Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Design


This week’s readings and videos were pretty cool. Some of the stuff, I have already been introduced to. Last semester I had technical writing and we went over the usage of different fonts, and how they can help or hinder your work. The readings helped in re-established those ideas for me. I have to admit that one of the biggest things I was informed of is how with computers today, you are not required to double space after a period. I was taught to actually type with a typewriter and it was required to double space at the end of every sentence. I know it is goofy, but being 39 now, and looking back at how much I have been using a computer, I wonder how many extra keystrokes I have accumulated over the years. We also went over how the use colors and very little wording can create some of the most vibrant movie posters. I had to laugh when I saw the picture of the ‘paper-clip’ office assistant on the old version of Word (Multiple Media of Texts). I can’t count how many times I noticed that little ‘tap-tap’ on the screen.

                The readings definitely show that for all the stuff I have learned about writing, punctuation and text format, the rules are more or less obsolete. There are general rules that still exist, but again, it really depends on the audience. I still have a hard time writing technical reports where I am not indenting every paragraph, or eliminate underlining titles and such. It seems that a lot of the basic rules had a main purpose at one time, but our language and text has changed so much that these rules are so easily seen as flexible.

                I did enjoy reading the ‘Cracked Guide to Fonts’ cartoon page on what defines each text and what it says about the writer. I typically use Calibri, so I guess I fall along the lines of “just too lazy to change the font.”

                The Ted talks were very interesting. (I posted my Discussion post based on one of them). When Robinson said he met that fire fighter and was told he was throwing his life away, I had a flash back of when I was in high school. We had a DeVry Tech school rep come to my school. We went around and told him our plans out of high school. When I told him was wanted to join the Air Force he just said the same thing, “That’s fine if you want to throw your life away.”

                Seth Godin made a lot of valid points about the ‘not my job’ attitude. Some of the stuff I had to laugh about, but when he talked about the medicine and warnings for the dog, I did laugh but for different reasons. Do we live in such a ‘sue happy’ society that the most ridiculous things have to be spelled out to prevent stupid things from happening? He did talk about how charts and visualizations are over used. Power-point is a great tool, but typically it is over used so that the audience isn’t really paying attention to the speaker. Just like everything we use for rhetoric, just use it in a way that it is productive.

                The health based video wasn’t at all shocking. My wife works for the county health department and says that medical stuff is done that way on purpose to ensure a small handful of people will get tons of money. I did think it was cool that Goetz stated how the medical field uses the fear of God to get people to go to the doctor, after-all, it’s not about people feeling better, it’s all about the almighty dollar.

                Since one of our main senses is ‘vision’ it makes sense that layout is a major component to effective work. It will be interesting to see how much of this design stays important or if society just gets to the point, that nobody really cares. I personally see it being a valued tool, because people like things that look nice.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Photo Essay Proposal

For my photo essay, I want to have it centered around the Indian boarding schools. My main ideas will be to show that they aren't just old buildings falling apart (most of them), but they are a symbol of what hatred to one specific ethnic group can create. For some they are an old building, to others, a nightmare that will never go away. In the process, I  will show modern school buildings and where the names come from versus the names of the boarding schools.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Writing and Technology

Out of all the articles, I found From Pencils to Pixels to be the most interesting. I think mainly because I like reading about history, and how things are constantly in a state of evolution. On page 22, I found the one sentence that has been proven true throughout many states of history. “Questions of validity came up because writing was indeed being used to perpetrate fraud.” It continues to say how Monks used this to snatch land. I find that interesting that this ‘technology’ has been used for years when dealing with land grabs. We don’t even have to look at European history to see that the written language was used/introduced to a civilization that didn’t understand the concept. Yet even today, this treaties and laws are held as the ‘gospel’ when dealing with reservation entitlement. I guess I just find it interesting that we read about all this stuff, our government knows what happened and how corrupt it was, yet nothing is being done to repeal any of these deals.

Found it interesting to see where the word stylus came from. 

The telephone discussion was pretty cool, also. I have watched my two girls nodded ‘yes’ or shake their head ‘no’, when talking to people on the phone. That part of the reading was pretty funny. While at Boise State University, I did a large research paper on the Enigma Machine (famous coding machine used by Germany during WWII). When the machine was first invented, the owner tried selling it to the phone company as a new telecommunication device. They didn’t want it so he went and sold it to the military. The technology behind that machine if sold to the phone manufacturers could have possibly changed who our phones work today.

I do agree with the side note written on page 212 of Database and the Essay. We live in a world where nothing is free anymore. If there is a buck to be made, somebody is going to exploit it. I understand the intellectual property issue, and agree that if you write something then others shouldn’t be able to copy it and take credit for your work. I still continue to be in classes where students are worried about plagiarism for merely taking an idea that they read and translating in incorrectly. Yet, what I see in the real world is, if you have made a name for yourself as a writer and have a large fan base, or legal time, then its ok. Why is it ok to ‘borrow’ ideas from other books, stories, movies, and make money (if you’re famous), yet get kicked out of college for doing the same thing? I haven’t figured that out yet.

As far as the video, and the Britannica blog, am I actually supposed to be feeling sorry for the students? Call me a jerk or whatever, but I came to school to learn, not party, spend half my time on Facebook, playing video games, then turn around and complain that I don’t have enough time to study. I understand that school is busy, but give me a break. I don’t know how many times in class on the Engineering side here at MSU, classmates came in stoned, or stinking of high heaven of alcohol. I did like the one parent who commented that if she would have seen her daughter on the video stating stuff, and then her daughter would have to pay for her own school. I do feel that maybe schools need to be structured to focus on classes that are more important to the degree. “It will make you more well rounded” is not a answer as to why students have to take classes that have nothing to do with their degree. If schools are worried about student’s not getting by, do away with huge lecture hall filled classes, and the ‘filler’ classes.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Week 1 Rhetoric


                To be honest, this is truly my first in depth analysis of rhetoric. Last semester I did take Writing Studies, and we touched base on the topic, but that was about it. Since I have never been in depth about the topic, I just took face value that most students seemed to agree that the definition of rhetoric is ‘a way to argue’. After reading the articles, I am finding that even though a lot of people seem to lump ‘arguing’ and ‘rhetoric’ together, they aren’t the same at all. I see it as a way to get my ideas out to others, without arguing or bullying them into believing what I see is the only correct view. I have dealt with numerous people in my life who did that, I would agree with them just to have them back off. It got to the point that I didn’t talk to them about certain subjects, just because I didn’t want to deal with it.

                Covino and Jolliffe had a couple great quotes. Aristotle stated that rhetoric is not meant to persuade but to see the available means to do so. Kenneth Burke mentions how if you take numerous voices together and just let them act together, you can get a truly functional dialect going. Which makes sense to me, how can you be friends with people if all you do when is argue back and forth, and there is not one ounce of decent conversation. You might not agree with everyone, but you can agree to disagree.

                I find it interesting that we as humans seem to have this quality about us that makes us want to have our point be the correct one. Or as a student, we try so hard to make our opinion of what we take away from readings and such, be valued highly by the instructor. We all have valuable ideas and opinions, but it doesn’t always mean they are right for certain instances. It makes sense that for any type of rhetoric to take place, the author really needs to know its audience. Authors need to realize at what level the audience will understand the text, or discussion, and also understand that any information being given, might be changed or rewritten depending on if is for immediate or mediated audiences. (Covino and Jolliffe, pgs 12-13) 

                The videos were interesting because I have never really thought of YouTube as being a media that is anything other than just goof-ball videos being posted online. I have watched a few decent videos on there, that show concern for people, but again the number is much greater of videos that are more or less pointless (in my opinion). For a career, I would love to be a grant writer for the tribal colleges here in Montana, but I haven’t really figured how I would use YouTube to help.  As the class session progresses, maybe I will get some ideas to hold onto when I am done with school.

               

Monday, May 7, 2012

Introduction

After graduating in 2009 from Boise State University with an Associates in Drafting Technology, I moved up here to finish my schooling. My aim is to walk away with my Bachelors in English with writing option, with a minor in Native American Studies. Hopefully this will help me land a career working as a technical writer working with some of the tribal colleges in Montana (writing grants). Along with being a full time non-traditional student, I enjoy hunting, fly-fishing, (pretty much anything outdoors), and spending time with my wife and two girls.