Elephant is the only organization of technical and marcom writers with a Code of Ethics. Its salary and freelance rate survey is the most accurate of its kind in Israel (updated results will be published Aug. 15 - next reporting period is Oct.1).
Although much of the site is public there are restricted areas that require login. So if you are a professional technical writer, marcom writer or copy editor you should join now.
Important Notice!
The results of the July salary and rate survey will be delayed. I expct to post them before the end of the month.
-
Milestones: Does the concept of Project Management Exist in Israel?
When do I stop being considered new? Probably never. Our cousin Yossi, the tour guide says that to be considered old in Israel,something has to be at least 200 years old.
More... -
Coming Soon - New Web Admin for Elephant
Once this quarter's salary and rate data is processed it will be removed from the server and I expect to announce a new web admin! That's right folks - time for a change. Not only can you expect to get more for your money. For those of you who are not members - now is the time to join.
More... -
Full Gas Neutral
Ever notice how sometimes people put out a great deal of effort, but it seems to be in the wrong direction? And sometimes that person is you? We call this “full gas neutral”.
More... -
Your POS - Personal Operating System
Consider that you have a Personal Operating System (POS), how you most naturally and effectively operate, your strengths and talents, and your non-talents. And consider that this system is unique to you, just as others’ systems have their own unique configuration. This is the heart of diversity, not just recognizing that people truly differ, also recognizing that people’s differences are to be valued. The superhuman has not (yet?!) been created that can be good at everything. In order to have all our bases covered, people need to be good at different things. For example, there are some people that forge ahead. They have a quick intuitive think, decide, and are ready to run. Others like to mull over a decision. They thoroughly consider different sides and potential outcomes before they move forward. A really good team benefits from having both of these types as members, the gas and the brakes.
More... -
Creating Your Home Court Advantage
You may root for your home team, but how often do you root for yourself? How to develop self-talk that is positive and genuine.
More... -
Guide for the Perplexed: Where the How-To’s Are, and Office 2007 Commands
Drop in for a roundup of helpful Web sites that offer instructional content in textual form, news about a Microsoft Office add-in that helps you adapt to Office 2007, and all about run-time environments in Linux.
More... -
Thanks for Reading
With the column of June 1, “The Final Why,” The Why of Style has concluded a two-year fortnighly run. Any future columns will be occasional. My e-mail address remains open for questions and comments: . Thanks for reading, and particular thanks to those who wrote in from time to time. — Mark L. Levinson
More... -
The Fastrack in Robohelp
Your help authoring can become much more efficient if you learn the necessary shortcuts. Similar to my previous columns, keyboard shortcuts are not an "all or nothing" affair. Learn the shortcuts that make your help authoring easier. Although I have only worked with Robohelp, I think it is safe to assume that other help authoring tools utilize similar shortcuts. Whenever you need to learn a new help authoring application, or any application for that matter, always experiment with the various shortcuts offered.
More... -
Play Music and Get a Date at the Tool Bar & Grill
Wherein Jonathan recommends a great simple media player and a Web site that can get you out of trouble, and Mark reviews Linux calendar utilities.
More... -
The Final Why
“When we didn’t have a manual yet, when we didn’t know what to name the commands on our menus, when we needed our business cards spelled right, we couldn’t have done without you,” the boss said. “But now the product is in release, and I don’t see the ROI from fine-polishing the error messages.”
More... -
Monkey See Monkey Do
Monkey-See Monkey-Do
How many bars of soap would it take to wash out the mouths of our most vulgar students? I'm not advocating such an archaic punishment, but if I hear just one more Junior High school student offer greetings and salutations to his peers with a: wassup beeach? or how'z it mother f@cker?, I am going to lose my composure and thrash someone with a complete, unabridged Webster's dictionary.
More... -
Discount for Elephant members for upcoming Corporate Blogging and Social Media Course
“Corporate Blogging and Social Media” is a 3-day seminar given by illuminea marketing & media that will take place on Thursday June 5, June 12, and June 19, 2008, from 9 am to 6 pm.
More... -
Salary and Freelance Rate Results
The results of the April salary and freelance surveys are ready. If you have access you will them when you are logged in, if not you can purchase access online. This quarter's results are even more detailed than last quarter (14 pages of salary breakdowns and separate 9 page reports for freelance rates in $USD and NIS).
More... -
What the Romans Knew
Memory improvement techniques are based on finding memory pegs, on which to hang the things one wants to remember. The principle of memory pegs is simple...
More... -
What is PDC all about?
TheP eopleD evelopmentC olumns help you maximize your chances for success. These columns are currently broken into 2 groups that appear 3 times per month.
More... -
The Fun is Over
Now that Purim is over we are back to the real version of elephant.org.il . If you want to see some of what you missed - click here...
More... -
Loops
Excerpted from my book FrameScript for Newbies Copyright [7/17/2007] by Paul Schnall
Loops are a way of moving through a book or document and running lines of code on each object of a particular type. For example, looping through every paragraph (paragraph being the object) in a document and searching for a specific word or text is easily done using this construct.
More... -
The First Rain of Poetry
The first rain of the season reminds us that even if we do live in the Middle East, we still succumb to the forces of Mother Nature and her tokens. Yet, the weather wasn’t the only thing on my mind last Sunday.
More... -
3rd Annual Elephant picnic
Elephant and Mike Lee do it again!
We can’t say we filled that wonderful pool at Kibbutz Hazorea , the venue for the 3rd annual Elephant picnic. We can’t say it because there were other people there, too.
More... -
God and the Technical Writer
And in the beginning there was nothing. And then one day a huge bang was heard that echoed round the universe and when the smoke had cleared, all that could be seen was a giant Product Manager and a petite Technical Writer
More...
Upcoming Events
Summaries