Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation

摘要

Anne Gentle's Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation is a wake-up call for technical communicators who are still not ready to embrace the social Web that takes them beyond their comfort zone of in-house-produced user guides and online help to the realm of blogs, wikis, and forums. Accustomed to a more formalrnwriting environment that allows for rigorous editing and complete content control, writers often shun the lax user-generated content populating the Internet. This, according to Gentle, is a big mistake. Instead, professional writers need to view this communication shift as an opportunity to embrace a new collaboration with their online audience. The results will be better served, happier users and continued relevance of the professional technical communicator.