TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Here is a list long of Friday TECHWHRL questions. I hope they spur some input.
1. What newsletters do you subscribe to (technical, language-related, misc.)?
STC pubs, Techwhirl, several electronic music related groups.
2. What sites do you bookmark and access regularly?
My Yahoo with links to headlines from AP and Reuters
New York Times
I used to read Salon.com, but I dislike how much advertising you have to go through to get to rather minimal content nowadays. They've really gone downhill, IMO, since the founding publisher left.
3. What diversions do you subscribe to or regularly access? How much time a day do you feel is justified in accessing/reading these kinds of things? (A former team leader suggested 5 minutes for every hour.)
I tend to get many links from my boyfriend and general friends throughout the day that I'll check when I need a break. I'm also pretty active on my email lists.
I tend to take short breaks, like ten minutes or so, between major tasks that I'm working on, like a Help chapter. This might include responding to an email like this, taking a walk to the bathroom, or checking out the papers in the breakroom for a couple minutes. I probably do this four or five times throughout the day. I also generally eat lunch at my desk.
If I finish a big task a half-hour or less before I want to actually leave I'll fill in the time with organizational stuff, or maybe a little headline perusal.
4. And perhaps to put everything in proportion, how many hours a week were you hired to work and do you actually work?
I was hired for forty, and that's what I put in. I generally have pretty productive days when I'm consistently working on something, but this is a new job and there's s lot to do in terms of revising previous document content and setting up some new systems. Ask me this again in nine months and I might have a little more slack time on my hands, but this is something I try to avoid.
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format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
