Co-authored by Chris Girdler, Lucy Blakemore and Rhiannon Hall
As content producers and all-round word nerds, the Content Team behind this website you’re currently reading are well versed in recapping learning and teaching events. It’s rare we get to attend events more focused on the documenting itself. So, when UTS’s own Rhiannon Hall pitched a presentation on advocating for digital accessibility with empathy at a Melbourne-based Write the Docs (WTD) conference, we saw this as a perfect opportunity to connect with a new community and understand how others are approaching technical writing. Here are some of our takeaways from the 2-day event.
1. Being inclusive and welcoming is the only way to start a conference
It can be awkward being a newcomer at an established conference. Active socialising to connect with those less familiar was encouraged at WTD, with organisers suggesting the PacMan Rule: leaving a gap in a social circle so your conversation is open to newcomers. Also refreshing, as backed up by the conference’s code of conduct, was the clear, personable tone of posters promoting inclusivity.
2. One stage fits (almost) all
Jumping between spaces at a conference can be thrilling but risky (the FOMO is real). Sometimes it’s nice to have everything curated for you in the one main space to experience a broad range of topics and avoid sticking to your ‘comfort zone’ themes. Pauses between presentations helped to break things up, but those wanting a change of scene from the main space had the option to participate in break-out ‘Unconference’ sessions. There were also opportunities to do spontaneous ‘Lightning Talks’ – another clever way to add variety without too much distraction from a set schedule of presentations.
3. AI agAIn, but from a different perspective
You simply can’t have a conference in 2023 without GenAI, but it was a minor aspect of the talks this year. One of the event’s highlights was a back-to-basics talk from Google’s Sarah Maddox that was visually engaging and made us think in a different way about how AI works. With so much to explore and discuss on an ever-evolving, often overwhelming topic, it’s always valuable to be reminded that GenAI is merely a simulation of human intel.
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4. Technical resources should be human too
When we publish technical resources at LX, we always remind ourselves there’s an academic trying to get their head around a tool at the other end of it. They may not understand all the technical jargon that can all too easily get rolled into these types of self-help resources. While we are not core ‘software people’ like many at this conference, there were a lot of transferable learnings for us, such as maintaining a close collaboration with subject matter experts and using plain language. Shumin Chen reminded us of the importance of thinking like a translator and avoiding double meanings with her two-part workshop on Simplified Technical English.
5. Metrics and feedback is the only sure-fire way to improve
We always get value from comments on our resources and blogs – this helps us see what stories are resonating with other academics. We also use data to keep across your favourite topics and trending themes, which we like to share you with you on our yearly ‘top blogs’ round-ups. Renee Carignan’s presentation on metrics was of great interest to us, particularly her assessment of ‘noisy metrics’ that people find appealing but don’t actually tell us much. Using data to clean up your digital home was also stressed as important (what pages are people not reading?) and we definitely plan to ‘think like a museum’ in a curatorial sense, as referenced in Leisa Taylor’s presentation.
6. Building a community takes work but becomes a shared responsibility
Across the talks, we often heard of the challenges of working with stakeholders in software – particularly when you’re a contractor dropped into an unfamiliar space – so we feel lucky to be an established support team that is connected to our end ‘user’ (hi!) to champion community-driven content. We saw a lot of that culture-building and care put into creating a space for shared ideas in the Write the Docs ecosystem. Their community is growing and has events all around the world. A key space for maintaining and growing this connected community is their popular Slack channel.
(Watch the) Write the Docs
View the recorded presentations on the WTD YouTube channel and check out Angharad Neal-Williams’ amazing sketchnotes that visually accompany each talk.
Join the Dots
Good docs need strong connections between readers, writers and sharers – and we would love to work with you this year! If you would like to write a blog, share your thoughts on one you’ve read or have feedback on our resources, we’d love to hear from you. Comment below or email us at LX.lab@uts.edu.au