The Cherryleaf Podcast
Cherryleaf Ltd.’s podcast on becoming a better technical and business communicator. www.cherryleaf.com
Listen on:
Episodes
Tuesday Feb 13, 2018
Tuesday Feb 13, 2018
We look at using sequential art/comics/graphic novels in business. We discuss:
What is a comic?
Examples of comics used in a business context
Why use a comic?
Tools and resources you can use if you have no drawing skills
How to structure the story
Links:
Google on Google Chrome - comic book
Kubernetes, powered by Google Cloud comic
Scott McCloud: The visual magic of comics | TED Talk
COMICS WITH PROBLEMS
Will Eisner's M-16 Rifle Manual
The Content Twins (content strategy graphic novel)
The DITA Man (the business benefits of DITA graphic novel)
The CEO and the technical communicator (making the business case for technical documentation graphic novel)
Tools:
Comic Life Magic
Google Storyboard
Adobe e-Learning Assets
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Cherryleaf creates instructional content that helps people use a product or complete a task. It can stop them getting stuck, frustrated and making mistakes. See the Cherryleaf website for more information.
Monday Jan 29, 2018
Monday Jan 29, 2018
We look at one way the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC) used to promote technical communication at the University of Cambridge's Careers fair.
Lego TIE Striker™ Microfighter
Video - What is technical communication?
ISTC
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Cherryleaf website
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Saturday Jan 13, 2018
Saturday Jan 13, 2018
We look at the equipment you can use for creating elearning content.
Zoom H6 recorder
Camtasia
Captivate
Mimic
Cherryleaf training courses
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Wednesday Dec 27, 2017
Wednesday Dec 27, 2017
We look at delivering technical documentation via an API.
Weather API
Bing Ads Content API
The Guardian API
BBC APIs
Scriptorium - Cancer staging information podcast
ReadtheDocs Embed API
MindTouch API
FontoXML Launch API
Forestry.io API
GatherContent API
Paligo API
AI and chatbots in technical communication - A primer
Alexa Skills
Cherryleaf
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Monday Dec 11, 2017
Monday Dec 11, 2017
It’s not quite 2018 yet, but here are our predictions for technical communication in 2018 and beyond. We also look back at the predictions we made for 2017.
Predictions for technical communication in 2017 and beyond
Five predictions for technical communication in 2016 and beyond
Docs Like Code - Interview with Anne Gentle
Every Page is Page One - Interview with Mark Baker at UAEurope 2017
Cherryleaf website
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Flickr image by byronv2
Tuesday Nov 28, 2017
Tuesday Nov 28, 2017
We look at the tools used by technical communicators for editing and reviewing content.
Cherryleaf Revising and Editing Content course
Restrict or permit formatting changes in Word 2016
Acrobat DC
Hosting shared reviews on SharePoint or Office 365 sites
Hosting a Shared Review: An Alternative to Acrobat.com
Authorea
CriticMarkup
Hypothesis
FontoXML
MadCap Contributor
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Tuesday Nov 14, 2017
Tuesday Nov 14, 2017
We look at the pros and cons of using the DITA standard, and the alternatives.
Every Page is Page One - Interview with Mark Baker at UAEurope 2017
Interview with Tony Self - UAEurope 17
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Monday Oct 30, 2017
Monday Oct 30, 2017
We look at some of the best books to read on technical writing.
Single Sourcing, Kurt Ament
Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto
Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel, John Carroll
Lean for Practitioners, Mark Eaton
Managing Your Documentation Projects, JoAnn Hackos
Information Development, JoAnn Hackos
Modern Technical Writing, Andrew Etter
Docs Like Code, Anne Gentle
Current Practices and Trends in Technical and Professional Communication, Stephen Crabbe
The Language of Technical Communication, Ray Gallon
The Language of Content Srategy, Rahel Bailie
Every Page is Page One, Mark Baker
Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, Al Sweigart
Don't Make me Think, Steve Krug
Rocket Surgery Made Easy, Steve Krug
Content Strategy: Connecting the Dots Between Business, Brand, and Benefits, Rahel Bailie and Noz Urbina
Content Design, Sarah Richards
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Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Advice on writing a CV for Technical Author vacancies.
Links:
Europass
Cherryleaf - how to register as a candidate
Top 25 Content Experience Influencers 2017
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Monday Oct 02, 2017
Monday Oct 02, 2017
We explore these questions from listeners:
What’s your opinion of Zendesk and Mindtouch? Someone in our company thinks it might be a good idea to explore the idea of moving our Help content – have you heard of anyone doing this and then using it in a way of single sourcing etc?
Our boss wants us to consider the idea of merging our Help content and our “Knowledge base” which is like articles/support troubleshooting etc. Whether this is our content going into the knowledge base or vice versa, we’re not sure in terms of direction. Do you have any opinions on merging article-based content like this into a Help Authoring tool or Help content into a “normal” website like that?
Links
Just-In-Time Documentation: A Practical Guide to Agile Documentation
AI and chatbots in technical communication - A primer
Cherryleaf
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