Well all good things must come to an end. This is my last blog! WOW! I’ve learned a lot in Eng 204 this semester. I’ve learned how to blog, and I’ve learned how to snoop around on other people’s blogs as well. So, I think I’ll use my last post to share some of my favorite blogs from our other class members.

From Jessie’s Blog:

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1841/1447/1600/100_0102.jpg

I love this picture! It’s awesome, makes me want to take one like that with my friends…I’ll definitely remember it when we are all together next time!

From Cate’s blog:


http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/duplin/4-H/


Glad she shared that crappy website with the world….


From Sharee’s blog:

http://rsvblog.blogspot.com/2005/09/can-you-imagine-going-into-walmart-or.html


I remember the day when Dr. Atkins shared our Blogs in class and I saw that post! My jaw dropped…and then when I read the text I laughed my ass off…

Good one Sharee!

From Satu:

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6241/1446/1600/gas.jpg

She posted this during the gas frenzy and I showed it to several people…it’s so true!

So I’ve learned a lot about Technical Writing this semester, and thanks to the blogs I’ve learned some stuff about my fellow classmates as well. I think these blogs give people who are normally a little shy a place to collect their thoughts and share them with the world…so that’s awesome. And how about those questions they ask you at the end of updating your profile?

What’s the earliest you’ve ever gotten up to watch cartoons?
Sponges ant tongues are commonly misspelled? Is that because they’re thirsty?

Yeah, it’s definitely been a work in progress, but this is the finished product—and I am quite proud of all of us! Y’all have a great holiday…

This photo of Albert Einstein is seen everywhere these days. I have seen it on magnets, calendars, notebooks and posters. I have the picture on a poster at my house, hanging in my office. I’ve seen the poster so often, but I wondered about the history behind it. Where was it taken? What was happening to make Albert Einstein stick his tongue out so hilariously? Who took the photo?
I turned to the Internet, and found plenty of places where the picture had been placed online. I figured it would be simple to find a website that showed the picture and placed the history of the picture somewhere close beside it. On http://fusionanomaly.net/alberteinstein.html, I got just the opposite.
When I first saw the picture, I was a little disappointed in its size and placement. Personally, the photo is one of my favorites, and I think it should bigger because it’s great! The photo is small and surrounded by white space, with no caption, title, or background information. I think that this site has used the picture as more of a decoration than a subject for information.
The site itself is an unorganized assortment of facts, quotes, and resources. It is hard to navigate because of the excessive scrolling. Famous photos of Einstein, actual book covers, and even a chicken crossing the road are scattered throughout. The site relies on the reader to make connections between the images and the text around them.
The picture of Einstein sticking his tongue is below the quote “"If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it." I assume that Einstein said this, because the site is about him; however, there is no citation for the quote to confirm that assumption. It seems like the text was written beforehand, and the images were placed in an attempt to make the site more visually appealing.
So, I didn’t discover any background information for the picture on this site. I don’t think that was what the author intended to do when he placed the photo. I had to keep searching for the answers.

Is anyone else having a hard time grasping this whole website thing?

The one-page web and nonprofit assignments made me realize how extensive the internet really is...how in the world is all that nonsense possible? We're using one of the simplest site-making softwares available, so the actual creation of the site is easy. The posting of the sites is what gets me. The UNCW servers and student files and timmy and ftp this and save that...it's all confusing as hell.

Can't the UNCW staff figure out some easier way to organize how to use this website/storage spage/timmy nonsense? If not, teach a class on the stuff! The TAC center website has been absolutely no help to me, other than displaying(mostly hidden within other blocks of text) the URLs to access all these assorted servers. All the needed information is there, but for the website building virgins like myself...it's a foreign language. Ms. Shirley Mathews and I actually broke out the dry-erase markers in an attempt to organize these sites and decipher how to make use of them.

This leads me to believe that the usability of the TAC website could use some improvement. The contact information for the TAC office, just in case you "can't access your TIMMY folder is in bold. The URL for the ftp site that lets you access your TIMMY folder is not in bold, and is buried deep within a paragraph and bulleted list BELOW the contact information. That's a good thing...because you're definitely going to need that phone number when you can't make sense of it all.

So, UNCW, make your TAC website a little easier to understand. Please. Teach a class on how to use your e-mail, TIMMY, and web space at orientation. Do something, because it's not fair to students or professors to waste class time interpreting and teaching how to use your server system.

Oprah finally made me happy! I am kind of neutral about the idea of Oprah's book club...I have friends that hate it, I have friends that love it. I dont really care either way. I like seeing how she waves her magic wand and millions of people plow to the bookstore to buy the sacred Oprah Book of the Month. They have stacks and stacks of the books with Oprah's stamp of approval beside the checkout at Wal-Mart, right beside the National Enquirer. Kinda odd.

But I got really really excited when I saw her choice for this go round...A Million Little Pieces by James Frey! It's a favorite of mine...and so gritty and daunting and un-Oprah like. Good job! I gave this book away for Christmas presents a few years ago. Its good. Go get it and read it. Not because Oprah said so, because Allyson said so!

We’ve been in this course entitled technical writing for about 2 months now, and although we’ve discussed the many applications of technical writing—I still haven’t figured out what it is—literally. We’ve mainly used applications like power point and used assignments to display an end product of the technical writing process.

I think if technical writing were taken literally it would mean something more like “technical communication.” When the genre is put in those terms, it makes me think of instant messenger, which I think is a perfect example of all of the aspects of technical writing at large. The program employs technology to communicate, using a visual method to encompass verbal statements.

The idea for this blog came when I heard about IM being used in the workplace for communication amongst employees. This makes sense without even reading the article. How many desk jobs have you had where the first task you take it upon yourself to complete is downloading AOL Instant Messenger? While these types of programs are normally a distraction to workers, companies have realized their abundance. They may as well think of ways to apply the apps functionally, because their use is inevitable.

There are instant messenger formats for every type of operating system imaginable. A Google search for “instant messenger” turns up about 14,300,000 results. You can use IM on a cell phone or Blackberry, giving you the ability to take your buddy list with you anywhere. Companies can eliminate extensive phone bills by interfacing via instant messenger. This program allows them to save money and document their conversations between employers and other companies for future reference. Sometimes people aren’t the best verbalizing their opinions, so instant messenger allows those people to ponder questions and replies. This visual method both eliminates and improves conversations simultaneously. Analyst Robert Mahowald states: "In the next few years, IDC expects instant messaging--once the plaything of teenagers--to continue to grow into its role as a substantial business collaboration application." The application’s ease of use and availability has been persuasive in influencing people to use it.





I found this while browsing for info--I thought it was pretty funny...

INSTANT MESSENGER HANDBOOK

The article on typography made me think about what my first computer really was. I'd have to say it was Cricket. Cricket was a huge doll that spoke to you through a cassette player in her (extremely boxy) torso. It's not really a good example of typography, but neither is a talking Barbie. I really didnt understand where Ms. Heftland was going with her Barbie comments, but they were pretty entertaining nonetheless. After Cricket, I moved on up to a Whiz Kid. I'm sure some of you had a Whiz Kid(or maybe I was just a dork). Anyway, the Whiz Kid worked off of cards with barcodes on the back. There was very little motion or sound.
Nowadays, kids have an entire section in a toy store donated to interactive toys, for example, the Leap Frog computer. I see them as an extension of typography. They add the element of touch to the written word as well. Touch screens are everywhere also--at the bank, grocery store, etc. I played with this huge touch screen computer over in the new Health Services building last week, which was pretty cool. Not a day goes by that I don't use the touch pad/screen credit card swipers, which are(sometimes) really annoying. None of this technology, even Cricket or the Whiz Kid, would have been possible without the use of typography.

I'm a little late on my introduction. I think the profile questionnaire on here was pretty good at introducing myself, so check that out if you want to know more about me. I'm a junior at UNCW, I went to ECU and a community college before I ended up here. I hope to learn enough in this class so that I can pay off all my student loans from my tour of Eastern NC colleges. This is my first time "blogging" but I've found it interesting thus far.