Imagining WRTC

While considering the WRTC Foundational Document, we are tasked with selecting two poster images to brand our department—or as I've put it in my header, with "imagining WRTC." Because I think our department has so much to offer in terms of ideas, I’d like to focus on concepts and disciplinarity, rather than on people.

OK—my first image is admittedly kind of "cosmic," but I wanted to convey the ideas of writing, communication, technology, and virtually unlimited possibility. Sadly, the idea of rhetoric (my own disciplinary focus) is not directly conveyed here; probably, though, it is implied by the possibility of participating in / changing global discourse through writing and technology. From the point of view of cultural inclusion (not to mention statistical reality, at JMU), it would make sense for the hands to be those of a woman. And perhaps it would be ideal if the skin tone of the hands was tanned / light brown (are they already?).

My second image is one I created, and it’s a simple Venn diagram. Although it is simple, I’m hoping the colors—which reflect the RGB color wheel used for a lot of visual rhetoric—are eye-catching. While our three subdisciplines are peripherally inscribed in white upon their color fields, the centrally-located name of our department is inscribed in black on white, and in a larger font. The font style is intended to be crisp and narrow—to be quick and easy to read and to take up minimal width in relation to height, without visual distortion. In terms disciplinary culture, I’ve given a kind of preeminence to “technical communication” by placing it horizontally and immediately below “WRTC.” Really, that placement was necessitated by the desire to maintain design symmetry, since “writing” and “rhetoric” are more equally sized. The important thing here is the idea of subdisciplinary overlap, which implies the idea of interdisciplinarity.

WRTC Poster

“The School of Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication is a community committed to preparing its students—both writers and technical and scientific communicators—for lives of enlightened, global citizenship.” I chose to take a different route with these pictures. We aren't a physically diverse group, and I don't want to use people in the images to pretend that we are. Instead, to incorporate the mission statement, I chose two static pictures. The first I took at the WRTC Meet and Greet at the beginning of this school year.

This shows e-Vision, James Madison's journal of first-year writing. Any first-year student can submit to e-Vision for publication and gives these students a chance to have their work published and understand the importance of having their work available for other readers.

The second image I chose was taken on the quad by undergraduate students for their WRTC 482 course. Their task was to design a website and they chose to incorporate campus into their website.

I liked this picture because it incorporates Harrison Hall and the Quad. WRTC and Harrison Hall are one in the same. Incorporating the "global" aspect of the mission statement, this image shows life outside of Harrison Hall. We are located in Harrison, but aren't contained to Harrison. The sky's the limit.

WRTC Poster

I pulled these words out of the mission statement as the keywords from our mission statement: community, writers, technical, global citizenship. I wanted to choose two images that best reflected these words and showed culture of our program. The good thing about WRTC is it has “diversity.” But I’m speaking about diversity in that our student’s don’t have a “type.” We attract all forms of people. I also want to reflect that in my pictures.

The first picture I picked shows students writing. Even the technical side of the WRTC program does an extensive amount of writing. Not only does this picture show the culture the program but it also portrays the students as being studious, productive students.

The second picture I chose is a very generic image of a keyboard. As a web designer, this is the type of image I would look for to put on the homepage of a website and also an image that could be manipulated for a banner or a poster. The picture is generic, doesn’t show a student (so its inclusive) and doesn’t single out either track, major or class. The picture appeals to all aspects of the program and shows the “technical” side.

These two pictures show the culture of our program without secluding either track or concentration in the program. I feel the pictures could help brand our program and portray WRTC in a positive light for incoming students and parents.

“The School of Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication is a community committed to preparing its students—both writers and technical and scientific communicators—for lives of enlightened, global citizenship.”
I chose these two images to best represent the WRTC mission statement for several reasons. The first image was chosen to show the relationships between not only just students but between graduate and undergraduate students. The picture shows Christy and Katy (both grad students) sitting with an undergraduate student. To get this point across, however, there should probably be some sort of caption explaining the “grad/undergrad sandwich”. Their friendly faces and positioning around the undergraduate student portrays a sense of “community” and “global citizenship”. This picture emulates the writing side of WRTC inherently by showing the undergrad holding up an obvious piece of writing. Unlike many other majors around James Madison, WRTC has classes that give undergrads and graduates the chance to communicate and interact with each other within the learning environment.
The second picture was chosen to reflect the technical communication side of WRTC. The picture shows two students looking over a computer (that just so happens to resemble the same monitors used within our computer labs). The students have smiles on their faces and one student appears to be helping the other do her work. This portrays “enlightened, global citizenship” and “community” by the willingness of students to help each other. The different ethnicity of the students also show a diverse and multicultural feel to the picture that should be welcoming to all persons who see this poster.

WRTC

“The School of Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication is a community committed to preparing its students—both writers and technical and scientific communicators—for lives of enlightened, global citizenship.”

Although "a picture is worth a thousand words," I had a difficult time selecting the images for this assignment. My first choice (from the Science Communication Center at the University of Tennessee--Knoxville) depicts several icons of writing, rhetoric, communication, and various forms of technology: a pen and paper; a computer; a stack of books. To me, this combination suggests the timeless and multifaceted nature of the writer's (rhetorician's, communicator's) art.

The mission statement makes (excessive?) use of words that begin with "comm-": communication, community, committed, communicators. To honor this choice, and to particularize the WRTC experience to JMU, I felt that my second image should feature people. But which people? Today's students learning their craft, or the professionals that those students presumably will become? The "communicators" themselves, or the people around the globe with whom they will be communicating? I wanted to take race and gender into account on some level, as we have previously discussed. As well, with more and more people going back to school at mid-life, I wanted to find an image that would include an older or otherwise "nontraditional" student; even in our tiny Technical & Scientific Editing class, 25% of us are over 30. Finally, it would have been nice for some JMU colors or logos to make an appearance, perhaps in the form of a sweatshirt. I simply couldn't find an image that satisfied me, so I went in a different direction:

James Madison--an icon of the university, and a writer and communicator of no mean stature (metaphorically speaking, anyway).

WRTC Poster

Below are two images I chose to include in a stationary poster for the school of Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication that will hang on the second floor of Harrison Hall. I chose two images that I felt emphasized diversity of choice students have as opposed to diversity of culture.

I thought a picture of an aerial view of JMU’s campus is appropriate for a couple of reasons. First, all Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication undergraduate students must meet the program’s “depth requirement” by “declaring a minor or a second major to meet the depth requirement.” Also, graduate students also have an option to take cognate courses outside WRTC. During their WRTC career, students will be exposed to classes outside of the department. Essentially, this requirement opens up the whole campus to students. I think this is something that should be emphasized by the program. In my experiences as an undergraduate here in a different major, other programs don’t require students to expand their academic horizons. And in today’s tough job market, I think that is something to stress.

While glue–stick collages aren’t necessarily professional, I felt this photo conveyed WRTC’s mission statement quite well. Collages are works of art that is made up of material usually not associated with each other. Just as the student in the picture sifts through a pile of words, phrases, and icons in order to arrange the items on a poster, a WRTC student can combine his or her interests into a finished product—a WRTC degree.

WRTC Program

First, I felt like the images it had to reflect the concepts of our field. This entails the professionalism that our field often suggests in technical communication and the scholarship that often comes with rhetoric, writing, and editing. This means that the photograph should be clean and hint towards both scholarship and excellence. At the same time, though students can range in age and we do embrace that, if I wanted to reflect WRTC in general, the undergraduate program probably gets more recognition than the graduate program, and therefore the people in the photograph had to look young enough to either be in school or fresh out of school and young professionals.





I chose this first photograph because I wanted to show people as students doing what they do most during school—working. Our field also relies heavily on group work, which is evident through the books, so I wanted to make sure that could be incorporated as well. This photograph shows diversity in gender along with possible diversity in ethnicity without looking forced. Often in group photographs, the diversity issue seems pushed and obvious, which makes it seem fake, but this photograph looks natural.





I also decided to include this picture to highlight the modern aspects of our field. We use technology on a regular basis, and if we are trying to represent the program of WRTC, then what we do is as important as who is involved. The person on the computer could be typing a paper, researching information, gathering or analyzing data, or editing; all of which touch on numerous aspects of our program. Though the hands are indicative of being certain races, the fact that the person typing is faceless to us still leaves room for prospective students to imagine themselves in this person's place.

I actually found this image on Google by searching "global citizenship," which is the last part of the WRTC mission statement. I think it works for multiple reasons. We've already discussed in class the idea of having silhouettes instead of pictures of actual people (on the tall WRTC banner, for example). This picture provides the visual of four people without depicting their age, race, or sex. It also gives that "you could be here" feel to the picture that we've also talked about in class. I think the picture also describes what WRTC does without describing the specifics. Technical communication is global, which is demonstrated by the map behind the four individuals. However, it is not an artistically-drawn map. Instead, it is somewhat pixelated which gives it more of a computer look. Although I like the idea of keeping specifics out of the poster because there are multiple aspects to WRTC, computers are involved in nearly every aspect and should be shown in some way.




Using a picture of Harrison Hall for a WRTC poster isn't the most creative idea. But I do think it is important to show prospective students where they would be studying, especially when the campus looks as appealing as ours does. Not every "culture" has a specific place where it is located. For example, I could not show a picture of the Mexican flag or an outline of Mexico to show the Hispanic culture. But the WRTC department is solely housed in Harrison Hall, so I thought showing the building where it resides was important. It also helps students "put a name with a face," so to speak. It's hard to concretely show what WRTC does; there's not a specific "WRTC" image (aside from our logo, that is). This way, we can show students the actual building where the WRTC "culture" is located.

A post from Katherine

I teach a course in the GenEd Cluster Two curriculum called “Music in General Culture.” The term has always puzzled me. Particularly in the fine arts, culture pertains not only to what we might classify as more or less anthropological distinctions (Western vs. non-Western; Germanic vs. Scandinavian; sacred vs. secular; Catholic vs. Lutheran) but to perceived hierarchies as well (“art music” vs. popular music; highbrow, middlebrow, lowbrow). With so many dichotomies in play, what in the world—literally—constitutes general culture? I suppose I should embrace the ambiguity as a license to structure the course according to my own preferences—to teach X and not Y. And I do tailor the content to my own strengths and interests, as does every other instructor who leads a section of this course. Yet, as much as I cherish academic freedom, the burden of editing culture by inclusion/exclusion rests uneasily on my shoulders. I have only 16 weeks with these students, many of whom never have taken, and/or likely never will take, another music course. I am the “expert” here, and my decisions will shape impressionable minds’ ideas about “culture.” What makes the cut? Is it a greater disservice to my students to nix Beethoven or the Beatles? How to balance their likely interests with my own sense of responsibility as a historian? The answer changes every semester, and I doubt I will ever feel entirely satisfied.

Oh, Beautiful

The Hispanic culture is one of the bigger "minority" groups in the US. Because of our proximity to Mexico and Central America, a lot of the immigrants in our country are from Spanish/Latin American descent. While we claim "English" as our main language, the US has never declared a national language and therefore those who cannot speak English fluently still have a right to be in our country. In some cases, companies, publications, public services and the government have taken strides to make sure those who cannot speak English (most often those who speak Spanish) are able to function in our society.

This includes, but is certainly not limited to street signs in Spanish, the driver's test in Spanish, even the pool I worked at in college had a Spanish version of our rules and regulations. What caught my eye today was a Pringles can that we gave a coworker. The can had not only the nutritional information but also the same information in Spanish. As I investigated other labels, I noticed that they were in English and that was all. There was no Spanish on the boxes whatsoever.

I looked up the FDA requirements for language use on food labels. If we have so many non-English speaking residents in the US, why don't all the foods have some Spanish on them? We don't want anyone to get an allergic reaction to something. The FDA says "Since certain consumers may not understand English, it is the intent of the regulation that they be furnished the mandatory label information in a language they can understand." The regulation goes on to say that common words such as "antipasto" do not need to be translated because that word is used in English as well. So again we have an issue of context.

Why did Pringles decide to use Spanish translation on their label and no other language? The US is open to ALL immigrants and while Hispanics are our biggest group, Italians, Middle-Eastern, and French consumers might also enjoy a can of Pringles every now and then. And where does the FDA draw the line on what must be included in another language on a label? There is already a ton of information labels already, do we need to translate it all?

Here is the FDA regulation if you would like to look at it.

Hispanic Population Boo

In America, the Hispanic population is growing faster and spreading farther across the whole country than ever before in history according to the 2010 Census. With nearly 50 million Hispanics populating the United states, the “people of Hispanic origin now clearly represent the second largest group in the country with 16% of the total U.S. population.” Hispanics now possess 12.5 percent of the total population. Because of this Hispanics, have moved to the second highest population amongst different races. Whites and Blacks still occupy the 1st and 3rd slots. According to the census, there was the largest increase in the southern states who usually posses smaller Latino communities.

An interesting fact about the census though, is that it does not differentiate between legal and illegal residents. So, my question is how does the country react and prepare for such an influx in one population of people? The most pressing issue, I believe is how are we going to educate this thriving population of people. In order for our country to be the “land of opportunity” that many Hispanics believe we need to be able to respond to the fact that “just one in 10 Hispanic dropouts has a General Educational Development credentials”. Without taking advantage of the schooling our nations provides we need to develop more and more programs setup to monitor and mentor young Hispanics (much like young African Americans have the FBLA programs).

I would like to see less discrimination against illegal immigrants and more businesses, foundations and associations are taking an active role in recruiting and scholarship programs to get this populations youth better acclimated to our countries culture so that this population can thrive in America.

Honoring Native Americans

The opening lines of the fight song of the Washington Redskins go: “Hail to the Redskins ⁄Hail to Victory ⁄ Braves on the Warpath ⁄ Fight for old D.C.” According to many fans, the team name and the song pay homage to Native Americans. However, many Native Americans find the term highly offensive.

In 1932, the Boston Braves joined the National Football League and one year later, the team changed its name to the Redskins to honor then– head coach William “Lone Star” Dietz, who was part–Sioux. By 1937, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. Frank Deford, a writer and political commentator, explained in an interview on NPR’s All Things Considered that the term “‘redskin’ was a scalp taken by Americans as bounty. The red in ‘redskin’ is blood red.” From this definition, it's clear the nickname is not a term of endearment.

Even though the Washington Redskins refuse to change their name, many other teams are. In 2005, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced schools with offensive Native Americans would be barred from participating in postseason events if they didn’t change. And in a recent article in the Washington Post, Mike Wise reports there were over 3,000 Native American nicknames throughout high schools, colleges and professional teams in 1970. By 2009, less than a 1,000 nicknames remained.

Despite the decrease of offensive Native American nicknames, many highly–visible professional sports franchises have rejected overtures to change their nicknames. Including the Redskins, the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians and Golden State Warriors continue to operate while using out–dated terminology.

It’s time to honor the wishes of Native Americans and remove offensive language from sport’s teams.

culture jamming

I thought that this was an interesting concept. Culture jamming is a movement meant to disrupt the current social culture as well as the concept of exposing questions and political assumptions behind a certain culture. This could include redesigning a logo that is well-known, dressing a certain way, or, refer to movements that our country has gone through in the past. In a way, it's the idea of anti-consumerism, but what makes up consumerism is a specific culture.

For example: the goth trend. It came about in response to the preppy trend
Another example would be dada. I know no one else in this class is big on art, but consider the following piece of work, by Hans Arp titled "Collage with Squares Arranged According to the Laws of Chance." It's out of a movement called dada, which was in response to World War I. This piece is now worth millions.



[Materials used: construction paper]

Another example I found is one for Australia's Department of Defence. The ad has a full-black background and looks sleek and clean. It states, "HAVE YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES?" It continues, "Why settle for an ordinary office job when you could have an extraordinary and challenging career as a pawn in the power games of politicians? [insert profane concepts here] ... You will receieve over $44,700 per annum upon completion of initial training, which should just about cover treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Gulf War Syndrome... The Defence Graduate Program is an exhilarating way to hand over your life to apolitician and partake in yet another imperialistic land grab."

Quite the interesting way of viewing that culture, I'd say.

The point is, not only does a culture exist within itself, but it has external ramifications as well. And, if one does certain things to be in a culture, that means others do certain things to be out of a culture. It's just another factor of culture that we have to think about when editing... not only how will it affect the people within that culture, but how will it affect those who are not part of it?