Comments on: The Technical Communicator Getting Involved in User Forums http://www.gryphonmountain.net/2008/06/the-technical-communicator-getting-involved-in-user-forums/ Technical Communication and Other Writing Topics (by Ben Minson) Mon, 6 Sep 2010 20:49:16 -0500 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Bettina http://www.gryphonmountain.net/2008/06/the-technical-communicator-getting-involved-in-user-forums/comment-page-1/#comment-1572 Bettina Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:46:01 +0000 http://www.gryphonmountain.net/?p=67#comment-1572 Hi, I think this is a must for any writer, customer support rep, or marketer of any manufacturer or software vendor to keep an open ear for the users and be active in all sorts of communities - online or offline. I do marketing for PTC's Arbortext IsoDraw (formerly ITEDO) - unfortunately, there are not many places on the Web where you can meet technical illustrators :-( Besides, there are regional differences - while North America is very active in online media use, Germany is - well, not far behind, but has just started catching up ;-) Hi, I think this is a must for any writer, customer support rep, or marketer of any manufacturer or software vendor to keep an open ear for the users and be active in all sorts of communities – online or offline. I do marketing for PTC’s Arbortext IsoDraw (formerly ITEDO) – unfortunately, there are not many places on the Web where you can meet technical illustrators :-( Besides, there are regional differences – while North America is very active in online media use, Germany is – well, not far behind, but has just started catching up ;-)

]]> By: Gordon http://www.gryphonmountain.net/2008/06/the-technical-communicator-getting-involved-in-user-forums/comment-page-1/#comment-340 Gordon Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:06:49 +0000 http://www.gryphonmountain.net/?p=67#comment-340 Completely agree that technical writers/communicators... whatever... should be part of company/product forums. I believe this so strongly I'm setting ours up as we speak! We down play our role a lot of the time but the simple fact is that we have a unique view of a product, understanding the market it is being sold into, the people who will be using it, as well as how to use it and what some of the pitfalls may be. NO-ONE else in a software company has that view. In recent emails with Anne Gentle, we've realised that, using the term from The Tipping Point, technical communicators are Mavens. A forum is one place where a Maven can have a big impact. Completely agree that technical writers/communicators… whatever… should be part of company/product forums. I believe this so strongly I’m setting ours up as we speak!

We down play our role a lot of the time but the simple fact is that we have a unique view of a product, understanding the market it is being sold into, the people who will be using it, as well as how to use it and what some of the pitfalls may be. NO-ONE else in a software company has that view.

In recent emails with Anne Gentle, we’ve realised that, using the term from The Tipping Point, technical communicators are Mavens. A forum is one place where a Maven can have a big impact.

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