Infographics are hot right now. Yet I think that most of them aren't nearly as effective as their creators expect them to be. What needs to be done? And what's the future for this form of communication?

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I've observed that most professionals, be they hockey players or technical writers, do their best work when they feel comfortable in their surroundings. That might mean having a well-lit office, a well-organized work space....Or clam chowder and baked beans.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture's new MyPlate graphic sure looks familiar -- and it's proof that a good content strategy is delicious and nutritious.

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I love cheesy science fiction. I don't mean cheesy in the way MST3K deals with sci-fi, but in the older B films that were prevalent when I was growing up. In fact, I was tickled to find that I could stream some sci-fi serials from the '40s, so over the weekend I decided to watch the serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. Fo...

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A couple weeks ago, my youngest son texted me asking if it was difficult to make a living as a writer. He didn't ask what kind of writer, but regardless my answer would not have changed. It was one word, "Very". At this point, you're probably looking at me as if I had two heads, so I'll explain what I mean. I started in this business be...

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DITA 101 Second Edition ISBN 978-0-557-69600-0 Ann Rockley, Steve Manning, and Charles Cooper with Mark Lewis The Rockley Group Copyright 2009 - 2010 Over the weekend, I read this book. That says a lot. One: this book is a very easy read. Two: it's written well and kept me reading so I could do it in a very short time. Not many technical bo...

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Around this time last year, in the run-up to the STC Summit conference, I asked a lot of questions about how two trends, Web 2.0 and agile, were affecting the technical communication profession. After a year of conversation we're learning to turn challenges into opportunities.

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