October 31, HW#1, Reading reflection

These are my thoughts on this week's reading:

Blogs and Wikis

I thought it was cool how the book mentioned using blogs and wikis for your research. I personally use Wikipedia all the time. I especially like how it has a "cite this article" link that provides you with citation information in all the major formats so that you can easily cite the info you find on the site. I also really like how the site is community driven because it helps keep the content fresh. Kind of like "adopt a highway" people "adopt an article", and for the most part they take good care of them :-)

Evaluating Sources from the Web

I think this is important to consider. If you're not objective when it comes to what web sites you trust, chances are you'll be subjected to a lot of bad information before you find reliable information. For example, since Wikipedia articles can be written and posted by most anyone without verification of the info, it's important to make sure that the information you find there is legit.

October 24, HW#8, Response to Q3 posts

These are the blogs I replied to:

Elizabeth
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/10/october-17-hw5-question-3-from-ethics.html

Jeffery
http://gorf959.blogspot.com/2006/10/october-17-hw44-question-3-i-think-if.html#comments

Mirelle
http://rustybloggy.blogspot.com/2006/11/hw7-101706-question-3-ethics.html

I think it was interesting how everyone seemed so confident in their descriptions of how they would deal with a tough ethical situation. Everyone seemed to think that they would stick to their ideals when they time came to make a tough ethical call. I wonder if people would really react the way the described.

October 10, HW#5, Deadline Reflection

I thought that the materials we covered in the book this week were pretty interesting. Not so much chapter 7 (the copyright and fair use stuff), but I did like reading chapter 9 which dealt with visual presentation of your documents.

I recently wrote a user guide for a software my team built at work, and I think that this class was a huge help in helping me understand the importance of a good visual presentation. For my guide I actually spent some time thinking about how I could visually break out the different elements within my document before I even began writing it. I ended up looking through a bunch of books that I had looking for some good examples. I ended up incorporating some visuals like a little warning symbol that showed readed information that I really thought they should read. I also started each chapter with a "What Will I Learn" type of section and a brief description of the lesson.

Overall I think this week's lesson was really beneficial and I'm sure I'll be using what I've learned with every document I write.

October 24, HW#9, Deadline reflection

I really liked working on the WP#2 assignment this week. I think that it definately be useful to have a little more experience under my belt with writing user documentation and instructions documents.

The exercises talked about in the reading assignment were very helpful in enabling me to map out what it was that I wanted to cover in my instructions document. These "critical thinking" exercises really help me get all my ideas out before I go jumping into writing.

October 24, HW#7, Annotated bibliography

Social Bookmarking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking
7 Nov. 2006

This page contains an excellent discussion of the concept of shared online bookmarking, aka "social bookmarking". It provides an introduction, history, functional overview, and more.

Wikipedia rocks for finding out great info on different things. This particular page gives a great overview of how social bookmarking started and how it has evolved.

Social Bookmarking Tools (I): A General Review
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april05/hammond/04hammond.html
7 Nov. 2006

This article discusses the various technologies and services available for managing online bookmarks. It also provides various links and resources for creating your own online bookmarks list.

This page has a great explanation of how tags are used in social bookmarking. It also talks about how to create online communities where you can share you bookmarks.

October 24, HW#6, Primary, secondary, and tertiary readers

My document is going to deal with the idea of implementing "social bookmarking" in the classroom. These are who I think my readers would be:

Primary

Class instructors
The instructors will want to know how easy it is to setup and maintain something like this. They will also want to know what type of benefits it will provide to ensure that it's worthwhile to add to this curriculum. The document should provide real world examples and proven results.

Students
Students are going to be looking to see how much of a pain in the butt it will be to have bookmark stuff for their class. The document should stress ease of use.

Secondary

Department review boards
I think that this group would be most interested in how this type of technology could be implemented in classes throughout an entire department.

Tertiary

Curriculum designers
These people will want to know the potential value this would add to an existing curriculum. The document should show how this technology will benefit a particular type of coursework.

October 24, HW#4, Writing project reflection

I liked this project because it's one of those documents I will have to actually write outside of this class.

I've written tutorials and simple user guides before, but I never really sat down and thought about what makes them distinct from other other types of documents. Through writing this document I learned a good deal about what types of things you can use in an instructional document to make the doc more effective for different audiences. In my document I included a lot of visuals and made references to the visuals in the instructions. I also made the steps involved in a set of instructions very "bite sized" as I expect that may audience may not be very familiar with using an online service such as Blogger let alone the concept of "blogging".

October 24, HW#1, Reading reflection

These are a few things I took away from this week's reading:

Problem Statement
I like what it said about writing a "clear, succinct, but complete problem statement" before you go trying to work a problem. I think it's crucial to spend the time thinking about the real root of the problem before you go writing about it.

Visual Invention Exercise
It was interesting to learn about how you can dissect a problem into all of its little causes and effects. It's a good exercise because it just puts you through the paces of really exploring all the little facets of the problem you're working with.

Identifying the Multiple Purposes
Another great exercise which helps you map out exactly what it is you're trying to communicate. This exercise has you list out all the possible purposes your document might server. Kind of like listing out the different contexts it will be used in, but not. :-)

October 17, HW#9, Deadline reflection

These are the blogs I checked out this week:

Elizabeth - October 17, HW#5, Question #3 from Ethics
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/10/october-17-hw5-question-3-from-ethics.html

Maria - Deadline Reflection Oct 17, 2006
http://apontemaria.blogspot.com/2006/10/deadline-reflection-oct-17-2006-well-i.html

Onita - http://onita-eng111sec2538.blogspot.com/2006/10/visual-checklist-from-concise-guide.html
Visual Checklist [from "Concise Guide. . . " page 180]

October 17, HW#7, Q3 in Ethics

Question 3 on page 148 of Ethics asks "How much responsibility does a technical communicator have for how a technical document is ultimately read and understood by the audience?." It goes on to ask if your ethical responsibility as a technical communicator has been met once you've delivered the message. The question really has to do with where the threshold lies when it comes to how far you go to make sure that you message is recieved.

I think that the Challenger example was a good one because the technical writer who communicated the problem with the O-Rings continued to deliver the message with stronger and strong wording even after his initial reports were ignored. For me I think the decision on how far I would take things would depend on the sensitivity of the issue. If it was potentially life threatening, like the O-Ring problem, I would definately continue to communicate the issue until I was satisfied that the issue would be resolved. However, if it was not a big deal whether or not people payed attention to my message, then I probably wouldn't push the issue that far.

October 17, HW#5, Checklist for visual communication

The visual I analyzed was a screenshot of the Blogger page that had the post editor displayed on it. This page basically contains a text editor that allows you to create or edit a blog post. So here's how it did on the checklist:

1. Serve legitimate purpose? Yes
2. Best type for purpose/audience? Yes
3. Level of complexity for audience? Yes
4. Visual titled and numbered? Yes
5. Units specified? N/A
6. Color used tastefully? Yes
7. Visual relationships represent numeric relationships? Huh?
8. Data sources cited? N/A
9. Written permission? N/A, considered fair use
10. Visual introduced in text? Yes
11. Easy to locate? Yes
12. Uncrowded and free of visual noise? Yes
13. Ethically acceptable? Yes
14. Respect other cultural values? Yes

I think I did pretty good covering the bases on this one. The visuals are well layed out, easy to spot, easy to identify, and properly introduced in the text. The only thing I decided to do was swap the visual out with a screenshot the was easier to read. I did this based on a suggestion I got back from one of the peer reviews.

October 17, HW#4, Peer review reflection

I enjoyed reviewing two my peers rough draft for WP#2. I think that both authors were off to a great start.

The first one I reviewed had to do with instructions for a fitness/health tracking web site. The document provided directions on how to create an account on the site, log in, etc. I think this person did a good job with the writing, but there were no screenshots used to show the different steps visually. Instead, the author tried to recreate some of the web pages using tables in MS Word. I think that screenshots would have been more effective.

The other draft I reviewed talked about how to use Blogger, which happened to be the same subject I chose for my paper :-) This author did a great job of keeping the reader engaged by using interesting wording throughout. Some of the instructions were a little confusing to me, but other than that it was a great job.

October 17, HW#2, Annotated bibliography

Microsoft Office Online: Defining phases and tasks
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011429601033.aspx
17 Oct. 2006

This web page talks about how a project manager can define the tasks and milestones associated with a project.

This can be a useful resource for anyone who needs help understanding how you break out all the different tasks involved in a project and then taking those tasks and grouping them into milestones.


Microsoft Office Online: Defining project scope
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011429651033.aspx
17 Oct. 2006

This page explains how to accurately define a project scope while you are still in the planning phases of a project.

Defining the project scope is one of the most important steps you must complete while in the planning phase of a project. I've experienced "scope creep" several times, mainly due to the fact that the project scope wasn't defined well enough to begin with.

October 17, HW#1, Reading reflection

Chapter 5 in the Ethics book was interesting because it talked about how the meaning behind a communication can be changed based on circumstance and the situation. One of the examples that I enjoyed reading about was when it talked about the O-Rings on the Challenger shuttle. It explained that the O-Rings that joined the different segments of the booster rockets were found to be charred meaning that they had been exposed to the gases inside the booster. This posed a great danger because if both levels of O-Ring failed the gases would work their way out of booster housing and cause an emplosion.

This information was originally communicated up as a very serious safety concern, but after several more launches without incident it was reasoned that it was no real threat. Even though the recovered boosters from each launch showed these signs of charring, over time they just expected to see it and began treating it as normal.

It was a great example of how something can change meaning over time and affect peoples interpretation. I also think it was an example of how people adjust to things and over time it becomes "the norm". It reminded me of this video I downloaded off of the internet that showed some of the most insane game shows in Japan. They were crazy -- people being launched off of cliffs attached to bungie cords, people having hot wax poured on them, sitting in scalding hot water, etc. I showed it to my Dad who thought these people were absolutely nuts. He went on to say "those Japanese people are crazy!" I looked at him and said, "have you ever heard of fear factor?" It was just funny because in the US we don't go to the same extremes, but we definately do things that I'm sure that Japanese would think are crazy. The norm for each culture is different.

October 10, HW#4, Ethics Q1 responses

These are the people I replied to:

Elizabeth - October 3, HW#5, Question 1 from Ethics in Technical Communication
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/10/october-3-hw5-question-1-from-ethics.html

Mirelle - HW#5, 10/3/06, Question #1, Ethics
http://rustybloggy.blogspot.com/2006/10/hw5-10306-question-1-ethics.html

Wendy - Question 1 Response - Due October 3rd
http://wendymart.blogspot.com/2006/09/question-1-response-due-october-3rd.html

What I thought about after reading through their posts is how people have a different ethical threshold. Where they draw the line might have to do with their stance on a particular topic, or how they are personally affected by an ethical/unethical action, or just how they were raised (someone mentioned their catholic conscience). I think it's interesting to see each person's response. Some of them that I read made me wonder if they would stick to their decision if they were really posed with that type of situation. Luckily most people don't deal with stolen algorithms that often...

October 10, HW#2, Annotated bibliography

Microsoft Office Templates: Research paper in MLA format
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC010183761033.aspx?CategoryID=CT063455491033
17 Oct. 2006

From this page you can download an MS Word template that is setup as a Research paper and includes example References and Quotations in MLA format.

I selected this template because I always struggle with citations and references. This is a great template because it provides examples of both in MLA format.


Microsoft Office Templates: Project planner
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC012197731033.aspx?CategoryID=CT062100881033
17 Oct. 2006

This page provides a link to download a Project planner template which can be used to track resources by functional area.

This template would be useful because I find myself in need of a simple project dashboard type of document that just shows me a high level view of everything going on.


Microsoft Office Templates: Issue tracking form (detailed)
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC010785151033.aspx?CategoryID=CT062640421033
17 Oct. 2006

This is a detailed form which allows an end user to report bugs or issues. It includes fields for description of issue as well a list of actions.

This type of document would be very helpful in my current profession because we produce software that is tested by a group of beta testers. This template would allow us to have a nice form to collect bug reports in.

October 10, HW#1, Reading reflection

For this week's reading we read chapters 7 and 9 of the Concise Guide. This is what I found interesting:

Fair Use
Isn't it cool how you can use some copyrighted material, depending on how you use it? A good example is the intructions doc I did that went through how to use Blogger. This document includes screenshots of the blogger web site, which is a copyrighted material. Even though the site is copyrighted as an entire work, using individual pieces like a screenshot I believe is fair use.

Is Online Shopping Safe?
I think that online shopping is about as secure as it's going to get at this point. The way I look at it is that an identity thief would have a much easier time obtaining your information just by going through your trash can versus trying to obtain from a company like PayPal over the internet. I heard on the radio just the other day that if you go through the trash of a typical household that you'll find plenty of discarded mail that contains the person's social security and other personal information. The percentage was something like 68%. That's crazy. Safer to shop online I say.

Is Online Shopping Private?
I don't really think it is...but it's getting better. The company I work for is very concerned about "auto-subscribing" customers to things like newsletters because there are laws in place that say that the consumer must opt into providing information like their e-mail address for the purpose of things like newsletters. We also attend vendor conferences and we have to have the customer sign a waver to do things like use their mailing address to send them materials. I think that the law is catching up with people who mis-use someone's personal information. However, I think it's silly how every bank I have or have ever had an account with has to send me a yearly privacy statement... that one's a bit overboard.

October 3, HW#8, Deadline reflection

So it looks like we have a draft due next week...yikes! I'll have to work on that this weekend. This week's work wasn't too bad. This was probably the first chapter in the Ethics book that I thought was pretty interesting. It was cool because it took the concepts of ethics and put in the context of a real world example.

These are the blogs I commented on:

Elizabeth - October 3, HW#3, Complex Communication Situations
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/10/october-3-hw3-complex-communication.html

Wendy - Profession Analysis - Due October 3rd
http://wendymart.blogspot.com/2006/09/profession-analysis-due-october-3rd.html

Michelle - Links!!!
http://kokoroneko.blogspot.com/2006/09/links.html

October 3, HW#7, Grammar work

I went in and did some grammar exercises on identifying comma splices and run-on (fused) sentences. I think I did OK, I got an 80% or better on the different exercises. Those two aspects of grammar really apply to any type of document you're working on. For me I have a hard time understanding where to place commas, so that's why I chose to go through those exercises.

I also looked for lessons on combining sentences, but the closest I could find were some activities dealing with clarifying your sentences. In that lesson it talks about breaking up overloaded sentences and trimming them to include just the important information. I used these methods when I revised my resume because I wanted to make sure that each statement was short and to the point. I'm sure I'll use these methods on the next writing assignment as well.

October 3, HW#6, Ethics Q1

In the example it says that I work for a company that has illegally obtained a special algorithm from a competitor and I'm faced with the decision of whether or not to distribute the algorithm. To top it off my company will most likely go bankrupt if I don't come to market with this new product before my competitor does. What would I do?

Honestly I probably would not publish the algorithm. Not because it's un-ethical, but because I would probably go to jail later since the competitor would discover that I had stolen software secrets they no doubt had patents for. This happens all the time in the software development industry.

The book goes on to ask if my personal situation determines my ethical stance. I would definately say that it does. Let's say I'm a low level worker guy at this company that stole this algorithm and I was aware that I would be distrubiting stolen software secrets, would I quit or risk getting fired to avoid doing something unethical? Yah, probably, if I was confident that I could find another job relatively quickly. Now lets say I'm the owner of said company and if I don't do this unethical thing my company will go bankrupt and all my workers will be laid off. In that situation I might just do it to because at that point I'm in too deep. The lesson in this story -- don't steal something that doesn't belong to you in the first place.

October 3, HW#5, Ethics Q3 responses

Reading through the different posts I keep thinking about how the theories behind ethics have really evolved over time. What made sense 100 years ago doesn't really make sense today. Aristotle believed people are just inherently good, and therefore they should be good. Kant believed ethics was an obligation and I think his perspective had a lot to do with people being honorable. The Utilitarianism theory is almost like saying "what's good for most is good for all." Then you get down to the Ethics of Care perspective which basically says that ethics is different for everyone and that you have to consider each individuals stance on ethics.

I think it's really strange how over time it went from ethics being about everyone to ethics being about just one person. In another 100 years I wonder if ethics will even be a concept? Maybe nobody cares about what is ethical to another person at that point?

These are the blogs I commented on:

Elizabeth
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/09/september-26-hw5-question-7-from.html

Monica
http://drfaustus8.blogspot.com/2006/09/ethics-question-7.html

October 3, HW#4, Communication situations

Audience, purpose, context.

In Chapter 12 of the Concise Guide we learned about a few different types of complex documents. I haven't had to write many super complex documents, but a few come to mind that I've had to complete at work. They are:

Business Plan
This is really just another type of proposal. This document is intended for upper management and basically outlines whether or not a particular project is worth the investment. I had to be careful that I didn't include a lot of technical jargon in this document because at this stage in the game my audience isn't really concerned about the details of how a particular project will be executed, they just want to know what the cost vs. benefit is. In the book it talks about the different components of a proposal, i.e. background, objective, budget and costs. The Business Plan I wrote contained all of those elements and I also had to include information such as a competitive analysis.

Long Reports
I can't think of any specific examples of a long report I've had to do for work, but I can think of one that's coming up soon. Within the next few weeks I'm going to be creating some documentation around how we'll manage the process of software development. This type of document will be read by our team of developers as well as other development teams who will be implementing our software. The purpose of this document is to explain how we will manage our development and production environments, distribution of patches and updates, and additional development processes.

Descriptions
An example that comes to mind of how I plan to use descriptions is in the creating of a help system for a web site I'm working on. The audience is going to be content owners throughout the company who will be adding new documents to the web site. The descriptions will appear as help tips when the person is filling out the information to add a new document. These tips are context driven, so they will explain exactly what is on the screen at that point.

October 3, HW#3, Annotated Bibliography: Word

Microsoft Office Training: Protect Word documents (n.d.).
Retrieved October 3, 2006, from http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC011179021033

This tutorial discusses how you can protect your Word documents. It explains how you can controlling how a document is viewed and printed. It also provides information on how to limit what a document reviewer can change within your document.

I found this article interesting because I wasn't aware that you could protect Word documents the same way you can protect Acrobat PDFs. I learned that with the 2003 edition of Word you can enable what's called "Information Rights Management" (IRM) which allows you to protect certain features within your document. I think that this is a powerful feature because it allows you to distribute documents without running the risk that someone will modify you're work. I think I'll apply what I've learned in the tutorail to my resume so that others can't modify it.

October 3, HW#1, Reading reflection

This week the Concise Guide talked about how to deal with more complex types of documents, such as long reports and proposals. In the Ethics book we read about how ethics deals with how information is obtained and used. The examples the book used dealt with some of the different medical and other types of information that were collected by the Nazis and how ethics plays a role in how that information should be used.

These are a few of the thing I found interesting:

Keep a Focus on the Benefits
The Concise Guide goes into detail about what you should and shouldn't include in a proposal. I like what it said on page 290 where it talks about keeping a focus on the benefits. I think this is a really important aspect of a proposal because I believe that in a proposal you're really just trying to create a perception of value. You're really not trying to sell this person on the product itself, you're selling them on an idea, on a promise that your product will deliver certain benefits. This reminds of the saying "one persons garbage is another man's treasure". It all has to do with perceived value. And how do you create value? By demonstrating the benefits.

Specimens from the Concentration Camps
On page 86 of Ethics it talks about how some of the tissue samples and skeletons being studied in German Medical Schools had been obtained from Nazi concentration camps. I can't believe that after all those people had been through that they would forfeit their right to a proper burial in favor of using them in medical studies. Where do you draw the line? Does it make it OK if you're research will help other people? I think about the subject of stem cell research and now I'm kind of torn. Does an unborn child have the same rights as a living breathing person? If the research will help people, does that justify it?

September 26, HW#8, Deadline reflection

So this was another fun week. I really enjoyed working on my resume. I was long overdue for a revamping. Thanks to those who gave me all the great feedback in the peer review!

Here are the other blogs I commented on this week:

Elizabeth - September 26, HW#1, Reading Reflection
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/09/september-26-hw1-reading-reflection.html

Elizabeth - September 26, HW#4, Project-Oriented Communication Situations
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/09/september-26-hw4-project-oriented.html

Maria - Profession analysis sept 26, 2006
http://apontemaria.blogspot.com/2006/09/profession-analysis-sept-26-2006-hello.html

September 26, HW#7, Ethics Q7

I think that the Concise Guide treats the subject of ethics from the perspective that is somewhat a mix of all the ethical perspectives that were talked about in the Ethics book. In the Concise Guide they talk about approach on ethics they call "reasonable criteria". What I interpreted that to say was that modern ethics are really individualized. There are some general expectations regarding ethics that exist in any community, but at the same time what one person might find ethical another person may not. I think that the historical look that the Ethics book gave was great because it showed how ethics has really evolved. I don't believe that ethics are as important to people as a society as it is for people individually anymore.

I think that the Concise Guide touched on all the different perspectives talked about in Ethics, but then they simplify it to just a set of core ethics principles that you should consider when publishing a document.

September 26, HW#6, Product oriented communication situations

In my profession I deal with quite a few of the communication situations mentioned in Chapter 11 of the Concise Guide. These are a few:

Brief Instructions
I use this type of technical document all the time. I help manage the different projects within our group from concept to implementation and I'm involved in creating a lot of the documentation. Most of these documents are short sets of instructions which explain how to use a particular application we've developed. Just like the example in the book, we use screenshots to demonstrate how to use the product.

Manuals
Most of the projects I work on are very technical in nature, and when you work with a team of developers it's important to create manuals to document the work flow of the application. These type of documents usually describe the path a particular application will follow when an event is triggered by the end user. These documents also include flow charts and screenshots.

Technical Marketing
I also work with our public web site which is available to our customers. I deal with creating web pages and occassionally advertising collateral that is intended for an audience that consists of school teachers, district administrators, and parents. Since our products deal with education, there is a lot of technical terminology we use that some people may not be familiar with, so we have to work hard to make sure that our marketing pieces are easy to digest and interpret.

September 26, HW#5, Writing project reflection

For this writing project we had to create a cover letter and resume. I really liked the assignment because I really needed to work on my resume and the stuff we've covered in the class was a huge help. I also really liked reading the suggestions from peer reviews in exchange because it opened my eyes to some good ideas.

To complete this project I first did an audience analysis in order to determine who it is I'm really writing this for. With a resume it can be really tough to write for a particular audience since your resume will change hands so many times. In general I found that you want to keep it professional and make sure you touch on the things that each person on the hiring chain is looking for.

I was most proud of how the page layout turned out. I think that since my job packet was being sent in for a graphic design / web design position that it's very important that your resume reflects good design principles. I used tables, headings, variations in font case and style, effective use of white space, and other page layouts techniques to build out my resume.

I was most concerned with the lack of a portfolio. I think given more time I would have liked to include some type of portfolio along with a list of client references.

In terms of learning about writing, I tried to work on making sure that each sentence was concise and to the point. One of the peer reviewers suggested that my initial draft was too informal and did not have that professional quality to it. I went back through each line and re-wrote it to be a little more straight to the point.

All in all I thought it was a great project because it put my writing into a context that I was already familiar with.

September 26, HW#2, Annotated Bibliography MS Word

Microsoft Office Assistance: Styles and Reusing Formatting
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/CH060830091033.aspx
26 Sep. 2006

This page has lots of helpful instructions on how to use styles within your Word documents. Styles allow you to easily apply formatting to your document that you can then change on the fly. For example, if you apply a particular style to page headings, you can always go in and change what page headings look like throughout the entire document without having to apply those changes to each individual heading.

I think that I will use this feature in this class because it will help keep my documents looking consistent and allow me to easily update the formatting of my documents.

Microsoft Office Assistance: Tables
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/CH060831631033.aspx

This page has some useful tips on how to create and manage tables within your document. I think that tables are one of the more difficult aspects of document creation to master, but they can be very powerful when you're trying to organize large amounts of data. I went through a few tips and learned how to change the alignment of elements within a table as well as how to change the visual display of a table.

These tips will be useful when it comes to organize my content into tables, such as the skills list I have in my resume.

September 26, HW#1, Reading reflection

This week the Concise Guide talked about different types of technical documents having to do with a product. For example, specifications docs, brief instruction docs, etc. The Ethics book talked about the history of ethics from the perspective of several different people and different theories that have carried on throughout time. These are some of the things I liked:

Wordless Instructions
I really liked what the Concise Guide said about using the universal language of pictures to demonstrate something. Not only to save on the cost of translating a document, but to better communicate a step in a set of instructions by simply showing the reader what to do graphically.

Technical Marketing Materials
The Concise Guide also talked about marketing type of materials of a technical nature. I think that it can be hard to prepare that type of documentation because you have such a broad audience that may be exposed to the advertisement. Some may look at it and instantly look for the technical specs. Others may look at it and could care less what the specs are, they just want to know that it looks cool. The iPod ad in the book is a good example. A lot of non-technical people purchase iPods and could care less about the specs, but the techies are going to want to know how many MBs the thing can hold versus what colors it comes in.

Aristotle on Ethics
It was pretty cool to read about Aristotle's viewpoint on ethics. It may seem old fashioned, but that's what I like about it. Page 41 of Ethics explains his perspective: "Ethics, Aristotle reasons, is about what is sought for its own sake - goodness itself - and not for the sake of something else such as money or success." That man must have had a heart of gold, right?

September 19, HW#7, Deadline Reflection

Man this class has a lot of work. Exchange is driving me nuts because it freezes in both FireFox and Internet Explorer all the time.

I liked what we read about this week. I really wasn't interested in reading about the ethics stuff, but it turned out to be kind of interesting. It's always cool when you can learn about another way to look at things, and now I know how to look at something and realize what rhetorical appeals they're trying to use.

These are the blogs I checked out:

Angie Aguiar - September 5, 2006-HW: Interview with Professional Individual
http://aeaguiar.blogspot.com/2006/09/september-5-2006-hw-interview-with.html

Elizabeth Dankert - September 19, HW#4, Checklist for Page Layout and Document Design
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/09/september-19-hw4-checklist-for-page.html

Michelle - due 19 or something yeah~!!!!
http://kokoroneko.blogspot.com/2006/09/due-19-or-something-yeah.html

Michelle - Due sept 12th oops!!!
http://kokoroneko.blogspot.com/2006/09/due-sept-12th-oops.html

September 19, HW#6, Grammar Work

For my grammar exercises I went through "Point of View Shift" and some basic grammar stuff working with verbs in a sentence. I kind of liked reading about the point of view shift section because on my resume I have to make sure that I keep the point of view consistent throughout.

I didn't really make any edits to my cover letter or resume because it looks OK to me as far as I can tell. I guess I'll find out if my grammar is messed up once someone reviews my draft in Exchange.

My goal is to review a few different types of grammar skills each week and then run through the exercises.

September 19, HW#5, Classmates response to Q3

I checked out a couple sites from other class mates and I think they both did an excellent job of summarizing how each site used the different types of rhetorical appeal. I think I learned that sometimes you can simply state the facts and appear credible and you may indirectly create an emotion in someone. An example was one of the sites I checked out that showed the total cost of the Iraq war. The site didn't really talk about where the money went or try to explain why it cost all that money, it just stated statistics. Even though it was just data, it can evoke an emotion in someone who may build an opinion around that data.

These are the blogs I posted to:

Monica - Question #3 from Ethics
http://drfaustus8.blogspot.com/2006/09/question-3-from-ethics.html


Elizabeth Dankert - September 19, HW#5, Question 3 from Ethics in Technical Communication
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/09/september-19-hw5-question-3-from.html

September 19, HW#4, Rhetorical Situation

The first site I checked out was CNN.com. One of the headlines read "Iranian president takes on U.S., Israel at U.N.". I think that CNN is definately one of those sites that is concerned with the rhetorical impact and that headline is a great example of how they instantly persuade you to believe in something. I read through the article and it really seamed one-sided, against the Iranian president. I'm curious what the papers in Iran read regarding the conflict.

In terms of what different types of rhetorical appeals site used I believe they use all three. They used logos because the article has a lot of information to support the headline and cites many different sources of information. I also think that the site uses pathos because it used verbage like "Ahmadinejad skipped the public scolding" which can evoke emotion in the reader. I believe they also use ethos because their site has so many articles and links to information which gives the impression that they are a credible source for news.

The other site I checked out was imdb.com. This site has really established itself as the best resource for finding out information about movies. I think that the site does deal with the rhetorical situation, but interestingly enough they actually leave it up to the general public to do things like post movie reviews. I thought this was interesting because it's an example of ethos because I think that since the reviewers aren't affiliated with the web site or the movie company that their opinion is more credible because they aren't bias. At the same time it's sometimes hard to judge if the reviewer really knows what they're talking about since you have no idea what qualifies them to write movie reviews, so it makes them not credible. Overall I think the site evokes a sense of credibility because it's a simple design that's not trying to overpower you with messaging.

September 19, HW#3, Page Layout and Document Design Checklist

In redesigning my job application pack I focused on making the resume more organized and trying to bring everything together onto one page. I used an example from the book and setup my skills area into a table so that I can fit 2 or 3 columns worth of information versus having one long list. I also went through and used bullets where appropriate to better space out everything.

September 19, HW#2, Annotated Bibliography - Resume and Cover Letter

"Resume for a Web Developer/Designer - Sample Resume - Monster.com" http://resume.monster.com/samples/adler1/
19 Sep. 2006

This example resume was written for a web site designer or developer. It is one of the example resumes you can find on Monster.com along with tons of other resources for writing your own resume.

I really liked how this person included quotes from previous clients saying how great this person's work was. I also really liked how the resume showed examples of the different projects this person had completed while employed at each company. The page layout was very easy to follow and touched on everything that I think a hiring manager is looking for.

There were only a few things I didn't really like about this resume. I didn't like how they included "HTML" as something this person has experience in regards to their professional profile. It already mentions HTML as a skill under the Advanced Computer & Technology Skills section, so why mention it again? I also didn't like how they grouped certain technologies, like java/javascript. Those two technologies are two totally different things and to group them together might give the impression that this person really doesn't know anything about either. I also didn't like how this person included skills like COBOL. Who the heck uses COBOL anymore? The skill set should definitely be tailored for the position you're applying for, and I don't see how COBOL applies in any way to web design or development.

"Cover Letter - Graphic Designer" http://www.stuaff.niu.edu/cppc/resumes/CoverLetterGraphicDesigner.pdf
19 Sep. 2006

This is an example cover letter available from the Northern Illinois University Career Services web site. This cover letter was designed for someone seeking a graphic design position.

The premise of the cover letter is that this person is attending Northern Illinois University and this company that he's writing to will soon be interviewing on campus for an open job position. I like how he starts the first paragraph by putting his job application in the context of the upcoming job fair at his school. I think that this helps build some instant credibility with the person reading the cover letter. I also liked how he used some examples of the experience he's gained while at school while still making it sound like he's also got some real world experience outside of the classroom. I also really liked how he talked about the communication skills he gained while performing his internship. I think good communication skills show a maturity that other college students may not yet have.

I noticed he did have some kind of type going on though. One sentence reads "I am eager to have an opportunity to interview with you when during your visit to Northern Illinois University campus". How the heck does "when during" go together? Choose one or the other! I also think he should have mentioned somewhere in his closing paragraph that his resume and/or references were attached. The only other thing that bugged me was that he had a hotmail.com account as his e-mail address. If you're a graphic designer, shouldn't you have some type of web page showing off your work? And if you have a web page, shouldn't you have an e-mail address with that domain name on it?

Overall both examples were really useful. I especially liked the web design / development resume example because I think it can be really hard to effectively show what you're really capable of without listing out every single project you've worked on and every single technology you've ever been exposed to. It's just too much to write out. The cover letter example will also be useful because it had a really great flow to it and as you read it this person sounds better and better.

September 19, HW#1, Reading Reflection

So this week's reading had to do with ethics and page layout/design. These are the things that I found interesting about what I read:

Distorted Graphics
The Concise Guide had a good example of how the use of graphics can sometimes lead people to believe something that is false is true or exagerate something. On page 106 there is an example graphic that shows a comparison between rent costs in different cities and on the top they used a dollar symbol to represent the percentage of rent costs and on the bottom they used a simple bar graph. I thought it was interesting how easy it is to assume that the difference in rent costs were so substantial based on just the fact that the dollar symbol was used to give the impression of high rent costs. I think this has to do with how people generally don't read much further then the headline and derive their opinions from many small tid-bits of information versus really researching and thinking about something.

Ethical Choices
I liked the examples of different types of ethical choices people can make which I found on page 99 of the Concise Guide. I agree with the book that Kant's categorical imperative and the utilitarianism methods of guaging ethics are sort of outdated because now we're dealing with a global economy and what one group of people might find ethical may be totally unethical to another group. The ethical relativism seems to be the most effective method of guaging whether or not something is ethical because you really only have to ask yourself if something is ethical to the audience recieving it.

How Readers View a Page
I enjoyed reading chapter 8 on page layout and document design because it relates closely to the work I do in web design. The same methods it talks about regarding laying out a page using effective white space and organization are true in web design as well. I think it's sometimes even harder in web design because people have a tendency to jump to another site if they don't find what they're looking for within the first few seconds. I've seen studies on how people read a web page and they actually use a technology that tracks eye movement to see what it is that people focus on when the scan a web page. What they found is that people initially scan the page for headings and such in order to get a sense for the site navigation and layout and then they may or may not read further if they think they've found what they're looking for.