PWO on Overviews: The overview should be a mini-version of your entire proposal in which you establish very clearly what you are proposing to do and why. You have to say very, very clearly: (1) what you are asking for, and (2) what you will provide in exchange—in other words, the quid pro quo. What product, service, or result will emerge from this project? What is the concrete deliverable here? a report? a prototype? a plan?

What that means for WTCM: The WTCM project is focused on the problem we've been working on all semester--relating, linking, transferring. That is, our problem is that most people don't see how their experience relates to anyone else's. To see how it can, people need to understand some tech comm. The trick is that many people are already doing tech comm informally (they don't know it)--the exchange is, "If you give me permission, I'll show you how tech comm is involved in X area of my experience or expertise." As PWO suggests, the overview should include the following points:

• brief statement of problem or need [see above]
• brief summary of proposal objective (what are you proposing to do?) [give presentation to class]
• brief summary of request (what are you asking for?) [permission/go ahead]
• brief summary of expected results and outcomes (deliverables) [a presentation to class, PowerPoint file, class understanding how TC is (informally) used in X topic area]

PWO on Background: What background information, context, or history is necessary in order to understand this project? Does the project have a history that needs to be related? (This section is an optional one.)

What that means for WTCM Project: Some of you may wish to use a background section to introduce us to your area of experience/expertise. It can help with the narrative flow to do this. You would state your field or area of expertise, some activities involved, and their goals, just to get us introduced to the field, and your experience in it.

PWO on the Problem Analysis Section: Articulate precisely and carefully the problem or need that this proposal addresses. Provide evidence of the problem or need (either analysis, data, or testimony). In an unsolicited proposal, you have to spend more time developing this section—and in fact, you might have several subsections, and you might have to provide fairly significant detail and discussion in the narrative.

What that means for WTCM Project: The WTCM project is based, like most of this course, on the fact that people who care about their jobs, hobbies, or just their lives, are practicing tech comm all the time, they just don't understand it the way we do now. So the big "problem" of the project, is "How can I show how TC matters?" Well, as we've gone over in class, you have to have a few basic things:

• An area of experience or expertise (you all have several)
• A specific situation for communication, training, explanation, or similar
• A specific audience or audiences, that you can characterize

And how can you show that TC matters? Anytime people need to do things at work, teach people, coach people, or explain something to people, you have to show them how/why it matters you do things a particular way. We do this at work all the time, anytime you have to train or help someone, and lots of other comm situations at work or in hobbies/interests. And the general point is, that how we do something matters--that we human beings are not just technical because we want to be a pain, but because how you do things matters, in all sorts of different ways. The big problem of the project is to demonstrate how the stuff we've been doing in this class is relevant in many people's experience away from class, that is--learning to analyze comm situations, analyze and characterize audiences, and articulate purposes that meet both the audience's and your own needs, are actually things you've learned to do, informally, whenever you've really cared about doing a good job at work, or in your own interests.

PWO says: The "plan" section is usually the longest and most thoroughly developed section—and it should certainly include subheadings (and perhaps even sub-subheadings) to organize its sections. This section, sometimes called the "technical proposal" is where you demonstrate that you have the technical know-how and research skills to do the project. There is a lot more to this section in the reading--showing how the plan breaks down what the project needs to do.

What that means for WTCM Project: For us, what the plan section needs to do is more or less lay out an outline or plan for your presentation to us on how TC matters in this area of your experience and expertise. In order to do this, you'll need to explain to us a number of things:

• How/why this is an area of your experience/expertise
• Typical processes/activities involved
• How/why those particular communication activities matter in this business, work, activity [training gets things done properly, or reduces danger or injuries, enables people to do things, etc.]
• The audience(s) involved, and how one can characterize them
• Explain how you have tailored [or would tailor] the information/presentation of information for this audience(s) and purposes

 
 \\