1. Advanced Technical Writing 2008 Session #2

2. Today ► P1 schedule revisited ► Sample exam questions:  Writing/reflection  Discussion  Post outline of answer to PP ► Draws on Applen, Crowley, Geisler et. al., & Carliner (this will take you a while) ► Preview: P2

3. Project 1 Timeline, revisited ► 1/10 Choose editorial team, review information in your topic area ► 1/15 Teams propose poster concepts ► 1/17 Teams work out semantic markup scheme for poster content; individuals create content assets ► 1/22 Teams create wireframes of posters; individuals plug assets into wireframes ► 1/24 Teams create poster draft for testing ► 1/31 Teams make adjustments to semantic structure; Individuals revise digital assets for poster ► 2/2 Poster ready to ship to post-production

4. Practice Exam Questions ► Different for grad/undergrad credit ► Ask you to draw on your readings as well as the hands-on work we’ve been doing to connect theory & practice ► Should take you about 2 hours to do for real Today: Choose 1, review the readings, reflect & outline your answer; we’ll discuss

5. Practice Exam Questions Graduate Credit: Pick two of the terms below and explain how core technologies like CSS, XHTML, and XML (and, by extension, content standards like DITA and content management systems that make use of these core technologies) raise questions about the terms’ meaning: ► Authorship ► Literacy ► Text ► Document ► Writing ► Reading ► User ► Interface ► Web Page Be sure to list some actual questions that are raised. Then describe, briefly, how you might investigate the questions you have identified.

6. Practice Exam Questions Undergraduate Credit: A key pre-requisite of single-sourcing is the seperation of content from presentation Discuss, in theory, how this can be achieved using some of the technologies we have talked about during the semester. Then, using a specific example, explain why Dave Clark, among others, is skeptical about just how complete a seperation of content from presentation is possible and therefore cautious about the limits of single-sourcing. Find Clark’s article in Angel

7. Practice Exam Questions Graduate Credit: Revisit the two approaches to textuality discussed by Crowley in her piece "writing and Writing." Are the two approaches she talks about descriptive and inclusive of the approach to textuality we developed in P1? If so, explain which "camp" our approach to texts falls into or which features of the two camps it embodies. If not, flesh out those features that Crowley leaves out and attempt to account for why she might not have included them (some possible reasons include when she wrote the piece, well before the WWW was popular and her essentially pedagogical focus in this particular piece). To develop your answer work with an example text to illustrate features. Spend at least half of your intellectual energy on the example(s).

8. Practice Exam Questions Undergraduate Credit: In P1, we talked about three groups that might derive benefit from the features of a particular text-based technology such as Cascading Style Sheets. These groups are 1) users or readers, 2) authors, and 3) editors or content managers. Pick a specific technology (e.g. the DITA standard) and discuss the relative benefits and drawbacks that technology offers for each of these three groups. Make a case for which group comes out most ahead when the technology is deployed. Must there always be tradeoffs? or do you believe there are opportunities for mutual benefit? As you develop your answer, use specific examples from at least two different "instances" of the technology in use. Spend at least as much time creating your illustrative examples as you spend on the rest of your response.

9. For Next Time… ► Last P1 in-class work day; discuss P1 evaluation criteria ► Start reading Rockley book (Ch. 1 & 14)