Chapter 26

I really value the tips in Chapter 26 ("Becoming a Professional Interactive Writer"). I just applied for an interactive media writing job and I know I'll find the tips in Chapter 26 useful. I like how the chapter noted that an editor position is not normally an entry-level position and requires that the person be a good writer first. I also like how the chapter noted that interactive media work at an agency can be really hectic. That's something I didn't expect. I'm glad I know that now. I look forward to writing for interactive media in my career!

Thanks for a great semester, everyone!

Alice in Wikiland

This article says that collaborative writing and wikis in particular have important implications for first year composition classes. While I agree that wikis can completely change composition classes, I don't think that composition classes will be adopting wikis anytime soon. Keeping track of who did what work would be far too complicated. I also don't think that the idea of students using pseudonyms so that the teacher doesn't seem so authoritative would work - students will tell each other what their pseudonyms are. So while wikis and composition classes seem to be an interesting concept, I don't think it's going to go anywhere for a long time.

The Evolution of Writing

I've done more than my fair share of reading about cognitive psychology and the effect new media has on the creation and transmission of messages. However, this article makes almost no sense to me. I get that the medium one uses to convey a message affects the message itself. I've read about that in Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky. Shirky conveys concepts that are equally as complex as those presented in "The Evolution of Writing" but he finds a way to break such concepts down so that they are understandable to the reader. "The Evolution of Writing" doesn't. While I think I understand the basic premise of this article, I'm aware that I could be completely off the mark. This article was, for me, about as captivating as reading the phone book.

Wednesday's article

I found the assigned reading for today very interesting. I have tended to think of my writing as existing in a vacuum - I'm sure that my Marxist criticism of Hemingway's "Soldier's Home" hasn't affected anyone's life. But in this age of new media, writing can be widely distributed - even without the knowledge of the writer.

For example, I wrote an article for the St. George News (stgnews.com) about a local guy who got a counterfeit bill from Chase Bank. I didn't know that my story made The Consumerist and Reddit until after it already happened. My story about a guy in a small town in Utah has gone nationwide without me doing anything to encourage it.

This is the reality with new media. We need to be aware that our writing does not exist in a vacuum - unless you never input it into a computer.

Reaction: "The Museum of Me"

While I think that Ellen Ullman's somewhat reactionist assessment of the rise of the Web is not completely accurate, especially in the light of the continuing popularity of social media, she does illuminate some concepts that I only vaguely recognized before. Disintermediation - removing the intermediary from transactions whenever possible - is very real. I've bought car insurance online without using an agent. I've done my taxes on Turbo Tax's website without any tax education or training at all. I've traveled around the country and to Canada without ever talking to a travel agent. The face of service employment is changing, shrinking, and if things continue as they are now, will soon be non-existent.

I've also noticed that "real life" and what people do on the Web are merging. I began using the internet in earnest in 6th grade, when I was 11 years old. The acronym IRL (in real life) was used extensively back then, and continued to be used extensively until maybe 4 years ago. Who I was online was separate from who I was IRL. Because of the extremely dysfunctional family unit I grew up in, I had more friends online than I did IRL. Any IRL people who found out I had friends on the internet that I had never even met were horrified.

I had a couple of conversations like this:
Other person: "How do you KNOW that she's a 14-year-old girl in New Jersey?"
Me: "She told me so. We've been friends for 3 years. It's hard to keep a charade up that long."
Other person: "But they could have. It could be some old perverted man."
Me: "I've spoken to her on the phone."
Other person: "Well, he could have gotten someone to talk on the phone for him."

I haven't heard anything even remotely resembling a conversation like that in 5 years.

I think that the structure of the Web makes it easier than ever for people to get stuck in their own Museum of Me. I think that Facebook is helping make it less likely that people will do that.

But this is still frightening. We are experiencing the biggest societal shift since the Industrial Revolution. Change isn't bad, but it's scary because of the uncertainty that it causes.

While I don't think Ullman has it all right, I am a bit frightened.

Chapter 15 or 16 Blog Post?

Hi Tracie, We missed your post for Chapter 15 or 16 this week. Please keep up with future assignments announced in class. Dr. B =)

Chapter 13 or 14 Blog Post?

Hi Tracie, We missed reading your blog post for this week. Hope to read more from you for next week's chapter assignment! Dr. B =)

Chapter 11

I think it's particularly interesting that T. Rowe Price has gone through so many website changes. A website that's been around as long as theirs has would have to have gone through some changes, of course, but it's interesting to see the changes all at once in the book and using the Wayback Machine. I also think it's interesting how the navigation tools T. Rowe Price uses on their site have evolved as the site itself has changed. T. Rowe Price seems like a company that is well-equipped to deal with the changes in interactive technology. They probably spend a lot of money employing professionals to deal with their website.

Your Chapter 5 or 10 Blog Post?

Hi Tracie, I missed reading your blog post for either chapter 5 or 10. At any rate, I look forward to reading your blog post next week. Keep blogging, Dr. B =)

Chapter 7: Defining/Achieving Goals for Informational Multimedia and Websites

I found the "Interactive Multimedia Instruction as Interpersonal Instruction" section particularly interesting. I never really thought before about immediacy of response and interruptability in instructional applications.

I've used a lot of instructional computer applications in the workplace, especially when I worked at Disneyland. A lot of our training was done on local intranet - they called it Disney University (though it wasn't accredited). I can see that immediacy of response and interruptability is crucial to these instructional/training applications, but I just never considered things like that before.

I actually have a "real life" story to connect to this chapter...

I remember one particular instructional application at Disney. The computer application had a photo on the screen of the big control panel in the control tower of the Indiana Jones ride. The application would then ask me to use the mouse to click on the sequence of buttons I'd use to shut down the ride, or to put the ride in maintenance mode, or to stop the ride without cutting off the power so that the guests inside could be evacuated. I'd click on the buttons in the photo in the order required to perform the required function. If I clicked the buttons in the wrong order, the program would tell me what I did wrong, show me the correct order, and then have me try again. My trainer sat next to me at the computer while I did this. She offered guidance when I needed it and also was able to judge when I'd mastered the control panel functions.

Incorrectly executing a shut down function (for example) in the control tower of the Indiana Jones ride could cause thousands of dollars of damage to the ride itself, possibly injure guests, and maybe close the ride for repairs for several days. Learning and practicing these functions using an interactive media application on a computer was much cheaper, safer, and far less nerve-wracking than having to learn them on the ride itself!

The immediacy of response in the control tower training application was incredibly important because I had to know right away when I made an error. The interruptability was important, too, because there were times that my trainer would stop me to explain a concept. If the application crashed or stopped working during these pauses then its usability and training value would have been considerably less.

I hope that I can learn to make interactive media applications that are as useful as the ones I used while working for Disney!

(sorry for the long post!)

Flowcharting (chapter 3)

I found the section on flowcharting in chapter 3 to be particularly informative. In Microsoft Word for Mac 2011, I've seen a plethora of available flowchart shapes and symbols. I've always wondered what the shapes and symbols mean! While chapter 3 did not explain the use of all of the shapes and symbols I've encountered, it did shed some light on the subject.

I also enjoyed the discussion on WYSIWYG editors. WYSIWYG editors are in such common use now that I think people don't realize there is a special name for them!

Writing for many media

I think it's interesting how we, as technical writers, need to learn to write for many forms of media. From elementary school until now, we've been taught by most (if not all) of our teachers to write for print only. Writing for audio and video can be a challenge. Something else interesting is the need to label information you write for the Internet. As students we've never needed to think much about labeling information in essays we write. But as technical writers, we need to label and chunk information so that our readers can understand and use it. It doesn't matter how good our writing is - if a reader cannot understand or use it because of a lack of chunking and labeling, then our writing is useless.

Digital autobiography

1) When/how did you first learn to use the computer?

I first learned to use a computer when I was 6 years old. Our first family computer ran DOS, Windows 3.0, and a "blue screen" version of WordPerfect. When I was 8, my parents enrolled me in computer lessons at a local place called FutureKids. There, I learned to touch-type despite my child-sized hands. Now I type 115 WPM...when I feel like doing so. It can get kind of tiring typing that fast all the time.

2) ...the internet?

I first learned to use the internet when I was 8. I used the internet at FutureKids with CompuServe. When I was 11 and my family finally got a computer that could run Windows 95 (yes, we had the same DOS computer from when I was 6 until I was 11), we had America Online.

3) ...online social utility networks?

I joined MySpace at the insistence of a friend in 2003, before it was "cool" to join MySpace. I joined Facebook back when only students at certain colleges could join - I joined when I attended Cal State Long Beach, and 5 weeks later Facebook opened membership up to everyone who had an email address. I just recently began using Twitter. I don't really like Twitter much.

4) How does getting supplementary online support can help you in this course and in your other courses?

Getting supplementary online support can help me in this course by allowing me to find information about how to use applications that I don't know how to work with.

5) What are the advantages/disadvantages of online support/information?

The advantage of online support is that there is a lot of information available that can help you. The disadvantage of online support is that not all of this information is true or usable.

6) How can you limit its disadvantages and maximize its advantages?

I can limit online support's disadvantages and maximize its advantages by using common sense and consulting a more technologically-minded friend when I am in doubt of the accuracy of an online source's information.