New team member

I suppose directly after she sent her mobile number to the entire world is as good a time as any to introduce our newest team member to you, Donna Buskirk.  (Don't go looking, I've already deleted the messages from the Quest  & Yahoo archives).

Donna is our new Content Developer and has taken over Melanie's responsibilities.  She's a great sport and we like her well enough so far that we've (I've) been pretty comfortable teasing her though I'm sure she has her limits. I intend to find them, even if it takes going public to do so.

There are a lot of new directions we'd like to take what we rather blandly refer to as "Content" ("Knowledge," "Training" and so on).  We see the old style MS Help systems as becoming a bit archaic and largely supplanted by sophisticated search engines such as Google.  Personally I'm a fan of short, poignant videos if they are very well done.

On the other hand, many of you say that you get a lot out of our Help system. And this does vary, according to demographics and country. We only have so many resources to go around, and we do have some legal obligations to continue to produce the older style docs.  Is there a more effective way to release 'Content' and 'Knowledge' so that it helps people more? Are videos more accessible than linear Help system pages? Is it worth trying to unbury content out in AskToad, ToadWorld, the Yahoo Groups, the Quest Support/KnowledgeBase and so on, or are people in this age much more likely to seek stream of consciousness solutions which are more timely and relevant? Are there newer, more effective ways to develop and get you the Help you need, in a more efficient manner? What can the new media offer, and is there potential in giving users easier ways to provide more direct Content to the Toad Community?

These and more are the questions we've tasked Donna with exploring in the months and years ahead.  We think she's up to the challenge.
Mark