Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation

by Anne Gentle

Anne Gentle's "Conversation and Community" has become the go-to reference for social media and technical communication. Her clear-eyed survey of the social media landscape has been adopted by many universities and is widely used by technical communicators. Now, in this second edition, she has updated and expanded her book, adding chapters on building a content strategy, analyzing web techniques, and developing an open source strategy. With more interviews and case studies, this is your guide to the new world of technical communication and social media.Inside the BookTowards the Future of DocumentationDefining a Writer's Role with the Social WebCommunity and DocumentationCommenting and Connecting with UsersWikis as Documentation SystemsFinding Your VoiceContent Strategy for Community Documentation NEW ChapterAnalyzing and Measuring Web Techniques NEW ChapterOpen Source Documentation NEW ChapterConcepts and Tools of the Social WebGlossary, Expanded Bibliography, and Index

189 pages, ebook

First published July 1, 2009

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I assigned this book three stars only because the technology sphere moves so quickly, and an update to the social platforms mentioned would be great. On the whole, however, I found the general overview provided here of documentation and the social web very apt. For those of us who have soaked in many of these concepts simply through experience, the book may not seem to have much to offer (I thought so at first), but placement of the platforms and methods with regard to technical writing are very informative.