The Golden 80s

How will you identify whether a news link, an image or video that you have received from your friend on Facebook or Whatsapp is fake or not? The SMELL test will help you check whether hundreds of messages circulating as news on various media is fake or not.  The SMELL test involves the following: S is for Source: Does  the news story mention the source of the news. From where did the reporter get the news. Have they quoted anyone? M is for Motivation : What exactly is the motivation? Is it to inform the reader or is it to mislead people? Is it to create a controversy, tarnish someone's image or to affirm our bias? E is for Evidence . What evidence is provided for supporting the news? Is there any contrary opinion provided or is there is any scope for a different angle? L is for Logic . Does the news look nonsensical? Is it just statement of facts or is there any editorializing? Are certain facts hyped to assert the writer's viewpoint?? L is for Left out...

The blogging world is abuzz with the rising popularity of social media and the way it's gonna change documentation. Microblogging sites such as Twitter and networking sites such as Facebook are expected to change documentation in a revolutionary manner. There are predictions galore about the impending demise of printed manuals and the inevitable replacement of them with blogs, wikis, and social media (I feel this a very narrow view of how documentation would evolve/ Let us wait and see). Remember Naipaul when he said that the novel is dead. How useful is social media to technical writers in India? I feel it is a depressing zero. Most companies in Indian restrict access to sites such as Twitter during work hours. Certain companies even block access to webmail and prevents installation of chat software. Others even go to extent of blocking internet access during work hours, ostensibly to increase productivity. In others, even blogs and forums, which I think are more useful to tech...