Response to Sokphan's post

Reading through Sokphan's post on the chapter readings reminded me of a recent practical application. I allowed each of our group members to review the first draft of my written contribution for the group project, of which I was overly proud. The 4th and final reviewer pointed out that my article was not the correct format, it was more a human interest piece or an anecdotal entertainment piece, not a feature article. They were correct of course, but my enthusiasm with the piece itself had clouded my judgement causing me to lose reader-centric focus. Don't get me wrong, I still like the story, it just wasn't the right story for this purpose. If my reviewer had not maintained their editing focus, including reviewing the story in comparison to the article's purpose, it would probably have been included in our final product, potentially jeopardizing the project grade for the entire team.

Thoughts on the assigned Reading - Chapters 14 and 15

While reading chapter 14, I was reminded of a former supervisor who would have dramatically improved his editing skills by simply reading chapter 14. I will never forget submitting a draft for his review five times before he approved it, and the final form was almost an exact word for word replica of the first draft. His style was to focus on form over function to the extreme one time, then purpose exclusive of form or function, then he might focus on mechanics, and then finally looking at the overall goal. This was a very frustrating, time consuming, and counter-productive process. If he developed a reader-centric focus instead of his ego-centric focus, everybody would have benefited. I'm glad we've had the opportunity to study this methodology and process before we become like that supervisor.

In chapter 15, I am sharply reminded of a technology course completed in a prior term. We developed web pages and we were required to conduct user surveys of our sites. Many of the same processes and techniques described in the chapter were useful in determining how users perceived our sites. There are many other examples where these testing techniques are effective. I have participated in at least two more that immediately come to mind - product research testing and mock juries. Both were controlled environments with specific test procedures and rules. I find it more than a little interesting that good planning, processes and procedures can translate well to almost any enterprise.

Response to Peter

I was amused at Peter's description and his reaction to Jesse Day's presentation - I had experienced some of those thoughts myself. I hesitated to comment, primarily because I've also been in front of an unfamiliar group trying to explain what I do in a cohesive manner, and failing miserably! It does not matter how well you know your topic, or how many times you practice your presentation, it is still far easier to trip over your tongue than to give a presentation with you are satisfied.

Regarding Jesse's discussion of the morning meeting, I thought it was very odd that virtually all of the local stations ran the same stories - did they all attend the same meeting? Learn from the same teachers? I've often wondered why news shows seemed to be clones of each other, and I guess I'll continue to wonder.

Journalism in the Age of Blog

After reading the assigned articles, I felt somewhat depressed - the allure of the unknown had been exposed to the naked light of day and blogs were not so foreign and strange after all. As a neo-blogger, I have made efforts to incorporate cohesion, grammar and spell-check as prerequisites before posting my blog. It seems I had it wrong. According to the articles, it appears that bloggers want to be the anti-journalists. Whereas journalists are concerned with truth and content, bloggers were represented as language rebels writing on their own terms, even creating their own terms.

I wonder if a journalist could become a power-blogger? Could they suspend their training and restraint to enter the writer's mud-wrestling pit?

Then on the other hand, is it possible for a blogger to become a successful (read published and/or employed) journalist? Could the rough cut stone become the polished gem?

Points to consider, eh?

News Blog Response

Seems I couldn't pick out one particular blog this week, so many of them shared some or all of my feelings. For example, many of the blogs spoke of avoiding the news because of all the negativity (or as more eloquently labeled by Rhiannon). Other blogs noted other sources, as when Melisa referenced the Internet as her preferred source. I personally like visiting SeattleTimes.com, where the stories are bullet points with links I can choose to access and read, or simply ignore. Joey mentioned using the subscription services (for which he pays "good money") as another alternative. I would agree, to a point - it seems that now cable and other premium subscription services are also beginning to accept advertising. It could also be noted many of the subscription service news people yearn to join the mainstream media and thus pattern their styles to that end, with subscription news style trending towards mainstream news formats. Several blogs noted the weather as a primary reason for watching the news, and Vic even hit on one of my pet peeves with the news media, advertising. I honestly believe we would be much better informed if the news media, in whatever format you may prefer, did not need to rely on advertising for support. I often wonder how many stories were quashed, or toned down, to prevent offending a sponsor.

Television News

I have long refrained from watching television news, primarily because so much of it falls into a few categories:

• Crime and Punishment
• Politics
• Natural disasters
• Local sports
• Local weather

Charles "Tremendous" Jones, a noted motivational speaker, once said that there are only two areas of the newspaper he regularly reads - sports and the comics. As he noted, sports talks of overcoming adversity and triumphing over long odds, about successes and accomplishments. He further went on to say that comics add humor to our lives. His choice to avoid the remainder of the paper was to limit his negativity input. With TV and Radio, we don't have the same options. If we turn them off, how would we know when to turn them back on for the news we wanted?

Now don't get me wrong, I have no objections to learning what is happening around me. I just object to the news media spoon-feeding me sound bites designed to keep me coming back, and coincidentally, making their advertisers happy.

There are some exceptions, of course, news shows with regular human interest features or other feel-good pieces. I just wish they were the norm, not the exception.

Response to Peter's Response to Melisa

I enjoy reading Peter's blogs because they are so unpredictable! In this instance, peter included a cartoon strip to emphasize one of his main points - the customer isn't always right, but they usually win in the end. It reminded me of a former associate, whose favorite comment on the subject was "The customer is always right, as long as they agree with me!"

Peter's use of humor is very effective, letting the message insinuate itself into our sub-conscience as we enjoy a chuckle or two.

Since I am a more logic-driven person, I generally try to reason things out. I could come up with several arguments in favor of acceding to the customer, but in the end, Peter's technique is much more effective. Nice work Peter, my hat is off to you!

Freelance Writing

I have mixed emotions about freelance writing. On one hand, you have the freedom to write the way you want, pleasing only yourself. On the other hand, you are constrained by commercial interests - will you be able to sell what you write? It appears to me that you have a balancing act to perform if you want to be a successful and happy freelance writer.

If I am persuaded to freelance, I foresee a disciplined approach beginning with commercially viable copy transitioning over time to contain more voice and individual personality. Once you have gained a modicum of success and reputation, publications should be more willing to allow your personality to show in your work.

The big fly in the ointment would be persuading me to freelance in the first place!

Response to the Sara Ross post on Chapter 8

Just like Melisa Dawson, I too appreciated Sara's tip about reading your writing aloud before finalizing. I cannot tell you how many times I have eliminated careless mistakes and typographical errors with this simple yet powerful little technique. There is no telling how much better my first few memos could have been if I had taken the time to read them aloud.

Another trick I learned was to set the writing aside and revisit it later. The human mind can do very strange things, including read what you meant to say despite what you actually committed to paper. Re-reading your draft at a later time helps eliminate the "phantom reading" because your original thoughts are not as fresh and you can focus on what you actually wrote. This has saved my bacon more times than I like to admit - I guess I should start doing it again if I want a decent grade, eh?

Review of Chapters 8 and 19, Technical Communications

Chapter 8
This chapter seemed on the surface to be somewhat paradoxical - write with a reader-centered voice, but use your own voice. It was not until I got deeper into the chapter that I was able to reconcile the two perspectives. On the one hand, you need to write so the reader can receive your message without being unduly influenced by your writing "voice". At the same time, you create your own "voice" within the framework of knowing your audience and the intent of your writing. The reference to Linus Pauling and his ability to write technical papers while retaining a distinctive style provided a strong example of matching "voice" with a reader-centered approach.

The remainder of the chapter went into some nuts and bolts for constructing sentences that support effective reader-centered writing.

Chapter 19
At first, Chapter 19 felt like a digression from writing, resembling instead a primer on project management. It was when I realized that virtually every writing assignment can benefit from the principals and guidelines of good project management that I understo0od why it was included in the book. To write effectively, particularly for client projects (the focus of the chapter), the writer must stay on task and on time. Good project management practices can help accomplish that.