Barker Chapter 13

This chapter teaches us how to use graphics effectively. If Phillip VanWynGarden would have read this chapter, we wouldn't have had as much work to do on our usability project.

While there was a lot of information covered in this chapter, one of the more important topics covered is under the "Where Is It?" heading on page 408. When I read the section about showing the user where to look to perform tasks, I couldn't help but remember our original Usability document. The large image of the motherboard wasn't clearly labeled, so the user wouldn't know where to look for help. The smaller images weren't clear enough for the user either - I thought they were too upclose for the user to even know where to look.

In the end, I think that we did a great job with our images on the Usability project. I think the image team did a great job of labeling and highlighting the images so the user could understand them.

Campbell Chapter 9

This chapter talks about notifying users of the implemenation of policies and procedures. Notification can be done in writing, in person, or by e-mail. All of these choices have their own pros and cons.

As the book states:

Written notices are the best when audience is very large.

Personal notices are best when the subject is sensitive to users.

E-mail is best of the new policy is online.

The thing that stood out for me was how Campbell said that Managers need to be notified first. I find that to hold very true. Without notifying management first, many problems could arise:

1. With a written notice, the manager might be asked about the policy before they have even had a chance to read it.

2. Personal notices could be a problem if the management acts surprised or upset about the policy/procedure.

3. E-mail would also be bad because if an employee has a question, they are more likely to send an e-mail to their manager - and the manager might not have any other information to answer their questions.

Barker Chapter 6

In Chapter 6 of the Barker book, we read about "Planning and Writing your Documents." Chapter 6 talks about Development teams, Writing teams, and a lot of task management. Like usual, this chapter combined a lot of common sense methods with actual ways to carry it out. I found the "Documentation Plan" section from page 207 to be very interesting. Barker says that you can carry out all of your ideas by "the power of your personality, your charismatic leadership, your gift for higher math, and your financial savvy." Or, Barker says, you can use management plans as your "genious." As long as you have a reason for your documentation plans and you set aside clear tasks for everybody - your plans will work just fine. To me, Barker is saying that even though some people may have more charisma or personality, they might not be the best at planning these processes. Form a plan and stick to it - and it will all come together in the end.

Campbell Blog - Chapter 1

The title of chapter one from Nancy Campbell’s book is “What’s a Policy, What’s a Procedure.” I found this chapter interesting because the backbone of any organization is the policy and procedure. Without policies nobody in the organization will know the rules. The procedure will show more specifics on exactly how the organization goes about getting the work done.

After reading this chapter I could see where I could apply many of these rules such as ambiguity, unwritten rules, and level of detail to the Constitution and By-Laws of my fraternity. The Constitution is the policy, stating the rules and what we stand for. Our By-Laws are the procedures; i.e. how we handle everyday proceedings. I found the most important part of the chapter to be the “Overload Alert” from page seven. Campbell notes that there is “a danger in creating a policy or procedure for everything.” I totally agree on that and believe that some people in my fraternity jump the gun to get every last thing in writing. However, there needs to be a balance between written and unwritten rules. As long as the unwritten rules are being followed there is no reason to formally write everything down.

I hope this course can show me more ways to correctly word and interpret my fraternity’s documents to get more real world Technical Communication experience.

Jordan's Introduction

Hey everybody! My name is Jordan and I am a Management major and Technical Communication minor at Minnesota State University – Mankato. I grew up in Worthington, Minnesota which is a small town about ten miles from the Minnesota-Iowa border. I am starting my junior year at MSU – Mankato and have a total of two years left of my undergraduate classes. I am very involved on campus in Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. A lot of my technical communication experience has been in my fraternity and in my work experience. I am currently a student worker in the Office of Academic Affairs here on campus.

Welcome to the Engl 477 F2006 blog

We are blogging Barker and Campbell's textbooks this fall semester. The idea is to connect your own technical communication experience, whether it is professional, academic, or personal, with Barker and Campbell. So in the chapter in Barker on Writing to Teach-Tutorials, you might make connections with the on-the-job training you received or delivered in a job you have held. I look forward to an interesting blog discussion.