https://www.barefootconsulting.ca/blog1 daily 0.75 2024-07-17 https://www.barefootconsulting.ca/blog1/ai-and-technical-writing-can-a-computer-write-a-manual monthly 0.5 2024-07-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/486e76ef-dea7-43fc-b004-d19b47043c28/9+-+Google+Gemini+Tone+Part+1.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out Google Gemini’s first attempt sounds more like a magazine article than a technical manual. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/f6f8d57b-fef1-4e01-8aa1-db2d2b211b31/4+-+Toast+Manual+Second+Draft.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out The second draft. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/b48a6438-cfdf-47b5-a9da-230f866765a9/1+-+Stanley+Cup+hallucination.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out A hallucination from ChatGPT-4o, generated on May 27, 2024 (after the Canucks had already been eliminated from the playoffs, and before it was determined which teams would play in the 2024 Stanley Cup final). The provided link did lead to Wikipedia, but the page linked to did not contain any information about who won the (still in the future) championship. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/4ecd148d-1e43-4212-b82b-2f22d57ccf28/13+-+Pop+Culture+Complaint.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out The conversation in which I expressed my frustration at ChatGPT-4o repeatedly telling me it had fixed the issues I pointed out, and then producing a chart that still had exactly the same issues. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/8e98c14a-f400-45be-950f-3d3a59f81801/2+-+Toast+Manual+First+Draft.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out An excerpt from ChatGPT-4o’s first draft of a manual for making toast. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/f7f0fe73-f83b-4983-a50f-f03827e9c87b/11+-+First+Toast+Flowchart.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out ChatGPT-4o’s first attempt at a flowchart, containing surreal text and images. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/700f1790-9589-471b-92ff-74d5f34ca691/7+-+Google+Gemini+Tongs+Part+1.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out Google Gemini advising the user to use metal tongs to prevent electrical shock when contacting a lever that it (mistakenly) believes to be electrified. Red underlines added later. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/94317f18-eb07-486a-aa52-b3359e6d7305/10+-+Google+Gemini+Tone+Part+2.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out A paragraph from Google Gemini’s revised attempt, better but still not quite right. Judgement and Content Review. AI can be useful for proofreading, but the final edit and review to ensure that the content is accurate, comprehensive, and user-friendly should always be done by a human. Images and Diagrams. Because current AIs struggle with text within images, AI can have difficulty creating diagrams or even flowcharts. The two images below are from a long series of attempts by ChatGPT-4o (which primarily uses the image-generating AI DALL-E to create images) to produce a useful flowchart showing the steps of its toasting procedure. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/efa51f94-44a2-4909-bde7-7d57f353ec57/12+-+Second+Toast+Flowchart.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out When ChatGPT-4o used another program to create the chart, it did better, but even after many iterations it wasn’t able to label the decision points, nor to include clear arrows that did not obscure the text. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/cca2939c-e9b0-4a5b-ac70-85d61fa49c9b/14+-+Good+Flowchart.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out The workable flowchart that ChatGPT4-o finally produced in response to my frustrated pop culture reference. Notably, this was the first chart out of 26 attempts that had everything spelled correctly, arrows that pointed to the right place (and didn’t obscure the text), and correctly labelled decision points. The previous attempts had not made me feel encouraged that this would happen any time soon. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/75bd0a16-848d-4b26-ac26-83c6d416f448/6+-+Audience+Feedback+Child.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out ChatGPT-4o’s response when I asked it to give feedback on the manual from the perspective of a 10-year-old child. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/50e5015b-4d7f-4dec-b494-c018b3853d2e/15+-+Understanding+Pop+Culture+Complaint.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out Out of curiosity, I asked ChatGPT-4o if it had understood my reference, and it not only correctly explained what had happened in the scene I’d been referring to, but also why I had referred to it in this context. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/664253b4-2ce8-4a0f-9452-36eb4442b351/8+-+Google+Gemini+Tongs+Part+2.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out Google Gemini showing that it did actually have access to the information that you should not touch an electrified lever with metal tongs. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/b22f8647-c4a7-4216-9031-ff663f129811/3+-+Toast+instructions+feedback.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out The feedback I provided, in a conversational, unstructured format. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/58048dc5-56df-471d-9458-8ee5c9703688/5+-+Audience+Feedback+Senior+Citizen.png Blog - AI and Technical Writing: Can a Computer Write a Manual? - Make it stand out ChatGPT-4o’s response when I asked it to give feedback on the manual from the perspective of a senior citizen. https://www.barefootconsulting.ca/blog1/what-is-the-role-of-a-technical-editor monthly 0.5 2022-01-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/b5ea41d5-078e-4873-a9d7-ce8225aa2575/andrew-neel-cckf4TsHAuw-unsplash.jpg Blog - What is the Role of a Technical Editor? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.barefootconsulting.ca/blog1/what-is-docs-as-code-and-how-did-it-revolutionize-googles-docs-culture monthly 0.5 2021-12-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/1634224552755-A4V4EZRXVRUJJGPMBJHC/Screen+Shot+2021-10-14+at+8.15.01+AM.png Blog - What is Docs-as-Code and How Did it Revolutionize Google’s Docs Culture? - Make it stand out Figure 1. Google’s docs-as-code product is called “g3docs”. https://www.barefootconsulting.ca/blog1/getting-git-for-the-complete-beginner monthly 0.5 2022-01-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/a3749fe3-564b-4c4d-9ab3-d7632e34a4c1/GitFigure4.jpg Blog - Getting Git for the Complete Beginner - Make it stand out Figure 4. Branching in the local copy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/f739ed65-46eb-44f2-865e-b202a1fd64a9/GitFigure3.jpg Blog - Getting Git for the Complete Beginner - Make it stand out Figure 3. Forking, cloning, and adding the remote upstream https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/fab36346-23e2-4bdf-ad0d-5af22fd0c83a/GitFigure2.jpg Blog - Getting Git for the Complete Beginner - Make it stand out Figure 2. CLI and GUI Pros and Cons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/4677a421-1b59-496b-9e90-51be84b1e23f/GitFigure5.jpg Blog - Getting Git for the Complete Beginner - Make it stand out Figure 5. Pushing upstream https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/1630990335282-EM0W317SQRAS1MUDVY62/image2.jpg Blog - Getting Git for the Complete Beginner - Make it stand out Figure 1. Windows Terminal https://www.barefootconsulting.ca/blog1/safe-work-procedures-what-they-are-and-how-to-write-them monthly 0.5 2021-09-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/1630992343138-71J615RXQD5HIW1VH51F/image1.jpg Blog - Safe Work Procedures: What They Are and How to Write Them - Make it stand out Source: manualzz.com https://www.barefootconsulting.ca/blog1/the-role-of-a-technical-illustrator monthly 0.5 2021-09-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/1630987805960-BJ133MT40EDLVL49935S/Pin3.png Blog - The Role of a Technical Illustrator - Make it stand out Image credit: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/551128073121953439/ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/1630987430052-IMD16XG0K80OP6F28NFR/remie-geoffroi-stadium.png Blog - The Role of a Technical Illustrator - Make it stand out Image credit: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/775322892080312816/ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/1630987718986-2P0SK1UOYZW9PJ9MOGEZ/16734211vector.jpg Blog - The Role of a Technical Illustrator - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/1630987306945-RRZ0WIAM896DKD786UHV/boeing_787-2.png Blog - The Role of a Technical Illustrator - Make it stand out Image credit: https://conceptbunny.com/boeing-787-dreamliner/ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/1630986983294-KUJ57HJIH1V1D2BBEVQ0/christopher-cushman-chevrolet-celebrity-lineart.png Blog - The Role of a Technical Illustrator - Make it stand out Image credit: https://technicalillustrators.org/ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/1630987371513-Z3JE5FM831GE3PUCU6NB/770e979db9121dfbe432eb838a455c45.jpg Blog - The Role of a Technical Illustrator - Make it stand out Image credit: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/418271884150395511/ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60592612049d172eee4cc9ba/1630986720258-QT26W28KF6VNK3403G1D/clicheria-5.jpg Blog - 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