Critical Play by Flanagan

          This document serves a an introduction to a book published by Mary Flanagan that explores play as an art form and how it relates to political, cultural, and social ideologies. Flanagan defines play as “an activity that is fun, voluntary, intrinsically motivated, incorporates free choices/free will, offers escape, and is fundamentally exciting. She also quotes Anthropologist Brian Sutton-Smith’ four categories of play: play as learning, play as power, play as fantasy, and play as self. Flanagan discusses many different forms of play such as computer games, board games, language games, and activist games. She argues that play is essential to the human experience and that it shapes and is shapes by political, cultural, and social shift. 

          She believes that different forms of play can be considered artistic expression due to underlying messages being expressed by their creators and participants. In addition she talks about how play can be essential in creating communities of people that can create their own culture. For example, video gamers have a very defined competitive and cooperative community. Members of gaming communities can form close social ties that allow them to cooperate and compete with other social groups. However as a whole gamer's share a competitive culture that involves playing games that can have political, cultural, and social messages within them. She argues that board games can do this as well by using monopoly as an example. Monopoly was designed to showcase the negatives of capitalism and specifically landlords and tax policies.

           In addition Flanagan discusses the social issues that can arises within play communities such as the scarcity of women in video games and how it can negatively affect the depiction of females in video games. I found this article very interesting because as an avid gamer I have always considered video games and other forms of play as art. The section about communities was also very relatable because I have made real friends online that are as close to me as the friends I surround myself with.

Risk by Slovic (From Reading Log One)

Paul Slovic’s article talks about how “risk is socially constructed” and that people look at risks differently based on demographics, worldviews, and the information presented to us. An interesting statistic brought up early was the drastic difference between how white men evaluate risk compare to everyone else. In general they were more likely to rate a particular risk as low concern. Another main point of the article is that the analysis of risks is entirely subjective. When looking at how risky something is, “psychological, cultural, political, and social factors” all play a role in how a risk is analyzed. Slovic also talked about how the media, government, science, and other institutions all tend to publish information to the public that creates distrust. By creating this distrust, the public is more likely to look at something as having more inherent risk than it may actually have.  I find it interesting that new technologies have made large parts of the world much safer than they have ever been. However, due to technologies that keep us indoors and away from our neighbors, we tend to mistrust strangers more. As such I think society has become much more cynical and less willing to take risks as a result.

Social Media in Technical Communication By Amy Kimme Hea

          In this article she looks at the technical communication aspects of social media and why technical communicators research these online platforms. Amy argues that people tend to stereotype social media users as members of the millennial generation even though social media is used by a wide variety of people for many different reasons. Some of these uses she mentions include “LinkedIn”, crisis management, and project collaborations. A few others I can think of include political campaigning, marketing, and protest organization. During the Ukrainian crisis twitter and Facebook ere used to organize massive protests. The use of social media would help incentivize people to march in the street by assuring them of others participations. In Ukraine twitter was also used to inform protesters where they could find shelter, food, water, and medical aid. Many of these areas of social media are still being researched because the modern age of social media is relatively new and the world is still adapting to it.

Genre Research in Workplace and Professional Contexts By Bawarshi and Reiff

          In this paper Bawarshi and Reiff attempt to explain the difference between genre’s in the workplace and professional contexts. While they are very different they do have a few similarities like the fact that research in both areas is on the rise. In addition they both focus on how new writers are learn genres and how they use them to transmit knowledge. They argue that college graduates are not taught essential skills like teamwork and commitment that are vital to achieving success in a company. They also argue that project are given to new writers with very little clarification and that this can lead to confusion as to how detailed the technical communication should be.

            This article was a bit difficult for me to read but what I took from it was that they are arguing for reform in university programs to focus on principles that will help graduates in the professional world. This article concerned me as a technical communication major because now I am worried that the skills I will learn over the next couple of years may not translate to my career. It is also worrisome that new technical communicators are given very little guidance at their new jobs. This article was interesting but I would be lying if I said it did not cause me to be concerned about my future.

Research Question in Technical Communication by Rude

          As the title suggests, this article is about concerns that have arisen within technical communication due to the fact that the field is a relatively new one that lacks the basic research guidelines that more established fields have. She argues that this is important because every professional and academic field is defined by the research it conducts. As new student of technical communication this struck home for me because I often find myself having difficultly explaining my major to people who ask what it is about. Nearly every person that I tell my major to inevitably asks this question because technical communication is a field that is so new that the majority of people do not even know what it is. In addition I found her point that English departments often clash with our field very relatable because when I tell people my major another common reaction is people assuming technical communication is a concentration in the English major which can become irksome because in my mind there is a big difference. Another reason why it I important to establish research questions is because the field is similar to other more established fields. This can make it difficult for professionals to distinguish themselves and what they can offer to potential employers. However I think this can be a good thing for technical communicators because it allows us to explore career opportunities in additional fields. Overall Rude’s argument is that as technical communicators it is important to continue to build a foundation for our field so that we can gain more recognition in the professional and academic world.

Ethics of Expediency by Katz

           Katz’s article serves as a rhetorical analysis of a rather disturbing memo written by a member of the SS about the holocaust. What makes it so disturbing is the technical and calculated manner in which the author writes to Walter Rauff. While discussing how best to optimize the extermination of Jews he refers to the men, women, and children as “pieces” and “loads.” This memo gave me chills and made me sick to my stomach. The memo ends with the author detailing how best to clean up the bodily fluids left behind by the “load”.

            Katz argues the obvious point that in this memo technical communication was used inappropriately and for an unethical reason. Katz is disturbed that rhetoric was used in the holocaust. This is a principle that is quite obvious to anyone who has studied any of Adolf Hitler’s speeches. Say what you will about the man, but he used rhetoric effectively to sway the public to his will. Some of his claims like blaming the West for the holocaust due to hat he say as advocacy for expediency are a bit extreme in my opinion. Katz, like many people, feel very strongly about the holocaust and make this known in hi article. I understand why he is upset that rhetoric was used immorally in Nazi Germany but I don’t see how that could have been helped as a great majority of communication is rhetoric based. Rhetoric by nature can be used for good and evil due to its basis in persuasion. Obviously the use of rhetoric in either way is dependent on the goal of the speaker.

Design of Everyday Things by Norman

          In my opinion Norman’ article is a somewhat unnecessarily long paper that an be succinctly summarized. The basic idea of this article is based on things that do not function like they should due to poor design and/or poor instructions. A poor design can completely ruin a consumer product by rendering it hindersome or even useless. A somewhat comical example he uses that is extremely relatable to the average person are doors that are either push or pull doors but are designed to look like the opposite of their intended function. We have all at some point or another attempted to push open a “pull” door and had ourselves look a bit foolish in the process. I think most people like to blame themselves rather than considering the design of these doors to be a bit confusing. Norman questions why consumers tolerate these types of products. He also argues that technical communicators can solve these problems be being increasingly more detailed in instruction manuals and product designs. This is just one of many designs discusses by Norman in this extensive essay.

 One good design he discusses that someone may not think about is the universal design of scissors. Scissors are designed to have one large hole and one small hole on the handle to indicate to the user where to place each finger. Thanks to its design we instinctively hold scissors comfortably and in the proper way. I think the overall point of this article was to showcase how technical communicators have an opportunity and responsibility to design product in a way that can be understood by the average person. In order to do this technical communicators could test the usability and practicality of products before releasing them to the public.

Elizabeth Tebeaux - Safety Warnings in Tractor Operation Manuals, 1920-1980: Manuals and Warnings Don’t Always Work

   

    This article focuses on the problem of tractor accidents and the efforts of technical writers to make manuals that farmers will actually read. Ever since farmers began using tractors in the 1920s, accidents and fatalities involving tractors have been high. Despite the improvement of user manuals and safety warnings over the decades, these numbers did not improve. It turns out that these farmers were generally not reading the manuals in the first place. Despite making the manuals incredibly easy to read in the 1960s, accident rates still remained stagnant. In those years companies were making the manuals so simplistic that they even included cartoons and language at an elementary level. Tebeaux suggests that companies at the time may have published these manuals to protect themselves from lawsuit. Perhaps if they had been more concerned with the safety of their consumers they would have hired professional technical writers.

    This article brings up an ever increasing issue in the technical communication field. Despite the time and effort that technical communicators put into manuals, there is no guarantee that the consumer will read them. I think that in today's world it may be more important for a technical communicator to make a manual that consumers will want to read rather than focusing on content. Perhaps a solution to this issue would be for a technical communicator to make the content for manuals and have a professional in the marketing business design the manual in a way the enticing consumers to read it.

Jo Mackiewicz - Assertions of Expertise in Online Product Reviews

Jo Mackiewicz - Assertions of Expertise in Online Product Reviews

    Online reviews have become on of the main features on most shopping websites. This articles asks the question, what determines a reviewer’s credibility. Mackiewicz’s article explores the different way reviewers establish ethos in their reviews. Some of the specific methods that Mackiewicz found are reputation systems, assertions of experience, and the use of specialized terms. Reputation systems allow people to give reviews ratings. Overtime, these rating accrue into an overall score for the reviewer. This allows potential customers to see whether or not a reviewer can be trusted. Assertions of experience are simply statements that establish why the reviewer is qualified to review the product. This can be through having used the product, having advanced knowledge of the subject, or other reliable means. The use of specialized terms that only someone with advanced experience in the field would know adds to the credibility and ethos of a review.

    I thought this article was the most interesting of the ones I read because it directly relates to my life. As an avid video gamer, I rely on online reviews in order to determine whether or not I should invest time and money into a new video game. I find myself gravitating more towards reviews from experienced professional gamers as well as reviewers generally thought of as reliable in the gaming community. This article helps explain why I gravitate towards these reviews even though I sometimes do it subconsciously. When I see reviews that overly criticize a game, I won’t take it seriously until I see that the reviewer is knowledgeable about the game and gaming in general.

Hans van der Meij and Jan van der Meij - Eight Guidelines for the Design of Instructional Videos for Software Training

Hans van der Meij and Jan van der Meij - Eight Guidelines for the Design of Instructional Videos for Software Training 

This article focuses on the effectiveness of video based instruction sets for software training. In an age when more and more how-to guides are video based, the author wanted to test their effectiveness compared to traditional text-based instruction sets. What they found was that not only did videos “yield high skill proficiency”, users were also more proficient with the software a week later compared to text based instruction sets. The authors performed extensive research in order to develop “Eight Guidelines for the Design of Instructional Videos.” These eight guidelines are:   

•    Guideline 1: Provide easy access
        1.1: Craft the title carefully
•    Guideline 2: Use animation with narration
        2.1: Be faithful to the actual interface in the animation
        2.2: Use a spoken human voice for the narration
        2.3: Action and voice must be in synch
•    Guideline 3: Enable functional interactivity
        3.1: Pace the video carefully
        3.2: Enable user control
•    Guideline 4: Preview the task
        4.1: Promote the goal
        4.2: Use a conversational style to enhance perceptions of task relevance
        4.3: Introduce new concepts by showing their use in context
•    Guideline 5: Provide procedural rather than conceptual information
•    Guideline 6: Make tasks clear and simple
        6.1: Follow the user’s mental plan in describing an action sequence
        6.2: Draw attention to the interconnection of user actions and system  reactions
        6.3: Use highlighting to guide attention
•    Guideline 7: Keep videos short

•    Guideline 8: Strengthen demonstration with practice

I loved the organization of the article, everything was clearly structured and visually appealing. Hans van der Meij and Jan van der Meij have created a sort of magic formula for efficient video tutorial. Each of the eight guidelines goes into such detail that you can create or improve any video tutorial on one or all of the eight categories of tips. I also thought it was kind of funny and interesting that this piece was, in a way, an instruction set for instruction sets.

James Paradis - Text and Action the Operator's Manual in Context and In Court

James Paradis - Text and Action the Operator's Manual in Context and In Court

    Paradis begins his paper by discussing how a rising global population and rapid technological advancements are causing the field of technical communication to grow and become more complex. This article primarily focuses two instances where poor technical writing led to litigation. These two manuals were for a so called stud gun. This piece of construction equipment would fire a stud into wood, steel, or concrete. If used incorrectly, the stud could pass through these materials or bounce back to injure the operator. The issue with these manuals was that they did not make clear how dangerous the equipment was or that it could potentially kill someone. The inadequacies of these manuals were dissected in court to determine liability. One of the findings was that “In neither case had experienced manual writers overseen the manual writing process”. Had a professional technical writer been assigned to this manual, these incidents may have never taken place. However, Paradis argues that as technologies become more advanced, writing these instruction manuals will get increasingly difficult to produce.

    This paper was confusing at times because entire bodies of text were missing. For example, at the end of pages 156 and 159, the beginnings of the next pages don't match up. Also, on the first page, there are blank white spaces where sentences should be. In addition there were repeats of the same page even though they were labeled different page numbers. For example, page 160 and 162 were the same page. I found it interesting to think that technical writers could be liable for poor writing. When I thought about the job of a technical writer, I never considered that writing poor instructions could lead to severe injuries or death. I never realized how important technical writers are and the level of responsibility that rests on their shoulders.

Stuart Selber - A Rhetoric of Electronic Instruction Sets

Stuart Selber - A Rhetoric of Electronic Instruction Sets

The first part of Selber’s paper talks  about the impact instruction sets have had on the field of technical communication. He defines an instruction set as “providing step-by-step procedures for accomplishing a physical or mental task.” He also claims that “instruction sets are a priority for the field in historical terms, and perhaps its most obvious and visible hallmark.” He talks about how WWII gave rise to technical communication being considered a professional field because soldiers needed technical writing to help them learn to operate heavy machinery. In addition, wartime technological advancements transferred into the Post War Era, thus maintaining to demand for technical writers. In a more modern sense, Selber relates technical writing to the the sharing of knowledge and expertise through social media. In fact, he argues that instruction sets are “central to the age of social media”.

The second part of Selber’s article discusses the three models of instruction sets. These models are self-contained, embedded, and open. The self-contained model is characterized by “content that is fixed, static, and resolute. One prominent example of this type of model is a PDF file because it is a published file that cannot be altered. The embedded model is characterized as being strikingly similar to the self-contained model with the exception that it is delivered in an environment that enables the creation and collection of user-generated metadata. This is exemplified by online user forums. The open model instruction set is characterized by an “emphasis on sociotechnical features that encourage users to become authors and editors of instruction sets.” This is exemplified by websites such as Wikipedia where users are directly responsible for published content.

Selber’s paper was extremely informative and detailed. It does a great job at distinguishing the three different models of instruction sets. However he did not go into hybrid models as much as I would have liked. The internet is vast and complex and it is impossible for every instruction set to fit into one category or the other. I think it would have been interesting to see the interaction of the three models and the effects they can have on each other when utilized properly. One aspect of the paper I really liked is Table 1 because it gives examples of each type of instruction set model. At times the paper was a bit hard to read as I am not an expert on the subject, but the table helped put the models in a context that I could understand better.