English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

One of the key points that I took away from this chapter is making effective use of your research. I realized while reading this that our group had chosen a rather large audience in our original proposal. I think that by narrowing this down to something smaller would allow us to find research that is more specific. I think we should focus our white paper on a small middle school. This would be the optimal environment. The fact that they would have a limited amount of resources makes an open source solution perfect.

My primary focus this week was on reading about how to create a successful white paper. I have never written a white paper so I decided I would need this knowledge to help me start the process. I also looked over the example white papers. I used Google to search for a few other examples to make sure that I had a good idea of what I was shooting for. I also contacted my group members early in the week asking if anybody had a topic idea. I shared my contact information with my group members so that we have various ways that we can communicate.

I found it interesting that the steak behind the sizzle white paper stated that for a white paper to be successful it must contain “compelling prose.” I find that this will be a challenge for creating a white paper. I realize that all of the success really comes down to how well you can incorporate technical knowledge, experience and “compelling prose” into a white paper. I find that it may be somewhat hard to create a white paper that isn’t bias. This sounds like an area that working in a group will come in handy.

I have attached my instructions as PDF files however; they are best viewed in their natural format as web pages.

Here is the link to the novice instruction set webpage: Novice Instructions
Here is the link to the expert instruction set webpage: Expert Instructions

My novice user is a user who is new to Ubuntu. They have either little or no experience with the operating system. My novice instructions cover how to open Open Office's Word Processor in Ubuntu and how to save for compatibility for Microsoft Office users.

I am using a 24pt Arial Rounded MT Bold font for my Heading. This heading will be a dark green along with the rest of my text. My objective and step number are also in this font. For the step instructions I am using a 16pt BrowalliaUPC font. My layout will be in a html format with a 800px width.

My technical instructions will cover how to install Ubuntu as a virtual machine. Ubuntu is an alternative operating system to windows. My primary audience will be a user who is new to Ubuntu who wants to try a new operating system. Installing Ubuntu as a virtual machine is a good option because you do not have to destroy your current OS to try Ubuntu. My secondary audience will be a more advance user who is interested in cutting costs by running Ubuntu as a virtual machine on a computer they already have instead of having two separate computers.