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?

Technology
moves in
leaps and
bounds
Parkour by Derek Hyamson http://goo.gl/KZqkhQ #techcommfuture @sarahmaddox

Cognitive
overhead [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 Demaree
http://goo.gl/dVtDQ

Cognitive
overhead

Cognitive
overhead
Product
design
+
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. Heinlein
1961

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

The weird and
wonderful
Communication
via technology
is core to our
experience of
the world

The weird and
wonderful
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
The weird and
wonderful
Trees
with email
addresses

The weird and
wonderful
Trees
with email
addresses
“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-year
old’s dream;
now a global
movement
Make a Stand
Vivienne 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

Social media –
unimaginable
impact
;
Project Semicolon
Semicolon tattoos raise awareness
of depression
Sprang from a social media
movement, 2013+
Not the end of a sentence
Not the end of a life

Social media –
unimaginable
impact
Twitter for tracking
earthquakes
USGS 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.

Social media –
unimaginable
impact
Twitter for tracking
earthquakes
What 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
Laptop
Work 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 info
Confident 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 discombobulate
a foo

1. Pull tight
3. Pull tight
4. Create a loop
6. Pull tight
a foo
Your colleague
Rahul recently
posted a guide:
learn/foo123

1. Pull tight
3. Pull tight
4. Create a loop
6. Pull tight
a foo
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
a foo
Join the search
for the 2016 foo
discom expert:
learn/foo000

Immersive
technology

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

and 360D – the
technology
VR viewers:
Google Cardboard,
Oculus Rift, and more
YouTube app or
Chrome browser

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

Google
Spotlight 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

Google
Expeditions
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

What does this
mean for us?
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
Amazon
AWS IoT
Google Cloud,
Brillo, Weave
Microsoft Azure
IoT 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

What does this
mean for us?
?
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 Vega
Stroke 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

What does this
mean for us?
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

What does this
mean for us?
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, composer
Jazz 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 Sacks
UK Rabbi
http://goo.gl/advsZk

Communication is part of the problem.
It’s also the solution:
Technical communication.
– Sarah
Technical writer
Here and now

– Sarah
Technical writer
Here and now
We help people keep up with technology.
More, we help people create new
technology and bend it to their will.

– Sarah
Technical writer
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

The future is technical communication

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