Technical writing is of course, not just about the writing itself, but also about taking information provided by a Subject-Matter Expert (SME) and translating that information into a format that others of varying skill-levels can comprehend, so they can effectively perform tasks as required. Often, this means not just adding images to help different types of learners, but also in simply providing context. Many times, when someone is an expert in a particular field, there is the tendency to short-hand, or skip steps without even realizing it. That's why a good Technical Writer not only asks probing questions, but also verifies processes with firsthand run-throughs of SME instructions, and obtains clarification when gaps are found. Here is an example of some of my work in this regard.
FreeWheel is an audience targeting utility from Comcast Technology Solutions that enables premium video publishers to manage their ad content across all screens, including desktop, mobile, OTT, and traditional STB devices, as well as track ad delivery metrics. FreeWheel has the ability to monetize video streams with a multitude of ad formats. Ad slots can be added dynamically from the mpx player via cue-points or predefined via FreeWheel’s MRM interface.
The plugin works by integrating FreeWheel’s AdManager with the mpx player APIs, allowing for communication between the two technologies. Once the AdManager is initialized, it gains access to metadata identifying the video that is going to be played. With this information, the Ad Manager will request a schedule of ads for the video that is about to start. Once ads are selected and returned by the FreeWheel AdServer, the plugin registers both the pre-roll and the post-roll with the player in the form of a clipWrapper object that the player will call at the proper time.
While a video is playing, FreeWheel’s Ad Manager listens for cue-points from the mpx player and proceeds to play any associated ads that are booked at those times. The plugin will pause the content video and render the ad over it for the user. Upon completion of the ad, the ad is removed from the stage and main video content resumes for the user. At the end of the stream, if a clipWrapper object was created for that stream, mpx will invoke the object and FreeWheel will play the associated post-roll slot.
There are many things that you can do with the Freewheel MRM Application Programming Interface (API). In Technical Operations, we used the Freewheel Query Tool to answer performance questions about ads, resource the MRM API for the components used in reporting (such as Event Date, Gross Delivered Impressions, and Network Name), stored the results of MRM queries, and generated a comparison between Conviva minimum viewed on a channel per device, and completed beacons on a channel per device.
Day-to-day, one of the primary interactions the Technical Operations Center personnel had with Freewheel, was via the Freewheel Data Issue Alert, and performing data analysis of any errors or data spikes in Kibana. This is one of the processes that I was tasked with writing about, in order to train new Technical Operations Center video monitoring staff.
The first image is just a series of raw instructions written by the SME explaining how to analyse data in Kibana. This was all I had to work with initially. The second image is the document I delivered when my information gathering and writing had been completed. When the SME saw the final result, he joked, "That's so much better than what I wrote, it makes me angry. Like, you've upset me with how awesome that is." Best backhanded compliment I've ever received. Makes me giggle to this day.
