We’re not Amish, we just don’t have a TV

I grew up in Goshen, Indiana, a college town of about 20,000 people with many Amish and conservative Mennonites in the surrounding communities. Seeing horse-drawn buggies parked at the local Wal-marts (yes, there was one on each side of town) was not uncommon. I learned to love the simple quilt designs and homemade Dutch food, while appreciating the business and common sense displayed by those selling their wares.

Last month at the STC Summit, I had a great walk back through time, as if I was visiting an old neighborhood. Like many other attendees, I went across the street from the Philadelphia conference center to the market for lunch. Much to my surprise, many merchants were wearing conservative Mennonite prayer bonnets and dressed in handmade plain clothing, no buttons! I was immediately taken back to my childhood home in northern Indiana. The marketplace in Philly reminded me of visits with my parent and shopping in a large market in a town called Shipshewana. Has anyone else had such a moment of juxtaposition?

To further my reminiscing of my childhood closeness to the Plain orders, the first day of the conference, I read Howard Rheingold’s Wired magazine article, Look Who’s Talking, from 1999. The subtitle is “The Amish are famous for shunning technology. But their secret love affair with the cell phone is causing an uproar.” It’s about the Amish relationship with technology and community. A great read!

I was reminded of a discussion with one of my cousins. We didn’t have a TV for a few years when I was in fifth grade or so, and these cousins from Michigan inquired if we were Amish! My response? No, we’re not Amish, just taking some time off from TV ownership.

So imagine if you will my discovery of Clay Shirky’s blog entry, Gin, Television, and Social Surplus. In it he leads you to discover that Wikipedia’s creation and ongoing editing took about 100 million hours of human thought. Sounds like a lot of time, right? Many people ask, how does anyone have that much spare time to edit wikis, write blog entries, comment on social networking sites, and so on? Well, guess what. In the US alone, 200 billion hours of human time are spent watching television. Staggering thought.

My few childhood years without a television didn’t amount to any huge projects being completed, although I would guess I read faster and more hungrily because of it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against TV. I just choose to watch what I want when I want to. Our Tivo has been the best enabler of TV when I want it, and having the shows I want always available when it’s convienent to watch them. RSS feeds are like Tivo for me - web content when I want it, in abundance.

So that’s my story of going from surrounded by Amish and their considerations for technology in their community to technical writer considering the impact of collaboration and conversation and community on my role in the world of participatory media.

Am I to be a content curator or a community manager? Rachel Happe has a great blog entry titled, “Social Media is not Community” which brought a lot of clarity to my thoughts about the difference between the two roles. Thank you, Rachel! I don’t know yet where my role lies, but it’s a grand time to be reading and writing about it. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Check her out!

Here’s my interview for GirlStart, highlighting a technical communication career for the “Check her out!” section of their website. The toughest question for me was the last one! GirlStart is a non-profit based in Austin that empowers girls in math, science, and technology. I was pleased to be able to say what a great career information development is, and also reading the other interviews was an inspiration to me!
So, here goes.

Title:
Senior Technical Writer, blogger
Company:
Advanced Solutions International and JustWriteClick.com

What do you do and what are some of your job responsibilities?

I write online help, website information, and user manuals for software that people use to run associations, non-profit organizations, and faith-based organizations. Our software can conquer mailings, large events, fundraising, organize and retrieve member contact information, and handle magazine subscriptions just to name a few tasks that large organizations do for their members.

I have to learn new features of a product quickly, and analyze the tasks that our typical users want to accomplish with our software product. Technical writers are sometimes described as extremely fast learners who can also interview to get the information they need as well as a journalist. My job involves writing, interviewing, learning about users, checking the software for quality, helping improve the user experience with the product, and constantly checking the future horizon to ensure our deliverables match what our customers want.

I also write a blog about information development and design at Justwriteclick.com, and it has helped me learn so much and connect and collaborate with others in my chosen field. I started blogging for my former employer, BMC Software, and it opened doors and opportunity to me because it moved me to the edges of my comfort zones.

How did you find your current job?

I belong to a professional organization called the Society for Technical Communication, and networking through those affiliations has helped me find every single career-type job I’ve found so far. Professional networking and social networking are huge parts of job-hunting, especially for fulfilling, flexible work like the jobs I have found a passion for.

Did you learn any of your skills from school?

I’m a little unusual in that my path to technical writer started with an undergraduate degree in chemistry, where I learned a lot about scientific thinking and process. After reading the manuals in the analytic laboratory where I worked for a summer testing powder samples of infant formula, I decided to explore how those manuals were written. I discovered a master’s degree program in scientific and technical communication and learned a lot of my specific job and career skills there, but I have also had to continually educate myself and reach out to others to learn more skills, for both technical and design-oriented skills. I also read a lot - books or blogs, either one is highly useful and helpful to me. I attend presentations, conferences, and training classes as well.

What would you tell a girl that was interested in doing what you do?

Technical writing and information design are professions that a lot of women have found to be fulfilling and interesting, and for many reasons, women are prevalent in the profession. I’d encourage you to read as much as you can and practice writing because both are important skills for writing technical information. I also would encourage a sense of excitement and exploration with technology, whether it’s Webkins or a Nike+iPod running sensor.

What are some of your hobbies?

I enjoy running very much and while I’m not fast, I am consistent. I’m into running for the long term ever since I found the best running partner in a friend 30 years older than me. I also write for my blog as a hobby and explore the latest technology in social media and computers by talking to my friends and colleagues online. I read voraciously and have joined at least three book clubs in the last few years. I also enjoy kids and especially my own kids. I teach my son’s classes as often as they let me and love going on field trips, even if they’re just in the backyard with a flashlight or binoculars at night.

What is your favorite website?

My favorite website is bloglines.com because that’s where I store all my blog feeds to read, and reading is my absolute favorite pastime. Probably my favorite website to visit is dooce.com because she’s an excellent writer and her daughter and my firstborn son are nearly the same age, so much of what she writes about I’m living. Right now, I enjoy del.icio.us/annegentle because it’s where I’m bookmarking all my favorite places to read and savor later. To talk with friends and coworkers, I enjoy twitter.com and twemes.com.

If you could talk to you when you were 12 years old, what advice would you give yourself?

This is a tough question, I have to say. Don’t argue with others for the sport of it comes to mind first, because my wise sixth grade teacher wrote that in my yearbook. Secondly, you’re not fat! Looks don’t matter as much as you think, but perceptions of presence, actions, and words (written and spoken) do matter. Learn as much as you can from those more experienced than you, and learn how to listen really, really well.

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Merriam Webster’s Pocket Dictionary on your iPod

Found this iPod Pocket Dictionary on my Gizmodo feed yesterday, and thought I’d pass it along. Since it’s the pocket version of the Merriam Webster dictionary, it’s only about 40,000 words. Interestingly, it appears that the interface doesn’t make you spell out the word by scrolling through letters, instead you select the first letter, then scroll through the choices. Sounds like the right design balance (limit the lookup choices, but ensure the interface isn’t frustrating to the user.)

Now, an additional feature that would really combine the audio power of the iPod with the dictionary would be a pronunciation guide that speaks the word aloud on demand. I really appreciate that feature in the online version of Merriam Webster at www.m-w.com. I’m usually a decent speller but can really butcher word pronunciations. The example word on the product site, abstract, has different pronunciations for the verb and the noun. Seize the opportunity for the technology mashup when you can, I say.

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