Smart Mobs and Collective Wisdom

The discussion we had in class this week revolved around smart mobs and how they apply to technical writing.  Smart mobs seem to be evident in nearly every aspect of life these days due to the large rise in available technology.  From animals in nature to peaceful removal of a government, the "smart mob" theory can easily be found.

The way in which smart mobs function, specifically the inter-connectivity or web of thought, really reminded me of an article I read back in high school about collective wisdom.  Collective Wisdom describes how to combined intellect on a group of people provides far better work than that of the best individuals.  In the article I read (which I couldn't find now) random people are asked to estimate the amount of M&M's in a jar.  Individually the answers were typically far from the actual answer, but when averaged together the average guess was within 5% of the correct answer.

Then second part of the experiment was to take a group of people and have them decide as a group how many M&M's were in the same jar.  With this new approach, another close guess was given.

With our class starting a group project that will require good effort from each member I think this experiment can be helpful.  As individuals we all have good ideas but it is when we take the best of each member that the best possible answer can be reached.

Bad Groups

My experiences with groups have for the most part been pretty bad.  Typically my groups consist of three to four people.  There is always one person who never does any work and another who does terrible work.

I always end up having to either write their section of the report for them or correct all of their portion so that it even makes logical sense.  The best case scenario for most groups I have ever been in is for me to have one other person to count on.  At least then I know I won't have to do all of the work.

It is funny to me how engineering classes always stress group work.  Every engineering class I have ever taken has required some sort of group project.  I always draw the short straw when it comes to the people placed in my group.  I do prefer to work alone in most cases but have no problem with some assistance from other people.  Homework groups, study groups, and really any group where there is individual effort yet still group collaboration is good.

I do have a good feeling about my group in this class however.  Previous group meetings with this group have been good and everyone seems very capable of pulling their weight with this assignment. Hope our project turns out good.

Positivist Thoery

The Carolyn Miller article we discussed in class sets up a very interesting argument not only just about technical writing and its place in curriculum, but also about how "absolute truths" are created.  The positivist theory, according to Miller, believes that all facts are out there but it is the scientist's responsibility to discover them.  Scientific and technical writing should "be objective, be unemotional, [and] be impersonal" according to the positivist belief.

Miller seems to argue an opposing view to these previously described beliefs and I agree.  Knowledge is pertinent to every situation.  Just like the religious "poem" example in class, the students made facts out of nothing.  Without the right context, these students began to create something out of nothing.  Similarly scientists each interpret data differently due to their own biases.  It is human nature to read and decipher things to mean what you want them to mean.  New inventions are created every day and what we as society used to believe as fact changes.  Humans used to think that Earth was the center of the universe but with scientific advancement we have corrected these previously known "truths."  Is anything really absolutely true?

Instructions

Instructions are prevalent in our daily lives.  Everything we do from playing a sport to reading a book all have or began with instructions.  I was amazed when looking through my apartment for examples of instructions at how many I have.  The sad realization I came to was that I have only read at best 5% of the instructions in my apartment.

Quite often we as a society are so eager to set up our new television or put music on our ipod that we miss out on much of the useful information in these instructions manuals.  Most instruction manuals not only contain the simple installation instructions that we expect, but contain helpful tips and tricks to make operation easier. Only after failure do we look at how the item in question actually works.  An example from my own life is the television in my room.  When one of the video inputs on the side of the TV where I hook up my DVD player began to malfunction I looked to the manual.  Only then did I realize that I can hook my ipod and camera directly into the TV for viewing pictures and listening to music.  These features, especially charging my ipod, have now been utilized frequently.  I only wish that I could have been maximizing the potential of this television earlier.  I'm now trying to at least skim the instructions manuals of all of the new things I buy to maybe find some interesting features.  You should too.

For your viewing pleasure here is a video of funny baby instructions I found while perusing Youtube.  Enjoy.

Rhetoric

This week in class we discussed the rhetorical situation and analyzed a recent example of rhetorical speech.  As Bitzer explains in his work, a rhetorical situation requires some sort of demand or need.  Bitzer mentions how "Winston Churchill went around looking for 'finest hours'" or platforms to make change.  In a similar fashion President Obama recognized the need for a speech regarding the mosque controversy and responded.

Barack Obama's speech regarding the "Ground Zero" mosque as it has been termed was an appropriate recognition of a rhetorical situation.  He knew or was advised to make a speech due to multiple exigences.  First of which was the rising controversy regarding the placement of this mosque.  The President argued that it would be illegal to disallow the mosque.  This is really his only option.  The President knows the checks and balances of our government and knows that this building has already been allowed by the city council.  He bases his argument on the Constitution and proposes that to disallow the mosque is to disallow freedom of religion. The second exigence I observed was the formal event at which he was speaking.  As the President always holds events for various religious holidays, he knows that he must speak on this occasion.  In this sense, the speech was ceremonial according to Aristotle's definition.  The third and final exigence I noticed was the defining of the Constitution and defense of freedom of religion.  As already stated, Obama references out natural born freedoms and uses that as his defense.  He knows he must defend the foundation of American freedoms and uses this platform to do just that.  I enjoyed reading the Obama speech, regardless of political affiliation, as it was far easier to read than the previous two readings.  Aristotle is a little more confusing than the President.

Since I mentioned Churchill above I'll close with a famous Winston Churchill speech.  Enjoy.