Wysocki & Lynch, Chapter 3

In chapter 3 of Wysocki & Lynch we are presented with various strategies for effectively communicating a rhetorical situation. I visited the web page that the book suggested but I was unable to find anything of interest. The first few sections of chapter 3 basically explain that arguing is a social activity, and the purpose of an argument is generally to get someone(s) to modify their position on a particular subject. The purpose of an argument as supplied by Wysocki & Lynch is "shifting someone's level of belief in or adherence to a position or attitude: through argument". Now this might seem somewhat redundant, but based on the traditional idea of what an argument is "a statement, reason, or fact for or against a point" (link), Wysocki & Lynch's definition addresses the purpose more than the argument itself. 

Chapter 3 also talks about creating compositions to serve different purposes. For example: a composition that's main purpose is to communicate a particular argument may be different than a composition aimed at teaching others to learn. I have observed this difference myself many times. When was in Scientific and Technical communication here at Tech, I was required to create a design plan that taught someone how to do something. I picked creating a cheese quesadilla as my subject, I developed a design plan for it with the media being a paper and PDF instruction booklet. Now, for my business I use design plans all of the time when creating websites or applications. The way in which you present an informative website vs. the way you present an instruction set are very different. The main difference being when you produce an instruction set you have to take into account the audience's skill set, but with a website you only need to take in account the audience's ability to understand the material. This is similar to the concept of connecting audience, context and purpose in the reading.  For example how you communicate information to a audience of kids might differ greatly from how you would communicate the same information to a group of teenagers. Wysocki & Lynch explain in great detail about how audience profiling, and how when you create a production piece it is important to consider the audience's skill sets as well as their past experiences when trying to communicate a specific goal or idea to them. This would be extremely important to consider for example if you were communicating to children how to build a bird house from a kit, vs how you would build a bird house from scratch to adults.

All in all this reading was fairly informative, I already had a pretty clear understanding both in theory and practice of most of the concepts presented in this reading but I never knew the technical names or analysis for each of them so I feel more informed now.

Purpose Plan for Assignment #3

Statement Parts

Purpose:	I want to design a web page to create awareness about the filthy state of the plates, cups, and silverware used in the dining halls.
Audience:	The audience for this project is mainly potential students, as well as current students and their families. Secondary audiences will be Michigan Tech staff, and other people who happen to come by my web page.
Context:	Various dirty dishes that have been discovered in present time throughout breakfast - dinner will be examined, and photographed. The availability of dirty dishes could affect the outcome of this project as dirty dishes are hit or miss, but they are usually available all of the time.
Strategies:	Effective presentation of this argument will be completed by producing a web page that contains photographs, and time information about the frequency in which a dirty cup, plate or piece of silverware is encountered. I will create a timeline graphic of some sort to illustrate this information. I will go to the dining hall at 10:30 AM for Lunch, 12:30 PM for Post-Lunch and 5:30 PM For Dinner every day M-F in order to try and achieve some level of accuracy with my observations.
Medium:	The medium for my arrangement would be web based/digital media.
Arrangement:	The arrangement I have chosen to use for this project will be a simple web page layout consisting of simple three page design including a jQuery timeline. The entire site will not make heavy usage of gradients, and will be fairly quick to produce, as well as load for the user. The website content will be displayed similarly to the diagram below.
Ethos:	I will appear qualified to my audience because website will look professional, as well as effectively demonstrate my argument of how filthy the cups, plates, bowls, and silverware are in the dining halls. Since I have over 5 years of catering experience including washing dishes I will appear qualified to make this argument. In addition I am also a Michigan Tech student and that also makes my observations more valuable as it is coming from a first person student point of view.
Pathos:	I feel that my target audience (prospective Michigan Tech students) will feel more informed about the state of the dining halls here at Michigan Tech and therefore will be able to determine if dorm living is right for them, in addition if the university hears about my observations maybe they will attempt to do something about this problem.
Logos:	I have washed dishes for 5 years at a professional catering facility, I know what it takes to properly clean dishes, this in conjunction with my observations should be sufficient evidence to prove that the dishes on campus are terribly maintained.

Copyright

When it comes to the discussion of copyright it comes to a point where the discussion leads to nowhere. Even though corporations and individuals claim copyright on their creations for originality, are they really original? When analyzing these copyrighted works it is important to realize that to copyright something you are really only copyrighting the particular way that the author has expressed themselves. Under the "fair use" policy which is defined as the "various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research." (U.S Copyright Office) anyone can effectively examine, alter or use a portion of a copyrighted work as long as it does not actually infringe (copy the expression exactly) on another's work.  The concept of what makes a work original, whether it be a specific attribute, a context or a idea create a unique problem set for anyone wishing to protect their "original" ideas and thus creates a plethora of problems usually only solvable by litigation.

In the reading there was a pretty clear that the goal was to dissuade students from copying materials outright. This includes not properly citing sources and copying content outright. I remember when I was in high school the plagiarism was so bad one year that we actually had to all go to the gymnasium for a special school wide event to discuss the consequences of it, and how to avoid it. Students in my class just outright copied each other verbatim usually without little resistance from most of the teachers. The though process was that if everyone did it then there's no way that the school would discipline everyone. I see this attitude lots of times online, people will outright copy blog postings of others and publish them as their own. This is especially evident on technology blogs.

This reading was pretty informative on how to avoid copyright issues, I find a lot of the things it has to offer relevant to my business profession of web design as well. All in all this was a pretty decent and well structured reading.

Leveraged Buyouts In Web Hosting

"Get your piece of the web" or some form of this saying is often used by web hosts to try and lure potential customers in. Whether a web host is targeting small business or individuals though television ads, web banners, or other forms of advertisement. The message is always the same, "pick us". In this day and age it is important for small business and individuals alike to have some form of web presence.

Web hosts often try to make the idea of having one's own website for personal use attractive by promoting ideas that personal websites are hip and fun. This formula for success has been repeatedly implemented over and over again, from small hosts to large hosts. The idea that cheaper is better has driven the idea that service at cheaper prices is acceptably worse than service at higher prices. In today's web hosting industry it is war, brand warfare at its best, a flurry of DDOS attacks, slander campaigns and leveraged buyouts. When companies go bust, and the money dries up larger web hosts absorb smaller ones, clients are treated like stock; exchanged and traded at will. Enter the world of the underground stock exchange, a monopoly of sorts where there are no rules. It is ruthless, the competitors are despicable and anything goes, enter the world of web hosting.

I first got started in web hosting in late 2008, I had just started at Michigan Tech and had designed my first website for a customer. The customer was a business which specialized in breeding German Shepard guard dogs.  After finalizing a design for the website it became apparent that the customer was unable to host his own website due to the lack of ability and time, so I decided to research website hosting. A quick Google search led me to WHT (Web Hosting Talk) which is a forum dedicated to all things web hosting. After a few hours of browsing I found a thread on starting a web hosting business. The advice that the thread had to offer was simple, use cPanel, find cheap reseller hosting, get a billing system, and build a website to advertise. I followed the instructions exactly, and in the end I found a company offering a cPanel based reseller plan for $5.00 /month. Immediately after singing up with the web host I started to experience problems, there was a language barrier for starts apparently the owner of the company and the sole employee lacked the appropriate technical skills to help me. This made getting any sort of help nearly impossible. I was desperate to find a new host and fast.

In a completely unrelated string of events I discovered the ability to geo-locate where domain names end up. I decided to try and locate the domain name of the host I was using and it turned out that from that location I was able to determine that they themselves were a reseller of a larger company who had even better prices. Armed with this new knowledge I decided to make the switch to the new company.

Signing up for the new company was easy (it always is), I simply selected which package I wanted from their extremely well designed website, payed with Paypal and was instantly emailed my details, however due to some bug in their system, my account was never created and thus I had to email support. My first impressions of this new company was that they knew what they were doing, they were polite professional and prompt. After a few minutes of explaining that I was a customer of one of their resellers they moved my account off of the resellers account and transferred it to theirs. They helped me with the issues the original host couldn't resolve all the while maintaining a friendly and professional attitude.

After spending countless hours and days fine tuning my own company website advertising my new reseller hosting, I received an email. It read like this "because you no pay your bill, your account will be deleted". I was confused, I checked my invoices, everything was paid, what was this?

What did I just read?

"The Rhetorical Situation" is a intriguing piece of writing which pushes the boundaries of ones ability to concentrate on the reading as the author exposes new almost scientific explanations for why rhetorical interactions happen and how to analyze them.

The underlying meanings of this piece revolve around the concept of what rhetorical situations are and how to analyze them. Throught this reading I found myself relating the concepts presented to those that I encountered in Logic and Critical Thinking. The ability to analyze these arguments and situations are vitally important to being successful when it comes to properly responding in a situation. The ability to illustrate how one feels about these situations through a rhetorical approach is also briefly explained.

I feel that the majority of the points presented in this piece could be potentially overwhelming for most people and therefore I am interested to see how the debriefing on Tuesday goes.

Technological Education For The Masses

With job markets becoming increasingly more technologically competitive it is imperative that today’s higher education students be well versed in nearly every aspect of basic computer literacy. Recently Michigan Technological University installed over 250 wireless access points across campus (Source), in theory making MTU completely wireless. With the installation of these new access points MTU has banned all resident provided wireless routers and access points in the residence halls. In direct result of these “improvements” many students find themselves being disconnected from the university access points and unable to perform even the most basic of internet searches. In past years whether or not one had wireless access would solely depend on if they had purchased a wireless router of their own. This instability has led many students to ignore the ban and bypass the MTU provided access points and to replace them with their own. In addition to the wireless connectivity issues, MTU has implemented a new Network Access Control System which in turn dictates who is authorized to use and connect to the network at MTU. This Network Access Control System has been the culprit of many of the wireless issues witnessed by both myself and other students.
The ability to understand and access the internet is vital in today's university and workplace atmospheres. This paper will attempt to propose solutions to help better educate individuals who lack the technical skills to appropriately troubleshoot internet connectivity issues by helping those individuals become more technologically literate. In order to grasp the full scope of this paper it is important to define what technological literacy is and what components of Michigan Tech student’s issues are related to a deficiency in it.
Kate Williams writes “Generally, computer literacy has acquired a skills connation, implying competency with a few of today’s computer applications, such as word processing and email. “ (Literacy and Computer Literacy) In today's day and age this observation is what most of us would consider an appropriate definition of computer literacy. However with the ever increasing roles that technology plays in the workplace (Technological Change in the Workplace), colleges are striving to turn out more technology savy graduates. Access can be defined “freedom or ability to obtain or make use of something” (Access) .Michigan Technological University is one such school that prides itself on creating extremely well technologically literate graduates in the areas of computer science, engineering, and business. However not all of the student population falls into one of those three categories and therefore they often lack sufficient technical proficiency with computer systems.
During my second year at Michigan Tech, I was required to take a computer literacy class (then BA1200) in which the majority of students demonstrated technical literacy with the Microsoft Windows operating system, and Microsoft Office collection of programs, however there were times in that class when issues would arise (missing files, usb drives wouldn't work etc.) in which I had to offer my assistance to the victims of such atrocities as they were often left bewildered and confused. All of my life I have witnessed those who do not understand technology look helpless and terrified at printer jams, blue screens of death and other technology related problems. At Michigan Tech especially I find that most people I come into contact with lack the abilities to solve basic technology related issues. Since tech implemented their new wireless system I often find myself helping random people down the hall with internet connectivity issues, driver problems etc. I find that often times as Kate Williams writes “[A] highly FIT [fluent in information technology] individual may simply decide that it
is not worth his or her time to fix a problem, even if he or she could do so.” best describes how I feel about these technologically influent individuals problems. Worse yet most of these people refuse to try and Google or search for solutions on their own.  I feel that by teaching how to troubleshoot technology related issues, including wireless connectivity issues my fellow Michigan Tech students would be better prepared for the future, and thus more technically literate.
In order to teach students how to troubleshoot these issues, I believe that a required class should be implemented into every degree requirement. This class would be for only 1-7 weeks and would only cost a single half credit. In this class students would be faced with issues regarding simple things such as accidentally deleting a file, identifying if your computer is infected with a virus, and how to use ipconfig release and renew commands to provide your computer system with a new IP address. In addition students of this class would learn how the internet works, and how common everyday technologies work. Major areas of focus for the class will be how to effectively use internet search systems such as Google, and Bing to resolve technology related issues. It is my observation through experimentation that once people are more educated about technology and how it works they would feel less naive about its capabilities. A reading by PewInternet provides evidence that suggests that technology illiterate individuals “are not comfortable using computers or the internet on their own” (Home Broadband 2010) further examination of the reading indicates that in 2010 twenty one percent of adults did not use the internet, these numbers are relevant to the localized community of Michigan Tech because students come from all over the world at any age, each with varying levels of technology experience and some with very little. It is very possible that any number of that 21% could be enrolled at Michigan Tech right now and because they lack the proper knowledge on how to troubleshoot and use the internet they are potentially stunting their academic growth and are creating a technological handicap for themselves in the future.
Implementing classes for everyone to learn how to troubleshoot and solve their own real-world technology related issues would create a better prepared workforce and would potentially increase the productivity and confidence of individuals who once struggled with technology.

Works Cited

"Access - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/access>.

"Home Broadband 2010 | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project." Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://www.pewinternet.org/Press-Releases/2010/Home-Broadband-2010.aspx>.

"Literacy and Computer Literacy: Analyzing the NRC's Being  Fluent with Information Technology." literacyandtechnology.org. Kate Williams, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume3/literacy.katewilliams.pdf>.

Mitchell, Bradley. "Release and Renew IP Addresses on Windows XP | 2000 | NT." Networking - Computer and Wireless Networking Basics - Home Networks Tutorials. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/windowsnetworkin1/ht/renewipaddrwxp.htm>.

"Technological Change in the  Workplace: A Statewide Survey of  Community College Library and  Learning Resources Personnel ." Technological Change in the  Workplace: A Statewide Survey of  Community College Library and  Learning Resources Personnel . Carolyn E. Poole and Emmett Denny, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <crl.acrl.org/content/62/6/503.full.pdf>.

"The Technological Fix: How People Use Technology to Create and Solve Problems - Lisa Rosner - Google Books." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Technological_Fix.html?id=8mrBegA8KXwC>.

"What is a driver?." Microsoft Windows. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://windows.microsoft.com/is-IS/windows-vista/What-is-a-driver>.

My Unfinished Draft

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q3WrkY_CNhnfl9qIDs0vuhRa13nTxBr5wIA7lfyHwfQ/edit

Literacy & Literacy, an Integrated Approach.

Literacy and Computer Literacy: Analyzing the NRC's Being Fluent with Information Technology, is an analysis of the varying forms of technological literacy. The paper places emphasis on how in today's day and age computer skills are mandatory for any society to be considered technologically modern. It discusses the varying theories used to develop the technology integration policies of the 80s and 90s which were used to fill public schools with new forms of technologies.

Aspects of this paper discussed a unanimous need for graduates of higher learning systems to be able to use computers in order to achieve their maximum potential. Once new graduates were hired employers were discovering that many of the graduates were lacking basic computer literacy (word processing, spreadsheet software,etc) a decision was made to re-enforce traditional teachings with new technology. For example I remember in the late 90s when we were still running windows 98 on our machines in school, and many of the teachers were unable to perform basic tasks such as taking attendance , and properly entering grades into spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel. Today (2012) the inability to perform ones job using computers could potentially be grounds for dismissal. In addition during my 2nd year at Tech I was apart of the last group of students who were able to take a class on basic computer literacy. Even though I barley escaped the class with a B due to effort and being a "know it all", it didn't take me long to realize that this obvious body of knowledge, my computer literacy for the lack of a better word was not to be taken for granted. There were lots of students in my class who struggled with basic tasks from finding files to calculating values in Excel. By the end of the course I had come to a single determination that this entire class was focused on using the Microsoft Office Suite, and in turn was heavily Windows based. I would have to say that this grooming process definitely helped to illuminate what is really going on in the institutional world and how Literacy and Computer Literacy practices are applied to the masses in order to generate new customer bases.

Overall this article helps to identify criteria for defining technology literate individuals within specific communities and illustrates how to design a formulated approach to supplying computer systems and technologies to varying communities in order to achieve the best widespread technological saturation.Which can be done by identifying what people do when accessing public computing sites such as libraries, schools, public WiFi zones, etc. and how these locations can be better outfitted to better facilitate productivity and learning by placing more emphasis on mathematics understandings and computer programming. In summation societies can become more technologically literate if technology is forced upon them in an understandable manner.

So basically because I did a ton of research on computer literacy, learning and HCI when I was taking classes for my psychology minor, I didn't learn anything new. 

I have included screenshots of Windows 98 below for your amusement.