Last post!

Today our group is giving our presentation of our journalism dossier. Our group came together in the end and put together an impressive project. At first we were not sure if all the group members were going to be in the class for the duration, but that was not the case. Everyone contributed to the end product without any problems.

What I found interesting about the group project was that the individual pieces that each of us were assigned were secondary to the collaborative teamwork required to make it all work. We met last night at Starbucks and all similarly came to that conclusion. So is that the intent of the journalism dossier? I think is secretly was, we each did get exposure to the writing process but only to a few articles, but everyone got a piece of the group work. Editing, revisions, layout and most importantly deadlines. Communication was key throughout the hole process and without effectively doing this we would not have been able to complete the project.

Great job team!

Tom Sumner Guest Speaker

Tom Sumner came in to class last week to explain the details of book publishing. I can say is that I knew very little about book publishing, but now know a lot more. What I found the most interesting was the technology aspect of publishing and the questions it proposes about the future of the book industry.

I really thought about how almost anyone at this point can pay out of pocket and get a book published. With advances in technology this has become affordable, and granted market access to all writers with some cash. I believe that we are at the forfront of a very disruptive technology change based on this accessablity. When you combine the low entry cost and digital format I suspect that the book industry will experience something similar to the Napster revolution. It will be interesting to see how the publishing industry stays profitale as people seek cheap, alternative and illegal sources of books.

Persuaders

This was an excellent documentary. I like the style and the message, very compelling.

Where The Persuaders hit home for me was in the films ability to quantify the amount of advertising we are fed every day and every minute of our lives. We forget how every single logo, scent, texture or anything for that matter is tied to some slogan or company. From a business point of view what I found specifically useful was the emphasis of figuring out how to reach your customers, and deciding what money is actually working for you. Being in that mind set regarding business could be priceless.

The conversation following the film was equally interesting. As the questions began to roll out from different students I realized I had know idea what they were talking about. References to shows, fashion, characters and anything multimedia based went right over my head. I realized that this happened because I have been without cable television for all my life. The last six months specifically I haven't even owned a television. Also, with in these last six I have been without Internet. I suddenly realized what the medium of exchange for advertising is and how important it is. TV and Internet. Your like duh that's obvious, but think about the others like me that don't prescribe to these mainstream outlets. Probably the minority but in relative comparison to the whole we may represent a large number. Interesting, that's all i am saying.

Technical Writing Response

Redo.

I sifted through the pile of mail currently sitting on my kitchen table un-opened and neglected in search of something interesting. USAA seems to send me a ton of stuff, probably because they want me to pay them and then I find it. In some letter trying to convince me to finance a house or car in the middle of the one pager is this little morsel, "check out our website". I love it! For all the boring stuff USAA sends me which is usually filled with dry dribble this letter contains this. I start thinking about how I would ask people to , "check out my website". This is important because in these few words USAA completely changed the way I feel. Instead of please visit our website or something lame like that they drop this casual twenty-something lingo on me. I feel like I know them.

Now what bothers me is who wrote that. Was it some young profession just out of college trying to connect with all the new Veterans who are patrons of USAA, or some older person who is hip and sharp. Regardless, I of course checked out the website but I do that anyways.

Mad love for USAA.

Man Kidnapps Two Women in Portland

On March 4, 2010 two women left the Rosland theater in downtown Portland and where approached at their car by Paul Winklebleck. Winklebleck claimed to be an undercover police officer and convinced the women to let him drive their car. Once driving Winklebeck produced a knife and threatening the women, forcing one two take pills and sexually assaulting her.
Once the vehicle stopped the woman in the back escaped, as would the other woman moments later. Both immediately contacted police and are now involved in the investigation.

Paul Winklebeck is a registered sex offender with outstanding warrants for his arrest. Winklebeck is white, 5'11'', mid 30's with a stocky build. He can easily be identifies by the tattoo on his neck that says "Combative for God". There is a $1000 reward for information leading to his arrest and anyone with information should call 503-823-HELP.

Questions for the Guest!

To Guest,


1. Pirates or ninjas?

2. 2Pac or Biggy?

3. Star Wars or Star Trek?

4. Scrambled or over easy?

5. Ketchup or hot sauce?

6. Snow or sunshine?

7. Out until 5am or up at 5am?

8. Regrets or no regrets?

9. Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp?

10. Mac or PC?

PR Kit

ESPN NBA PR Kit

Review of Technical Writing

This week in class our weekly blog assignment is to review the piece of technical writing we revised individually in class. I did a short review on Dan Cilen's work which is posted over on his blog.

This assignment was challenging as I have no experience with networking computers, and in this case the subject was antiquated software. After talking to Dan in class I know he had the same misunderstanding that I did with the topic.

After the first read through I did of Dan's revision I felt that it was done well. Even though I have know idea what the instructions are really for I think if I was in the situation where I had to use his instructions I would get the job done. About twenty five percent of the original document was excluded which made for an easy read. The tone throughout the instructions was non bias and generally friendly. Some points of criticism are in step four I would have liked to seen the reference to contacting a network administrator in parenthesise so I know it is not part of the instructions. And in step five it would be simpler to tell readers to check the box instead of "make sure", it would be more to the point.

Fine job Dan, with this simple writing style you would have made many frustrated desk-jockie's jobs easier when trying to establish a shared drives network.

Technical Writing Exercise

Network multi-user instructions

Email Tone

I recently asked my former employer for my w-2 information and this was the email response, "No problem. W-2’s came in yesterday, your taxable wages were $xxxxxx. FIT withheld was $xxxxx, SS was $xxxxxx, and MED $xxxxx. I will put yours in the mail today, are you still at the same address?"

The tone in this short correspondence is very good. I raised an issue as to whether my w-2 would arrive on time, and in response I got more information than expected. This email is short and to the point which made it powerful. The tone at the end was great, a sense of urgency followed up by question regarding accuracy. The beginning tone was positive and made light work of the issue i proposed.

Honestly I have to say that my initial email requesting the information had a negative tone as I expected this request to go unanswered. I was wrong. In reflection I learned that it is not wise to be to hasty and prejudge, something I am consistently guilty of. So, in this situation my old boss effectively changed the hole tone, that is my perception of how the situation would go down.

Worksheet for Defining Objectives

Rhetoric is persuasion in three different forms, and right now all I can think of is three other things I would rather be doing. I just moved into a new place for starters, and my thumbs hurt from twisting the cheap aluminum Allen wrench that came with my cheap new futon. So yeah, rhetoric. I need new a new pot and pan, that is indeed singular as my new pad only has two burners.

Logos, an element of rhetoric is going to help me decide on which pot and pan I buy today. I have two burners as I mentioned, one medium one small. After my Canadian pine futon was assembled, I stood in front of my new kitchenette debating with myself. How much can I cook at once? What is feasible? What is logical? Damn, these burners are close together. There is no way I could possibly cook with more than one pot or pan at a time. Problem solved, of course only after Logos took charge. This was not the case for Pathos and Ethos.

Ethos did not help me with my predicament. Why you ask? Because I am the most bias person in the world when talking to myself, and any other situation for that matter. Get a new pot and pan, don't get a new pot and pan I argued. I believed myself in both situations, how could I be wrong. Ethos, the argument of credibility failed me, after all I am an egoist. Next.

Pathos, an appeal to heart. Today I have one. I've had my current pots and pans for years, they were a gift. All the omelets, salmon, soup, and Korean food I have cooked in these slick Teflon coated disks. I am feeling a little attached because my history with the old pots and pans, but I don't need six. It is like adopting cats or something, you don't want to separate them from their siblings. Then I thought, I don't really like cats. Thinking about the cats made me angry, so I disassociated myself with the old kitchenware. Problem solved.

Now I am on my way to Outdoor Warehouse (R.I.P. Sportsman's) to pick up one new cast iron skillet and some kind of pot. Wish me luck.

Writing can be difficult and challenging for many people, this is the case for me. Whenever I am thrust into another required writing class visions of my childhood flash before my eyes. Pains pulse through my body in the form of confusion, boredom, and discontent.Thoughts of plain white paper containing half completed sentences and Times New Roman orders demanding I find a particular grammatical mistake haunt me. The smiles and laughs of the girls in pretty dresses who want to be teachers completed there writing task in less than thirty seconds throw their smirks at me for they are the winners of this particular competition. Marks of angry red slashed through my mistakes reminding me of my incompetence, red sharpies stare me in the eyes. In contrast I remember the joy of early mathematics and the breeze at which I pounded through problems, if only writing were this way.

I do not except failure, but find myself justifying bad grades on writing assignments claiming they add contrast to the good grades I get in other subjects. Writing is painful. Verbs, nouns, pronouns, antonyms, and any other grammatical definition inspire bouts of syncope. But, pain can some times be a good thing. Pain makes you stronger or increases your endurance, it can make you a better person. This is my hopeful disposition towards writing, that being more proficient in this challenging subject will make me a better person.

Now here I am in writing 402, blogging. This is my first time ever, I do not like sharing myself. But I can say is that regardless of how bad I am at writing, that whenever I get a bad or good grade I am filled with hope. The hope that people are still failed for bad work and reward for good, and that everything in life must be worked for and not handed out.