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The links below are the most recent additions to my collection of bookmarks that are relevant to this course. You can find a complete list of ENGW 3335 bookmarks on Delicious.com.
This explains *everything*!
Tim Berry offers good advice for improving business email. Here's my favorite: "Angry words are not biodegradable. Never argue in email. Walk down the hall or get on the phone. I’ve learned this myself the hard way, thinking my brilliant use of the English language could somehow make a point better than I could with old-fashioned talk. It never does. Email almost never wins a point or stops an argument. It almost always makes things worse, not better."
Nice list of realistic advice from Smashing Magazine: "The most successful blogs are more than a broadcast tool. They are a dialogue between the individuals within your organization and your users. It is important to listen, as well as speak. Unfortunately, the most corporate blogs fail to engage. Instead they focus on telling readers how great their products and services are. Rarely do they ask for feedback or ask questions."
As usual with The Oatmeal, it's funny because it's true.
Tom Johnson compiles numerous examples of callouts in visual instructions and concludes with this helpful advice: "Callouts should not distract the focus away from the image but should supplement the image. To keep the callouts in the visual background, make the callouts as minimal as possible, avoiding callout bubbles, box formatting, or background shading."
Will Facebook's new email system finally kill email once and for all? (My prediction: No.)
Farhad Manjoo carefully explains why some people put two spaces after a period. And why they're wrong. "Every modern typographer agrees on the one-space rule. It's one of the canonical rules of the profession, in the same way that waiters know that the salad fork goes to the left of the dinner fork and fashion designers know to put men's shirt buttons on the right and women's on the left."
A list of ten rules that TED gives to every speaker. Good advice for anyone giving an oral presentation.
Aimee Knight offers some great suggestions for giving a TED-style talk.
Dan Schawbel: "Our brands are going to be seen everywhere that people are searching, forcing us to manage and monitor them daily."