English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

For my instructions project, the process will explain how to prepare and cook Jambalaya, a Cajun meal, step by step. I feel that I am experience at this particular food because I make it on a regular basis and everyone who eats it enjoys it more each time. The instructions are going to accommodate a novice and an experienced cook. By keeping the terminology simple with having pictures for a novice, a person just starting to cook, can follow. And with the experienced cook, one who is in the kitchen a lot, I will try to use terminology for them to relate with.

I will be writing a guide on how to crack wireless 802.11 network securities in order to recover a lost or forgotten wireless key. This guide is to be used only on your own network and is not being written to attack someone else’s network. This guide could effectively be used to recover a lost password for your wireless network if you have forgotten it or lost that piece of paper you probably wrote it on, which is a horrible idea in the first place. I am currently a TA for a wireless infrastructure class and am also currently studying wireless securities.

I use Microsoft Office 2007, and I have always wanted to take advantage of Outlook. I just recently configured my email on Outlook, and it is now much easier to send and receive emails. My instructions will involve showing the user how to setup email accounts on Outlook 2007. I have never found any useful and simple instructions for this, and I have never known that it was easy to setup and easy to use. My audiences will be a first-time Microsoft Office user and a user that has experience with Microsoft Office but that has never dealt with Outlook before.

For my instructions project, I have decided to brew a batch of beer. This instructional process will cater to people looking into brewing their own beer, or a novice attempting to expand their knowledge. I will include a list of required tools, equipment, ingredients and an outline of the process. From these instructions I hope to encourage people to try brewing their own beer as well as give tips and tricks to help improve the batch.

The process I will be describing is the installation of an invisible shield on any type of electronic device. The invisible shield is a protective coating that will protect most any small electronic device from scratches or damage. These instructions are legitimate because I don’t feel that they instructions they came with suffice in the full detail of the installation process. I have prior experience with installing invisible shields and have made installation videos in the past (link to youtube at the bottom).

With my instruction project, I want to focus on two perspectives on Excel.

Most workplaces use Excel in some way. Still, while most Excel users understand how to use basic spreadsheet functions like sums and averages, the most powerful functions are far from common knowledge. Outside the workplace, Excel is often seen as a confusing program or a yawnfest. However, Excel spreadsheets can be a big help for individuals, too, if used correctly. Spreadsheets tend to be good for managing personal finances, serving as tools that organize weekly budgets or plan the payment of owed money, for example.

Design Process:
Problem Identification
Conceptualization
Refinement of preliminary ideas
Design analysis
Development and implementation
Optimization
Presentation

For my novice direction set I want to show people how to use a virtual machine to install a new operating system. The OS I will be installing will be FreeBSD which is a Unix OS. These instructions will include how to use VMWare to install and set up a virtual machine and the steps to take to install FreeBSD. My advanced instruction set will include how to install X-Windows and Gnome so the user can have a nice graphical interface and not have to mess around with only the command line.

I plan on creating instructions to guide a user through setting up an Enterasys RoamAbout® Wireless Access Point. Enterasys RoamAbout® Access Points are a popular choice for providing wireless access to the network for businesses. The instructions will instruct the user how to take an access point with no configuration and configure it so that users can connect to the network wirelessly. These instructions are necessary because there is very little documentation on how to configure this type of access point.

The software that I am planning on doing my technical instructions on is Steam. For those who have never heard of it, it is made by the Valve corporation and once downloaded it runs from the windows taskbar. Steam allows you instant access to their extensive game library when you can purchase, buy, and install any new games you want and then you are able to launch any game you want from their games menu. Along with keeping all your games in one easy to find location, it allows you to play them from any computer, not just your own.