Tashia Munson
(tmunson@emich.edu)

I See Rhetoric Everywhere.
I may be fuzzy on the exact nature of Technical Communications, and Technical Writing.  I may be unclear about my future prospects as a Tech Comm writer.  But if there is one thing I am certain of, it is that I can see rhetoric everywhere now.  It is permanently burned into my retinas, and I will never be half-blind to it again.  This semester has been one to remember.  If not for the lessons, then at least for the banter. 

Aside from the interesting mix of people that ended up in 424 this term, the class in itself was an interesting experience.  It is a very odd thing to write something, and write about that something, and read other 'somethings' that are not necessarily intertwined, and then be let in on the secret of their meaning...which usually is 'find a way to make the connections' ourselves. This idea is linked to the overall idea of Technical Communications, which for me at least is the attempt to build a bridge between the 'thing' and the people who use it.  The people who make it may not necessarily be able to explain it to the people who need it.  Unfortunately, our position and duties lie in a 'grey zone' for most people.  We are looked down on as simple wordsmiths, as if we are the serfs to the great Lords of Technology, taking the work of others and repackaging them to look shiny and new. 

Right now I feel a little like Tom Smykowski (Office Space), justifying myself to an invisible army of 'Bobs'.  On paper it appears as though we only wrote an Introductory Memo, a Creative Rhetoric Scenario, and a Context-Genre Analysis.  But inside, behind, and underneath these 'papers' we learned much more.

The Team Introduction Memo (TIM) and Process Documentation Memo (PDM): Tashia Marie Munson.

Contextualizing the TIM & PDM

The Problems of "Joining" a Tech Writing Team
The Team Introduction Memo was our first assignment, and a pretty difficult one to undertake. Initially there was no frame for this assignment making it difficult to write.  What this did was create a situation where we as students had to identify those things about us that would be best representative of us, and find a way to accurately communicate them to the class.  These are two principles that can be translated

Reflecting on the TIM & PDM

For this assignment, we were asked to write a memo that "Introduced our situation".  My initial situation was that I had no idea what situation we were supposed to introduce, so my initial memo became more of a reactionary piece than an introduction.  Later revisions introduced the flood and mold infestation which I concluded lead to a colony of spiders creating an agrarian society in my apartment.  Interesting as it may have been, this was not the point of the assignment.  After the third or so revision, we started to understand that the memo itself wasn't as important as was the way it was going to be used.  This memo had a purpose, and it's users needs were what should have been directing the content of our work.  We were to make connections with our users (our classmates), and therefore needed to take them into consideration when writing.

The process and changes that we made were then recorded in our PDM (Process Documentation Memos) as a way to chart our own growth in understanding, and our justification for making changes to our original work.

The Creative Rhetoric Scenario: Why Would a 12-Year Old Need To Know About Rhetoric?
Contextualizing the Creative Rhetoric Scenario
The CRS was a fictional discourse between ourselves and another person in which we would discuss the definition and application of Rhetoric in a way that people could understand. Ideally we were supposed to create a situation that felt like a genuine conversation between two people, introduce and define rhetoric, and explain the values and ethical implications of rhetoric. 

The CRS had three main parts. 1) Introduction/Background where we introduced the subject, the players, and the relationship of the players. 2) The dialogue between the players, and 3) The analysis, where we explain to our audience the overall lesson about rhetoric.

CRS.HTML
The CRS was also the first assignment that we posted in an html format.  Writing it in Word and then transferring it with another program became a HUGE pain since some of the text does not like to transfer correctly between programs.

Reflecting on the Creative Rhetoric Scenario

Me, Rhetoric and Kyle
I did not have as difficult a time creating a discourse between myself and another person. I often talk to my younger brother (Kyle) about things that have little to no value to him merely for the sake of passing the time. Naturally my fictional Kyle would be the perfect subject for me to impart rhetorical knowledge on. By using my brother as a model, and past conversations as reference, I was able to write a discussion between us that not only gave him an understanding of rhetoric, but my audience as well. In my dialogue I trick Kyle into using his own brand of rhetoric to avoid learning about rhetoric. I then use his own actions as my example of rhetoric knowing that it would be the easiest way to get him to understand. In this way I have two analysis sections, one directly for fictional Kyle, and one pointed directly at the audience.

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The Context & Genre Analysis Project: Writing in the L+C

Contextualizing the Context & Genre Analysis Project

CGA Context

The CGA is an 5 part analysis of how writing works in a specific situation with a certain set of limitations. Since analyzing how ALL writing works in a place would be a much larger task than we TC students would be able to handle in 3 weeks, we were given ways to shrink the scope. Ideally we were to try to identify the opposing relationship between how writing in a place should work and how it actually works (if at all). We had to analyze and collect data, process the data into information and then format the information into a usable report is very important.

Reflecting on the Context & Genre Analysis Project:


Lots of Observation = Lots of Writing
This was by far the most comprehensive project we have had in this course. The structure was pretty straightforward. Intoduction/Background, Context Data Description, Context Data Analysis, Genre Data Description, Genre Data Anaylsis, and an overall summary of the context and genre. Gathering and posting the findings proved the more daunting aspect of this project.