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.