Document Aesthetics

We've spoken a bit this semester about the harmony that must exist in a technical document between the content of the text and the design of the text. What are some of the principal features that an effective piece of technical communication should have in terms of document design? Think of some of the pieces of technical communication we've examined so far this term (that your book has also discussed): corporate ethics policies, resumes, instructions manuals, memoranda, etc. What kinds of choices does the technical communicator need to make in terms of document design?

Corporate Ethics Policies

Last week, we discussed corporate ethics policies. Your book outlined the features of an effective corporate ethics policy. We analyzed Google's ethics policy, located on their "investor relations" page, and we examined whether it protected members of the public even while it represented and detailed the corporate ethos. Please take a look at what our friend Wikipedia has to say about "business ethics." Scroll down to the section "corporate ethics policies":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_ethics#Corporate_ethics_policies

Of the information included in the Wikipedia entry, what corresponds to your book's information and what does not? Given what the Wikipedia entry says, think about the Google policy again. What are your comments on it? In your post, reply to both of my questions here.

Implied Warranty

Your book gives an example of an "implied warranty" -- a rock-polishing device being used by a child. Please consider the ethical idea of the implied warranty. Can you find any product images -- produced by a company and included on their website -- that might be conceived of as an implied warranty that is suspect, ethically, for some reason? Provide a link to the image you find and give me and your classmates an explanation of what you perceive as the problems with the image and/or text.

Hello students! Welcome to ENGL 341!

This semester in Technical Writing, ENGL 341, you will be working on your writing with the specific goal of focusing on audience. Given your increasing expertise in your area of study, and your increasing fluency in the disciplinary and "specialist" language of that field, it is important now that you begin working towards presenting technical information clearly and comprehensibly for non-expert audiences. That is the primary goal of this course.

Also, I want you to already begin thinking about our final project in this class: a technical report of fifteen or more pages. The main thing you need to start thinking about now is the "primary research"part of this project; this is research in which you are engaged, as an investigator, an observer, a data-compiler or -calculator, an interviewer, or an experimenter. The "primary" part is what you need to think about now. With what kinds of research projects in your major field of study are you involved?

If you are involved in a research project, tell me and your classmates a little bit about it in your comment here. Remember, we're not all experts in the same areas, so be sure you are presenting your research project in terms comprehensible to the largest number of us -- your audience. If you are not involved in a research project, start thinking about what kinds of "primary research" you might be able to begin in the next nine weeks.