Ruminations on our relationship with technology
Another way to think about UX design and content Another article of mine was published in Vanguard UX, which houses some of the latest thinking on user experience. For anyone not familiar with this profession, I thought I’d take the opportunity to briefly define what we mean by the term “user experience” (abbreviated UX), including … Read more
Preventing human error with better designed technology Recently, I moved to a new apartment with a gas stove in the kitchen. The stove works great, but whenever I use it, I almost always make the same mistake. I turn on the wrong burner. The problem I have is that I can’t tell immediately which control … Read more
What technical communicators do (and what they don’t do) Quite often, I find that technical communication is a misunderstood profession. For some reason, people might think it means writing long, complicated documents about technology or highly technical knowledge. But that’s precisely what technical communicators do NOT do. Quite the opposite. In fact, technical communicators, such … Read more
User-friendly technology vs. the bed of procrustes In ancient Greek mythology, there was a famous, if not infamous, figure by the name of Procrustes. He was a criminal who tortured people by forcing them to fit into an uncomfortable iron bed that he designed. If his victims were too short for the bed, he’d stretch … Read more
From technical writing to humanistic technical writing Over my years as a technical writer, I’ve learned that technical communication is sometimes a misunderstood profession. Occasionally, I meet people who think technical writers are professionals who write long, complicated documents about science and technology. Actually, I tell them, technical communication is practically the opposite. In truth, … Read more
What technical writing is (and what it isn’t) When I mention that technical writing and editing are part of what I do for a living, I occasionally hear this reaction: “Oh God, technical writing? Writing long, complicated documents sounds awful!” In fact, I very much agree. Writing long, complicated documents does sound awful. But that’s … Read more