Webinar on API technical writing – June 2015

On Friday 19th June I’m presenting an hour-long webinar, an introduction to API technical writing. The webinar is hosted by the Technical Communicators Association of New Zealand (TCANZ, also known as TechCommNZ).

The session is a 60-minute introduction to APIs (application programming interfaces) from a technical writer’s point of view. It’s designed for an audience of technical writers who’re interested in learning about APIs and API documentation, and who’re looking for pointers about how to get started as an API technical writer.

Quick signup details: Anyone is welcome to join the webinar. You don’t need to be a member of TCANZ. (There are different fees for members and non-members.) To join the webinar, first sign up for a username on the TCANZ website (click Create Account on the TCANZ website), then register for the webinar on the webinar page.

More about APIs and the webinar

APIs are an exciting area of software development. In the online world, APIs provide the communication channel between one application and another. How does WordPress display your Twitter stream on your blog’s sidebar? By using the Twitter API. How does Confluence wiki display a set of Flickr photographs on a wiki page? Via the Flickr API.

Join us to see a couple of APIs in action, to find out what API documentation consists of, and to learn more about the role itself.

Webinar title: Introduction to API Technical Writing
Date: Friday 19 June 2015 (New Zealand/Sydney time zone)
Time: 11am in New Zealand, 9am in Sydney (see the World Meeting Planner for more time zones)
Cost and signup: See the TCANZ webinar page

Session summary:

• What an API is and does.
• Introduction to the role of API technical writer and our audience.
• Overview of the types of developer products we may be asked to document – APIs and others.
• Types of APIs, including REST APIs, other web services, library-based APIs like JavaScript, and more.
• A couple of live demos of APIs that you can play with at home: a JavaScript API and a REST API.
• Examples of good API documentation.
• The components of API documentation, and the technical writer’s role in the creation of each component.
• A day in the life of an API technical writer.
• Tips on getting started in the role.