Chapter 10 from Service Learning

Graphic Presentation (extra credit) with Santanu Majumdar

Following a doctors appointment, I was able to make it back to campus just in time to catch some of this gentleman's presentation. Well, despite rushing back to campus in an effort to gain extra credit, something must be said for the level of interest I held watching the different slides of the power point, all the while to the tone of an interesting narrator.

He spoke on how he became a graphic designer through a bunch of schooling in India and because he aspired to achieve higher levels of classwork, they made him learn English, something he noted that he hated very much in the beginning. However, at this point has benefited him greatly in the fact that he has extended his communication skills rather than resisting change. Anything from store design, to street and subways signs, all the way to Maya and game/interactive design; he has done it all and the great part is he tried to issue the point that anyone is capable of these things. Of course, in his shadow the chances of such seem low, though that was not the intention.

As far as design cues, I learned somethings in regard to how things should be placed and oriented for maximum appeal and durability to the target audience. For instance, one design that he conjured dealt with a door with vertical pencils as the doorhandles. Perhaps on a normal basis that would be easy, but he explained that the wood on the one end would be suscpetible to rotting if the eraser side did not face up and that you write with a pencil oriented lead towards the paper. Things like that made the presentation an a success and as my eyes wandered around the room, generally everyone was interested.

Chapter 9 from Service Learning..

Best part from this chapter was the overall idea of getting feedback from the people generally consisting of our target audience. By initiating contact with these people, we can create a great connection and source of constructive criticism by the very people who will be reading our brochure. Prior to discussing that part in class, I had never really thought of that aspect of things to be honest. However, after reading the chapter and learning about using better descriptors and some other elements to add in, our group can approve on effectiveness.

Chapter 7 from Service Learning

I think the part of the chapter that relates most to our group is the sections dealing with spacing, graphics, and templates. We are using publisher to create a brochure, however by using these pre-made templates, a shifting of text and graphics has occurred and trying to get around formatting errors can be an ultra pain. Besides those small items, the grammar mechanics and overall design concept are good. We need to collect a little more information from our client to ascertain some text placement etc. A proper font versus color arrangement should be settled upon to draw out the readers attention. Pat originally gave us a color set to work with, though applying that to the current context requires further discussion. (The detailed grids section could help a little with our current arrangement predicament.) Lastly, deciding on what specific graphics should be used is pertinent to success with the client.

Progress Report

So right now we're trying to get out progress report together in an effort to finally send it off to Mt. Zion for their review. I was of a mind that a progress report would be quite easy and concise, allowing us to draft it momentarily even in professional format. But after reading chapter we had to go back and re-write the entire thing from scratch, amazing what reading can do for you(sarcasm?).

Anyhow, things are coming along slowly but surely now.. Everyone is so busy will this class and the others and the homework just keeps flowing in a steady stream.

Chapter 8 from Service-Learning

This chapter was probably my favorite amongst the rest as it provided some really detailed explanations on what you are supposed to have in a progress report. Through reading I realized just how different the actual format of progress reports are from what my group and I originally had in mind. I suppose we did not foresee these sorts of things as specific as they generally are.
The familiar purpose, audience and content are here though, and the intro body and conclusion are pretty much the same deal, just the design of the document itself was different. There was a section that focused on cutting out long phrases and using words with synonymous meanings to keep the report more concise, this was a big help when I re-read some of our earlier work.

Chapter 6 from Service Learning

This chapter seemed to be aimed specifically at me, obviously I am the group manager. While that does not necessarily alleviate all responsibility from the other team members, what it does entail is that I am supposed to be on top of things. Certainly this is something that can be difficult to accomplish while going to class full time and working, especially considering the amount of homework and other activities involved. None the less I am upping my abilities as much as possible without burning out. As stated in the last blog we have assigned positions in order to make the process that much smoother and communicate readily, had it not been for bad luck and busy schedules our foothold would have been much better. Taking cues from the chapter we like to treat everyone in our group as equal, project manager, comm. manager, design manager, none of it means you are above the person beside you and this allows us to have a clear/ creative outlook on our project.

Chapter 5 from Service Learning

Chapter 5 provides great coverage when it comes to refining projects, both general and specific. I think the best parts of the chapter were getting at organization and communication as a whole and how important that is as a key to success, both in these projects and obviously in life. My group readily applies these previously mentioned principles the best we can so that even in somewhat frustrating situations there is something or a form to circle back to for guidance. So far it has helped immensely even though we have encountered a few difficulties in our current endeavor. Planning, time lines and proposals are essential (though we are struggling a little in this area). We have assigned Maurice as our comm. manager, Brody as chief designer and myself as project manager, as such hopefully things will continue to move along to accomplish something great.

Trip to Mount Zion

Well, after listening to the director of the program I honestly did not know exactly what to expect once we arrived at the location of the building. After exiting the bus it became clear that communication was not in great effect or so it seemed because apparently they did not know we were even going to touring the facilities. That said, they are talking with us on handbooks, brochures and other things when perhaps there are many other things to be improved on. It more or less seems like a race for funding and a center that is not organized very well, thats how it appeared to me at least.

As far as this effecting my course project; we just need to get something together that looks attractive to companies that provide grants and the like.

Training

Overall, this had to be one of the more enlightening speaker presentations I have listened to. Most of this due in part to the fact that in the past one of the speakers had indeed been homeless himself, thus adding a deeper level of personal interaction. Not to say without him the project would not be as effective, rather just interesting and more oriented to the "pathos" or emotional side of things.

The presentation left an emotional influence and therefore was good. However on the logical side, there were things left to be desired. Understanding why surveys are taken is easy accepted, though the solution to the problem needs to be addressed in a better or more effective manner it seems.

All things considered, the different segments of the presentation when added are technical communication by definition. We have classic rhetoric involved here..

Chapter 3 from Service-Learning

The chapter of all chapters one could say.. whether it be ethos, pathos or logos all these things come together in order to form the continuity of modern rhetoric (as they did in the classical era). Quite possibly the most important thing in communication is the art of persuasion and most everything is directly connected with such. A high level of critical thinking id often required and every time you touch upon convincing another mind, these key concepts almost always show up. When this occurs it is certainly handy to be able to use such to your advantage.

In other words our class is fundamentally based in rhetoric from my perspective (projects where you are trying to get another party to agree). Other areas of study are of course present as well..

Chapter 2 from Service-Learning

After reading this chapter I felt as though time was reversing itself and the days of community college were on their way back. A year or so ago an ethics class was required in order to graduate SPC and one of the things held in high regard in the particular class was a service-learning project in the business world. Interestingly enough, The Arts Center downtown kindly welcomed me in order to volunteer, a means of exempting the exam if you had a decent grade. At first it some the comments in the chaper echoed the things going through my mind when I first arrived. Why am I here? This is using me for purposed beyond what a student should be... To be honest this line of thinking was both inaccurate and unfounded, because in the end the benefits were great.

Seeing things in a different perspective is the key to an open mind especially in these context and an ever changing business world. Nothing really confused me, most likely due to having previous experience, or my memory failing me so soon as to points that baffled me (highly unlikely). The entire theory and practice seem commonplace and straight forward these days.

Linking these points to our class is easy. We are studying technical writing tied with rhetoric and other foundations and service-learning is a hands on perspective and approach to this. By connecting with the community, ways of developing both sides are possible and the positive outcomes are numerable. One can only learn so much in theory and inside a classroom before experience and real world applications must be met to fulfill the larger goal.

Shift Happens.

Epic youtube video.

Well, after seeing the information contained within this video, it is definitely apparent to me that the world is heading in a direction that is positive but a perhaps a little too fast for its own good. Now of course that is my opinion alone, yet in the grand scheme of things, technology is progressing as speeds once thought to be unimaginable.

What does it all mean>?

- Simple, terminators are real. Arnold exists for a reason. John Connor is you..

All jokes aside though and what you have is a world that remained largely undeveloped from a technological standpoint post WWII. This was mainly due to oil companies and big business in combination with war efforts. However as we head into the future those things are becoming less prevalent, or at least now technology is once again moving at remarkable speeds as it once did.
Who knows what we will see in the short years to come.

Ch. 1 Service Learning

Well unlike like my previous post on rhetoric, the meaning of the service learning came easy to me and seemed near self explanatory. Though I am slightly arrogant at times, so that may not be the case for others. As I was scrolling and reading I did enjoy some of the history of todays mainstream service learning for that was mixed in the text. I would have never known that it basically rose out of higher ed. in the '60s and '70's when all those protests and human rights movements were going on, definitely a fun fact and makes sense. Moving on I came to the section that underlined this type of learning versus writing and as far as what it entailed I had no clue. In any case I at least see the different categories and reasoning behind each. Helping to establish ties between you, the college and the community and to provide a service to such while learning.

Any doubts I had were for the most part answered.

Rhetorial Analysis

I believe this particular text to be rather enlightening to say the least. There are often many readings I am forced or encouraged into that end up more boring than staring at a wall made of cinder blocks while listening to a monotone man talk politics. However as said, I took something away from this being that I had some doubts on my overall understanding of the rhetorical nature. The first step taken by most would be to research in an attempt to further ones understanding, of which I tried and failed. That is not to say I could not find anything, rather most of what I found and read did not give me the answers originally desired. The examples of ethos, pathos, logos and some of the others giving real world applications were able to finally shed light on said gray areas.

Simply put, rhetoric is all around us and in almost every other thing we say and do. Some may be inclined to call it a greater part of life in general.

The 1st Day Questions Were Asked...

What does the word technical mean? - perhaps technical is the detailed and indepth view of something such as an art or science.

What does the word communication mean? - well, when I think of communication I think of the relaying of information through different mediums to achieve understanding. (ie. speech and writing)

What is technical communication? - I would assume that is a combination of the two forementioned terms. So a particular form of written or verbal communication that is detailed and in depth.

How does this concept and/or this class relate to your education and life? - I use detailed versions of communication all the time and this is by far the most important aspect of my degree in order to relay information to others. Specifically those who speak another language other than my own.