I began this course in writing for interactive media with few preconceptions. Although I worked as a technical writer for a number of years and wrote corporate communications, volunteer newsletters, and even, long ago, articles for a daily newspaper, I wasn’t sure that my experience would be entirely relevant. I assumed that my experience would […]
Tagged 506dl, module 7“Passion” is a buzz word these days. I say this without evidence, just my own observation. A Google search yielded two “passion is buzzword” results: Fresh Brainz: Buzzwords I Hate and Has Passion Become Another Job-Seeker Buzzword? I am glad to see that others share my sentiments. In businesses, schools, and organizations, those in authority […]
Tagged 506dl, module 6 readingI have yet to follow the SEO principles listed in the Search lecture and see that I will have to revisit my blog to cull repetitive posts. I will then have to come up with a list of unique, or nearly so, topics for future posts to use SEO effectively. Coming up with a topic […]
Tagged 506dl, module 6 readingSeth Godin’s blog post, “Really Bad Powerpoint,”[sic] has some information in common with Yale professor emeritus Edward Tufte’s writings about PowerPoint, and I think it likely that Godin used Tufte’s book, Beautiful Evidence (Graphics Press, Cheshire, CT: 2006) as an information source. Godin is kinder in his assessment of PowerPoint than Tufte is. Godin says, […]
Tagged 506dl, module 5 readingThe lecture on conversation makes some good points. Most people wait for an opportunity to speak rather than listen to what the other person is saying. People use conversation to show off rather than share information. Showing off, by breaking into a conversation, presenting your views with confidence and even high-jacking another speaker’s views and […]
Tagged 506dl, module 5 readingWith the exception of my module 6 assignment, I have yet to do a thorough rewrite on any content I’ve written for this course or, if memory serves me, any of the technical documentation I’ve written over the years. I do rewrite as I compose, testing words and phrases that seem suspect and cutting them […]
Tagged 506dl, module 4 readingDavid Silverman’s “How to Revise an Email” article in the Harvard Business Review has some good advice. I agree with all of it from the standpoint of advocating for clear communications and agree with most of it from the standpoint of keeping your job in corporate America. Or maybe I should say corporate culture, because […]
Tagged 506dl, module 4 readingAfter posting a rewrite of an assignment to defend my area of interest, I reread the “Logic: Layers of Evidence” lecture and “A Writer’s Decisions” (Zinsser, chap. 23). Both have left me with misgivings about the work I just completed. Was it sound? Am I on the right track, or should I scrap the blog […]
Tagged 506dl, module 3 readingThe relationship between the built environment and the virtual environment is both tenuous and obvious. Seeing that relationship is like looking at an optical illusion. First you see the young woman, then the old, or maybe vice versa, if by chance you notice the difference or have been tipped off that there is one. But […]
Tagged module 6 rewriteThe Charter for Compassion, a website and document intended to promote compassion among people of all faiths, was born of social media and lives both in and outside this sphere. The charter began as the wish of British author and TED (Technology Entertainment & Design) prize winner Karen Amstrong. In 2008, Armstrong won the $100,000 […]
Tagged 506dl, module 5