Merge
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 ~ 4 Comments
I really shouldn’t use that as a title for a post, all I now have in my head is Chandler (from Friends) talking about how funny it would be to have a Merge road-sign above the bed (”MERRGE”).
Anyway, the week is rolling past at a fair old lick, and the countdown to our trip to Hungary has begun. Louise has nabbed the book on Budapest my Dad gave us, and each morning I’m regaled with a new set of facts about either Buda, Pest, Budapest, the Danube or the surrounding area. We are slowly gathering a list of places to visit but, at some point, we’ll need to stop as we are only there for 5 days (really 4 when you discount travelling).
I’m taking my good camera to Budapest and have a nice big 4GB card to fill (and 2GB spare as well), so expect a LOT of photos. I’ll be competing with our host though, and she has a big fancy DSLR so it’ll be interesting to see some comparison shots. I’m getting quite excited about our trip to be honest, really need to start thinking about what to pack.
As for the title of this post … well it seems like this little hobby of mine and my work are finally converging with “web 2.0″, blogging and community websites becoming the main focus of my attention as I’ve just started to plan the creation of a “community website” for my current employers. It’s nice when hobbies (passions?) and work collide and I’m having to force myself to STOP thinking about it 24/7… well almost 24/7, the usual diversions still kick in (Wii, Champions League, Ollie, kitchen DIY, por… errr… some other stuff).
It’s also sparked some ideas that I can use to get Scottish Blogs back up and running. Admittedly that’ll be a little way down the road as I’ve got a couple of website clients to deal with first, but exciting (busy) times ahead.
Do you Wiki?
Tuesday, October 2, 2007 ~ 9 Comments
So, I’ve got just over two weeks to pull together the various threads of thought that are floating around in my head into a cohesive presentation on how Wikis can be used for collaboration.
Part of the presentation will focus on some social engineering tips to foster usage, and, ultimately, the pitch is that a Wiki can replace the email/document cycle.
I’ve got a fair idea of the content, but I’d be interested to know if any of you use a Wiki on a regular basis and, if you do, what you use it for?
Also, anyone near Warwick? I’ll probably not have much time - I travel down on the 20th November and will be attending the pre-conference dinner, the conference is on the 21st, and I’m travelling back up on the 22nd (Tues, Wed and Thurs respectively). Will probably only really be free on the Thurs morning to be honest but, if anyone is around, let me know. Even if it’s just to hook up for a coffee.
Anyway, Wiki thoughts please.
DITA DITA DITA*
Tuesday, June 5, 2007 ~ 1 Comment
Still in Reading, travelling home tomorrow and apologies to those who offered to meet up, I’ve barely left the hotel but have had two cracking nights with some very smart people, some of whom have told me some of the dirtiest jokes I’ve heard for a while.
And no, of course I can’t remember them… I’m not a tee-totaller you know…
Anyway, I’ll be writing my thoughts up on my other blog if you are interested.
Ohh and I’ll hopefully get my gordonmclean.co.uk domain sorted out… and a myriad of other things that haven’t budged an inch… mind you I’ve got a few hours on the train tomorrow so I might at the very least get my notes typed up.
I can tell you are all just FASCINATED, let’s move on, shall we?
To everyone who responded to my request and left a comment, many thanks. It’s been food for thought, as well as offering up some new blogs, always a good thing. More on that later of course, you know how I love to over-analyse…
Ohhh, the late nights, booze and 5-star food is kicking in, time for bed methinks. Come back soon and I’ll regale you with tales of a hugely uneventful train journey, and the joys of conference freebies.
Or maybe not.
* Bit of a in-joke this one, a mix of DITA and the ‘chicken chicken’ presentation.
Information(ally) Overload(ed)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 ~ 5 Comments
Note: Been meaning to post this for some weeks now but couldn’t find the right moment… I guess now is as good a time as any.
The title of this blog was, believe it or not, chosen more carefully than most of you may realise, and far more carefully than I let on. Mind you I do put some thought into this site from time to time, honest, so it may not come as that much of a surprise to some..
This blog has always been, and will remain to be, a place where I can dump my brain. A place I can spew out the various thoughts that assault my mind on a daily basis, regardless of where they come from, what prompted them, or what they contain (within my own set of self-censoring rules, obv.).
Over the past several years, more and more of my life, both social and professional, has been focussed around the internet and, by extension, I’m ‘plugged in’ more than I care to admit, even to myself. The recent state of near-death that my home PC found itself in only confirms my fears; I cannot live without a computer. It’s too ingrained, too heavily embedded in my life, not only does it store information that I would hate to lose, it’s also the focus of most of my thought processes.
Need to know a phone number? Or the location of a hotel? How about converting celsius to fahrenheit? Each question prompts the same response… fire up the PC, hit the internet. Any form of knowledge that I do not currently have is sourced there and I struggle to imagine not having such a resource so close at hand (and yes, I’m careful to verify what I read. Remember kids, not everything on the internet is true!).
On being professional
Monday, February 26, 2007 ~ 7 Comments
Since starting my new job I’ve been getting re-acquainted with a lot of the different facets of my profession (that’s Technical Communications for those who haven’t been playing attention). I’m working on the basis that if you don’t ask, you don’t get and, to that end, I’ve put myself forward to be part of the Usability team. One step forward.
Expanding the empire
I registered a new domain name the other day, it’s in keeping with my “brand” and will form part of a triumvirate of sites which I’ll pull under the same umbrella at some point in the future.
I love that word “triumvirate”. TRIumvirate. TriUMMMMvirate.
The new site will host my musings about my “profession” and it will, naturally, be a blog. Technical Authors dabble in many areas so I’ll be writing about (amongst many other things) usage of industry specific software (mainly FrameMaker), writing techniques and approaches, planning the content, creating graphics, indexing manuals, working with developers, and everything else that makes up part of my day job.
It’s an outlet for a lot of the thoughts I have about my profession, most of which I don’t post here, but will not ever be specific to the company I work for and I will be telling them it exists. The aim is to post regularly, but not once a day, and to keep it focussed, much like many other professional blogs.
That’s the plan at least, but it’s very much a baby-step at the moment, more of an experiment than a commitment. Time will tell if it is successful.
I wonder if anyone can guess the URL?
Umbrella? It’s not raining!
As part of the above, and further to some of the ideas I’ve mooted here (another great word MOOT MOOT!!) I’ve been trying to figure out a way to link the sites I run. A little bit of cross promotion if you will.
I think I’ve found a nice, subtle, way of doing this. No details just yet but it was sparked by watching a demo of the Apple iPhone the other day.
Hey, if you are going to steal, steal from the best, right?
It pays to seize the initiative
As well as taking some bold steps with my employer, my ‘other work’ is benefitting from my new found enthusiasm.
A flyer for a local computer services company was posted through my door last week. The kind of thing I generally glance at then throw straight into the recycle bin. For no good reason (other than the fact I’m considering getting a new PC before my current one dies) I looked it over. It was a fairly crude job, and I spotted that whilst they had an email address listed there was no mention of a website.
I nipped upstairs to the computer and when I tracked down their website (using the details after the @ in the email address) I was presented with one solitary page which was an image of the very flyer I had in my hand. Not great.
So, taking the bull by the horns, I emailed them to suggest that, for a modest fee I could provide them with a simple website. A couple of emails later and things are underway. As it happens, the guy I’m dealing with knows one of my previous (oneman) customers and as we all know that word of mouth is THE best marketing method, he was quick to say that he was happy to be doing business with me. This is before he’s even seen the design brief!
Sometimes living in a small world helps!
Friday, February 9, 2007 ~ 5 Comments
Anyone else using LinkedIn?
I’ve spoken briefly of my plans for this year, and without going into huge detail it’s fair to say that the underlying ethos is one of “increasing my professionality”. Yes, it’s a clunky term and yes it would be easy to get slightly “corporate” and “up my own arse” about this, but I’m at a point in my life that if I don’t do it now I’ll end up “just working” until I either retire or drop dead.
I don’t fancy the latter option much, and as I’ve always harboured a desire to retire early I guess I’d better get my finger out!
I’ve touched the whole “networking” thing before and whilst I realise LinkedIn is no golden chalice, I do think it could be very useful and hey, you don’t know until you try, right?
So, if you have a LinkedIn profile, look me up and let’s get connected (baby!).
