ITauthor

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The voices in this podcast belong to: Graham Campbell and Alistair Christie.

This extremely ad hoc podcast (we didn't plan to do one, but Graham suggest it and offered to buy me lunch, so it seemed like a good idea), was recorded in the food court at East Kilbride shopping centre. The photo shows Graham in the queue at the salad bar, trying to avoid being in the picture.

We talk about what we've been doing since our last podcast. Topics include:

• ISTC Conference 2008
• UA Europe Conference 2008
• Is is worth going to tech writer conferences? What do you get out of it?
• Why are people still talking so much about DITA?
• Geoffrey Pullum and Grammar Nazism
• "supercede" or "supersede"?
• Roadmap announced for a DITA version of Flare
• Benefits to customers and technical writers of hosted Web help

Recommended Web site: Language Log

Recommended podcast: Napoleon 101 Podcast

Get in touch!

I’d love to know who’s listening, where you are and what you think of the podcast, so contact me at:
comments==AT==itauthor==DOT==com

Or just let me know you’ve listened in by putting a pin in the ITauthor map at:
http://www.frappr.com/itauthor

The music I play at the beginning and end of the show is by Amplifico. You can hear more of their music at Podshow.

Subscribe to the podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/itauthor

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I wanted to find out how people of different generations use computers, what they use their computers for, how they use them and what they feel about computers and software generally. So who better to ask than three generations of women from my family.

In this, the first of a series of three podcasts, I talk to my mum, Margo Christie about why she decided - quite recently - to buy herself a laptop. She describes how she learned to use a computer and what she uses it for now.

The books mentioned in the recording are:

• Easy PC: How to Use Your First Computer by Kenneth Mole
• The Internet for the Older Generation by Jim Gatenby

Get in touch!

I’d love to know who’s listening, where you are and what you think of the podcast, so contact me at:
comments==AT==itauthor==DOT==com

Or just let me know you’ve listened in by putting a pin in the ITauthor map at:
http://www.frappr.com/itauthor

The music I play at the beginning and end of the show is by Amplifico. You can hear more of their music at Podshow.

Subscribe to the podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/itauthor

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Graham Campbell talks to attendees at this year’s ISTC (Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators) Conference in Nottingham.

First, Graham talks to Mike Hamilton from MadCap Software about recent and future software releases and some of the new features and improvements in Flare 4.

Andrew Jackson of Pacific Blue Solutions gave a presentation on information mapping. He gives an overview of what information mapping is all about, why it’s relevant for technical writers and how you go about learning how to use information mapping.

In the final segment of the podcast, Graham gets “an assorted bunch of tech authors” (John, Chris, Katja and Paul) to share their thoughts about the conference and to discuss technical authoring in general.

Get in touch!

I’d love to know who’s listening, where you are and what you think of the podcast, so contact me at:
comments==AT==itauthor==DOT==com

Or just let me know you’ve listened in by putting a pin in the ITauthor map at:
http://www.frappr.com/itauthor

The music I play at the beginning and end of the show is by Amplifico. You can hear more of their music at Podshow.

Subscribe to the podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/itauthor

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Recorded at the UA Conference Europe 2008.

I talk to Mike Hamilton from Madcap Software about the newly released version 4 of Flare. He describes a lot of the new features and explains the relationship between Flare and Blaze. Mike also mentions the work currently underway at Madcap to produce a DITA version of Flare.

Get in touch!

I’d love to know who’s listening, where you are and what you think of the podcast, so contact me at:
comments==AT==itauthor==DOT==com

Or just let me know you’ve listened in by putting a pin in the ITauthor map at:
http://www.frappr.com/itauthor

The music I play at the beginning and end of the show is by Amplifico. You can hear more of their music at Podshow.

Subscribe to the podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/itauthor

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

A lack of meeting rooms forced Graham and I to adjourn to the pub to record this podcast (shame). In between munching on burgers and chips and sipping on beer, we talk about Google’s new Web browser, Chrome, and the newly released Flare 4 from MadCap.

Writing tips

1. Copying and pasting formatting in Microsoft Word.

   Select some text that has the formatting you want to copy.

   Press Ctrl + Shift + c.

   Select the text you want to apply the formatting to.

   Press Ctrl + Shift + v.

2. Keyboard shortcut to choose a style in Flare 4.

   Press Ctrl + h to bring up a style popup while you are editing text.

Application recommendations

Windows Live Writer

Podcast recommendations

The Definitive Word
Includes liberal use of the f word. Is that the definitive word?

Get in touch!

I’d love to know who’s listening, where you are and what you think of the podcast, so contact me at:
comments==AT==itauthor==DOT==com

Or just let me know you’ve listened in by putting a pin in the ITauthor map at:
http://www.frappr.com/itauthor

The music I play at the beginning and end of the show is by Amplifico. You can hear more of their music at Podshow.

Subscribe to the podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/itauthor