User Test Report - Drag Queen

Writing a manual on how to be a drag queen has proven to be more difficult than I have imagined. The process of determining what order and how to place the directions has proven to be more thought provoking than I thought. Before discussing the manual, lets make sure we know what a drag queen is. A drag queen is a male homosexual who dresses as a woman especially for comic or theatrical effect. So it is more than just a cross dresser or transvestites as some will call it. The first draft of our manual contained four different section of how to be a drag queen. The first section was the application of makeup. The second was how to style and put on your hair. The third section was to put on your drag queen outfit and the last was the act of performing. For our test of our manual, we used a normal straight guy who had volunteered. We decided to use a straight guy because he would have no idea how to do anything that our test manual would ask. It would be a fair test on our manual and show us where we needed to improve in our directions. After this experience, we knew exactly where to improve our directions in our manual. From the start, our straight guy had trouble with the manual. In the first section of applying the makeup, he did not know the difference between the different items. We had many items on our materials list so it took him awhile to work himself through it. He had difficulties trying to determine the primer from the foundation in the makeup section. Also, he had a hard time in determining the between the lip liner and eyeliner. When applying the makeup, we did not specify in our manual that our make up had to be even though out the face so he did not do so. He also did not follow through the directions of applying the makeup very well. When applying the foundation that required him to cover his eyebrows, he did not do so. He did not cover his eyebrows and instead had uneven patches of foundation throughout his face. Later on, he realized that he was required to cover his eyebrows so he went back and repeated a previous step. He had a challenging time when it came time to apply the lip liner and creating his new eyebrows. He was not able to create even eyebrows and kept correcting them which meant he had to apply more foundation. Furthermore, when he finally created his new eyebrows, he realized that he used lip liner instead of the eyeliner he was meant to use. He had become so frustrated by now that we had to give him a break to clam down. After, we continued and he had very few mess ups with the rest of the make up sections. He applied his eye shadow and did his lips. He had somewhat of a problem following the directions in applying the fake eyelashes but that was our fault because we had skipped a step in the manual. Besides that he made it though the make up section of our manual.

The next section was the styling your hair and putting on your hair. It was a fairly easy section for our straight guy but he did get confused with our directions. Our participant had miss read one of our direction in which we asked that if you had long hair to pin it back. We have forgotten to specify if you had long hair to follow this step so the participant placed bobby pins in his hair even though he had short hair. From there, he continued with our directions and completed them without any issue. The next section of dressing up like a drag queen was also completed pretty easily. Originally, we had in our directions how to tuck the man’s“member” but we decided that it was too inappropriate and had it taken off from the manual. The participant was able to put on the dress without an issue. The heels did give the participant issues but that was because they were not his size. The last section was the performance section. In our manual, we had simple direction of how to perform a song of the participant’s selection. After our test use, we decided that it is better to take this section out of the manual. We felt that this could vary between each person that uses our manual. Also, we do not have a certain song to perform in the manual so this makes it an issue in the direction of movements to give. So it is best that we end our manual after the dressing up in drag section. After going though the whole manual, we know the changes that we need to make in our test manual. The most changes will come in the makeup section of our manual. The material list need to be given a better description for each item like that there is less confusion. We need to specify that the make up needs to be evenly spread through the face. It should not be patchy but smooth on the face. In addition, we need to give more specify directions in how to do the eyebrows. Also, the eye shadow part is going to be tweaked a bit because I feel we can improve this section. The other sections need to be tweaked here and there. The performance section is going to be deleted from the manual but we might make a reference to it in another section. I believe we need to be more forward with our directions and rearrange some of the words. Plus, some of the order of our directions will be changed. Its will be easier for the participant to follow if we changed some of the directions. Overall, we have an idea of what to change in our manual. Hopefully, we can now clearly express how to become a drag queen.

Blog 3 - A Humanistic Rationale For Technical Communication

Wow. I thought the article “Who Killed Rex?” was a weapon of mass confusion but after reading this article, I was wrong. Carolyn Miller's "A Humanistic Rationale For Technical Communication" left me with jaw dropped on the floor. I clearly do not understand what her reasoning behind technical communication is. I understand she supports it but when she goes into details about why I get lost. I prefer to read articles with simpler vocabulary so this article throws me into a loop. She could use simpler vocabulary and examples to explain her points. English has many aspects to it that just more than literature or just words. You cannot define English to just one thing, as that would be absurd. Its like saying science is just Biology and that Anatomy, Chemistry and Physics are not sciences. From what I understood of Miller’s writing, she tires to argue that technical communication is more than just unemotional writing. Although I would like to say it is more than that, I feel that it is not. When I write for my technical communication class, I feel that I am just stating the facts and that there is no logic or emotional behind those facts. In a literature class, you have to think clearly on the subject of your essay and how you are going to support it through out your paper. In my technical communication, you are just taking these facts or information and placing them in an order or certain fashion. But I do not feel that it is inferior to a literature class. I think that a technical communication class, focus more on the content of your writing and how you can say something in with many different tones. You have to think clearly on how you want to express something to a business partner or coworker without pissing them off. In a literature class, you have stand for what you believe in or how you interpret something regardless of others. In miller’s article, she talks about technical communication in this realm of science. This left me extremely confused. I do not understand what she means by this and how this applies to the class. Also, she discusses positivist view on technical communication. I have never heard of a theory like this and yet again I do not understand how it applies to the class. I think I would have understood this article, if I had taken a philosophy class before hand or if I had some exposure to these theories she is trying to explain.

Blog 2- Who Killed Rex?

The question that everyone dreads in this life is “Who’s killed Rex?”. Yes, that question makes an individual stomach drop and heart stop. Why do I believe this? The article by Spinuzzi leads you on the wildest investigation to determine who is to blame for a dog horrible death. It is much easier to play a game of Clue than to determine who Rex’s killer is. Even when you believe it was Customers Service fault for the death of Rex, the article brings in more suspects to make my brain go “Huh!?!?” By the end of the article, I was about to come forward and take the blame for the death of Rex. But many questions came to mind to why I was reading this article? The article some how relates to my technical communication class. I think I might I have idea on how but I do not understand why this is relevant to the class. I believe that article is pointing out how miscommunication and lack of having a technical communication background can lead to horrible situations. Spinuzzi points out how no one had made it a habit in asking customers if they had pets when they were requesting service to their house. From there, it’s a snowball effect that leads to Rex‘s death. From this I interpret, that a lack of following orders or standard protocol, can lead you to a massive problem. In other words, we should always report and follow standards that are put in our companies to avoid certain situations. Another aspect I think that Spinuzzi talks about that relates to technical communication is the theories he discusses. I did not understand all the theories to the best of my abilities as I felt it was way too much wording and I got completely lost in some of them. But I believe the theories are supposes to be the order of command in a company. For example, let’s say the relationship between student, teacher, and principal at a school.  If something happens to the student, the teacher is at fault and so is the principal. Since something happen to Rex then everyone in the order of command is in deep trouble. Even though everyone has separate titles in a company, if someone goes down…. Everyone goes down with him. But it’s better to point and blame someone than for the ship to sink as the article kept looking for the one person to blame for Rex’s death.  I believe Rex escaped to commit suicide because he had a lousy owner.

Blog 1

The article discusses the issue of how there are not enough primary-care physicians in the United States. There has been a steady decline in these kinds of doctors within the last couple of years. Doctors say the insurance protocols and other complex rules and requirements discourage them from practicing this kind of medicine. In addition, the high cost of medical school has made doctors seek higher paying jobs to pay off their school debt.  This article relates to our technical communication class. The communication between doctors and insurance company must be a complex one. These forms of communication must include many letters, emails and memos between the two.  Also, the ethics of how the insurance companies and doctors communicate to their customers deals with technical communications. These insurance companies have to find ways how to communicate to customers that they need to pay or how there policy works. Doctors have to understand the various rules that a policy has.  Because of this tedious process between insurance companies and primary-care doctors, it’s understandable why many do not find it a great career. Also, doctors have to keep records of all the patients’ illness. Paperwork and communication between workers must be involved in keeping things in order. 

Article:

http://www.theday.com/article/20110710/OP01/307109990 

Internship Program.

http://www.internshipprograms.com/Pages/Internships/InternshipView.aspx?id=1853

Listed below are some of the typical responsibilities an intern may have with HealthFitness.

• Administer fitness assessments. The fitness assessment includes measurements of resting heart rate and blood pressure, body composition, flexibility, muscular endurance and cardiovascular conditioning. Another important function of the assessment is that it provides the opportunity for the fitness professional to work with the individual to establish a rapport and realistic fitness goals.
• Create exercise prescriptions. Review the participant’s goals, as well as health history and current fitness level. Use this information to tailor an exercise program to help that individual meet his or her goals.
• Monitor facility and exercise floor. Circulate on the exercise floor to assist members, correct form and provide encouragement. This is an excellent opportunity to get to know the members, receive feedback on their experience and focus on providing quality customer service.
• Lead group exercise classes. The staff will help you learn to teach safe, effective classes in accordance with HealthFitness Group Exercise Guidelines.
• Conduct exercise program orientations. Help members become familiar and comfortable with the fitness center procedures and individual programs. Review assessment results, discuss current and on-going programs and field any questions the member has.
• Gain knowledge of computer applications. Learn to use on-site fitness software as well as other programs.
• Coordinate promotional events or programs. Help to design, promote and implement various wellness programs.
• Design and deliver fitness and/or health seminars. Develop presentations on specific topics and deliver to the employee population.
• Provide health advising. The staff will help you learn one-on-one coaching techniques to assist members to manage their health and set realistic goals towards lifestyle changes.
• Observe Personal Training sessions. Shadow the staff during Personal Training sessions to gain knowledge in program design, working with different clientele and a variety of exercise modalities.
• Daily tasks and projects. Assist the staff with day-to-day operations and other special projects in the facility that may arise during the course of your internship