, the US medical establishment throws away about 5 tons of good medical supplies every day. So MedShare accepts donations of the good medical supplies and uses volunteers to sort and box for shipment to needy hospitals and medical facilities around the world. When she gave us the tour before we started on our project, she showed us a truckload of box medical supplies that are being shipped to Kenya. See the MedShare website: http://www.medshare.org/.
It was a fun day and a learning experience. I was a paramedic in a previous part of my life and never thought anything about taking off gloves and throwing them away, only to have to re-glove a moment later. Sarah told us stories about the lack of simple things like gloves in some developing areas of the world. Some of the things I sorted were, gloves, Foley catheters, medical blades, drapes, saline for flushing various medical tubes, and on and on. I would like to do this again.
Thank you, Julie, for this wonderful opportunity for making a contribution to the betterment of the world. As STC members we should always be willing to help those in need.
Check out the pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8482243@N08/sets/72157600392844721/
According to Sarah Jacobson with MedShare, the US medical establishment throws away about 5 tons of good medical supplies every day. So MedShare accepts donations of the good medical supplies and uses volunteers to sort and box for shipment to needy hospitals and medical facilities around the world. When she gave us the tour before we started on our project, she showed us a truckload of box medical supplies that are being shipped to Kenya. See the MedShare website: http://www.medshare.org/.
It was a fun day and a learning experience. I was a paramedic in a previous part of my life and never thought anything about taking off gloves and throwing them away, only to have to re-glove a moment later. Sarah told us stories about the lack of simple things like gloves in some developing areas of the world. Some of the things I sorted were, gloves, Foley catheters, medical blades, drapes, saline for flushing various medical tubes, and on and on. I would like to do this again.
Thank you, Julie, for this wonderful opportunity for making a contribution to the betterment of the world. As STC members we should always be willing to help those in need.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
The Demise of Technical Writing?
What do you think about this article by Jared Spool? http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/05/16/where-did-technical-writing-go/. I like Michael Hughes' comment.
Tell me what you think.
Tell me what you think.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Getting down to business
Last evening the new officers of STC Atlanta met to set goals, brainstorm about the coming year, and plan for the coming year. We met over pizza and beer in Alpharetta and it was a pleasant time. Present were Howard Speck, Robert Armstrong, Leigh Richardson, and Jeff Albers. Holly Harkness had a prior commitment.
We are the officers who have been elected to serve you this year and we are going to do our best to make this an exciting and eventful year.
Before I forget, I would like to remind you of Michelle Schoen's podcasts at http://mschoen.libsyn.com/index.php?post_category=podcasts. One of her podcasts was picked up and linked by Tom Johnson at Tech Writer Voices, a podcast site with a lot of interesting information pertinent to technical communicators. Tom's site is at http://techwritervoices.com/. He has recorded a podcast from the Suncoast chapter meeting about Microsoft's new Vista operating system. He linked to Michelle's podcast of Rob Houser's presentation at the last STC Atlanta meeting.
I think this is a great thing. This is the sort of thing that all STC chapters should be doing. Every chapter has interesting meetings, presentations, and members and we should share this information. Kudos to Michelle for providing her podcasts! Look for her podcasts to be posted on the STC Atlanta website as soon as our new webmaster, Kevin Hayes has a chance to get it set up.
Back to our meeting, we discussed many topics like the possibility of rotating meetings to different areas of Atlanta. We will definitely be having at least one meeting at Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) sometime during the year. We are considering other locations. Tell me what you think. Post your comments below.
We are the officers who have been elected to serve you this year and we are going to do our best to make this an exciting and eventful year.
Before I forget, I would like to remind you of Michelle Schoen's podcasts at http://mschoen.libsyn.com/index.php?post_category=podcasts. One of her podcasts was picked up and linked by Tom Johnson at Tech Writer Voices, a podcast site with a lot of interesting information pertinent to technical communicators. Tom's site is at http://techwritervoices.com/. He has recorded a podcast from the Suncoast chapter meeting about Microsoft's new Vista operating system. He linked to Michelle's podcast of Rob Houser's presentation at the last STC Atlanta meeting.
I think this is a great thing. This is the sort of thing that all STC chapters should be doing. Every chapter has interesting meetings, presentations, and members and we should share this information. Kudos to Michelle for providing her podcasts! Look for her podcasts to be posted on the STC Atlanta website as soon as our new webmaster, Kevin Hayes has a chance to get it set up.
Back to our meeting, we discussed many topics like the possibility of rotating meetings to different areas of Atlanta. We will definitely be having at least one meeting at Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) sometime during the year. We are considering other locations. Tell me what you think. Post your comments below.
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