Podcasts for Customer Support

[Beth Agnew]

The world is changing and this is a new technology that is still in the 
shakedown stage for use in technical communication. While podcasts do 
not have the information density of traditional technical writing (which 
will always have a purpose, we'll never lose the print manuals 
entirely), they have other benefits such as rapid uptake and better 
retention factor. I think it's fair to say our users are evolving. They 
aren't all baby boomers anymore. Lines are blurring all over the place. 
What is the difference between a video tutorial and video documentation? 
It's whatever we say it is.

We have a choice. We can embrace the new technologies and adapt them to 
our industry in whatever ways work. If we decide to do that, we take the 
leadership position and we get to influence how they are used to convey 
technical information. Or we can wait until the marketplace gets so 
frustrated by podcast-dreck that they clamor for some decent 
communication and finally come looking for us. We did not get off the 
mark fast enough with web technology -- the graphic designers and web 
developers got in there first, and started cranking out beautiful, 
functional but entirely uninformative and unusable web sites. We still 
have to fight the marcom people to get our hands on web content. One of 
the definitions of technical communicator is one who uses technology to 
communicate.

Have you ever taken one of those "walking audio tours" of a museum, 
where they give you a tape recorder and you wander through the exhibits 
yourself listening to an expert tell you all about them?

The ways in which we use podcasts (audio and video) are limited only by 
our imaginations. What do we think we can do with them? We don't know 
until we try.
--Beth

Stuart Burnfield wrote:
> I still find it hard to picture how podcasting would be an effective way to
> communicate technical information. Reading is so much faster than
> listening.
>
> In ten minutes of reading I can scan, skim, reread, follow links, and so
> on. In a ten minute audio presentation I can cover ten minutes of speech
> and that's about it.
>
> For technical information I need to concentrate and work at my own pace.
> From my experience of podcasting it would work best when I can listen while
> doing something else (cooking, driving) and it doesn't require my full
> attention. So it would be good for catching up with radio programmes and
> talking books but not for trying to grasp technical concepts or procedures.
>
> Can anyone give examples of technical 'writing' that they have successfully
> absorbed through a podcast?
>   
-- 
Beth Agnew
Catch the Buzz: http://bethbuzz.blogspot.com
STC Presentation archived at:
http://www.301url.com/podcasting

Professor, Technical Communication
Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology
Toronto, ON 416.491.5050 x3133
http://www.tinyurl.com/83u5u