English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

Overall, the first week in Group 8 went well. The group consists of me (Dean Basso), Adam Persohn, Adam Waters, Lindsay Petrovi, and Michael Sheridan. Some things that we accomplished in week one were picking our topic, organizing our group, establishing a Google documents page, and setting group meetings. The topic was chosen to be oil dependence and renewable energy solutions. We were very skeptical on picking this subject because of the popularity of “green” topics, but we went with it anyways. We found the topic to be very interesting and very informative.

When reading about the White Paper project I was still very confused about what a White Paper really was. After reading the “The Steak Behind the Sizzle”, Ellisa Miller explains what a White Paper needs to include and what it needs to omit.

Finally

While reading Chapter 12, I thought that it was a great topic to cover before putting our instruction manuals together. I am enrolled in a class (IE-577 Human Factors in Engineering) that’s whole purpose is for the usability of products. The types of editing and usability testing were all explained in detail in the class and are actually very useful. I think that when I make a usability test for my manual I am going to use the document markup method. For reference, my instruction manual is constructing a set of cornhole boxes or bean bag boxes.

The object of design and presentation of information is explained well in Chapters 24 and 25. Positioning of objects and even the color arrangement will effect if the reader will like your layout. In the instructor blog it explains that a design is judged in under a second. This statement makes complete sense because our eyes already know what a good design is by using visual acuity.

The process that I am choosing for the project is creating a regulation set of cornhole(bags for most people) boxes. A lot of people create a different selection of cornhole boxes. Some create collapsible sets that are ideal for tailgating, or others create full size regulation boxes that are suited for legal game play. Cornhole has become a craze in many states and is very similar to horseshoes. This activity seems easy but can be challenging with expert opponents. I chose this process for this project because most builders do not take into considerations the rules and regulations.

Within Chapter 19, Chapter 20, and the Instructor Blog #4 there was a lot of very interesting information introduced. The task of writing instructions is almost spelled out into an art. Similarly as writing a normal technical document, Chapter 20 explains that while writing instructions a writer has to think of the primary, secondary, tertiary, and gatekeepers of the document. Also the writer has to think about what is offensive to other cultures when writing the document.