The above images show a completed Bandai 1/144 Scale Millennium Falcon plastic model with its instruction manual. These guides to building, configuring, setting up, and using things are an important part of technical communication. Do you use instruction manuals that come with the technologies that you own? Or, do you throw them away and figure things out on your own?

For this week’s class:

• Weekly Reading Report Exercise
• Intro Lecture (overlooked this from last week) and Discuss the Readings (let’s also talk about this piece on Axios today)
• My Professional Work, Our Sandbox Exercise
• Introduce first deliverable: Email
• Review Syllabus About Next Week’s Readings and Work

In the pictures above taken at the Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum outside Washington, DC, you can see a propeller-driven BD-5 kit plane on the left and the plaque in front of its display telling the visitor about the plane and its historical significance. The plaque is a form of technical communication that conveys useful information about the BD-5, including who designed it (Jim Bede), wingspan (6.5m), and more. Think about museums that you have visited and what the signage and plaques next to exhibits looked like.

For this week’s class:

• Weekly Reading Report Exercise
• Intro Lecture and Discuss the Readings
• My Professional Work, Our Sandbox Exercise
• Review Syllabus About Next Week’s Readings and Work

Connect Day Slidedeck

The above image is a three-dimensional and braille-labeled map of the University of Cambridge. It is an example of technical communication. Think of the information (map, space, navigation, and labels) and how it is presented (3D, haptic, accessibility for sighted and blind persons). As is true for other accommodations for disabled persons, there are extra dividends for everyone (wouldn’t a 3D map be easier to visualize in your mind than a top-down, 2D map?).

This week, we’ll look at the syllabus (linked above), make introductions, and begin the work of our class. We’ll follow this slidedeck.

Remember to look ahead on the syllabus’ schedule so that you know what readings need to be completed before our next class.