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GraduateStudentProjectGraduate Student Project for 424, Fall 2006 Issue/Article Explication & Personal Application (5 pages) Between the Intro Memo, the Creative Rhetoric Scenario, the Airbag Case, the Context/Genre Analysis, and wrapping it all in a portfolio and tying in the readings, this course already has plenty of work that:
Therefore what I want the grad students to do for their grad credit is different: a short paper (5 pages) examining/extending issues from the reading, and bridging that to some personal experience. While our coursework has really developed people's rhetorical design skills and awareness, it has also begun the process of questioning the predominant modernist world view. Our readings suggest quite a number of problems which, while being "issues in the field," and so seemingly sort of practical, begin to point out some of the questionable assumptions we all make about how the world works. For example, the idea that knowledge is an action, an activity, clearly challenges how we typically think about things. From a career perspective, these assumptions undercut the perceived value of technical communicators--so their work is seen as re-packaging, not as creative, or productive. But we only need to look at examples of remixing in many media areas, from music genres of rap, house, or others, to things like the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Saturday Night Live, or other TV comedies that "re-mix" the news or everyday life, to see myriad examples illustrating just how creative and valuable it is. How many people have become educated about all the complex "spin" in the news through such humor? Technical communication! Indeed, the notion that what technical writers do is at all like what the writers of the Daily Show do, ought to raise eyebrows all by itself (a great case in point is dueling explanations of the internet--a horrible one by a senator arguing to regulate it, vs. a good by a Daily Show funny guy). Which leads me to the second thing I want the grad students to think about for their project--where is the fun--where is the satisfaction--in tech comm? Most people who come to this field get here because they got a degree in a different, often unapplied areas. So their initial impulse is purely to get a job. But what I am always striving for in classes is the personal identification--not "just a job," but the satisfaction people can feel when they see their work as purposeful--valuable to others. This is different from applied in the simple sense that companies pay for the work--it gets toward feeling like your work has purpose in the sense of having meaning--value both personal and interpersonal. The interpersonal also suggests how tech comm and rhetorical skills are valuable in shaping your working relationships and attitudes--other key aspects in giving our work meaning and making it enjoyable. Now these two paragraphs suggest that what I want from you is crazy complex. It doesn't have to be. I'm just trying to suggest how broad your options are. You basically need to select an issue or two from our assigned readings or related readings you may wish to connect, and explain/explicate it/them, and then explore personal experience and connections relating to these issues, showing ways you see the issues extend. In the end, you can explore a bit of how your ideas of technical writing and rhetoric have changed through the term--how their potential applications are endless, but require tailored analysis. Finally, aside from the short paper, I would like each of you to give short and informal presentations on these to the class--sharing your explications of the issue/article, and an interesting extension of it. I hope these short papers can be both challenging and fun at the same time that they aren't that hard--and I look forward to discussing ideas with all of you. I'm open to these being written in the wiki as easy web pages that make adding pictures and all easy. You can also do these as part of your class portfolio websites, or other ways that you wish. |