English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

Last week, there was much discussion about the audience whom we were focusing our white paper to. We went from the general category of political leaders, to lawmakers and policy makers, to American energy policy makers, and finally cabinet members of the US Department of Energy. We decided this week to focus the paper to Steven Chu, who is the US Secretary of Energy. Secondary readers will likely be his cabinet members. Having a specific person in mind when drafting our white paper will help us imagine how specifically he will use the white paper. This helps us determine what information is most relevant, and how that information can be best presented.

In addition to the redefinition of our audience, a lot of headway was made on the rest of our project. An AIM meeting was held on Monday evening, but was not attended by all members because two team members were on the road without access to a computer. However, all pertinent information was communicated to every group member by Tuesday night via email. As a part of Wednesday’s assignment, all members completed thumbnails and concept designs. We have been issuing feedback to one another online for Friday’s assignment. We will make decisions on the visual element of our paper during our online chat next Monday.

The rest of this week has been dedicated to our research blogs. We decided to split up our topics amongst the group members. Adam P. covered solar energy, Lindsay took nuclear power, Adam W. researched smart-grid technology and oil-dependence, and Dean covered hydro power. Considering this is a technical topic, we tried to find sources that included numerical data and real-world applications. The research behind these blogs will serve as the foundation for our white paper. The information and data obtained from our research will be what creates the decision-making framework for our audience.

Our next big task will be creating the initial draft of our white paper. This will be a tricky thing to accomplish, as we will be collaborating over the Internet. Google Docs worked well for us with the initial proposal, so we will likely use it again to complete our draft.