Final reflection post

What is technical communication? I thought it had to do with certain techniques when communicating. Turns out it has to do with different ways of communication amongst (mainly) technology. What a relief, i distinctly remember saying. Brain screwing assignments, interesting subjects as far as the discussion board questions go and an overall interesting class would be the bio of TWC 401 if it had a facebook. 

Onto the portfolio.

Lets begin from the start. copying and pasting a word document that has a template or certain perimeters set into a new word doc is a massive hassle. When creating the table of content section, i had to add a title to each page so it automatically goes to it. Problem was the copied and pasted assignments would not allow me to even place text above them. I think i spent more time tinkering with that to get it to work than i did with the rest of the final portfolio. 

Drum roll please….

presentation: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=276614AFDE0AC048!317&authkey=!AO4RIA-dScI62io&ithint=video%2c.mov

Portfolio: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=276614AFDE0AC048!318&authkey=!AEx557VjDo7lV40&ithint=file%2c.docx

Post project analysis with team

Woo. I’m not a fan of working in teams unless it’s due to a certain set of skills. In this case, same set of skills needed, three members…err..make that two members to complete a APA format paper. The reason it was so difficult was due to the team not being in the same room ever during the process. Communication would happen every 4 days at the most which creates a huge issue when collaborating on certain sections of a paper. I can’t write A if B is not done and vice versa.

We got out act together, figured out a great schedule and got the ball rolling quite fast. Before i knew it, paper was done and i was able to breathe knowing i did not have to last minute a paper. After the fact, it was a thrill ride…given the gist of our paper was thought of prior to spring break…and written after which ..lol..is not a great idea. Overall, i think the paper was great. We answered our original questions that we aimed for and completed our mission in that sense. Mission:completed.

Post related to field #1

Over the course of this class, i have learned to simplify my words. Being a web designer, your job is to make every page,link, section as short as possible to ensure the reader does not get bored and decide to skim through it all. Reflecting on one discussion board post, basically writing about a poorly designed site, i realized many sites just over do it. They write and write and write until it becomes a block of words with no prayer of hitting the bottom of the page. It’s recently changed the way i look at sites, and how i plan on designing them.

Beyond that, the same discussion board topic also made me realize to use the ENTIRE width of the webpage. Many sites have a “buffer” on the left and right. Whats the point? To show off wallpaper? Why set a width of, lets say, 1024 px when you can just say 100% of the expanded window? Another random thought, but i’m sure it makes sense.

Assignment 3 reflection

Blue_team – assignment 3

What’s the hardest part of a internet team based project? Conflicting schedules will be the answer. Project 3 had a team of three members propose a research paper to an existing company. The key word there would be 3, as one of our members had to drop the class due to personal issues.

Problems aside, the initial meeting/forum discussions pushed forward rapidly. Two members (including myself) knew of the concept of gaining money from crowd sourcing for products to a point where we felt comfortable going forward as that as our proposal.Plenty of companies, even established ones, could easily benefit from crowdsourcing to pitch a concept that may not fly at a business meeting. So our path was chosen, but obviously questions that would be answered were next.

For the record, Google docs saved the groups issue of working together in real time. Originally, we used the forums, but that deemed too slow for 1 on 1 conversing. The next step was a no registration chat room that only involves making a room name, user name and password for the room. That also deemed too slow. The google doc program lets people edit files in real time, even conversing as they do so. Typing a placeholder soon became someone typing in whats needed in that area. Once a time was established and seeing the person online within the file, it became easy to ensure everything that was needed was accomplished.

Internet

Show me how to do something

Video 1

Video 2

So, assignment 2 had us teach the audience something using something visual and audio as a method. Instantly i thought “Hey, i’ll do something with websites and graphic making!”. What i did not know was doing two pieces would make a very long video.

The program i used to capture my screen and record my audio was limited to 5 minutes per video (free version). After starting with the idea of doing both a Div only website layout and a photoshopped banner, it became apparent it would run well over 20 minutes. I decided to remove the photoshop banner part and stick with the website layout.

Another issue became the 5 minute cut off. The first run through was interrupted by the time limit. In the middle of talking, it just cut off. I had to set a timer next to me to ensure i would stop talking before the video stopped recording. I believe the final version ended up being the 5th “take” of doing the assignment. After it was said and done, i thought why not do another but show the website layout before i start to teach the audience how to do it? Within 3 minutes of that, my dog started barking and i called it quits.

Overall, an entertaining assignment to do. The only drawback? that weird feeling from hearing your own voice and asking “do i really sound like that?”. Still don’t think i do!

The dreaded Resume (dun dun…DUUUN)

Resume_Gabe

Putting your skills on paper can be a lot tougher than it seems. Thinking of the ways to phrase it without sounding too technical, trying to keep the focus on a certain job criteria or simply trying to remember what you’ve done can get rough.

Some of the issues i faced were basically all of the above. Technically, the only stuff from my time in the military that needed to be in this was leadership/team work skills. If i was applying to be a bodyguard or any job that requires a weapon, however, this would easily look a heck of a lot different. Trying to focus in on the skill set i learned in the Army and phrasing it in a friendly resume was easily the toughest part of this assignment.

While i did receive negative feedback concerning the format i chose (a modified template), i personally try to avoid the bland paperwork look. I figure if i put myself on paper with the hopes of getting a job/internship that involves visual/coding stuff, it better visually stand out. I think the original template had much more flair, but i switched out and removed things that were too much.

While i do not have access to my original resume (lost somewhere in my pages of e-mail) it looked slightly different with it geared towards applying for the police department (for a prior class). If i had the original at hand, it literally looks like night and day for my skill set.

The best part of writing a resume? When you finish, save, and close the document.