10-minute Tech Comm

Julio Vazquez is a Senior Digital Content Strategist at Cisco and a technical communicator with decades of experience. He joins the show to talk about his experience helping to create the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) standard and why he's a DITA evangelist. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

This episode is part of the Big Rhetorical Podcast Carnival 2021 on Contending with Misinformation in the Community and Classroom. The episode features three experts who study how misinformation spreads and effective ways to thwart it. Dr. Sara Yeo (1:43) discusses our weaknesses in identifying misinformation and how emotion and humor affect receptions of scientific information. Dr. Leticia Bode (18:45) provides a nuanced definition of misinformation and explains why countering misinformation online is not always a waste of your time. Maryam Maleki (41:15) talks about how misinformation spreads online following models that also predict the spread of infectious diseases. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Natalie Dunbar (https://www.nataliedunbarcontentstrategist.com/) defines information architecture and content strategy, then explains how to implement both! She explains how to keep your webpage from resembling the Winchester Mystery House (https://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/)! Also, transcripts for the first 50 episodes are now available (https://tinyurl.com/2uu9swrc). Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Dr. Jason Tham (https://jasontham.com/) joins the podcast to talk about his new book, Design Thinking in Technical Communication: Solving Problems through Making and Collaboration (https://www.routledge.com/Design-Thinking-in-Technical-Communication-Solving-Problems-through-Making/Tham/p/book/9780367478216). Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Philip Kiely, author of Writing for Software Developers (https://philipkiely.com/wfsd/) talks about how technical professionals can write content users love. We discuss the writing process, how to assemble articles effectively, how to get users to care about your topics, and why the Heart Bleed Bug was so well named. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Gowri Ramkumar of Document360 hosts the podcast Knowledgebase Ninjas (https://document360.com/podcast/) and offers listeners insights on how knowledgebases and technical writing can integrate into an organization. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

This roundtable discussion includes several members of the College Composition and Communication Conference Black Technical and Professional Writing Task Force: Dr. Temptaous Mckoy, Dr. Cecilia D. Shelton, Ja’La Wourman, Dr. Natasha Jones, and Dr. Donnie Sackey. These scholars, along with Constance Haywood and Dr. Kimberly C. Harper, recently compiled the "CCCC Black Technical and Professional Communication Position Statement with Resource Guide," available at: https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/black-technical-professional-communication. In this roundtable discussion, the members discuss the impetus for the statement, the gaps it fills, the topics it covers, and the ways we can build from the groundwork it establishes.To learn more about the conversation with the task force hosted by Virginia Tech on November 30, 2020, visit https://liberalarts.vt.edu/news/events/2020/10/black-technical-and-professional-communication.html. To shop Pyramid Books, visit https://pyramidbooks.indielite.org/. Follow @TechCommUA

Jack Molisani, Strategy President at ProSpring Technical Staffing, talks about how job titles in technical communication are changing, and how you can cater your resume to these new titles. He also previews LavaCon (https://lavacon.org/2020/), a virtual content strategy conference coming up from October 25-28, 2020. 10-Minute Tech Comm listeners can get $100 off registration with the promo code #TeamWeber. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

David Dylan Thomas, author of Design for Cognitive Bias, offers insight on how our unconscious minds shape decisions and designs and tells us what we can do about it. Learn more at https://www.daviddylanthomas.com/. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Dr. Jenny Rice, author of Awful Archives: Conspiracy Theory, Rhetoric, and Acts of Evidence, talks about how conspiracy theorists use evidence and gives advice for how to engage conspiracy theorists (and when not to). Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Dr. Katie Trauth Taylor of Untold Content (https://untoldcontent.com/) talks about a recent collaboration between her company and Action Learning Network to create infographics and social media materials about COVID-19 for heart failure patients and their parents. Check out the infographics here: https://www.actionlearningnetwork.org/covid19. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Jacinta Bowler from Science Alert (https://www.sciencealert.com/) talks about how she reports on the changing situation surrounding COVID-19. She discusses the challenges of reporting on uncertain science and making complex concepts clear for a large audience. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Dr. Lehua Ledbetter talks about how beauty YouTubers from marginalized communities expand our definitions of procedural discourse and success in technical communication. She shares insight from her work, including "Tactical Technical Communication in Communities: Legitimizing Community-Created User-Generated Instructions," written with Dr. Avery Edenfield. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Dr. Chris Dayley shares his research into how students perceive diversity in university technical communication programs and offers strategies for making these programs more inclusive.

Dr. Natalia Matveeva and Dr. Godwin Agboka, co-editors of the recent collection Citizenship and Advocacy in Technical Communication: Scholarly and Pedagogical Perspectives, talk about the best ways of doing technical communication advocacy. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Welcome to the first episode in a series about making technical communication more inclusive. Dr. Avery Edenfield talks about his research into the ways that transgender people share experiences and repurposed scientific literature in online forums. These types of communities help technical communicators redefine standards of success and emphasize participatory research design. Dr. Edenfield shares insights from his recent publications, including "Queering Tactical Technical Communication: DIY HRT," written with Steve Holmes and Jared S. Colton, and "Tactical Technical Communication in Communities: Legitimizing Community-Created User-Generated Instructions," written with Lehua Ledbetter. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Dr. Saul Carliner shares data from "The State of the Technical Communication Industry: A Census of Technical Communicators," published in the December 2018 issue of Intercom. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Dr. Jason Swarts, author of the recent book Wicked, Incomplete, and Uncertain: User Support in the Wild and the Role of Technical Communication, talks about how changes in technology have altered user needs and the role of technical communicators producing user help. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Donna Lichaw (https://www.donnalichaw.com/), author of The User's Journey: Storymapping Products that People Love, talks about how the classic storytelling structure applies to the way people use products and the way that teams design them. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.

Sidney Fussell, a reporter at The Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic.com/author/sidney-fussell/), covers technology and its intersections with race, privacy, and surveillance. He talks about he researches, describes, and interprets technology clearly and effectively for audiences. Follow @TechCommUAH or email Ryan Weber at ryan.weber@uah.edu for more information about the show.