FAQs: Time, Language, Tech

Summary of FAQ Answers for Potential Eventual Document:
(If you have corrections, suggestions, or changes, please let me know!)

Time:
10-15 hours per week per 3 hour course is a reasonable expectation. There are fluctuations, but it's a safe number.

Tech:
Apple & PC both have solid support from TTU--no strong biases either way.

Cohorts:
Most cohorts are 8-12 folks.

Cohort 1/Fall 2004: Frodotypicals
Cohort 2/Fall 2005: M2
Cohort 3/Fall 2006: 3rd Degrees
Cohort 4/Fall 2007: Quadrophonics
Cohort 5/Fall 2008: As Yet Unnamed

Each cohort chooses a name during its first May Seminar. Cohorts accumulate members between May Seminars, so anyone who's been accepted since this last May and before next May will be in your cohort. (Courtesy of Peter)


May Seminars:
1st: Usability Testing
2nd: Document Design
3rd: New Media


Misc:
There is no foreign/second language requirement.


So You Just Got In...
Creating Email:
Do NOT select the ttuhsc option--that is for the Health Science Center; you want the ttu.edu option. Seems obvious, doesn't it? Well, this boy was a bit slow on that uptake.

IT Help for Students at TTU

Courtesy of Peter, a link to TTU's tech help site for students.

Note to Self: Usability Colleagues

To excerpt an email:
Craig McKenney's done work on usability and Konnie Brown has presented internationally on usability issues.

Blogging as Social Action

Blogging as Social Action by Miller and Shepherd

TTU List Advice from 10/25

Readings:

Selber and Johnson-Eiola "Central Works in Technical Communication" is best for TC

Johnson-Eilola and the Slack, Doak, and Miller, as well as Carolyn Miller
Bizzell and Herzberg's "The Rhetorical Tradition" is best for Rhet

Carolyn Miller's article "Genre as Social Action"

Online Tools:

Zotero

Web of Knowledge (Citation Index) at TTU Library; no access at the moment, so review main WoK site

EndNote

EndNoteWeb--a synthesized product combining WoK and EndNote

Cite While You Write--an EndNote plug-in that works with word processing

Links:

Several blogs added to the side bar already

CMS

Also raised is the issue of learning a content management system. At this point, I do not really have a clue as to what all that entails. Still, I know that it is something I must work towards. In the near future, I will hopefully have something more to post on that. I know it is important, I just do not know HOW important.

Learning CSS

It has become quite obvious that I will need to learn more about online content management and CSS. Hmmm. When will I find the time? When will I ever find the time? It will just have to happen, and I will probably build test or experiment sites and projects along the way as I learn. Rather than just think in terms of theory, I prefer to actually generate something--even if I bail on it mid-way--so I can see how it works.

In that general spirit of learning and resources, here's a page with multiple resources for learning CSS.

Proto-Scholar on Maximizing Reading

I have found a couple of posts at the blog Proto-Scholar. The most useful one is a post on how to make the most of reading a non-fiction text and reviewing the general and textual contexts so you absorb the most in a most efficient fashion. Better to post a link than to summarize the already efficient text.

Scholarly Reading

This is review, but it never hurts.

Main points:
What is the author trying to say? Explicitly & implicitly.
How do they say it? Rhetorical moves, structures, etc.
Why is it important?
Do you agree?
How does it compare to other authors in the field?
Where is it positioned in the field?
What is the social context for the book/text?

Using Delicious in Doctoral Work

This is a great article on how to use Delicious for research.

Establish an evolving set of tags, and make sure to use the tags in as uniform a manner as possible. When tagging, list the format (interview, video, mp3, etc.), the author, the subject(person or general), and key content words.

Stick to one-word tags.

In notes section, type up the summary.

Use only three or four tags if possible.

Here are some suggested research tags:

research:
• booklist - possible books to purchase or find in the library, or use this as a replacement for amazon wishlists.
• theory - books or articles on the use of theory
• vocabulary - quick access to important definitions with short summaries
• toread - I need to these articles very soon
• author - key thinker in my area of study
• recommended - a book, author, or site recommended to me by someone else

Read Eaton

Six months before I applied to TTU, when it was still an unattainable dream to me, I checked out the site and followed the advice to read Dr. Angela Eaton's article, Applying to Grad School in Technical Communication.

Then, over the summer as I applied and revised, I read it again.  And again.  And again.  And I reviewed it multiple times as I revised my application.  I cannot say that I followed all of the steps exactly, for this summer was a blur of training, writing, and traveling, but I tried hard.  The end result: I got in.

If you are considering applying to any graduate program in comp, rhet, or tc, do yourself a favor and read the article.  Really.  I am sure it is a major reasons as to why I got in.

Kemp on Tenure

Before I applied to TTU, I researched the faculty there.  During that same time, I had no access to databases, so I could not read some of the proprietary articles without having to pay serious money.  Since I have been working at HSU, it is possible for me to locate and read many, many more of their texts.

Last night I located Fred Kemp's Zen and the Art of Tenure.  Fun stuff, and it has that Kempian tone which is often on the WPA-list.  I wasn't sure if he'd transfer it into his professional publications, but he has.  That said,  here is a choice quote:

I was able to acquire tenure under fairly demanding circumstances because of a

principle that I've adhered to unrelentingly: maintain quality of effort; sheer, fanatical

persistence; and a conscious discretion and technological Uncle-Tomism and you will

overcome nearly all departmental prejudices, especially because the society itself is

becoming our best ally (113).

I am still putting together my response/summary--another habit I want to solidify before I get into the program--and it should be fun to write.

Initial Post

On Wednesday, October 22nd, I learned that I was admitted to Texas Tech's PhD program in Technical Communication and Rhetoric.  Since that point, I've been perpetually giddy.

One of my biggest challenges is to remain organized and to continually reflect on what I am doing.  So, I am applying some of the work I have been doing so far with blogs and adding the influence of Michael Faris' approach as well.  Michael has continually written, posted, and documented his graduate process through his MA and now in his PhD work.  While I do not intend to organize exactly as he has done, I am going to follow the rough model of attempting to keep as much stuff online as possible for several reasons.

First, my papers end up in stacks and piles.  Filing cabinets are not a part of my world, and it is easier to search digitally than any other way.  Need: generate and apply an effective system of tagging, searching, and locating.

Second, I believe in sharing learning.  I have learned from Michael, Nils, Peter, and lots of folks in the field.  They inspired me by their honesty and generosity, so I determined to share what it is I do and how I do it.  Hopefully it will help someone in the future avoid some trouble or stress.

Third, if I really want to be a tech writing guy I must perform tech writing and work in a tech environment.  There is no getting around it.  Put up or shut up, and so I am putting up.

Fourth, I believe in the process of documentation.  I have journaled for over a decade, blogged, written notes on cards, and have heaps of text and memories stored in a variety of places.  I love to write.  This project is yet another excuse for me to write.

Fifth, it is an opportunity for me to learn.

Sixth, this is about as close as I can get to sharing/engaging in public think aloud protocols of the PhD process.  

Seventh, what a great excuse to network!

Finally, I love writing and blogging.  It is fun.