C.R.A.P. & UI/UX Reports

intro to UI & UX work (which you've been doing all your life ...)

A great primer on what we're doing -- stuff we've always been doing, but integrated with some scientific knowledge and rhetorical skill. Professor Kirk St. Amant operationalizes this info to help us think like Technical Communicators who design communication for particular purposes for specific users in specific contexts.

bad instructions

image source

1. "The Good, the Bad, the Ugly"
2. 16 Times
3. what did you find ... ?

contemporary art & activism -- "slow storytelling"

I Wish to Say (2017) from Sheryl Oring on Vimeo.

reframing

Let's get clear about what we're learning, shall we?!

It's time to reframe, to rethink where we are in the semester.

As it goes in life, things happen. We start on a course. We enjoy little successes. Sometimes, we hit obstacles, so we work to overcome trouble-spots (both individually and collectively). Eventually, we move along, hopefully with greater wisdom and increasing encounters with success.

As we approach mid-semester, we'll spend some thinking about these experiences as we cover where we've been and where we're going. As we do, I'll ask each of you to continue tending to your text production with a view toward shaping an increasingly professional ethos.

Toward the goal of asking you to engage in some guided reflection on your learning-to-date, please take some time to write a careful, in-depth blog post -- one that uses all of the affordances of the platform -- to consider the following questions:

1. Describe how you understand the meaning of "Technical Communication."*
2. Explain how a notion of Technical Communication as "Storytelling" is helpful in generative effective documents, reports, and other forms of communication.
3. Technical Communication is often considered to be defined by its role in generating procedural rhetorics and discourse -- or instructional materials that offer authoritative guidance. How might our storytelling frame help us generate usable, user-friendly documents that enact their informative, instructional intentions?
4. I used the hand-drawn, digitally manipulated image (above) early in the semester. I wanted to give you a sense of key concepts valuable to technical communicators. Do you identify more or less with any one or more of these keywords, following our course work? If so, try to explain how you are developing these new sensibilities. 

* Note: If you follow any of these links to help you (and you should!), please be sure to cite the source if you summarize, paraphrase, or quote it. Also note: These are links among many links -- what other useful resource might you find and share as you shape your answers in your post?
Use MLA. 

The infographic @ right offers some guidelines for helping you establish professional blogging practices. As bloggers, you're not only attempting to fulfill class assignments; you're also using the space to practice writing in professional settings in ways that align with the guidelines offered in our textbook, and through class discussion.

As commenters on other's blogs, please consider the infographic @ right. Notice how it suggests some of the practices we've covered by first asking you to sort of summarize what you are hearing in your peer's post. It also asks you to then use your reflective skills in order to extend what your peer said as you offer your thoughts. You demonstrate authentic listening and engagement skills that will be vital to your professional development. Notice how the infographic @ right is a bit less formal in tone but that it still maintains a measure of professionalism? As a poster, you might want to strive for more formal; as a commenter, you can be slightly less formal, but nevertheless, you should consider avoiding certain moves (notice that work that's edited out of the 4th tip?).

I hope these tips are helpful to you as you continue developing your technical writing skills in the slightly informal practice spaces blogs afford us as a class.

blog basics

image source

You're going to be a blogger! So exciting, right?! Maybe you already have a blog, but do create a new one to use specifically as part of this class. Here's how:

1. Create a Gmail account (you are able to create more than one Gmail account). Go to Gmail.com, and sign up for a new one. Be sure to write down your new username and password. Please choose a username that is appropriate for a university course and one that is as close to your actual name as is possible.
2. To create your blog, you may do one of two things. You may choose from your apps (the icon looks like like a small grid @ the upper right of your Gmail page). Scroll until you see the icon for "Blogger," and choose it. You may go straight to Blogger.com to start.
3. Choose "create a blog," and 
4. Follow the tutorial. 
5. You can make all sorts of interesting design choices by selecting "Design" from the upper right of the main blog page. Or, you can begin designing by using the menus you will see at your "My Blogs" page (clicking the Blogger icon will take you directly there). 
6. Choose "Customize" to see all options. 
7. Choose wisely, and remember that good design depends upon readability, which in design terms involves a good amount of "white space" (clear space for legible text). Try to avoid the temptation to overcrowd your blog with images, though do choose a least one background or header image, something that reflects your disposition to the class, to writing. Also, choose fonts and colors carefully and in ways that will help your readers read your posts clearly. Provide captions for your images (creating hyperlink to source pages), as a form or platform-specific referencing. 
8. Finally, send your blog's URL (web address in the topmost address bar) to dr.kyburz@gmail.com. Your blog's URL is not the same as your Google account's profile address. Set up your blog, maybe publish a test post, and hit "publish." Then, copy the web address (URL) and send to me. I will then add you to the blogroll. Voilà!

Now, how to locate your Blogger Blog's URL (web address):

1. Go to your Blogger Blog.
2. Go to "Dashboard."
3. Go to "Settings."
4. Go to "Publishing." There, you should find your blog's URL. If you have not specified one (if the field that says "Blogspot address" is blank), go ahead and give your blog a name. Choose wisely so that you emit a sense of self that seems appropriate for this course blog. That is, if you call it, "I Don't Want to Blog But My Dumb Teacher is Making Me Do This," ... well, ... that's ... do I need to say it? (hint: begins with "D").

Here, I share some blogging moves you will need to make :

1. Post thoughtful entries that reflect upon the work we are doing in class. For example,
2. Challenges you've encountered (overcome?!) with an assignment,
3. Questions about course content. Say, a discussion about a text we are exploring that begins by expressing points of interest, challenges to understanding, remaining questions that class discussion did not address.
4. Interesting findings from your viewing of the Documentary Project doc you screen (coming soon!). Perhaps you'd like to focus on 1 of the 6 questions listed in that assignment prompt, or maybe you'll generally update the class on the nature of the film (kinda like a review).
5. Technical questions.  Maybe you are facing obstacles regarding design choices for your blog. Perhaps you'd like to ask for feedback on the layout? colors? fonts? Check for readability? Maybe your title is questionable -- too snarky? too serious? Get some feedback!
6. Give feedback. Maybe you could set up a specific group of bloggers to form a supportive feedback circle. Or, you could choose randomly each week -- pic a blog and give thoughtful, detailed comments.
7. Post an image or video that has your curiosity. Write reflectively about the image/video -- what is it that is intriguing? problematic? pleasurable? funny? odd? 
8. Provide links to the original sources, and use this as practice for MLA formatting -- look it up at the Purdue OWL -- under "References," @ left -- and get some practice finding and citing different kinds of sources.

For your first blog post, 

1. You need to be sure to have your Blogger Blog set up, your URL sent to me, and 
2. You need to follow up by checking the Blogroll to see that you are listed (if not, contact me a.s.a.p.). 
3. Choose 2 of the 8 listed activities, listed directly above this list, and get to it!