Saturday, March 17, 2007
GAAARG
Hilary chose a desolate terminal in the back of the PK library and closed out her webmail. "Good, she said. Now I can finally work on my conference paper".
Hilary opened up a blank document but then remembered to send a quick text message about postponing dinner.
The phone in the adjacent terminal beeped immediately. Hilary quietly stretched up to peer over the cubicle wall and a corresponding pair of tigery eyes peered back.
"Silence your phone!" Hilary said brightly. "Can't you see I'm trying to work?"
"Then maybe you should stop "texting" me", the girl retorted.
"Yeah? Maybe you should stop emphasizing "text" with scare quotes", said Hilary, returning to her document.
Three minutes later a black-and-white-picture of an orchestra playing vaccuums and floor waxers fluttered over the cubicle wall. But Hilary's cursor had not moved.
Hilary opened up a blank document but then remembered to send a quick text message about postponing dinner.
The phone in the adjacent terminal beeped immediately. Hilary quietly stretched up to peer over the cubicle wall and a corresponding pair of tigery eyes peered back.
"Silence your phone!" Hilary said brightly. "Can't you see I'm trying to work?"
"Then maybe you should stop "texting" me", the girl retorted.
"Yeah? Maybe you should stop emphasizing "text" with scare quotes", said Hilary, returning to her document.
Three minutes later a black-and-white-picture of an orchestra playing vaccuums and floor waxers fluttered over the cubicle wall. But Hilary's cursor had not moved.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Hold on, I could be neo-pagan:
Your Results:
The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.
Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.
How did the Belief-O-Matic do? Discuss your results on our message boards.
1. Hinduism (99%)
2. Neo-Pagan (97%)
3. Jainism (97%)
4. Sikhism (92%)
5. Mahayana Buddhism (91%)
6. New Age (83%)
7. Bahá'í Faith (79%)
8. Unitarian Universalism (75%)
9. Orthodox Judaism (73%)
10. Liberal Quakers (70%)
11. Reform Judaism (67%)
12. Theravada Buddhism (61%)
13. Islam (60%)
14. Orthodox Quaker (54%)
15. New Thought (50%)
16. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (46%)
17. Scientology (44%)
18. Secular Humanism (42%)
19. Taoism (42%)
20. Seventh Day Adventist (34%)
21. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (33%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (31%)
23. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (29%)
24. Nontheist (26%)
25. Jehovah's Witness (26%)
26. Eastern Orthodox (26%)
27. Roman Catholic (26%)
The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.
Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.
How did the Belief-O-Matic do? Discuss your results on our message boards.
1. Hinduism (99%)
2. Neo-Pagan (97%)
3. Jainism (97%)
4. Sikhism (92%)
5. Mahayana Buddhism (91%)
6. New Age (83%)
7. Bahá'í Faith (79%)
8. Unitarian Universalism (75%)
9. Orthodox Judaism (73%)
10. Liberal Quakers (70%)
11. Reform Judaism (67%)
12. Theravada Buddhism (61%)
13. Islam (60%)
14. Orthodox Quaker (54%)
15. New Thought (50%)
16. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (46%)
17. Scientology (44%)
18. Secular Humanism (42%)
19. Taoism (42%)
20. Seventh Day Adventist (34%)
21. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (33%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (31%)
23. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (29%)
24. Nontheist (26%)
25. Jehovah's Witness (26%)
26. Eastern Orthodox (26%)
27. Roman Catholic (26%)
Slide-By-Slide ATTW Countown
I pledge not to leave this chair until the ATTW slideshow is finished, with the exception of the clips from Jackass 2. I will updates as each slide is finished (total: 25).
Finished: Slides 1-8 [the Dilbert Google Health Plan clip]. To do: Slide 9, the title page.
Slide 9 is kind of a construction site and has been backlogged.
Slide 10: "Professionals" is done. To do, slide 11: "Quacks".
Slide 11: "quacks" is done. To do: Slide 12, "Jackass".
Finished: Slides 1-8 [the Dilbert Google Health Plan clip]. To do: Slide 9, the title page.
Slide 9 is kind of a construction site and has been backlogged.
Slide 10: "Professionals" is done. To do, slide 11: "Quacks".
Slide 11: "quacks" is done. To do: Slide 12, "Jackass".
....
Sure! Just one minor detail: Can you drive a stick shift, Hilary?
Oh, absolutely!
Good. Reassure me by explaining how.
We-ell, you just put the key in the ignition and ... pull ... the old ... switcheroo.
Right. Describe the "switcheroo".
Oh, absolutely!
Good. Reassure me by explaining how.
We-ell, you just put the key in the ignition and ... pull ... the old ... switcheroo.
Right. Describe the "switcheroo".
"ri-ight",
said Hilary, closing out her webmail. "The message is clear: obviously, for some reason, God does not want me to write this conference paper".
Then her phone mooed, a distinctive noise created by Jessica and Francie's combined ringtones. But Hilary knew better. If I answer that, my travel plans will be altered in noncompossible ways., she muttered, fumbling for the Call Block function.
"Sorry", she whispered, pressing OK: "It's only for a few days until after CCCC".
Then her phone mooed, a distinctive noise created by Jessica and Francie's combined ringtones. But Hilary knew better. If I answer that, my travel plans will be altered in noncompossible ways., she muttered, fumbling for the Call Block function.
"Sorry", she whispered, pressing OK: "It's only for a few days until after CCCC".
Thursday, March 15, 2007
life, the universe and everything
My resolution not to be afraid seems to posess almost mystical powers. It's as though as soon as I said "yes", the whole world sprang to life.
A mere fraction of me wishes to be enclosed among the low ceilings of Hubbard Farms like an anchoress. Note: My favorite thing about that film is the flapping bird that marks the transitions from scene to scene. So another part of me wants to pounce on the bird. But what I really need to pounce on here is my conference paper.
A mere fraction of me wishes to be enclosed among the low ceilings of Hubbard Farms like an anchoress. Note: My favorite thing about that film is the flapping bird that marks the transitions from scene to scene. So another part of me wants to pounce on the bird. But what I really need to pounce on here is my conference paper.
travel
Our plane tickets fell through so we're taking a greyhound bus a la Spike Lee's Get On The Bus, as though that movie did not suck the first time. On the bright side, I've changed my name tag to "Hilary X".
My biggest fear: Suriving for 13 hrs on granola bars and carrot sticks.
My biggest fear: Suriving for 13 hrs on granola bars and carrot sticks.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
countdown:
Book 1: Mirel and Spilka, "Reshaping tech comm: New directions for the 21st century".
The almost Ramist split between content management and information architecture fragments the practice of tech comm.
The focus is on "nontraditional" ideas for moving forward, w/ an academic - industry balance in contributions. Most contributors have done both academic and industrial research.
Part 1: Revising industry and academia / cultures and relationships
Chapter 1 (Dicks) : an interesting comp / contrast of academic and industrial culture, incl. language, power structure and perceptions of time.
Chapter 2 (Bosley) "Jumping off the ivory tower: changing the academic perspective": Shocking claim, academics set up the barriers to academic-industry partnerships by focusing on differences, exclusion, and underestimaging the value of their own work for practitioners. Article focuses on cultural similarities and common ground. Makes the radical suggestion that the university is a normal organization that needs tech comm.
Chapter 3 (Blakeslee) Researching a common ground: Exploring the space where academic and workplace cultures meet. Focuses on underestimated overlapping spaces and boundary work.
Chapter 4 (Pare) Keeping Writing in its Place -- a participatory action approach to workplace comm. Focuses on strategies for overcoming cultural differences. Interested in bidirectional failures to influence. Extreme embeddedness of nonacademic writing, which it's hard for classroom to simulate. The inuit social worker thing.
Chapter 5(Bernhardt) Active-practice: Creating Productive Tension between Academia and industry. Academia in industry need a shared sphere of activity (an active-practice).
I'm going home. It's a beautiful night.
Update: HAR! I read 150 pages, but I'm not taking notes.
The almost Ramist split between content management and information architecture fragments the practice of tech comm.
The focus is on "nontraditional" ideas for moving forward, w/ an academic - industry balance in contributions. Most contributors have done both academic and industrial research.
Part 1: Revising industry and academia / cultures and relationships
Chapter 1 (Dicks) : an interesting comp / contrast of academic and industrial culture, incl. language, power structure and perceptions of time.
Chapter 2 (Bosley) "Jumping off the ivory tower: changing the academic perspective": Shocking claim, academics set up the barriers to academic-industry partnerships by focusing on differences, exclusion, and underestimaging the value of their own work for practitioners. Article focuses on cultural similarities and common ground. Makes the radical suggestion that the university is a normal organization that needs tech comm.
Chapter 3 (Blakeslee) Researching a common ground: Exploring the space where academic and workplace cultures meet. Focuses on underestimated overlapping spaces and boundary work.
Chapter 4 (Pare) Keeping Writing in its Place -- a participatory action approach to workplace comm. Focuses on strategies for overcoming cultural differences. Interested in bidirectional failures to influence. Extreme embeddedness of nonacademic writing, which it's hard for classroom to simulate. The inuit social worker thing.
Chapter 5(Bernhardt) Active-practice: Creating Productive Tension between Academia and industry. Academia in industry need a shared sphere of activity (an active-practice).
I'm going home. It's a beautiful night.
Update: HAR! I read 150 pages, but I'm not taking notes.
AS DSM IV criteria w/ explanations (for conference paper)
(I) Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:
(A) marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction
Does the person have noticable impairments such as underuse or overuse of body gestures, and/or have trouble looking people in the eyes, and/or have few facial expressions, and/or have an odd posture?
(B) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
Does the person have a hard time forming friendships/relationships similar to the ones people their age do?
(C) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interest or achievements with other people, (e.g.. by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people
Does the person fail to point out things that might interest the people around them, and/or fail to show interest in things that interest other people, and/or fail to share things that might interest other people?
(D) lack of social or emotional reciprocity
Does the person fail to respond to other peoples emotions or attempts at socializing?
If answer is yes to atleast two of the questions, the person meets the criteria for catagory I.
(II) Restricted repetitive & stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:
(A) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
Does the person have an interest in something(s) which they are obsessed with, in other words, does the person have an obsessive interest in something?
(B) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
Is the person inflexable to change in routines or rituals they engage in, which are not technically necessary to engage in to complete a task, and/or prefer sameness, such as the same type of clothing, foods, etc?
(C) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
Does the person have a habit of doing something like flapping their hands, and/or twisting their hands or any other part of their body, and/or rocking back and forth, and/or anything of that nature?
(D) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects
Does the person have an obsessive interest with a certain part or parts of an object or objects, for example, a spinning part?
If the answer is yes to at least one of the above questions, then the person meets the criteria for catagory II.
(III) The disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
The criteria the person met is valid if the behaviors met in the criteria causes great impairments in the persons social interaction, job, or other social or living skills.
(IV) There is no clinically significant general delay in language (E.G. single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years)
The criteria the person met is valid if the person had no delay in speech development (if the person did have speech delays, the criteria for High Functioning Autism might be met)(V)
There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction) and curiosity about the environment in childhood.
The criteria the person met is valid if the person did not have a noticable delay in cognative thinking, for example, could answer "yes/no" questions at the appropriate age level, if they could feed and dress themselves at the appropriate age level, and if the person showed an interest in the environment around them at the appropriate age level.
(VI) Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia.
The criteria the person met is invalid if they meet all of the criteria for for another disorder in the PDD spectrum, or Schizephrenia.
(A) marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction
Does the person have noticable impairments such as underuse or overuse of body gestures, and/or have trouble looking people in the eyes, and/or have few facial expressions, and/or have an odd posture?
(B) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
Does the person have a hard time forming friendships/relationships similar to the ones people their age do?
(C) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interest or achievements with other people, (e.g.. by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people
Does the person fail to point out things that might interest the people around them, and/or fail to show interest in things that interest other people, and/or fail to share things that might interest other people?
(D) lack of social or emotional reciprocity
Does the person fail to respond to other peoples emotions or attempts at socializing?
If answer is yes to atleast two of the questions, the person meets the criteria for catagory I.
(II) Restricted repetitive & stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:
(A) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
Does the person have an interest in something(s) which they are obsessed with, in other words, does the person have an obsessive interest in something?
(B) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
Is the person inflexable to change in routines or rituals they engage in, which are not technically necessary to engage in to complete a task, and/or prefer sameness, such as the same type of clothing, foods, etc?
(C) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
Does the person have a habit of doing something like flapping their hands, and/or twisting their hands or any other part of their body, and/or rocking back and forth, and/or anything of that nature?
(D) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects
Does the person have an obsessive interest with a certain part or parts of an object or objects, for example, a spinning part?
If the answer is yes to at least one of the above questions, then the person meets the criteria for catagory II.
(III) The disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
The criteria the person met is valid if the behaviors met in the criteria causes great impairments in the persons social interaction, job, or other social or living skills.
(IV) There is no clinically significant general delay in language (E.G. single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years)
The criteria the person met is valid if the person had no delay in speech development (if the person did have speech delays, the criteria for High Functioning Autism might be met)(V)
There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction) and curiosity about the environment in childhood.
The criteria the person met is valid if the person did not have a noticable delay in cognative thinking, for example, could answer "yes/no" questions at the appropriate age level, if they could feed and dress themselves at the appropriate age level, and if the person showed an interest in the environment around them at the appropriate age level.
(VI) Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia.
The criteria the person met is invalid if they meet all of the criteria for for another disorder in the PDD spectrum, or Schizephrenia.
Hilary lay on the white sofa next to a stagnant cup of ramen. The dirty yellow candle softened: ew, ew, ew. Through closed eyelids Hilary could still see the following:
#1: a cardboard box of papers up in the office
#2: her paycheck at the front desk
#3: "Must he wander forever under the restless gaze of the gods?" Updike.
#4: naked people
The desk slid and coughed up some floppies but Hilary didn't move. Obviously #1 and 2 were going to pose a problem.
#1: a cardboard box of papers up in the office
#2: her paycheck at the front desk
#3: "Must he wander forever under the restless gaze of the gods?" Updike.
#4: naked people
The desk slid and coughed up some floppies but Hilary didn't move. Obviously #1 and 2 were going to pose a problem.
3
First,
Had vivid dream about talking to god in which god is represented as a mallard duck. Why? "You never listen to me anyway" god explains fanning its wings in the candlelight.
Also,
"Both the good and the pleasant present themselves to a man. The calm soul examines them well and discriminates. Yes, he prefers the good to the pleasant; but the fool chooses the pleasant out of greed and avarice" (katha upanishad 1.2).
And finally,
Commemorative note: Bloggerandme has tracked the recurrance of this dream since 2004.
Had vivid dream about talking to god in which god is represented as a mallard duck. Why? "You never listen to me anyway" god explains fanning its wings in the candlelight.
Also,
"Both the good and the pleasant present themselves to a man. The calm soul examines them well and discriminates. Yes, he prefers the good to the pleasant; but the fool chooses the pleasant out of greed and avarice" (katha upanishad 1.2).
And finally,
Commemorative note: Bloggerandme has tracked the recurrance of this dream since 2004.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Poll: Travel plans
So the amtrack plan has fallen through. Will F let me borrow her car to travel to ATTW?
1) Yes
2) No
She shouldn't, but I'm guessing yes.
1) Yes
2) No
She shouldn't, but I'm guessing yes.
research update
Unless someone else has been working on my ATTW paper, it is not exactly getting done.
Today I slept in until 2 pm and then did the walk of shame in the sunlit gap between the houses. That reminded me of when Ruth brought over the table and the microwave last Spring. I made her walk in the cool stoney gap between the houses where the big gate opens to the apple blossoms. And the moral of the story is that when the gate smacks against the side of the house the turkeys sqawck. It never gets boring.
Roxanne convinced me to hate the experimental hair extensions [tangled + matted --she was right], which I clipped out rather than waiting for the knots to slip.
Then I (gasp!) spent real money on a new custom set -- ie not just what's laying around the salon --which I will then (gasp! gasp! gasp!) spend real money to have professionally put in. To celebrate the travel funding that left me w/ some extra cash for once. And just in time for summer.
Meanwhile my brush and I are in 3-week time out and I'm in a very good mood about that. Also, I hardly ever spend money. So that was nice. It's a good thing that I do not have a credit card.
Then I (gasp!) spent real money on a new custom set -- ie not just what's laying around the salon --which I will then (gasp! gasp! gasp!) spend real money to have professionally put in. To celebrate the travel funding that left me w/ some extra cash for once. And just in time for summer.
Meanwhile my brush and I are in 3-week time out and I'm in a very good mood about that. Also, I hardly ever spend money. So that was nice. It's a good thing that I do not have a credit card.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
secret
I'm skipping out of conference panel prep to take my first walk in Clark Park in the spring. Hopefully fjr's super-arch-enemy does not have the same idea.
ACK!
The consequences of consuming fewer than 10 alcoholic beverages per year are: 1 hangover per beverage consumed.
I do remember eating a whole thali by myself. Then we went back to aunt Becky's house, where it looked as though a silkworm had vomited silk over the entire house and Roxanne was stirring a boiling cauldron of silk on the stove.
I also recall sleeping in a pile of dry silk watching a panel of wet silk fade up to blue like an antarctic sunrise. Today my teeth have fuzzy slippers on them.
I do remember eating a whole thali by myself. Then we went back to aunt Becky's house, where it looked as though a silkworm had vomited silk over the entire house and Roxanne was stirring a boiling cauldron of silk on the stove.
I also recall sleeping in a pile of dry silk watching a panel of wet silk fade up to blue like an antarctic sunrise. Today my teeth have fuzzy slippers on them.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
task list
Done:
Stripped, redyed and recut own hair @ 4am. Came out a gorgeous in a yaky asteroid kind of way, ie sun-kissed brown with choppy homemade layers.
Slept for 12 hrs.
"Asato ma sat blah blah blah".
Read Sade/Fourier/Loyola, the passage about the anti-giraffe.
Became for a second the kind of person who hedges bets against how much she can get away with.
Stripped, redyed and recut own hair @ 4am. Came out a gorgeous in a yaky asteroid kind of way, ie sun-kissed brown with choppy homemade layers.
Slept for 12 hrs.
"Asato ma sat blah blah blah".
Read Sade/Fourier/Loyola, the passage about the anti-giraffe.
Became for a second the kind of person who hedges bets against how much she can get away with.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Ps, I am 26: notes
It's my 26th birthday and I'm awake in the lab writing my ATTW slideshow as though I like to work or something.
So here's the run-down: This year was comparatively seamless but punctuated by the following:
#1: The turkeys at the end of my block.
#2: A few brief moments when my stomach did not hurt, once while I was watching Ruth clutch her stomach in the 10th floor lounge (is that what it looks like? Stomachaches are hilarious!).
#3: The line "peace among goats".
Still, there are some things that I hazily remember but that seem to could not not have happened.
Take for example not talking to f: I do vaguely remember what that was like as though it were a dream [Keep in mind that "not talking" comprised a thread of 83 email messages titled "ps -- final note"]. But it sounds made-up.
I also had a brief, semi - passionate friendship with an abd grad student that (at that time) seemed very real to me. And sometimes now, when I am being the demanding high-maintenance yaky princess that I am, I remember that there was a point in time and a why that I sharply raised my expectations for others' conduct. But it seems to me now that I was always like that.
Honestly? It feels as though I have not moved from this chair except to get a twix bar. It's amazing that I'm not obese.
So here's the run-down: This year was comparatively seamless but punctuated by the following:
#1: The turkeys at the end of my block.
#2: A few brief moments when my stomach did not hurt, once while I was watching Ruth clutch her stomach in the 10th floor lounge (is that what it looks like? Stomachaches are hilarious!).
#3: The line "peace among goats".
Still, there are some things that I hazily remember but that seem to could not not have happened.
Take for example not talking to f: I do vaguely remember what that was like as though it were a dream [Keep in mind that "not talking" comprised a thread of 83 email messages titled "ps -- final note"]. But it sounds made-up.
I also had a brief, semi - passionate friendship with an abd grad student that (at that time) seemed very real to me. And sometimes now, when I am being the demanding high-maintenance yaky princess that I am, I remember that there was a point in time and a why that I sharply raised my expectations for others' conduct. But it seems to me now that I was always like that.
Honestly? It feels as though I have not moved from this chair except to get a twix bar. It's amazing that I'm not obese.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
task list
Done:
Made bootleg copy of website replacing images of the Welcome Center with abandoned bldgs on mouseover
Badgered Renuka for description of mysterious stranger / email correspondent. He got to her first.
"""" Mike M
"""" Vicki
"""" Michelle. "He's ... nondescript", she said unhelpfully. "Like he might be a Republican : Clean cut. Like a grown-up. Like these are the shirt and pants he got at Kohls".
Made bootleg copy of website replacing images of the Welcome Center with abandoned bldgs on mouseover
Brushed my teeth and hair
Snooped on fjr's active desktop to discover that Ken has his very own folder. How special!
Added my own folder to FJR's active desktop. Title: Hilary's Superfolder That Is Marked In Its Superiority To Ken's Folder.
"Your folder is empty" teased f.
"Yes, but if you turn it inside out it contains the whole world".
ATTW rehearsal.
"Theory is what separates humans from the squirrels".
Came within an inch of committing a sex act in my office.
Confessed to Francie
Stepped over Ruth on my way to the refrigerator. Wait: why was she laying on the floor of the 10th floor lounge?
"I wish I had a cat laying right here", she said, patting her stomach with a pained expression.
Note to f: "See? I am not the only person who lays down when my stomach hurts".
Talked to Kim
Made bootleg copy of website replacing images of the Welcome Center with abandoned bldgs on mouseover
Badgered Renuka for description of mysterious stranger / email correspondent. He got to her first.
"""" Mike M
"""" Vicki
"""" Michelle. "He's ... nondescript", she said unhelpfully. "Like he might be a Republican : Clean cut. Like a grown-up. Like these are the shirt and pants he got at Kohls".
Made bootleg copy of website replacing images of the Welcome Center with abandoned bldgs on mouseover
Brushed my teeth and hair
Snooped on fjr's active desktop to discover that Ken has his very own folder. How special!
Added my own folder to FJR's active desktop. Title: Hilary's Superfolder That Is Marked In Its Superiority To Ken's Folder.
"Your folder is empty" teased f.
"Yes, but if you turn it inside out it contains the whole world".
ATTW rehearsal.
"Theory is what separates humans from the squirrels".
Came within an inch of committing a sex act in my office.
Confessed to Francie
Stepped over Ruth on my way to the refrigerator. Wait: why was she laying on the floor of the 10th floor lounge?
"I wish I had a cat laying right here", she said, patting her stomach with a pained expression.
Note to f: "See? I am not the only person who lays down when my stomach hurts".
Talked to Kim
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
summer
It's the middle of the semester, but I'm already neglecting core responsibilities to work on projects such as: an impressionistic slideshow of the maha mrityunjaya.
For example, "triyambakam yajamahe" would be a traffic light. Sugandhim is the steam that rises from manhole covers.
(I think) the pictures would have to be moonlit for contrast and the OneCard machine is bound to make a cameo somewhere ...
For example, "triyambakam yajamahe" would be a traffic light. Sugandhim is the steam that rises from manhole covers.
(I think) the pictures would have to be moonlit for contrast and the OneCard machine is bound to make a cameo somewhere ...
Monday, March 05, 2007
travelgate update -- even more funding
Super Bob finds more travel dollars behind the microwave [see below]. Note Bob - Francie correspondence for added cuteness, which becomes cuteness cubed with me and Jessica on the CC line. Too bad these fantasies never work out irl.
Wait, what fantasies?
>-----Original Message-----
>From: ROBERT J BURGOYNE [mailto:ad5148@wayne.edu]
>Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 1:32 PM
>To: ae8683@wayne.edu
>Cc: hilaryanne@wayne.edu, j.rivait@wayne.edu
>Subject: Grad Student support
>
>Dear Frances,
>
>I will approve $100 apiece for the grad students in tech writing who will be
>presenting papers at the conference you describe. Please talk to Kathy to
>find out what the procedure will be. The larger question should be taken
up
>later.
>
>Best, Bob
Wait, what fantasies?
>-----Original Message-----
>From: ROBERT J BURGOYNE [mailto:ad5148@wayne.edu]
>Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 1:32 PM
>To: ae8683@wayne.edu
>Cc: hilaryanne@wayne.edu, j.rivait@wayne.edu
>Subject: Grad Student support
>
>Dear Frances,
>
>I will approve $100 apiece for the grad students in tech writing who will be
>presenting papers at the conference you describe. Please talk to Kathy to
>find out what the procedure will be. The larger question should be taken
up
>later.
>
>Best, Bob
Saturday, March 03, 2007
usability problem
So here's the thing: What do girls do when they have like Rihanna-style sideswept bangs that sweep over 1 eye, and they need to like use that eye to write a short perl script or something? Should I assume that sexy hair and programming are mutually exclusive?
handprint awareness day
Along with my hair, the following items are now soft ash brown:
1. My hands.
2. My cell phone.
3. The Origins of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.
4. My ipod nano.
1. My hands.
2. My cell phone.
3. The Origins of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.
4. My ipod nano.
Friday, March 02, 2007
girl scout
Date: Fri 2 Mar 16:15:05 EST 2007
From: HILARY WARD Add To Address Book | This is Spam
Subject: auto mechanic
To: ae8921@wayne.edu
Hi Dr. Gorzesky,
I'm searching for a reference to a reputable auto mechanic in southwest detroit. Any suggestions?
Note: Yes, I'll gladly take a reference to an espanol-only mechanic. The language of cars is universal.
Hilary
p.s. It takes a real grown-up to ask for a mechanic reference well in advance of the next emergency. Time to reward myself by deleting 4 unread student emails.
From: HILARY WARD
Subject: auto mechanic
To: ae8921@wayne.edu
Hi Dr. Gorzesky,
I'm searching for a reference to a reputable auto mechanic in southwest detroit. Any suggestions?
Note: Yes, I'll gladly take a reference to an espanol-only mechanic. The language of cars is universal.
Hilary
p.s. It takes a real grown-up to ask for a mechanic reference well in advance of the next emergency. Time to reward myself by deleting 4 unread student emails.
fabulous idea for TCQ article
"Hall discusses technology as "extensions", which permit the human species to evolve without changing biologically" (Miller, Technology as a form of Consciousness, p. 229).
Do you see it? Do you?
Do you see it? Do you?
How long will this hair last?
I'm happy to report that the cute extensions and cut have already outlasted their predecessors.
However, this color has 2 hrs. to live. Max.
Every time I shower, precious blue-green tones go crestfallen into the water. Througout the history of bloggerandme, the remaining color has had many names such as:
tentanus shot
dennis rodman
vomited yam
Don't they know that tones with names like:
dark chocolate brown
seaweed
midnight mud
ash
are self-evidently better? It never ceases to amaze me that people will add golden tones to their hair on purpose, and that some even look good while doing it.
However, this color has 2 hrs. to live. Max.
Every time I shower, precious blue-green tones go crestfallen into the water. Througout the history of bloggerandme, the remaining color has had many names such as:
tentanus shot
dennis rodman
vomited yam
Don't they know that tones with names like:
dark chocolate brown
seaweed
midnight mud
ash
are self-evidently better? It never ceases to amaze me that people will add golden tones to their hair on purpose, and that some even look good while doing it.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Quiz
Bloggerandme invites you to participate in a new quiz titled, "How long will this hair last?".
Helpful hints:
1. I have to look at a picture of Rihanna to style my hair.
2. "Let's pretend, for a second", said Hilary, "that I'm motivated enough to do this at home. What ... contraption would I use?" Answer: ceramic flat iron.
3. This morning I looked at my hair in the mirror and out at my car where the ceramic flat iron is now housed and said, "Shh! Not now".
4. Hair invites unwanted sexual attention.
5. I've started to bitch that my hair (which is a natural chocolate brown) "looks red to me for some reason".
So, how long will this hair last? The closest guess (measured in days) wins a free lunch @ OG.
Helpful hints:
1. I have to look at a picture of Rihanna to style my hair.
2. "Let's pretend, for a second", said Hilary, "that I'm motivated enough to do this at home. What ... contraption would I use?" Answer: ceramic flat iron.
3. This morning I looked at my hair in the mirror and out at my car where the ceramic flat iron is now housed and said, "Shh! Not now".
4. Hair invites unwanted sexual attention.
5. I've started to bitch that my hair (which is a natural chocolate brown) "looks red to me for some reason".
So, how long will this hair last? The closest guess (measured in days) wins a free lunch @ OG.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
update
Bloggerandme is happy to announce that I survived the gravy of death and am up on 9, "happily" grading papers.
...
So one thing that's hard to find on-campus is, a socially acceptable place to lay down.
Let me back up. I'm mildly allergic to gluten. Basically, it wears down the tread on my stomach lining. Normally this is not a big problem: I "try to stay away from" products that contain wheat, but to get really, genuinely sick I'd have to drink gluten concentrate or something.
So do you remember the hot turkey sandwitches that my dad used to make when we lived in Adrian? Of course not. But the point is, that's one hell of a sandwitch. So tonight I describe the sandwitch at OG and they make one for me and I ate the sandwitch.
And the preternaturally thick gravy must have been made straight from gluten concentrate or something. So two minutes later, I'm locked in that semi-private bathroom throwing up things that I ate in kindergarten. Normal people who just want to go to the bathroom are knocking on the door.
SO-O I leave without paying and go to State Hall looking for a place to crash. It feels like I've been kicked in the stomach. I'm dizzy. I should phone a friend to take me home, but first I want some privacy with my exploding stomach.
So I get to State Hall and the bathroom floors are all pee-soaked, which makes me throw up again. Hmm, I think. Better go upstairs.
Then I kind of lay down flat on the stairwell. I know from my experience with Avalon cookies that I'm not going to die ("whole" = wheat), but the students, who don't know that, are stepping over me on their way to class. No forthcoming offers to help. So I'm laying there kind of praying, please don't let any of these students be my students, please don't let any of these instructors be Ruth.
And the student security guard who has seen me walking to class a ZILLION times asks me to leave. "I'm not homeless", I protest, "Just allergic".
"Still", says the guard skeptically, "you can't lay here. I'm going to have to ask you to leave".
So I go outside and lay on the designated stone slab. It's cold, so I go under my coat. What if I fall asleep here, I wonder. Throwing up makes me tired so I start to drift off.
But then, fortunately, some nice students come by and offer me a quarter.
Let me back up. I'm mildly allergic to gluten. Basically, it wears down the tread on my stomach lining. Normally this is not a big problem: I "try to stay away from" products that contain wheat, but to get really, genuinely sick I'd have to drink gluten concentrate or something.
So do you remember the hot turkey sandwitches that my dad used to make when we lived in Adrian? Of course not. But the point is, that's one hell of a sandwitch. So tonight I describe the sandwitch at OG and they make one for me and I ate the sandwitch.
And the preternaturally thick gravy must have been made straight from gluten concentrate or something. So two minutes later, I'm locked in that semi-private bathroom throwing up things that I ate in kindergarten. Normal people who just want to go to the bathroom are knocking on the door.
SO-O I leave without paying and go to State Hall looking for a place to crash. It feels like I've been kicked in the stomach. I'm dizzy. I should phone a friend to take me home, but first I want some privacy with my exploding stomach.
So I get to State Hall and the bathroom floors are all pee-soaked, which makes me throw up again. Hmm, I think. Better go upstairs.
Then I kind of lay down flat on the stairwell. I know from my experience with Avalon cookies that I'm not going to die ("whole" = wheat), but the students, who don't know that, are stepping over me on their way to class. No forthcoming offers to help. So I'm laying there kind of praying, please don't let any of these students be my students, please don't let any of these instructors be Ruth.
And the student security guard who has seen me walking to class a ZILLION times asks me to leave. "I'm not homeless", I protest, "Just allergic".
"Still", says the guard skeptically, "you can't lay here. I'm going to have to ask you to leave".
So I go outside and lay on the designated stone slab. It's cold, so I go under my coat. What if I fall asleep here, I wonder. Throwing up makes me tired so I start to drift off.
But then, fortunately, some nice students come by and offer me a quarter.
various
Date: Tue 27 Feb 16:24:10 EST 2007
From: Margaret Maday Add To Address Book | This is Spam
Subject: Fwd: FYI -- Various construction issues
From: Margaret Maday
Subject: Fwd: FYI -- Various construction issues
travelgate update
Anyway, who says that nagging doesn't work? I, personally, did some champion nagging this weekend, the kind of nagging that veers into stalking.
And what did we get? Travel funding. Oh you will see how far I am willing to go, said Francie to Ross, to make the nagging stop. That's a paraphrase.
And what did we get? Travel funding. Oh you will see how far I am willing to go, said Francie to Ross, to make the nagging stop. That's a paraphrase.
reverse psychology
You know, if I ever do have children, I've decided not to try to influence them on matters of faith. Nope. Because I know, for example, that my mom is going to want to take them to Mass [ie Catholic Church]. And that's fine with me. They can go and listen about the Israelites and the Canaanites and the Pamphalet Rack in the Vestibule.
And then, on the way home, I'll say: "Well, I bet you've had enough religion for one day -- so I'm not going to bore you with a story about Hanuman the talking monkey".
And then, on the way home, I'll say: "Well, I bet you've had enough religion for one day -- so I'm not going to bore you with a story about Hanuman the talking monkey".
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
story
"A young guy lived in an ordinary town, ordinary except for one thing:it was surrounded by a completely empty plain that extended all the way to the horizon.
One afternoon, the guy went for a walk. It was sunny and there was a soft wind blowing. Some children were playing in the street and some old people were drinking tea in the doorways of their houses. It was a small town, and when he walked too much in one direction, after rounding a corner suddenly he faced the plain, flat and white as marble, extending to the horizon. So the town began to get smaller. Houses and buildings began to disappear. More and more often the guy found the plain, and changed his direction. Also the streets began to get wider, until because of the decreasing number of houses and buildings, and because of the widening of the streets, the plain began to be seen in any direction that one could look. This continued to happen until only twelve buildings remained in the town, then eight, then four...
Finally the town disappeared completely and the guy remained in the middle of the plain, empty all the way to the horizon, with the sun fixed and unmoving in the sky" (Pablo Frank).
One afternoon, the guy went for a walk. It was sunny and there was a soft wind blowing. Some children were playing in the street and some old people were drinking tea in the doorways of their houses. It was a small town, and when he walked too much in one direction, after rounding a corner suddenly he faced the plain, flat and white as marble, extending to the horizon. So the town began to get smaller. Houses and buildings began to disappear. More and more often the guy found the plain, and changed his direction. Also the streets began to get wider, until because of the decreasing number of houses and buildings, and because of the widening of the streets, the plain began to be seen in any direction that one could look. This continued to happen until only twelve buildings remained in the town, then eight, then four...
Finally the town disappeared completely and the guy remained in the middle of the plain, empty all the way to the horizon, with the sun fixed and unmoving in the sky" (Pablo Frank).
Fabulous "Enjoy your modem" quote for ATTW:
"Autistic cultural development began in the early 1990's when increased computer access allowed established groups to form as never before, in a medium that was very well suited to autistics. It was quickly found that similarities in experience, communication, and interests created a thriving basis for a culture" (Nelson, 2006).
"Autistic cultural development began in the early 1990's when increased computer access allowed established groups to form as never before, in a medium that was very well suited to autistics. It was quickly found that similarities in experience, communication, and interests created a thriving basis for a culture" (Nelson, 2006).
notes toward ATTW presentation
Good term for my presentation : the "broader autism phenotype" (Attwood).
"Pathways to diagnosis" (Attwood cites the Yale study) is an interesting network concept.
Ie, opening line of my talk:
"The Yale study's highly publicized findings pose this question: do we attribute the autism epidemic to better diagnosis or increased prevalence of the broader autism phenotype? However, no research as explored the possibility that autism is transmitted via the Worldwide Web". Har!
It's strange that Attwood doesn't specifically name the WWW as a pathway to diagnosis.
Oooh. And this would be the theoretical frame:
Much of what we know about medical discourse separates medical discourse into two diverging categories: the professionals and the quacks (cite Faber, Koerber and Tebeaux -- use funny diagram of professional w/tie and funny-looking quack, use my hat, which I won't wear to the conference, as the model for the quack). What we lack is a good model for how these 2 discourses intertwine.
HFA as an example par excellence.
Step 1: APA - affiliated message boards and forums, or MB and forums est. by parents of children diagnosed with autism.
Interesting features: References to DSM -IV criteria, medical-model + psychosocial support.
(Note: Dr. Phil has an AS / HFA message board. No shit!)
Step 2: Individuals w/ AS HFA post in "parents asking adults with AS / HFA sections". Medical model + psychosocial support.
Step 3: And then an interesting thing happened: writers w AS / HFA argue for depathologization.
These writers directly critique and parody the medical model.
Step 4: Professionals (Baron-Cohen, Attwood, etc) argue for depathologization of the broader autism phenotype in medical journals, citing the www writing of adults with AS / HFA (folk psychology, folk physics).
Note loop : Diagnosis is step 0 and step .... n.
HEY! I could email Barb Kirby and get notes from the old message board, woot!
"Pathways to diagnosis" (Attwood cites the Yale study) is an interesting network concept.
Ie, opening line of my talk:
"The Yale study's highly publicized findings pose this question: do we attribute the autism epidemic to better diagnosis or increased prevalence of the broader autism phenotype? However, no research as explored the possibility that autism is transmitted via the Worldwide Web". Har!
It's strange that Attwood doesn't specifically name the WWW as a pathway to diagnosis.
Oooh. And this would be the theoretical frame:
Much of what we know about medical discourse separates medical discourse into two diverging categories: the professionals and the quacks (cite Faber, Koerber and Tebeaux -- use funny diagram of professional w/tie and funny-looking quack, use my hat, which I won't wear to the conference, as the model for the quack). What we lack is a good model for how these 2 discourses intertwine.
HFA as an example par excellence.
Step 1: APA - affiliated message boards and forums, or MB and forums est. by parents of children diagnosed with autism.
Interesting features: References to DSM -IV criteria, medical-model + psychosocial support.
(Note: Dr. Phil has an AS / HFA message board. No shit!)
Step 2: Individuals w/ AS HFA post in "parents asking adults with AS / HFA sections". Medical model + psychosocial support.
Step 3: And then an interesting thing happened: writers w AS / HFA argue for depathologization.
These writers directly critique and parody the medical model.
Step 4: Professionals (Baron-Cohen, Attwood, etc) argue for depathologization of the broader autism phenotype in medical journals, citing the www writing of adults with AS / HFA (folk psychology, folk physics).
Note loop : Diagnosis is step 0 and step .... n.
HEY! I could email Barb Kirby and get notes from the old message board, woot!
good grief
After the grievance committee meeting this morning, I had a chance to seriously think through the connection between two apparently separate ATTW issues:
#1: The power structure of the panel.
#2: Travelgate.
So here's how I figure.
If I'm roughing it on a kind of warped survivalist retreat where we surivive on locusts and honey (read: no per diem meal allowance) and Jessica and I learn valuable life lessons by raising alpacas, that's fine. Bring on the bunk beds. But in this scenario I expect to rough it at the conference too, taking some meaningful intellectual risks and inviting the panel out for some NY nightlife.
But if I'm going to say "anti-discourse" when prompted (as in: "Actually, Hilary, that's not what we mean by anti-discourse") and sit politely through the whole good-girl / bad-girl / babysitter dynamic we have going? Seriously? That will be 20 dollars a song.
#1: The power structure of the panel.
#2: Travelgate.
So here's how I figure.
If I'm roughing it on a kind of warped survivalist retreat where we surivive on locusts and honey (read: no per diem meal allowance) and Jessica and I learn valuable life lessons by raising alpacas, that's fine. Bring on the bunk beds. But in this scenario I expect to rough it at the conference too, taking some meaningful intellectual risks and inviting the panel out for some NY nightlife.
But if I'm going to say "anti-discourse" when prompted (as in: "Actually, Hilary, that's not what we mean by anti-discourse") and sit politely through the whole good-girl / bad-girl / babysitter dynamic we have going? Seriously? That will be 20 dollars a song.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
brittany
This just in: According to multiple media sources, shaving your head and / or putting someone elses' hair on your head is a sign of incapacitating mental illness.
Finally, the proof I need to quit my job and live perpetually off of SSI.
Finally, the proof I need to quit my job and live perpetually off of SSI.
Every month, a strange thing happens: everyone in the adjacent terminals in our research library makes a HUGE PRODUCTION about sitting down, with heaving sighs, chair leaping (which is a violent form of "scootching") and strange verbal ticks.
Do I really tune all of this out when I'm not getting my period? Seriously ? Am I normally wearing earmuffs? Can I have some earmuffs now?
Do I really tune all of this out when I'm not getting my period? Seriously ? Am I normally wearing earmuffs? Can I have some earmuffs now?
"Indeed, it is hard to find a clinical account of autism spectrum conditions that does not involve the child being obsessed by some machine or another. Examples include extreme fascinations with electricity pylons, burglar alarms, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, video players, calculators, computers, trains, planes, and clocks. Sometimes the machine that is the object of the child's obsession is quite simple (e.g., the workings of drain-pipes, or the design of windows, etc.). A systematic survey of obsessions in such children has confirmed such clinical descriptions". Simon Baron-Cohen, arguing for the folk psychology / folk physics model as a way to legitimately depathologize autism.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
... And that was before Parm, our receptionist, decided that she had found the "perfect guy" for me. No thanks, I calmly replied with the kind of mythical silent scream that you read about but rarely experience firsthand.
But do you know who I am talking about? She insisted.
No, I said. I honestly can't put a face to the name. And something inside of me curled up like a dead shrimp.
But do you know who I am talking about? She insisted.
No, I said. I honestly can't put a face to the name. And something inside of me curled up like a dead shrimp.
seriously
Don't get me started on the Brittany haircut. Male news anchors with cute buzz cuts are talking about it as though she mutilated herself or something. It kind of makes me throw up in my mouth a little.
evidence
From recent email to f:
>Hey, I have this cool idea for our ATTW presentation! *Now* all I have to do is wait for you to say "No, Hilary, that's not what we're doing" and Jessica to agree.
>Hey, I have this cool idea for our ATTW presentation! *Now* all I have to do is wait for you to say "No, Hilary, that's not what we're doing" and Jessica to agree.
Monday, February 19, 2007
comparative religion
Book of Mark: Leprosy cured by Jesus.
Atharvaveda : Leprosy cured by a dark plant.
Atharvaveda : Leprosy cured by a dark plant.
math phobia
What is a logarithm? Because I think that I need one just to access the Blackboard Gradebook grading interface.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
when I look back
I can honestly say that at least I didn't cram them all together like sardines just to make myself feel like a big shot.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Sunday, February 11, 2007
...
It's surreal to run my fingers through my hair, twisting it into tiny bantu knot like hyperlinks back out into into the outside world. Plus I think that boy is looking at me.
Friday, February 09, 2007
reading notes
Notes on Kynell and Moran: 3 keys to the past: The history of technical communication.
The easy questions:
When was it published?
in 1999.
What group of scholars is the author addressing? Reseachers in technical communication.
What is the genre and what type of research is the author doing? Historical anthology.
The hard questions:
What was going on in the field when the author wrote it – how does the book reflect the conversation that has been taking place in the field?
Tech comm researchers were writing our "as-yet-incomplete" history. This anthology collects and contributes to that knowledge.
What aspects of knowledge does the author focus on and why does the author focus on these aspects of knowledge?
Other research on tech comm history focues on curricular shifts, emerging disciplinary patterns and broad movements. KM refocues on key individuals, european and american movements, key advances and reprinted articles. The rivers bibliography goes at the end.
What is the epistemological background?
Historical research that provides insight into current trends and suggests new directions.
What is the argument?
The disparity among the selections suggests that "inquiry into technical communication is virtually boundless" (p. 11) -- a very strong claim if you know what's been going on. KM argue that Tech comm isn't chained to a dsicpline: engineering, science or business. We should not priveledge one discipline over the other and explore sources from "a range of archival environments".
What evidence does the author bring?
What perspective does the author take?
There is no such thing as a "straight" history.
What perspective is under-represented or missing?
KM don't really talk about the "landmark essays" shape, as well as report, the history of the field -- but that's precisely KM are trying to do here.
Chapter notes:
None: I think I've read this book at least 108 times. Copy chapter outline for folder.
Project notes:
Tebeaux is the key essay.
Technical books were common in the 16th and 17th century, incl. techincal books for women. The first ones by women were on domestic medicine. The technical books by women have a "conversational, personal quality" w/ succinct linear instructions.
The books for midwives: women resented the fact that medical professionals were trying to supplant midwives. OK, the midwives might have had to draw on some quackery, but that's only because the physicians were publishing in Greek. So in another document the midwives propose a royally funded teaching hospital for properly educating midwives.
(!) Tebeaux views these documents as "a microcosm of social change" -- you could probably say the same thing about hacks and user-centered design.
The easy questions:
When was it published?
in 1999.
What group of scholars is the author addressing? Reseachers in technical communication.
What is the genre and what type of research is the author doing? Historical anthology.
The hard questions:
What was going on in the field when the author wrote it – how does the book reflect the conversation that has been taking place in the field?
Tech comm researchers were writing our "as-yet-incomplete" history. This anthology collects and contributes to that knowledge.
What aspects of knowledge does the author focus on and why does the author focus on these aspects of knowledge?
Other research on tech comm history focues on curricular shifts, emerging disciplinary patterns and broad movements. KM refocues on key individuals, european and american movements, key advances and reprinted articles. The rivers bibliography goes at the end.
What is the epistemological background?
Historical research that provides insight into current trends and suggests new directions.
What is the argument?
The disparity among the selections suggests that "inquiry into technical communication is virtually boundless" (p. 11) -- a very strong claim if you know what's been going on. KM argue that Tech comm isn't chained to a dsicpline: engineering, science or business. We should not priveledge one discipline over the other and explore sources from "a range of archival environments".
What evidence does the author bring?
What perspective does the author take?
There is no such thing as a "straight" history.
What perspective is under-represented or missing?
KM don't really talk about the "landmark essays" shape, as well as report, the history of the field -- but that's precisely KM are trying to do here.
Chapter notes:
None: I think I've read this book at least 108 times. Copy chapter outline for folder.
Project notes:
Tebeaux is the key essay.
Technical books were common in the 16th and 17th century, incl. techincal books for women. The first ones by women were on domestic medicine. The technical books by women have a "conversational, personal quality" w/ succinct linear instructions.
The books for midwives: women resented the fact that medical professionals were trying to supplant midwives. OK, the midwives might have had to draw on some quackery, but that's only because the physicians were publishing in Greek. So in another document the midwives propose a royally funded teaching hospital for properly educating midwives.
(!) Tebeaux views these documents as "a microcosm of social change" -- you could probably say the same thing about hacks and user-centered design.
science of sleep
Whatever resentment I've been harboring against fjr about ATTW has been completely soothed by her heroic rejection of any travel arrangements that require me to share a bed.
"Hilary doesn't even sleep with the people she's sleeping with", she argued. It was more than Ross wanted to know.
"Hilary doesn't even sleep with the people she's sleeping with", she argued. It was more than Ross wanted to know.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
so anyway:
As I was saying, I am going to do something very interesting with my hair. Note: interestingness is scheduled for tomorrow at 5:45 pm and Friday 11: 15 am.
The big warning sign that I had eeked every inch out of a relaxed pace of life after the fire came last week, when I started eating cereal with bare hands out of the cereal box in bed.
More omens have started to accumulate.
The big warning sign that I had eeked every inch out of a relaxed pace of life after the fire came last week, when I started eating cereal with bare hands out of the cereal box in bed.
More omens have started to accumulate.
reading notes
Short meme notes on the Mitcham review in TCQ:
M doesn't take rhetoric seriously
M ignores that "technology" in teckne rhetorike is a verb
M thinks that the neologism is a purely rhetorical move
Mitcham has the handbook tradition in mind when he says "rhetoric" or "communication"
Connection between handbook tradition and technology -- stamped and stored -- connection to Heidegger.
Other scholars such as Miller and sullivan try to get out of the technologizing [ie in the handbook tradition] of rhetoric by turning to phronesis but, the reviewer argues, we could turn to techne w/better results. Weaknesses of praxis: embedded in technological system and you can't get out. Techne: you can teach it as a heuristic process -- a verb -- of "identifying, questioning, perhaps even transcending boundaries".
Atwill : techne can "transgress boundaries" and "rectify transgressions"
Johnson: Techne focues on maker as origin and end use by the user.
Read: Technology as a form of consciousness [CR Miller].
M doesn't take rhetoric seriously
M ignores that "technology" in teckne rhetorike is a verb
M thinks that the neologism is a purely rhetorical move
Mitcham has the handbook tradition in mind when he says "rhetoric" or "communication"
Connection between handbook tradition and technology -- stamped and stored -- connection to Heidegger.
Other scholars such as Miller and sullivan try to get out of the technologizing [ie in the handbook tradition] of rhetoric by turning to phronesis but, the reviewer argues, we could turn to techne w/better results. Weaknesses of praxis: embedded in technological system and you can't get out. Techne: you can teach it as a heuristic process -- a verb -- of "identifying, questioning, perhaps even transcending boundaries".
Atwill : techne can "transgress boundaries" and "rectify transgressions"
Johnson: Techne focues on maker as origin and end use by the user.
Read: Technology as a form of consciousness [CR Miller].
also
The recurring metaphor of the evil cucumber reminds me of Sharon's review of Pan's Labrynth:
"I am now prejudiced against all fauns because they were bad in two movies".
"I am now prejudiced against all fauns because they were bad in two movies".
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
shame
Date: Mon 5 Feb 17:58:49 EST 2007
From: Margaret Maday Add To Address Book | This is Spam
Subject: Fwd: Water Break
To: EVERYONE-SO-FAR@lists.wayne.edu
Worst Case Scenario: Because a window was left open in a 9th floor faculty office, pipes have frozen and burst causing water damage to rooms 9313, 9312 and 9310. The water damage/flooding has moved down to floors below 9. Water has now been shut down throughout the building. We won't know the extent of the damage until tomorrow.
Margaret
From: Margaret Maday
Subject: Fwd: Water Break
To: EVERYONE-SO-FAR@lists.wayne.edu
Worst Case Scenario: Because a window was left open in a 9th floor faculty office, pipes have frozen and burst causing water damage to rooms 9313, 9312 and 9310. The water damage/flooding has moved down to floors below 9. Water has now been shut down throughout the building. We won't know the extent of the damage until tomorrow.
Margaret
Monday, February 05, 2007
hmm.
Date: Mon 5 Feb 12:12:51 EST 2007
From: "Salvo, Michael J" Add To Address Book | This is Spam
Subject: RE: Revised Panel Title AND paper titles
To: "Frances J. Ranney"
Cc: "HILARY WARD", "Jessica Rivait" ,
Dear Frances, Hilary, Jessica, and Joseph,
Thank you for the update on the panel and individual titles. I’ve added Joseph Jeyaraj to your panel thinking it fit very well with the panel theme and approach. I’ve included Joseph in the CC line of this email, and added his contact information below. Please be in contact with all the panel members, and I will be in touch soon with panel chair information as well.
Joseph Jeyaraj Joseph_Jeyaraj@baylor.edu
Liminality and Postcolonial Bureaucracy: The Right to Information Act - Deprivatizing Postcolonial "File Notings"
I have scheduled the session for A5, the first morning session, and believe you will draw a substantial audience. Thank you, and I am looking forward to seeing you all in New York.
Michael
salvo@purdue.edu
From: "Salvo, Michael J"
Subject: RE: Revised Panel Title AND paper titles
To: "Frances J. Ranney"
Cc: "HILARY WARD"
Dear Frances, Hilary, Jessica, and Joseph,
Thank you for the update on the panel and individual titles. I’ve added Joseph Jeyaraj to your panel thinking it fit very well with the panel theme and approach. I’ve included Joseph in the CC line of this email, and added his contact information below. Please be in contact with all the panel members, and I will be in touch soon with panel chair information as well.
Joseph Jeyaraj Joseph_Jeyaraj@baylor.edu
Liminality and Postcolonial Bureaucracy: The Right to Information Act - Deprivatizing Postcolonial "File Notings"
I have scheduled the session for A5, the first morning session, and believe you will draw a substantial audience. Thank you, and I am looking forward to seeing you all in New York.
Michael
salvo@purdue.edu
reading notes
Notes on Selber[SS], Computers and Technical Communication.
The easy questions:
When was it published?
In 1997.
LINK: Selfe identifies 1997 as a critical year for something internet related [look this up!].
What group of scholars is the author addressing?
Teachers and administrators in the research discipline of tech comm The focus is on pedagogy : "the possibilities for tech comm in the academy".
What is the genre and what type of research is the author doing?
Critical anthology -- SS wants the book to be a "Burkean parlor".
LINK: SDF on virtual communities.
The hard questions:
What was going on in the field when the author wrote it – how does the book reflect the conversation that has been taking place in the field?
The most important thing to think about here is the fact that there were other "computers and" conversatiosn going on: Computers and language arts, computers and composition, computers and English studies.
What aspects of knowledge does the author focus on and why does the author focus on these aspects of knowledge?
SB focuses on "the full range of pedagogical and prgrammatic issues specifically facing tech comm teachers and program directors in the digital age".
What is the epistemological background?
A humanistic approach to tech comm (Miller).
What is the argument?
Weak: We need to take a critical, contextualized view of computers and tech comm.
What evidence does the author bring?
1) computer courses in tech comm programs are often skills based
2) Computer courses in tech comm integrate technologies in conservative ways, focusing on efficiency and speed.
3) Computing spaces in academic tech comm don't support the demands of industry
4) Few tech comm programs have systematic strategies for integrating computers.
What perspective does the author take?
Selber's "critical, contextualized view" of computers and technical communication.
What perspective is under-represented or missing?
Selber says he's not focusing on particular "artifacts of an industrial culture": IP, specific platforms, commands and that kind of stuff. This is how Selber winds up making sweeping generalizations about technology and culture -- cf his interpretation of GUI: It's good!
Chapter notes:
Selber, Hypertext spheres of influence. S argues that htext development and use is influenced by a range of pedagogical, institutional and industrial forces. This is precisely the kind of claim that gives Selber his honororary snooze button. I won't sleep with him at ATTW.
Johndan in Wild Technologies: I've read this article many times -- it's the one with primary and secondary instrumentalization. (Secondary inst. recuperates primary inst).
LINK: Secondary instrumentalization and heidegger's turn to art at the end of Essay Concerning Technology.
LINK: Like Selber, Johndan -- NOOOO, STOP, Johndan! -- seems to think that GUI is liberatory : experimental and nonhierarchical.
Wahlstrom's article: An ecological model of literacy, a liminal space where old stuff is fading out but new stuff isn't settled in, the ark of rammed earth as a "transcendent interface" (w/no silver gods), words becoming things (not just the 10 commandments but the tablets), the liminal digital space and a shift back to some of the old rules. Wahlstrom is enthusiastic about the virtual classroom -- contrast with SDF.
Burnett and Clark, "Shaping technologies: Electronic collaborative interaction". The main argument is that our communication is shaped by coll. technologies more than it shapes them. Tries to get beyond a tool metaphor.
Allen and Wikliff: New communication technologies challenge traditional assumptions about learning, work and writing.
NOTE: Why is it that the main theme of every chapter in this book is DUH?
Howard, "Designing computer classrooms for tech comm programs". Interesting: at the time of thsi book, most university labs supported desktop publishing but not interface design. In terms of our lab, I would say that it does support interface design but it is only used for desktop publishing, and that students use a desktop publishing metaphor to do their multimedia assignments.
Emphasis on what to buy, not on finding ways to hack and customize. These people (Computer people in English studies) are eating Plato's cookery off a digital menu.
(!) Interesting: Howard talks about the layout of a computer classroom. He touches on power circuits, air filtration, lighting and static. H comments that lots of people have already talked about the layout of a computer classroom, including the pod vs row arrangement. He has a special meaning for computer classroom: the students use the computers and the teacher can teach in it (not a technology-equipped traditional classroom or decentralized lab).
Words words words: our computer classrooms and labs at WSU appear to have been assembled by sleepwalkers. There should be a grad student design team for the computer lab.
I disagree with Howard: instead, I would give my 3060 students a shoestring budget and let them design the computer classroom as a community-based tech comm project (they have to write memos, proposals, etc). That way, they're forced to take a critical, contextualized approach because they're planning for how people will write with the technology rather than mindlessly writing with the technology.
Wearner and Kaufer: "Guiding tech comm programs through rapid change".
Ecker and Staples: "Collaborative conflict and the future: academic-industrial alliances and adaptations". Support "balanced and unresolved collaboration" with a hint of "get over your fear of industry". Still, ES are alligned with the traditionalprinciples of academic freedom associated with the Boyer report. However, they think tech comm should break away from the "disciplinary definitions of english departments" and be interdisciplinary and technology-related.
The easy questions:
When was it published?
In 1997.
LINK: Selfe identifies 1997 as a critical year for something internet related [look this up!].
What group of scholars is the author addressing?
Teachers and administrators in the research discipline of tech comm The focus is on pedagogy : "the possibilities for tech comm in the academy".
What is the genre and what type of research is the author doing?
Critical anthology -- SS wants the book to be a "Burkean parlor".
LINK: SDF on virtual communities.
The hard questions:
What was going on in the field when the author wrote it – how does the book reflect the conversation that has been taking place in the field?
The most important thing to think about here is the fact that there were other "computers and" conversatiosn going on: Computers and language arts, computers and composition, computers and English studies.
What aspects of knowledge does the author focus on and why does the author focus on these aspects of knowledge?
SB focuses on "the full range of pedagogical and prgrammatic issues specifically facing tech comm teachers and program directors in the digital age".
What is the epistemological background?
A humanistic approach to tech comm (Miller).
What is the argument?
Weak: We need to take a critical, contextualized view of computers and tech comm.
What evidence does the author bring?
1) computer courses in tech comm programs are often skills based
2) Computer courses in tech comm integrate technologies in conservative ways, focusing on efficiency and speed.
3) Computing spaces in academic tech comm don't support the demands of industry
4) Few tech comm programs have systematic strategies for integrating computers.
What perspective does the author take?
Selber's "critical, contextualized view" of computers and technical communication.
What perspective is under-represented or missing?
Selber says he's not focusing on particular "artifacts of an industrial culture": IP, specific platforms, commands and that kind of stuff. This is how Selber winds up making sweeping generalizations about technology and culture -- cf his interpretation of GUI: It's good!
Chapter notes:
Selber, Hypertext spheres of influence. S argues that htext development and use is influenced by a range of pedagogical, institutional and industrial forces. This is precisely the kind of claim that gives Selber his honororary snooze button. I won't sleep with him at ATTW.
Johndan in Wild Technologies: I've read this article many times -- it's the one with primary and secondary instrumentalization. (Secondary inst. recuperates primary inst).
LINK: Secondary instrumentalization and heidegger's turn to art at the end of Essay Concerning Technology.
LINK: Like Selber, Johndan -- NOOOO, STOP, Johndan! -- seems to think that GUI is liberatory : experimental and nonhierarchical.
Wahlstrom's article: An ecological model of literacy, a liminal space where old stuff is fading out but new stuff isn't settled in, the ark of rammed earth as a "transcendent interface" (w/no silver gods), words becoming things (not just the 10 commandments but the tablets), the liminal digital space and a shift back to some of the old rules. Wahlstrom is enthusiastic about the virtual classroom -- contrast with SDF.
Burnett and Clark, "Shaping technologies: Electronic collaborative interaction". The main argument is that our communication is shaped by coll. technologies more than it shapes them. Tries to get beyond a tool metaphor.
Allen and Wikliff: New communication technologies challenge traditional assumptions about learning, work and writing.
NOTE: Why is it that the main theme of every chapter in this book is DUH?
Howard, "Designing computer classrooms for tech comm programs". Interesting: at the time of thsi book, most university labs supported desktop publishing but not interface design. In terms of our lab, I would say that it does support interface design but it is only used for desktop publishing, and that students use a desktop publishing metaphor to do their multimedia assignments.
Emphasis on what to buy, not on finding ways to hack and customize. These people (Computer people in English studies) are eating Plato's cookery off a digital menu.
(!) Interesting: Howard talks about the layout of a computer classroom. He touches on power circuits, air filtration, lighting and static. H comments that lots of people have already talked about the layout of a computer classroom, including the pod vs row arrangement. He has a special meaning for computer classroom: the students use the computers and the teacher can teach in it (not a technology-equipped traditional classroom or decentralized lab).
Words words words: our computer classrooms and labs at WSU appear to have been assembled by sleepwalkers. There should be a grad student design team for the computer lab.
I disagree with Howard: instead, I would give my 3060 students a shoestring budget and let them design the computer classroom as a community-based tech comm project (they have to write memos, proposals, etc). That way, they're forced to take a critical, contextualized approach because they're planning for how people will write with the technology rather than mindlessly writing with the technology.
Wearner and Kaufer: "Guiding tech comm programs through rapid change".
Ecker and Staples: "Collaborative conflict and the future: academic-industrial alliances and adaptations". Support "balanced and unresolved collaboration" with a hint of "get over your fear of industry". Still, ES are alligned with the traditionalprinciples of academic freedom associated with the Boyer report. However, they think tech comm should break away from the "disciplinary definitions of english departments" and be interdisciplinary and technology-related.
...
Hilary let her hand stick to the window, the horses strain against the fence and the plants coil around the light.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
current stats
Number of times I saw Pan's Labyrinth at the theatre yesterday: 2
Interfaith dialogues w/ Sharon: 1
Messages titled "ATTW": sorted into spam folder.
Interfaith dialogues w/ Sharon: 1
Messages titled "ATTW": sorted into spam folder.
Friday, February 02, 2007
oh :
That's what that mysterious number on my cell phone happened to be. You know, I really should call them back.
bwahaha
>REMINDER:
>
>Before you leave for the weekend, please make sure any opened
>windows are closed and locked before leaving. It will be extremely
>cold this weekend and we don't want any building pipes to freeze and burst.
>
>Thanks for your help.--Margaret
>
>Before you leave for the weekend, please make sure any opened
>windows are closed and locked before leaving. It will be extremely
>cold this weekend and we don't want any building pipes to freeze and burst.
>
>Thanks for your help.--Margaret
current affirmations
I accept that established researchers in scientific and technical communication will get to the IPCC report before I do. [random smashey noises]
reading notes
Notes on Doheny-Farina [SDF]: "Effective Documentation: What we have learned from research".
Preliminary questions:
How will this book compare with "The Wired Neighborhood" and other, more theoretical books by SDF?
This book is meant to make lots of empirical or otherwise submerged research avail. to a wider audience of people interested in tech comm. Will any of the authors chose a more experimental style in reporting their findings?
Will I be shocked by the coolness of the book?
What would this book suggest about the "life" of the IPCC report on climate change? [released this morning].
The easy questions:
When was it published? 1988
What group of scholars is the author addressing?
SDF is addressing a wide range of tech comm professionals:
tech writers
document designers
tech writing dept managers
tech comm researchers [me]
teachers and students in tech comm
What is the genre and what type of research is the author doing?
It's an anthology of -- and this is important -- prescriptive research. SDF hedges this: some of the research is localized and some attempts to uncover fundamental principles; some is slightly positivistic and some is critical about the generalizability of specific studies. The methods are elcectic and attitudes toward the findings vary, but this is a collection of prescriptive studies.
The hard questions:
What was going on in the field when the author wrote it – how does the book reflect the conversation that has been taking place in the field?
The book arose out of a conflict between 1) tech comm researchers and 2) pracititioners and teachers at the 34th intl tech comm conference [may 1997]. Group #2 called for more research and group #1 kept saying that the research is out there, but inaccessible. This conflict mirrored a larger conversation in the field.
SDF offers Effective Documentation as a way to fill the gap with research that can reach a wide range of tech comm people. Some of the research is new.
What aspects of knowledge does the author focus on and why does the author focus on these aspects of knowledge?
SDF focuses on issues that are relevant to a wide range of tc professionals: 1) text and computer screen issues, 2) the contexts of usability and 3) research methods and epistemological / critical stuff.
Focus topics: user learning and performance, format and graphic design, management of documentation processes, analysis of research methods in tc.
These topics are of current general interest in TC.
What is the epistemological background?
Huh. What is an epistemological background?
Vee-eery breifly, the form of technical comm today reflects the heritage of 17th-century publishers and audiences. While "Adventurous scribes" conducted layout experiments in the M.Ages, this stuff was standardized in the century after the invention of the printing press: at first, the pp wanted to preserve aesthetic features for the printed book, but then they started to experiment with features that enhance readability.
OK. So, at about the same time, The Royal Society rejected the exceesses what we call "Ciceronean" rhetoric for a plain, ytilitarian style that makes language safe for natural philosophy. [see Sprat, a history of the royal society].
So that's a brief history of making texts useful. We're still interested in how to do that. Note: While reading-to-learn has been popular since the 17th century, reading-to-do became more popular circa WW II. Current views on how to make texts useful vary widely. This book presents current information for a wide audience of tc professionals.
What is the argument?
SDF takes a stasis approach, presenting point and counterpoint on the following issues:
[research into user learning and performance]
elaboration vs truncation
computer documentation : "worked out" or active/experimental
hardcopy-to-online transition in computer d.
[research into format and graphic design]
graphics in hard copy and online: what works?
[research into management and documentation processes]
outmoded documentation cycles vs. new directions
[research methods: relative merits]
What evidence does the author bring?
The articles [copy chapter descriptions]
What perspective does the author take?
SDF reports prescriptive research.
What perspective is under-represented or missing?
I would describe prescriptive research as ... driven or skewed, but I'll have to read chapter by chapter to see what's missing.
Notes:
(!) The ITCC discussion section was lead by WSU's John Beard (WSU School of business).
Fabulous overview of empirical research [Morgan, ch. 2].
(Har!) An expert user in Hunt and Vasilladis' study of error messages preferred 1 error message: ERROR.
HV deviates from the 1st definition of tech comm -- no matter how brilliant the introduction is, the "perverse reader" will open your book in the middle. NOTE: HV prefer "elaborated natural language" for error messages.
Bradford notes that technical books -- the "technology of text"-- have looked the same for 800 years, and that these traditions aren't applicable to the emerging "technology of the display screen".
(!) Krull challenges the assumption that GUI is the new jesus. HE thinks that icons are a transitional thing (they're slippery and inextensible) and that direct manipulation interfaces will focus more on point and do, windows and dynamic menus.
(!) Baker on the traditional context of product documentation: 1) The user is inexperienced. 2) The product is unique. 3) The user is concerned about damaging the product and 4) The user perceives the product as dangerous. Note: Hacks are as far away from this traditional context as possible! Cite this at the QE.
(Hey!) What can this book tell tech comm instructors about syllabus design?
Preliminary questions:
How will this book compare with "The Wired Neighborhood" and other, more theoretical books by SDF?
This book is meant to make lots of empirical or otherwise submerged research avail. to a wider audience of people interested in tech comm. Will any of the authors chose a more experimental style in reporting their findings?
Will I be shocked by the coolness of the book?
What would this book suggest about the "life" of the IPCC report on climate change? [released this morning].
The easy questions:
When was it published? 1988
What group of scholars is the author addressing?
SDF is addressing a wide range of tech comm professionals:
tech writers
document designers
tech writing dept managers
tech comm researchers [me]
teachers and students in tech comm
What is the genre and what type of research is the author doing?
It's an anthology of -- and this is important -- prescriptive research. SDF hedges this: some of the research is localized and some attempts to uncover fundamental principles; some is slightly positivistic and some is critical about the generalizability of specific studies. The methods are elcectic and attitudes toward the findings vary, but this is a collection of prescriptive studies.
The hard questions:
What was going on in the field when the author wrote it – how does the book reflect the conversation that has been taking place in the field?
The book arose out of a conflict between 1) tech comm researchers and 2) pracititioners and teachers at the 34th intl tech comm conference [may 1997]. Group #2 called for more research and group #1 kept saying that the research is out there, but inaccessible. This conflict mirrored a larger conversation in the field.
SDF offers Effective Documentation as a way to fill the gap with research that can reach a wide range of tech comm people. Some of the research is new.
What aspects of knowledge does the author focus on and why does the author focus on these aspects of knowledge?
SDF focuses on issues that are relevant to a wide range of tc professionals: 1) text and computer screen issues, 2) the contexts of usability and 3) research methods and epistemological / critical stuff.
Focus topics: user learning and performance, format and graphic design, management of documentation processes, analysis of research methods in tc.
These topics are of current general interest in TC.
What is the epistemological background?
Huh. What is an epistemological background?
Vee-eery breifly, the form of technical comm today reflects the heritage of 17th-century publishers and audiences. While "Adventurous scribes" conducted layout experiments in the M.Ages, this stuff was standardized in the century after the invention of the printing press: at first, the pp wanted to preserve aesthetic features for the printed book, but then they started to experiment with features that enhance readability.
OK. So, at about the same time, The Royal Society rejected the exceesses what we call "Ciceronean" rhetoric for a plain, ytilitarian style that makes language safe for natural philosophy. [see Sprat, a history of the royal society].
So that's a brief history of making texts useful. We're still interested in how to do that. Note: While reading-to-learn has been popular since the 17th century, reading-to-do became more popular circa WW II. Current views on how to make texts useful vary widely. This book presents current information for a wide audience of tc professionals.
What is the argument?
SDF takes a stasis approach, presenting point and counterpoint on the following issues:
[research into user learning and performance]
elaboration vs truncation
computer documentation : "worked out" or active/experimental
hardcopy-to-online transition in computer d.
[research into format and graphic design]
graphics in hard copy and online: what works?
[research into management and documentation processes]
outmoded documentation cycles vs. new directions
[research methods: relative merits]
What evidence does the author bring?
The articles [copy chapter descriptions]
What perspective does the author take?
SDF reports prescriptive research.
What perspective is under-represented or missing?
I would describe prescriptive research as ... driven or skewed, but I'll have to read chapter by chapter to see what's missing.
Notes:
(!) The ITCC discussion section was lead by WSU's John Beard (WSU School of business).
Fabulous overview of empirical research [Morgan, ch. 2].
(Har!) An expert user in Hunt and Vasilladis' study of error messages preferred 1 error message: ERROR.
HV deviates from the 1st definition of tech comm -- no matter how brilliant the introduction is, the "perverse reader" will open your book in the middle. NOTE: HV prefer "elaborated natural language" for error messages.
Bradford notes that technical books -- the "technology of text"-- have looked the same for 800 years, and that these traditions aren't applicable to the emerging "technology of the display screen".
(!) Krull challenges the assumption that GUI is the new jesus. HE thinks that icons are a transitional thing (they're slippery and inextensible) and that direct manipulation interfaces will focus more on point and do, windows and dynamic menus.
(!) Baker on the traditional context of product documentation: 1) The user is inexperienced. 2) The product is unique. 3) The user is concerned about damaging the product and 4) The user perceives the product as dangerous. Note: Hacks are as far away from this traditional context as possible! Cite this at the QE.
(Hey!) What can this book tell tech comm instructors about syllabus design?
Thursday, February 01, 2007
hacking the blogger template
3 points:
#1: "Men are born into whole palaces that they unravel with bare hands". Augustine
#2 No, unraveling my blog is not easier in Blogger beta (ie the new blogger).
There's nothing like a sexy GUI to mislead you with the illusion of control. I swear I could write a conference paper about that wrench and bolt icon.
#3 As a final word, my frustration with the blogger template has nothing to do with the fact that I don't know PHP.
#4 Yes, I'm going on the ignorant fantasy that one template will be easier to take apart than the others (See #3).
#1: "Men are born into whole palaces that they unravel with bare hands". Augustine
#2 No, unraveling my blog is not easier in Blogger beta (ie the new blogger).
There's nothing like a sexy GUI to mislead you with the illusion of control. I swear I could write a conference paper about that wrench and bolt icon.
#3 As a final word, my frustration with the blogger template has nothing to do with the fact that I don't know PHP.
#4 Yes, I'm going on the ignorant fantasy that one template will be easier to take apart than the others (See #3).
backing away slowly
it had to be the last time for awhile and to do what I normally do when I can't stand it. What? Nothing.
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