Predictive Content: Proactive, Synchronous Coordination of Heuristic Information Content.
by Randall J. Zwinge. $36.66.
Buy now from Barnes and Noble
Do you want your content to, finally, catch up with developers? Are you tired of always being at the tail end of the development process? Predictive Content gives you the tools to get ahead of the curve and keep content development where it belongs: ahead of the pack.
Randall Zwinge, author of ten books on the science of communication, says there are no tricks involved with predictive content; it’s all out there for anyone to see. And his latest book will show you how to harness predictive content for your organization. Full of case studies and practical information, this book leads you step by step.
Inside the Book
Predictive Content combines the techniques of leading practitioners across the predictive landscape. Here is a sampling of the wisdom of these experts:
- The Sylvia Browne method: Only count the right guesses. No one remembers that you neglected to mention the high-voltage backpan on the Frimlitch 500, especially anyone who touched the backpan. However, they will remember that you correctly predicted that the on/off switch turns the device on and off.
- Bending content with Uri Geller: Reuse text with just a little bend here and there. For example:
Original text for Windows:
When your Windows system freezes, reboot the system.
Bent for Mac:
When your Mac system freezes, the cause is operator error; RTFM
- Hot reading your SMEs with James Van Praagh: You already know your SMEs will tell you to “reboot the system” for any error, so why ask? Just write that in the manual and go on to the boilerplate privacy notice, which is also completely predictable: “we will take as much personal information as we can gather and sell it to the highest bidder, and we’ll bury this notice so deep in the fine print that you’ll fall asleep from boredom before you ever get to this sentence.”
- Phone support with Miss Cleo: Yes, you can apply these techniques to phone support. Here is the complete training manual for Miss Cleo’s phone support method:
Support agent: Hello, my name is Chad, how can I help you?
Customer: any request or complaint at all
Support agent: Have you rebooted your system?
Customer: any response at all
Support agent: Please call back after you have rebooted your system. It has been a pleasure talking with you, have a nice day.
This just scratches the surface of what you will learn in this amazing book. Zwinge will show you how to deal with all varieties of content, including:
- Regulatory content: “Ask your lawyer before doing anything.”
- Pharmaceutical content: “Take two tablets of your company’s most expensive pill every day until Saturday night, and if you’re still sick, go to the emergency room immediately.”
- Heavy equipment: “Keep your fingers away from all moving parts.”
This book is the answer to all of your predictive content needs. And if you buy before the end of March, 2015, you can get five free minutes on Miss Cleo’s new Predictive Content Network. That’s a $499 value for just the price of this book.
What are they saying?
“F*#% intelligent content. Predictive content is the future.”
— Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler
“I cannot recommend this book too highly.”
— Connie Giordano, TechWhirl
“A masterwork of pseudo-science.”
— Penn Jillette, in The New Yorker
About Randall J. Zwinge
Randall Zwinge began his writing career in journalism. He moved on to a career in radio and television before beginning his association with the predictive content community. His clear-eyed approach to psychic tomfoolery gained him the endorsement of a professor at the University of Buffalo and former Senator Claiborne Pell as a genuine psychic. Combining these skills with writing was a natural progression for this autodidact and prodigy, who has published ten books in addition to Predictive Content.
Credits
Cover image Copyright © 2009 Sean McGrath, CC-by-2.0. This image was used with no edits, except to scale the size.