How long is something considered to be “new”? In this age of Twitter and blogs, days? Hours? Minutes?

Television networks tend to advertise their shows as “all new.” But for how long are they new? We watch the episode and discuss it the next day around the proverbial water cooler, but what then? Then it’s old. Whoever missed the episode or had to record it is out of the loop and will probably not have the chance to discuss it again after having watched it.

Blogs and tweets are pretty much old as soon as they’re posted. In the volume of tweets from the people I’m following, I see maybe 20% and only read about half of them; but only because of the volume. And with the volume of blogs available to me, I can read through less than 20%. Once read, both the blogs and the tweets are old.

Which brings me to technical writing, documentation and communication. Monday I discussed the problem with the dictionary changing because language changes, and Ron Creel responded to Friday’s post by adding that books are only useful if they’re actually used. So even my important writing resources can quickly get old. (Even an editor can fail to respond to changes, and then even your edited work is old before it’s written.)

So how to stay new and relevant? (This may seem contrary to my earlier comments.)

• To highlight updates in other areas of your documentation, use blogs or news messages.
  • To publicize your blogs and news messages, if available to you, use Twitter or Facebook.
• To draw people back to otherwise old communication and documentation, update a “hints and tips” section of your website or newsletter.
• As you get comments on your communication or documentation, update your frequently-asked questions.
• Solicit feedback from your technical support department and add to or update the frequently-asked questions and troubleshooting guides.

Without having to update your existing documentation, you can always keep it fresh and new by directing users or readers back to older content. Because it is “old”, users or readers may have forgotten it or be implementing it incorrectly, this is a chance to set them back on the right path.

Of course, “ain’t” is a word. I found it in the dictionary!   — random 7-year old.

In Friday’s post, I said that a dictionary is the  most important writing resource. True, but beware. As mentioned in a much earlier post, the English language is descriptive, as opposed to prescriptive (like French). This why I suggested picking a dictionary and sticking with it. Dictionary editors and publishers, for the English language, are forever updating their dictionaries based on current common language usage.

By using the same dictionary, even through successive editions, you maintain the same consistency throughout your writing. Especially if you work for the same client for a number of writing projects, all of the related documentation will use the same definitions and spelling.

This is also where a consistent personal style guide plays a role. Once you’ve made some decisions about how you’re going to write, you can choose to override the dictionary. If the dictionary ever changes, you can choose to update your style guide and all your documentation, or you can choose to ignore the change.

Are there any words (definition or usage) in your dictionary that you ignore?