What I've learned this semester

I initially thought all this class would require would be writing short, technical-related documents. I had no idea that at the conclusion, I would have done so much. Not only did I learn how to make a website (thanks, weebly!), but I also learned a huge amount about ethics. I feel very prepared now to create a resume, and also confident to present my skills to a possible employer. I have always been terrified of speaking in front of people, but the presentations every class period have erased by apprehensions of being in front of people. I can now convey my ideas and opinions without being nervous. I am proud of all that I have accomplished, and cannot believe that I learned how to upload videos, create slideshows, and combine it all into a useful website.

Dombrowski, 152-233

Tobacco and Death- When is a Cause not a cause?

• no public drama from deaths from smoking, unlike in the challenger incident
• connection between cause and effect is spread out over time
• statistical connection between smoking and lung cancer
• sophists were noted for arguing for the sake of arguing- every topic has two sides worthy of an argument
• 1950s-several medical reports linked smoking with lung cancer, tobacco executives decided to launch a public relations campaign that was pro-cigarette
• organized a research group to study tobacco's effects, but in reality was to divert attention from smoking as a cause of cancer and to oppose medical findings
• documents tried to pretend that there was no direct link between smoking and cancer
• tobacco companies declared that there was controversy regarding whether or not there was a scientific link
• 1960s- industry could find few scientists to support their position
• tried to hide the fact that nicotine was addictive
• 1970s-marketed filtered cigarettes as a way to respond to the health concerns
• they defended this because they said the public had a perception that smoking was problematic, not because they acknowledged it actually was
• euphemism of "biological activity" for tumors
• memorandums are full of euphemisms and confusing language
• 1980s- information is controlled in unethical ways
• fund certain research but not other
• lawyers watered down reports to obscure information
• further research is needed=effort to make findings appear inconclusive
• 1990s-lawsuits begin
• Controversy of "believe"
• tobacco execs did not "believe" nicotine was addictive
• they "knew" it was addictive, but did not believe it - perjury charges couldn't apply
• graphical images- attractive images/people advertised on cigarettes
• charm of diversions
• used to entice children to smoke
• make bad things appear to be good
• Aristotle- debates allow for the genuine truth of the matter to assert itself naturally, virtue involves honesty, so tobacco companies are unethical
• Kant-companies not treating the public as they would want to be treated
• Utilitarian- costs vastly outweigh the benefits
• Star Wars- Hope vs. Reality
• Strategic Defense Initiative- motivated to develop a defense against nuclear weapons
• Reagan challenged American scientific and technical communities to develop ways to intercept and nullify any nuclear weapons aimed at America
• values of "human spirit" make goal seem ethical
• software was the key
• identification/destruction of missiles would be coordinated by software
• very complex
• assertation that such software would be a monumental task
• seemingly impossible
• always be questions regarding the dependablility of the software
• serious concerns were acknowledged by government authorities
• senate hearing- technology not available yet to do what the President was proposing
• Parnas' critique of SDI software-accomodates audience so it is understandable to any educated person, clear and precise, his stand is obvious
• system could never be trustworthy
• Star Wars Boycott Pledge- university of Illinois and Cornell University
• they believed that it was not technically feasible or reliable
• SDI reports were full of vague language and inconclusive statements
• they had made unrealistic claims and misled the public

Challenger, Ethics, Statistics

Harty's Ethics:

• Dorothy A. Winsor
• there is a general difficulty of either sending or receiving bad news, particularly when it must be passed to superiors or outsiders. 
• the Challenger accident
• managers and engineers viewed the same facts from different perspectives- knowledge is not simply seeing facts but rather interpreting them
• bad news is not often passed upwards in organizations
• the three organizations surrounding the Challenger viewed each other as outsiders
• communication failed
• the physical cause of the explosion was the failure of a rubber seal in the solid rocket booster
• bad news is often not believed
• the engineers were sufficiently worried about the O-ring problem
• memo voiced concern
• the second memo was more dismissive of engineers fears
• managers and engineers did not communicate well
• DARRELL HUFF
• how to lie with statistics
• statistics are often used to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify
• sample with the built-in bias-you can prove anything you want to by letting your sample bias itself
• the truncated graph-chopping off the bottom
• the souped-up graph-changing the proportion between the ordinate and the abscissa
• the well-chosen average-means versus median
• the insignificant difference or the elusive error-errors in sampling studies
• the one-dimensional picture
• the ever-impressive decimal- makes it sound more certain, less like an approximation
• the semiattached figure-no connection really between the data and the point
• the unwarranted assumption- making assumptions about casual relationships between 2 things, like college cigarette smokers making lower grades
• Dan Jones
• are you doing your best to document a product accurately?
• are you knowingly omitting essential information?
• are you exaggerating features to a point of lying?
• Carolyn D. Rude
• legal and ethical issues in editing
• intellectual property: copyright, trademarks, patents, trade secrets 
• copyright- protects authors of original works
• product safety- legally obligated to warn of risks of products on labels
• sued for libel

Cover letters and Online Resumes

Cover Letters-

• effective cover letters attract an employer's attention by highlighting the most attractive features of the product, like an advertisement
• Format- arrangement comes across as credibility
• 2 styles- business or personal
• In a business style cover letter, all the elements begin at the left margin
• Include: return address, write out date, inside address, salutation , 3 or 4 paragraphs are ideal, enclosure line is unnecessary
• use standard paper size
• use matching paper and envelopes for resume and cover letter
• handwritten letters are not acceptable
• Personalize each letter, know the name of the head of the department that you are interested in
• be sure its clear you know something about the company you are applying to
• keep the writing style clear and persuasive
• sound confident 
• use concrete examples of your achievements
• avoid catchphrases 
• if applying to an out-of-state firm, indicate a willingness to relocate
• DON'T include cliches, unrelated career goals, wasted space, innappropriate stationery, amusing anecdotes, desperation, photos
• don't misrepresent yourself
• using the first person is preferable
• don't forget to sign your name
• RESPONDING TO A BLIND ADVERTISEMENT- they do not list employer information, your cover letter should define your knowledge of the industry; tailor your letter to any information given
• Resume on the internet:
• have a scannable version
• a plain-text version to keep on disk
• an email version- formatted
• send resume in body of email message, not as an attachment- the recruiter would have to find it and open it before he could read it
• use the advertised job title in the subject line
• when formatting, delete page numbers, use all capital letters for special emphasis, replace bullet points with a standard keyboard symbol
• limit line lengths
• protect yourself on line

Harty- Resumes

• Don't confuse customers by flaunting things that do not speak to their needs
• It is important to know what the job is about
• resumes are very useful when employers advertise and list the qualifications they seek
• Application letters are very important- they make an employer interested in you
• application letters should look buisnesslike, have no spelling, and be to the point
• the more words you use, the less they are worth
• write and rewrite letters
• the value of a resume is frequently more in its preparation than in its use
• make it attractive to read
• you want your resume to reflect an orderly mind
• do not overemphasize less important items
• spacing is important, it can either emphasize good things or unemphasize bad things
• use headings to attract readers 
• in a functional resume, you can develop a different message for each job or type of job you wish to apply for
• there is no reason why each resume can't be slanted to appeal to the particular employer
• C.V.- curriculum vitae- a resume for academic positions and as such does not need a statement of goals or interest
• a career interest leads to a simple way of stating the purpose of the resume
• keep a resume to one page if possible

Multimedia part of presentation

For the multimedia part of my presentation, I am designing a webpage covering various aspects of the study abroad process. I hope to include both pictures, as well as video clips of someone going about the different steps of the process.

Nazi Records- the origin and use of information

Technical communication involves people connecting with other people about matters of mutual human concern.

• some values embedded in the scientific frame of mind can be carried to extremes
• of particular concern is the emotional disengagement of the researcher from the human research subject
• under Nazi power, science was not science for its own sake, rather it belonged to another value system, that of racial supremacy
• scandals have arisen over the use of human anatomical samples in medical education that came from prison and death camps
• someone wanted to publish information from Nazi hypothermia experiments--two points of view: could be put to use in our own times to improve survival equipment, but this information was gotten through terrible suffering
• some people believe that we should use such information because that would give some sort of purpose to the victims' suffering

• Masked language allowed Nazis to avoid expressing their full meaning clearly so as to avoid public outcries and to avoid taking ethical responsibility
• Euthanasia is thought of as mercy killing where it is the wish of the person, the Nazis however used the term for putting people to death in a way that was humane because the person was unworthy to live
• the primary purpose of law in society is to protect those who cannot protect themselves; the law during the Nazi time did exactly the opposite
• "special treatment" in Nazi opinion meant medical killing
• objectivization means treating people as objects rather than as persons equivalent to the researcher
• inadmissability principle- information obtained illegally is considered not to exist
• in US, African Americans diagnosed with syphilis were prescribed treatment, but in a number of cases, the patients were only given placebos to see the unimpeded progress of the disease -- Tuskegee experiment
• some of us will be involved in situations where the means and ends could ethically taint technical information we are dealing with
• influence of technology on society is so widespread that technology has become a goal in itself instead of a means to pursue other social goals

• memorandum from Willy Just to SS Lieutenant Colonel Walter Rauff who was in charge of motorized equipment for the SS
• "the load", "ninety-seven thousand have been processed"
• discussion of Jews as objects/cattle
• uses impersonal language rather than personal
• tobacco industry today
• memorandum is technical objectivity taken to an extreme
• report of Prof Hirt of plans for securing skulls of Jews for racial study purposes
• people murdered for the sake of science
• flat, unemotional tone simply reporting the facts
• Viktor Brack's report for mass, unwitting castration using X-rays as a form of racial hygiene to prevent the reproduction of various people 
• Nazi race laws- Nuremberg Laws- aimed at ensuring the racial purity of the Aryan race
• science was made to serve politics
• seemingly concrete, exact technical information was derived in order to support race assumptions

• Chart of the Nuremberg Race law- racial categories/intermixing
• measuring facial features to establish racial qualities
• Aristotle would ethically condemn the Nazi regime, urge information to be used
• Kant assumes equivalence of all people
• Utilitarianism would favor using information