I am a technical communicator with a love of explaining technical concepts in documentation, blog posts, videos, books and more. I run a small agency called Gregarious Mammal if youâre interested in hiring me for that kind of thing.
I am also a podcaster, video maker, writer of interactive fiction, and games. This website is a home for all my blog posts, podcasts, newsletters and creative projects.
Need advice for your documentation project? Sign up for my office hours.

The Weekly Squeak - Apollo GraphQL with Geoff Schmidt
This issue I speak with Geoff Schmidt of Apollo about their GraphQL offerings. I also cover general AI, decades old technology bets, is it wise to remove WhatsApp, and much more.

Episode 104 - Romans, painting, Egyptian detectives, and hitchhiking space journalists
Rebecca, Chris, and Jason are joined by Michael Hopwood to consider Romans painting swords, Egyptian detectives, and far flung journalists trying to find a story. Will the games we create be total nonsense, or race to the top of the hotness lists?

WTD Episode 33 - Simplified user interfaces, with Anton Bollen
One of the most challenging and frustrating things about being a tech writer is managing screenshots in your product documentation. How many times have you needed to take complex screenshots of your product and meticulously marked them up with callouts only to be told that a field has changed and you need to do everything again? Itâs so frustrating and demoralizing as a writer because it feels like wasted effort. What if there was a way to create screenshots that could withstand the rapid iterations of a product under development while still conveying valuable meaning to your readers. Today weâre joined by Anton Bollen from TechSmith who explains how we can do this using low-detail screenshots, aka simplified user interfaces, that let you focus your usersâ attention on just the bits of the interface that matter.

Tools to help generate screenshots for your documentation
I wonât repeat any famous phrases about how pictures equalling a quantity of words, I think we all understand the potential power of a good visual. Well considered images in documentation can help illustrate a concept, clarify a complex idea, or show a reader what they can expect from undertaking certain steps.

The Weekly Squeak - Updates from the Ukrainian Startup scene with Stepan Veselovskyi
I speak with Stepan Veselovskyi, the CEO at Lviv IT Cluster about whatâs been happening in the Ukraine tech and startup scene since my last visit. I also cover JetBrains, Google, WhatsApp, and⊠The Amiga.

DXposé - Graph-based applications with Apollo
Simplify app development by combining APIs, databases, and microservices into a single data graph that you can query with GraphQL.

The Solo Adventurer - Computer generated dungeons with AI Dungeon
I enter a world of endless possibilities, where you can do absolutely anything you can imagineâŠ. What will I find?

Nvidia Jetson with Amit Goel
This week, I speak with Amit Goel, Director of Product Management for Embedded AI Platforms at NVIDIA about the Jetson platform. I also cover the M1 (again), Discord, the Romans, and the Archers⊠ xx Chinch

DXposé - Mysterious Operating Systems with Google Fuchsia (part 2)
What is the new Fuchsia OS from Google? I investigate what it is like to get started with and reach my own conclusions as to itâs intent.

DXposé - Mysterious Operating Systems with Google Fuchsia (part 1)
What is the new Fuchsia OS from Google? I investigate what it is like to get started with and reach my own conclusions as to itâs intent.
Crit Test Dummies Ep. 10 - Isle of the Dying Moon Pt. 1
Episode 10 - Isle of the Dying Moon (Pt 1) was streamed live on our Twitch channel at Twitch.tv/crittestdummies on November 29th. Check us out most Sundays at 6 PM CET for new episodes! You can find this adventure and more by Aaryan Balu on DMs Guild at https://bit.ly/3aOhGux He can also be found at @aravar27 on Twitter. Character art made by Lance @20sapodcast on Twitter. Game audio by Tabletop Audio. Thank you to Aaryan for letting us use their work, our players Chris, Enya, Patrick and Shane, and our DM Peter!

The Weekly Squeak - Algolia search with Julien Lemoine
In this episode I cover the new Algolia integration with Netlify and look at the rapid growth of interest in their search solution. Also features news on Fuscia OS, taking Google offline, GPT-3, and much more!

DXposé - Code editing with Nova from Panic
The beautiful, fast, flexible, native Mac code editor from Panic.

How to decide on an API that gives your team the best developer experience
If you want to build your applications and business on existing APIs and not reinvent all functionality yourself, how do you decide between the plethora of options available? This article helps you make that decision based on the developer experience (DX) you should expect from an API.

The Solo Adventurer - Solo D&D with Frozen Offerings part 3
In this Solo Adventurer I play some solo D&D, with a dangerous expedition across Icewind Dale by Paul Bimler. This will be the final part!
Recommendations and Newsletters
I currently curate 4 newsletters on Ethics (mostly in technology), gaming, Language and Linguistics, see my latest recommendations and join those newsletters below.
The Weekly Squeak Newsletter
My general newsletter "The Weekly Squeak" draws content from all these sources and a couple more, sign up to that below.
Latest ethics posts
moreNewsletter coming soon, for now enjoy the posts below.

Artificial general intelligence: Are we close, and does it even make sense to try?
from MIT Technology Review
Google Workers Publicly Launch Union
from VICE
The coming war on the hidden algorithms that trap people in poverty
from MIT Technology Review
Why venture capital doesnât build the things we really need
from MIT Technology Review
Latest language posts
moreNewsletter coming soon, for now enjoy the posts below.


Garbage Language
from Vulture

OpenAIâs new language generator GPT-3 is shockingly goodâand completely mindless
from MIT Technology Review
I used an algorithm to help me write a story. Hereâs what I learned.
from MIT Technology ReviewLatest gaming posts
moreNewsletter coming soon, for now enjoy the posts below.

The Best Tabletop RPGs Of 2020
from Game Informer


