Technical Blog

In response to Melisa Dawson's post

I agree with the point you make about the differences in revising your work for school and for work. Academic revisions can always be improve as you can add on just about any other information deemed relevant. Going back to a previous chapter, the main goal is professional writing is to get the point across to your reader and expect them to follow the recommendations you made in that communication. The key to revision in real world application, in my opinion is to be clear, concise, and short. You want to make sure to get your main point across before the reader's attention span diminished. When it comes to testing your draft of its usability and persuasiveness, I turn to peer review. The text structured a set of guidelines to show us how to test our paper in the professional word. I think that it closely resemble the peer review process that we've all been exposed to before. The only difference in my opinion is that peer reviews are more of an informal process.

This week revisit back to the textbook deals with revising and testing your drafts for usability and persuasiveness. While it is difficult to recognize problems with your own piece of writing, there are guidelines provided that will help overcome the obstacles and allow the writer to see where the draft need improvement. The guidelines I found most useful were seeing from the perspective of your audience take a break between writing and reading the draft to catch what you meant to say and put it on paper. In the real world, any given tasks are expected to be professionally done and delivered in a timely manner. If the work is late, it could be considered as worthless. Time management is huge when it comes revising your work. Some suggestions the book game are to make the most significant revisions first and ask for an outside opinion (a reviewer).

The next step after revising your draft is to test it for usability and persuasiveness. This is where rhetoric comes back into play once again. This time around, the writer "tests" their piece for its compelling arguments. The main objective here is to learn how the readers will respond to your work. In the movie business, producers often provide pre-screening of their movies to garner feedback and see if what they have is working. In writing, the writer would want to ask some people to read a draft of their communication in that way that the writer intended them to read and use the finished communication. You would want to pick test readers who closely represent your audience. For example, asking your manager to read over your report before it is present to the board of director would be a good idea. Asking a neighbor to read it would not yield desirable results. As a writer, you'd want to gain as much feedback as possible. It is important to remain impartial as not all feedback are what you as a writer wants to here. Once all feedback are collected, interpret them thoughtfully and thoroughly before making any changes.

In response to Vic's blog post on Journalism

Like you, I haven't given much thoughts in to the ethics of news reporting. Freedom of speech and the freedom of the press will only protect a company/entity for so much before lawyers find loopholes to exploit. Jesse mentioned that in the news business, you can get hit with both libel and slander since there are reporters and writers. I'm curious to know who gets the short end of the stick on this one, the messenger or the sender? My feeling is that the reporters will get more heat because that is the only person the audience see and they perceives those reporters as the face of that news organization.
Reporting ethically can be difficult regardless if you are given the freedom of press like our country or not. The envelope can only pushed so far. In my opinion, airing a gunshot victim with all the guts and gore is unethical and it doesn't do any good except for increasing the "shock" factor to gain higher TV ratings. I also think that much of ethics revolves around culture. For instance, our society is more susceptible to violence then to sex. In Europe, it is the opposite, parents would rather have their kids exposed to Britney Spears before they want their kids imitating James Bond.

I used to think that all journalism professionals do is write various articles for newspaper and magazine publication. Some of those writers gets recognize for their great work through awards such as the Pulitzer. I also thought it wasn't an exciting career as all you do day in and day out is write (or type or the computer). After the brief crash course in class and listening to Jesse Day, my understanding of the subject has broaden dramatically.
My perception of journalism being a desk job dissipated after finding out that the career is so diverse and sitting in a cubicle is the last thing you'd do as a (successful) journalist. A sports journalist will get the front seat to witness all the exciting action of a game and gets paid to talk about it. An entertainment journalist will be at the newest blockbusters premiering around the country and gets to meet famous/influential people. Hardly seem like work if you like what you're doing. Jesse had mentioned that his job allows him to receive the latest current events locally and nationally as they occur. He then decides which ones to talk about on television. While it is hard work, I'd imagine it be very fun especially at dinner parties when you get to tell people that you're a TV show producer.

In response to Melissa Bonneville's post

I would argue that the model you described of the news broadcast from Koin 6 is almost if not identical to other local and national news stations across the country. Horrible stories are prominently featured first. I not sure about everyone else's attention span, but mine seems to be at its peak for the first 10-15 minutes. I found it interesting that all I see during this time are the the bad news. Afterward, the contents gets lighter and as mentioned, shorter and shorter. The "feel good" segments of the news are brief and forgettable to me, partly because I'm still thinking about the first 10 minutes of the news broadcast. As far as waiting until the end for the weather segment, I have a couple of remedies for that. The first is to simple use the internet, it'll get you the information you want immediately. Another great alternative is to use your cell phone. Google offers a free mobile service that can tell you the local weather. Simple send a text to 46653 (google) with the message "w " and you'll receive your weather report in seconds!

When it comes to TV news broadcasting , I tend to be a little bit biased towards to the report of the materials. I went as far as boycotting it several times in the past. It seems like the only newsworthy pieces are murder and rape crimes. Deadly accidents and mishaps also gets their fair share of attention. I feel like the news media is airing the dirty laundry of society and the majority of us air watching it. If we we're, they wouldn't still be on air. An argument could be made that the news keeps us informed and gives us a daily dosage of reality check. I personally don't see how watching a news report about a person walking on the I-5 bridge late at night and was killed by a car travelling at a high speed will help me. Don't get me wrong, not all news report are about the unfavorable stuff in our society. I just can't seem to remember any of the good news that was reported in the broadcast due to my mind still being stuck on the crime and murder segments.

In response to Robert Clemans' blog post:

The possibilities available to a freelance writer are limitless. In my opinion, the only restraining factor that they have is themselves. Being a freelancer does not guarantee you any sort of income. Furthermore, I agree with your point about feeling down when your proposal is rejected. It's a normal human instinct to react that way given the circumstances. Kat mentioned in lecture that not all rejections are bad especially if the rejection you received was personalized (handwritten, directed towards your contents). This means that someone from the company you wanted to write for took time out of their schedule to read your work and give you geunine feedback that will surely help you in the future. Their "rejection" could simply imply that they want you to do some revisions before they'll print your work. A professor once told me that you're not judge by your success but rather by how you overcome your failures. Persistence and perserverance are keys to being a successful freelance writer.

My first initial thoughts of freelance writing was that it's a great opportunity to pursue whether you are doing it temporarily or full-time. But after the comparison of freelance writing to advertising and discussion we had in class, I started to think that being a freelancer is not as glamorous as it may seem. There are pros and cons to support both sides of the argument. I decided to do some quick research on the topic to convince myself that my initial reaction to freelance writing is correct.

First off, I came across a trivia. Did you know that the word freelance comes from a knight or mercenary who would sell his services to any lord willing to pay; hence he was a "free lance?"

The immediate advantages to being a freelance writer is that you have variety in your writing and that there are no long term commitment. You are a free agent hired to do some business writing, marketing writing, or instructional writing for a company. Once that is complete, you are not bound to stay with the company/publishcation and can pursue different other jobs. If you are a good writer, this field of work can be very lucrative. It can be use to get you some extra spending money by writer a couple short pieces (web content seems to be the popular trend for this). You can even be a blogger and make money!

In response to Sara Ross' CH8 & 19 blog post,

I agree with many of the points you bought up in this week's reading. To have a specific audience and topic to write about this important in getting your ideas across. I thought that the textbook as a whole was effective in its writing. Each chapter has the same layout, a brief introduction follow by guidelines and examples to help the reader understand each concept. The voice and terminology used through the book is friendly and straightforward. As I read each chapter, I get the feeling that the text is a virtual professor lecturing me in a clear and concise manner about a topic. It doesn't feel like the text is being "smarter" than me which to me is extremely helpful.

In chapter 19, I basically have the same ideas as you. Continuous communication between the parties will ensure you know exactly what the client expects. Having a plan will show progress and allow room and time for necessary changes. The most important point, which you touched on is leaving the final decision to your client. Be ready for them to accept or disagree with the project and be ready to make the adjustments towards their satisfaction.

This week's reading included the topic of developing an effective writing style (CH8). In professional writing, an effective style refers to the readability and *impact* (Kat, the text used this word) of the writing piece. I find it interesting that readers will judge the writer's style (not the writing itself) as "friendly or stuffy, relaxed or stiff, helpful or condescending." To help the writer creating an effective style, the chapter suggested three sets of guidelines to follow: creating a voice, constructing sentences, and word choice. Following these guidelines should make a great deal of difference in my writing. I've been so accustomed to academic writing that I tend to write passively in the past and using superfluous words to get my point across.

Chapter 19 of the text covers the topic of managing client and service-learning projects. There are three steps to an effective client project management. As the partnership begins, reaching a detailed, mutual understanding of all important aspects of the project is the main priority. As the project proceeds, constant communication with the client is crucial. Finally, as the project is wrapping up, assist the client in taking the next step. The last step mean providing them with all the options and persuade them which ones are the best, but leave the ultimate decision for the client to make. At all time, be candid, specific and is constructive in your communication. This will facilitate the tasks to go by much quicker and yields better results.