While the above multimedia installation by Nam June Paik called TV Rodin is a work of art, we can conceive of a large swath of Technical Communication involving communicating through technology–computers, telecommunications, video, etc. The art installation above encapsulates this Rodin’s The Thinker “seeing” himself on an opposite television monitor displaying a constant video feed from a CCD camera pointed at The Thinker. We can extend this to some of the most popular forms of online, video communication now–streaming. The technologies of streaming facilitate interactive communication that goes far beyond a one-to-many broadcast paradigm, and those technologies simplify how video streams are combined and displayed as well as how the streamer may interact with her audience. In effect, streaming communicates a great deal of technical information in a streamlined manner, and the technologies of communication mark streaming as a kind of technical communication.
For this week’s class:
- Weekly Reading Report Exercise
- Perform Peer Review on last week’s deliverable
- Discuss this week’s readings.
- Introduce this week’s deliverable: Memos
- Review syllabus about next week’s readings and work (and note the upcoming Thursday class meeting changes).
To: Professor Ellis
From: Tiana Beatty
Date: 09.22.22
Subject: Readings
From both readings it was interesting to learn that in every field everyone has a different perspective and approach to what is required of them. It was also interesting to learn but I wasn’t shocked to learn, was that no matter the field no one really has any clue what the other person’s jobs and responsibilities are in comparison to their own. Yes these individuals will be working under the same company but their titles are different, meaning that their responsibilities and job qualifications won’t match with someone else’s if they are in another department. But the goal overall is to make sure that business is product and the company is meeting their quota or expectation.
Whilst reading I can tell that it can be difficult to not communicate in the workplace as well. This can be especially difficult if the jobs titles of one or more department are reliant on each other. If there is no communication or any kind of understanding then the work required can’t get done and more than one person can suffer from the lack of work getting done or the quality of the work that is being presented through the staff and eventually the company they work for.
To: Prof. Ellis
From: Bria Glenn
Subject: Memos
Date: Sep. 22, 2022
When thinking about memos, we probably all have written one or received it at one point in time and didn’t know it. I would assume if there is something important to be said, especially in a business setting this is how one do it. If there is something of a report on a project, a memo would be one way to share the information with peers. When reading “Perceptions of Memo Quality” it was interesting to see just how unprepared those in the technical writing field can be when it comes to bringing together the structure of a memo. The different feedback from those in different stages of their technical communication journeys is interesting to see. I do believe everyone in the field can bring something different and we won’t all know the same things. Even the nature in which we articulate what we know is different among everyone, but I think what matters is if others can comprehend it. Comprehension is your end goal whenever you are writing anything. Making sure others can understand your writing, especially with the topics surrounding technical writing.
From: Sandy Fougeres
To: Professor Ellis
Date:09/22/22
Subject: Week 5 Readings
In the article “The Role and Value of Technical Communicators and Subject Matter Experts Weigh In” by Tammy Rice-Bailey, it spoke about the business relationship between Subject Matter Experts and technical communicators. It spoke about the struggles that some technical communicators have with defining the importance of their work in the work environment. As well as how the SME’s feel about the work that Technical communicators do. There was a survey conducted that included SME’s and Technical communicators where they were to answer a few questions about how they feel about the work of a TC. I found this article interesting because the SME’s results showed that they did respect what the TC’s do and saw it as an important part of the work flow. The TC’s however, did see their work as important but again seemed to struggle with how important they saw it to be. In the article “Perceptions of memo quality: A case study of engineering practitioners, professors and students” by Nicole Amare Ph.D and Charlotte Brammer Ph.D, it spoke about a survey done to understand TC’s transitioning into the industry and the struggles they had with writing though they learned the basics in school. The survey focused on memo being that it is the main form of writing done in school and in industry. The engineers and professors results showed to be much critical in content in comparison to students. I found this article interesting because I would assume based on the fact that future TC’s may have learned to write in school they still found issues with writing in the industry.
TO: Professor Ellis
FROM: Khaled Akam
DATE: September 22, 2022
SUBJECT: TC vs SME
Technical communicators in the work place aren’t understood by employers and others. Some subject matter experts look down on technical communicators because the industry doesn’t recognize the role and skills they have. TC is an all-around job where you must do multiple things at work. The status and identity of TC can lead to an impression where they are not important and hold little value. This leads their work to be detrimental because they feel like second class citizens. They are challenged more and have to explain their work more than others. As we bring data into this the relationship of SME and TC we see a mutually respectable partnership if collaboration is good. TC are more of an investigator and educator, contributing to a product. SME are the owners of the information and TC must make it into a message to everyone with different knowledge. TC creates deliverable. They seem like identical roles but TC must effectively articulate their roles in the workplace. It’s important to understand both are in it together, being friendly with each other helps a lot with collaboration. TC provides value to SME work. This gives us an understanding of what we can take for our futures as TC. We need to understand concepts in different ways to be able to show value in others.
TO: Professor Ellis
FROM: Naila Butt
DATE: 22 September 2022
SUBJECT: Memo
Hello Professor Ellis,
Before reading these articles, I did not realize the importance of writing a good memo. As a technical writing student, I have learned that organization and style/design are important aspects of writing. In Perceptions of Memo Quality, I noticed that engineers and students were most concerned about the content, while the professors seemed to care more about the style of the memo. While content plays a significant role in writing, I believe style plays a bigger role because style can determine whether the content is brief and can be quickly read and understood.
On the other hand, the article The Role and Value of Technical Communicators gave me great insight into a future working with colleagues. As well as a better understanding of the role of an SME. While the relationship between a TC and SME can be complicated, I think positive communication and being able to share information and ideas respectfully will lead to a good work environment. Also, I like that the article mentions that TC students would benefit from being introduced to and practicing specific skills in the classroom. From the readings, I can see how the technical writing profession is evolving over time and how it’s important to be a master of many skills to be a competent technical writer.