The future is technical communication

#techcommfuture @sarahmaddox

The future *is*technical communication

Fast moving

Cognitive overhead

Bamboozled by tech

Weird and wonderful

Fluid and asynchronous

Immersive

Done by things - IoT

Way out there

A mission statement

What we can do right now

Technology Communication What it means


Blink and you’ve missed the birth of a new technology


How do I…angst


How do I make a phone call these days? It used to be so simple.

Wait, I have to tweet if I want to tell my local representative what I think? How do I “tweet”?

It’s time to go? How can I get my watch to tell me that?

How does everyone else know what’s going on, all the time?

Technologymoves in leaps and bounds

Parkour by Derek Hyamson http://goo.gl/KZqkhQ #techcommfuture @sarahmaddox


Cognitiveoverhead [The number of ] logical

connections or jumps your brain has to make in order to understand or contextualize the thing you’re looking at.

– David Demareehttp://goo.gl/dVtDQ


Cognitiveoverhead


Cognitiveoverhead

Productdesign+

Product managers and engineers grok their product

They see it develop, step by step

Their customers don’t have that advantage


Grok

To understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes part of the observed.Robert A. Heinlein1961


Bamboozled by tech


Bamboozled by tech

“Install this software to waterproof your phone”


Bamboozled by tech

“Charge your phone in a microwave oven”


Bamboozled by tech

“Hello, Sarah: our systems have detected a virus on your computer.”


Bamboozled by tech

“Hello, Sarah: our systems have detected a virus on your computer.”

● sends all your personal details to a network of hackers

● self-destructs, overheats, sets fire to your home

● give us money, email address, access to your computer


The weird and wonderful



Communication via technology is core to our experience of the world



Trees with email addresses


“My dearest Ulmus,

As I was leaving St. Mary’s College today, I was struck, not by a branch, but by your radiant beauty.

You must get these messages all the time. You’re such an attractive tree.”

http://goo.gl/dnPWxn






“Dear Green Leaf Elm,

I hope you like living at St. Mary's. Most of the time I like it too. I have exams coming up and I should be busy studying…

… we don’t have a lot in common, you being a tree and such. But I’m glad we’re in this together.

Cheers, F. ”

http://goo.gl/dnPWxn


Social media – unimaginable impact

An 8-yearold’s dream; now a global movement

Make a StandVivienne Harr, 8 years old

Goal: Donate $100,000 in one year to free 500 child slaves

Day 52: Tweet goes viral

Day 173: Vivienne sells lemonade in Times Square

Reaches her goal in half the time



;Project SemicolonSemicolon tattoos raise awareness of depression

Sprang from a social media movement, 2013+

Not the end of a sentence

Not the end of a life



Twitter for tracking earthquakesUSGS has 2,000 realtime earthquake sensors

Twitter has 316,000,000 monthly active users

People as earthquake sensors

Napa earthquake 2014: alert detected in 29 seconds

React quickly.Keep people safe.



Twitter for tracking earthquakesWhat people tweet in an earthquake:● Often one word: “earthquake?”● Fewer than 8 words● No links or stats

Filter irrelevant tweets

Twitter’s public API

OS software like Kibana & ElasticSearch

React quickly.Keep people safe.


Fluid and asynchronous communication


Multi-platform, multi-thread

Distraction is the norm

Web

Video

Music

Mobile

Friends

Games

Studying

LaptopWork News


Multi-sensory

People customise their learning medium even as they learn

Touch

Speak

Watch

Move around

Listen


Lossy

People go with the flow, else they’d go crazy

Happy to miss incoming infoConfident they’ve seen the most important stuff

OR

Afraid of missing out (FOMO)Worried about wasting time


What does this mean for us?

Getting their attention is a challenge.Keeping their attention is a challenge.

Merge multimedia into our guides.Borrow from social media.Add elements of gaming.


1. Pull tight

2. Cross left over right and under

3. Pull tight

4. Create a loop

5. Cross right over left and under

6. Pull tight


How to discombobulatea foo


1. Pull tight


3. Pull tight

4. Create a loop


6. Pull tight



Your colleague Rahul recently posted a guide:learn/foo123


1. Pull tight


3. Pull tight

4. Create a loop


6. Pull tight



Your colleague Maha does this frequently. Want to sit in next time? Register now:learn/foo321


1. Pull tight


3. Pull tight

4. Create a loop


6. Pull tight



Join the search for the 2016 foo discom expert:learn/foo000


Immersivetechnology


Virtual reality (VR) and 360D content

Use your body to move around a virtual world

Wear a headset for audio and visual

Or use a VR-enabled app on your phone

A 360D football match: youtu.be/bBZhuqPRx9c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBZhuqPRx9c




Virtual reality (VR) and 360D – the technology

VR viewers: Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift, and more

YouTube app or Chrome browser


Virtual reality (VR) and 360D – the technology

To create the videos:

– 360D camera rig e.g. Jump by Google and GoPro, or Ricoh’s Theta camera

– Software to combine images into a VR world


GoogleSpotlight Stories

App for Android and iOS – 3D and 2D animations and 360D video

Move around inside the movie

Choose what you see by following the action

“Windy Day”

“Buggy Night”

“Duet”

“Help”directed by Justin Lin


GoogleExpeditions

A teaching tool for schools

Go places a schoolbus can’t

Phone, Cardboard, Tablet


Augmented Reality (AR)

Superimpose virtual objects on the real world

Fujitsu AR system for auto mechanics

Smart eye glasses by Google, Sony, and others

Microsoft Hololens


Project Tango

Camera, motion-tracking camera, depth sensor, software

Maps its environment

Understands its own movement in 3D

Offers an SDK

Experiments: AR and VR combined + Nerf guns



Tour a virtual replica of a factory floor

Walk all round a fast-moving industrial robot

Explore the design of a motor engine

Follow your own path through the learning material

Opportunity for an intrepid technical communicator

Internet of Things



Internet of Things(IoT)

4.9 billion in 2015

25 billion by 2020

Exponential growth– Gartner

AmazonAWS IoT

Google Cloud, Brillo, Weave

Microsoft AzureIoT Suite

IoTivity

quipp ALLTHINGS | PLATFORM


Internet of Things(IoT)

Senses changes in self and surrounds

Communicate with other things

Send data to cloud

Analyse vast amounts of data for actionability and APIs

Smart things everywhere share data and negotiate

Smart things create smart environments



?Smart things everywhere share data and negotiate

Smart things create smart environments

Way out there

Way out there


katiavega.com #techcommfuture @sarahmaddox

Stroke your hair to send a message

Hairware by Katia VegaStroke your hair to activate an app

Conductive filaments in hair extensions

Arduino microcontroller and Bluetooth radio, in hairclip Send a message or your location


FX e-makeup

Kinisi by Katia Vega

Electronic sensors in makeup to sense movement

Microcontrollers in hair to activate lights

Change things around you by winking, smiling... Could your skin act as an interface?


FX e-makeup

Kinisi by Katia Vega

Electronic sensors in makeup to sense movement

Microcontrollers in hair to activate lights

Change things around you by winking, smiling... Could your skin act as an interface?

youtu.be/7JrRo1U7c5o

https://youtu.be/7JrRo1U7c5o

https://youtu.be/7JrRo1U7c5o



Smile to activate a video tutorial.

Raise an eyebrow to request an alternative solution.

Click here Blink twice for more information. Let your imagination run wild!


Prototyping lessons in a virtual world

3D online game by Katia Vega

TREG (Training in Requirements Engineering Game)

Teaches techniques for requirements engineering

Uses simulations based on collaboration

Staged in Second Life



Try out our tutorials on real people in a virtual world

Make use of the collaboration features in that world

Harness the user interface and profiles

Benefit from the spirit of interaction and experiment


Towards a mission statement

The great myth of our times is that technology is communication.

– Libby Larsen, composerJazz at the Intergalactic Nightclub

http://goo.gl/0bMM82


Thanks to technology, we can instantly communicate across the world, but it still doesn’t help us know what to say.

– Jonathan SacksUK Rabbi

http://goo.gl/advsZk


Communication is part of the problem.It’s also the solution:Technical communication.

– SarahTechnical writer

Here and now




Here and now


We help people keep up with technology. More, we help people create new technology and bend it to their will.



Here and now


People learn by attaching a new idea to their existing context. The ability to help them do that is our killer skill.


A technical writer’s mission statement

Make complex goals achievable within our audience’s context.

A technical writer’s mission statement

Deliver what the audience needs for the intended purpose, in the language that they understand, anywhere, anytime, anyhow.

Vinish Garg @vingar #techcommfuture @sarahmaddox

What we can do right now


Support innovation in our field

Parkour by Derek Hyamson http://goo.gl/KZqkhQ #techcommfuture @sarahmaddox

Blink as infrequently as possible


Be bold, inquisitive and communicative


The future *is* technical communication.Technical communication *is* the future.


Twitter @sarahmaddox

Google+ +sarahmaddox

Slideshare sarahmaddox

Blog ffeathers.wordpress.com

Where to find me


https://twitter.com/sarahmaddox

https://plus.google.com/+SarahMaddox

http://www.slideshare.net/sarahmaddox/

http://ffeathers.wordpress.com/

The future *is* technical communication

Technology

Transcript of The future *is* technical communication

The future is technical communication

Transcript of The future is technical communication