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Topic Writing Without Borders

LavaCon Presentation Recap - Ciara Kohlhagen

To view the presentation, LavaCon 2020 registrants can visit lavacon.org/2020.

Presentation Overview

In the age of information overload - think minimalism.

Speakers Janice Summers and Liz Fraley, in their presentation Topic Writing Without Borders, lay out the harsh realities of capturing readers' attention.

On average, the typical American consumes 11.88 hours of content per day and is exposed to 100,000 words.

If that seems like an impossible amount of content to retain, that's because it is! Content creators are constantly fighting attention demands and must work to deliver complex information in an easily consumable way. That is where minimalism and topic-based authoring can help.

Minimalism and topic-based authoring go hand-in-hand. Each emphasizes the need for organization and clarity, and together they show how pairing concise chunks of information together, called 'topics', can ease the reader's search process. Once topics are assembled uniformly, content creators can then easily configure them in different ways to address their audience's unique needs. Ultimately, simplifying and organizing content into searchable topics can help to reduce stress and provide a more positive user experience for readers of all interest and expertise levels.

Key Takeaways

  • Know Who You are Writing To - Understanding your audience is the foundation of creating topics. Go beyond demographics to truly understand what your reader is trying to achieve, what problems they are trying to solve, and how they arrived there. These insights can help content creators make the reader's journey easier and more intuitive.

  • Edit, Edit, Edit - Minimalism requires editing. When looking at your content, consider how you can remove complications and save the reader's time by not stating the obvious. This allows them to get to the information they are looking for faster.

  • Create a Strong Structure - When each topic follows the same structure they can be seamlessly reused and updated. Often the structure includes a title, for scanning, a short description, which provides more context clues, and a body, that goes deeper into the topic.

  • Streamline your Content - Most reader needs can be covered in three kinds of information topics: concept, reference, and task.

    • Concept: Definitions you may need to explain to provide a greater depth of understanding
    • Reference: Information that is easily looked up when needed, but doesn't need to be kept in the reader's head
    • Task: Simple, focused how-to's that are quickly located

Reflection

At the heart of minimalism and topic-based authoring, is the goal of meeting user needs. Adapting content to your audience has likewise shown up throughout our journey towards advancing our own digital literacy. From conducting needs analyses to designing intuitive wireframes, we have been unknowingly applying these principles to create streamlined experiences and to help users accomplish tasks. Even Markdown, the lightweight language I am writing this reflection in, emphasizes simplicity, organization, and versatility.

These are principles that anyone, even those outside of a technical communication role, can apply to their work and everyday lives. So before you share out a lengthy Google Doc to colleagues or respond to an email with a lot of technical jargon, consider:

Who is this content really for and is it simplified to meet their needs?

Speakers

Janice Summers     CEO, Single-Sourcing Solutions

Liz Fraley         Strategic Consultant Sales and Operations, Single-Sourcing Solutions