April/May 2005

Volume 45, Number 5

Tips from the Trenches

by Deb Lockwood

Blogs seem to be all rage these days. Although blogs—as a recognized standard of communication—are still in their infancy, they are now ubiquitous.

For anyone who doesn't know, a blog (short for weblog) is a "personal journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or reflect the purpose of the Web site that hosts the blog. The essential characteristics of the blog are its journal form, typically a new entry each day, and its informal style." (courtesy www.whatis.com)

Because of the popularity of blogs and the prevalence of the word in recent conversations I've had with people, I was curious to see what technical communicators had to say in this community. Therefore, I went on a search for blogs that were about technical communication. I found several, and have listed them here.

My list is by no means fully inclusive of the blogs that are available on the Web, but it is indicative of the technical communication blogger community. I've listed these blogs in alphabetical order by page title. Editor's Note: The following links were active at the time this issue of Technicalities was published.

• Bob Caron's Blog: Technical Writing http://blogs.msdn.com/robcaron/archive/category/5241.aspx
• Creative Tech Writer http://www.creativetechwriter.com/
• Document Hack: A Technical Writer's Journal http://www.poewar.com/archives/category/about-writing/technical-writing/
• Epic Trends http://www.epictrends.com/usability-technical-writing-copywriting-multimedia/index.shtml
• Guys Blog Some Thoughts on Communication http://swexegete.typepad.com/GuysBlog/technical_communication/
• IDblog: An Information Design Web Log http://www.idblog.org/
• Idiotprogrammer http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/weblogs/idiotprogrammer/index.php?cat=28
• Keyboard Hack http://inkywretch.typepad.com/keyboard_hack/
• Rick Henkel - FrameMaker Stuff http://frameuser.blogspot.com/
• Ryan Moore's Weblog http://www.rymoore.com/weblog/
• Scott on Writing http://scottonwriting.com/sowblog/
• Software Documentation Weblog http://weblogs.goshaky.com/weblogs/page/lars
• Technical Writing Blog http://techwriting.blogdrive.com/
• Technical Writing Blog http://www.aztec-it.com.au/twblog/
• Technical Writing Resources http://technicalwriting.blogspot.com/
• Usable Help http://www.g2meyer.com/usablehelp/
• Will Kelly http://willkelly.typepad.com/will_kelly/
• Wing Group's Technical Writing Blog http://www.wing-group.com/blog.asp
• Writer's Blog http://www.writerswrite.com/writersblog/
• Writers India Blog on Tech Writing http://tw-india.blogspot.com/

Finally, for a list of blogs that are written by all varieties of published authors, go to Author Blogs at About.com. http://weblogs.about.com/od/authorblogs/

If you have any personal-favorite technical communications blogs that don't appear in my list, please send me an e-mail message at deb_lockwood@csgsystems.com. I'll include yours in our next edition.