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 

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