Naming an intranet: a philosophical view

21 July 2011

Naming an intranet is rather like naming a book or a child. It can be fun, it can be frightening, but of course the book, child or intranet matters much more than the name. Homer. The Daily Insider. Connect. Infonet. Insite. Wisdom Network. Sherlock. Tiggle. Inflo. OpusWeb. Nexus. The Hub. The best intranet name is [...]

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Writing tip: Don’t use quote marks to highlight common words

20 July 2011

Sometimes writers use quote marks to distance themselves from a word or phrase. They’re treating the words as a virtual quote, as if they were saying, ‘It’s not really me using this phrase: I’m just quoting what other people say.’ Quote marks are difficult to handle correctly, goodness knows. But here’s a tip that should [...]

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Tips for managers training intranet content authors

15 July 2011

All intranet managers face the problem of quality content. We’ve been banging on about quality content since 1995, and it’s still a topical topic. Social intranets make the problem even worse: staff certainly write more content, but the quality drops. They have more confidence in their ability to write online content, but their confidence is [...]

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Writing tip: Use strong verbs—not just ‘is’ and ‘was’

2 July 2011

In English, verbs are the go-go-go words, the wake-up words. There’s no action without a strong verb, an action verb, a doing verb. Strong verbs make things happen. By contrast, the various forms of the verb to be produce no action: they merely suggest a state of existence, or a condition. Being verbs are static. [...]

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Choosing a business name and domain: a cautionary tale

28 June 2011

Our beautiful business name and domain name attract much admiration, and we’re often asked how we acquired them. This is a cautionary tale. It starts madly and badly, but it has a happy ending. The journey was all about words and communication and reading habits: just like all web content. From QWC to QWICKIT to [...]

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Writing tip: trap the wandering adverb

15 June 2011

Don’t let the word only wander lonely as a cloud: glue it in the right place. If only wanders into the wrong position, confusion may result. See how the meaning changes when only wanders around a sentence. Only the new manual confused the nurse. (The old one didn’t confuse her.) The new manual only confused [...]

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On the Escalator: entrepreneur workshop on raising capital

14 June 2011

Yesterday I attended a workshop on raising capital, and got great value—particularly as it was free, thanks to NZ Trade and Industry. As always, the thoughts and to-dos I took away are a mixture of memorable expressions and tips that relate to our own business situation, right now. Much of this is already known to [...]

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More Christchurch earthquakes—wearing red and black today

14 June 2011

Poor Christchurch. Even Rachel’s staunchest sister showed a twinge of fright at yesterday’s Force 6.0 earthquake. But the 6 Taylor sisters will be partying next weekend regardless. Disasters? All the more reason to celebrate two more birthdays successfully conquered. Kia kaha Christchurch.

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Fatal-free adjective: plain wrong or new and shiny?

7 June 2011

When I comment on a surprising phrase, I’m usually more interested than judgemental. Was this a deliberately coined new expression? (Unlikely.) Was it a mistake? (Probably.) Either way, will it become popular? This morning I was watching the 7 AM news on TV3. (On the exercycle, so there!) Here’s what the presenter said: Police believe [...]

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For goodness sake: a Ruby poem

3 June 2011

For all you know I spend my entire life blogging, working on the Contented business, and tweeting. But I am a poet too, and I have a sudden urge to publish a Ruby poem right here. Ruby is one of the names used by one of my granddaughters. She’s very interested in language, and I [...]

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