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diff --git a/docs/umich/f24_tc496.md b/docs/umich/f24_tc496.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e9e23ff --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/umich/f24_tc496.md @@ -0,0 +1,143 @@ +# Fall 2024 Course Review: TC 496 + +2024-12-20 + +Course Title: Advanced Technical Communications + +Rating: 3.5/5 + +## Instructor (Amy Pavlov) + +She made a statement on the first lecture: she cares. Whether it's the +preferred name policy, or the acknowledgment to the Anishinaabe people. +These gestures formed my respect for her on the first day. + +Although grades can come out later than one would expect, she always +provides thoughtful feedback. + +She and her children are also tøp fans. They were at Clancy Tour as well, +though [I did not know that until the lecture next +day](../music/clancy-tour.md#monday). + +## Course topics + +This course typically accompanies a student's MDE (major design +experience), i.e. capstone. We talked about the MAPS of technical +communication: + +- Mode: document format and conventions +- Audience: who's reading it, who _could_ read it, what do they need or + expect to know +- Purpose: after they read it, what do you hope they do +- Situation: context of a certain piece + +We were asked to write stuff, and then sometimes write a reflection +discussing MAPS. We needed to justify our choices: Why did you use +a bullet point on this slide? Why did you enlarge the figure on the +poster? Why didn't you wear fancy shoes on the presentation? etc etc. +(Lack of fancy shoes is not a deduction.) + +## Assignments + +The course material is reflected in the assignments. I will talk about the +substantial ones I did. + +Core assignments: everyone has to do them. + +- Email: how to write professionally +- Project team charter: a contract which was supposed to be enforced in + our project team but has never been cited once after it was written +- Two presentations: one on any topic, the other on our capstone projects, + along with reflection for each +- Rhetorical analysis: comment on a group's poster and report in + a previous year with MAPS principles + +Non-core assignments: we can pick 3-4 from a list. I picked: + +- Resume and reflection +- Poster and reflection +- Report and reflection + +(The reflections are immensely helpful because I can just copy them here) + +## Presentation 1 + +Sample slide: + + + +From my reflection: + +> My presentation is titled “Real-Time Linux is now just Regular Linux,” +> […]. I could have gone with any other topic, but once I came up with the +> title, there was nothing else. + +> The idea came to me when I saw on the news that Linus Torvalds […] has +> merged the last patch from real-time Linux. […] However, it would be +> boring for the embedded system folks if I just repeated Prof. Brehob’s +> words. Therefore, I decided to focus instead on non-embedded +> implications. + +> Although the presentation was supposed to be purely informative, I was +> in fact making an argument that real-time Linux being official is good +> news, and implicitly suggesting that more people should consider using +> Linux. + +Section "Delivery": + +> Of all presentations I have made, this is my best one. First of all, +> I showed a level of confidence that I wish I had in the past few years. +> I came up to the stage with the expectation that everyone was +> anticipating my talk, not judging it. I also managed to made it both +> informative and entertaining. Furthermore, the presentation was timed +> perfectly, clocking almost exactly 4 minutes, covering exactly what +> I had prepared for. + +> One thing I dislike about my delivery is that I was pacing around too +> much. I was alternating between pointing to the projector screen and +> reading from the speaker notes. If I could do it again, I would stay +> close to the laptop, and point to the screen with the laser pointer. + +> My attire was the best I could do. The pants were on sale at JCPenney, +> and the shirt and belt were bought on eBay. I have no dress shoes. + +Section "Comment": + +> Watching this video is a form of self-affirmation. Over the year that +> I spent in Michigan, my self-esteem has grown tenfold, and now I’m doing +> things I could never have done in Shanghai. Today I went to a Halloween +> event dressed in a tablecloth with a schematic of the 370 pipeline +> processor drawn on it and didn’t feel nervous at all. + +> I sent this video to my mother. Over the month she has been showing it +> to her coworkers, who don’t understand a word I’m saying but all agree +> that I look grown up and professional. I’m very thankful that I have the +> opportunity to reform my opinion of myself. + +## Verdict + +I wrote in my exit survey: + +> What I learned in TC496 was not a doctrine; even the Assertion-Evidence +> was a suggestion (the fact that it has [a +> website](https://www.assertion-evidence.org/) makes it look like a cult, +> honestly). It was more subliminal. It reduces the risk that I’m writing +> something that only makes sense to me. + +> When artists create digital artwork involving anatomy, they (including me) +> routinely mirror the canvas to check if something is horribly off. TC496 +> is that mirror button. It is an inner voice to remind me to think of the +> audience. I’ve always been doing that since ENGR 100, but this course +> requires me to explicitly answer the questions: who am I writing for, and +> what do they need to know? Answering them helps me to stop elaborating on +> common knowledge and to explain jargon. + +> Now, a rant. All the tech comm courses I’ve taken over these years (ENGR +> 100, TC 300, TC 496) seem to have taken a toll on my creative writing. +> I cannot write a piece of fiction or poetry without the urge to make it +> basically an event log. Sometimes I need something to make sense only to +> myself, e.g. the kitchen sink. I need to separate serious writing from +> casual writing. Sometimes colorless green ideas _can_ sleep furiously. diff --git a/docs/umich/f24_wrapup.md b/docs/umich/f24_wrapup.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..16a5143 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/umich/f24_wrapup.md @@ -0,0 +1,63 @@ +# Fall 2024 Wrapup + +2024-12-20 + +My third semester at UMich was a very important one. I made substantial +progress in my self-growth and self-discovery. It is not only that +I turned into a furry. OK, it is _mostly_ that I turned into a furry. But +I also climbed out of my EECS cavern and dabbled in some high arts, such +as Laura Okkema's creative writing group where we wrote fairy tales, +horror stories, and poetry. If this semester had a tagline, it would be +"Learning to Live Again". + +## Course reviews + +- EECS 473, Advanced Embedded Systems +- TC 496 (full course code TCHNCLCM 496): Advanced Technical + Communications +- EECS 496: Major Design Experience Professionalism +- GERMAN 231: Second-Year German + +## Notable gains + +- $75 worth of Amazon gift card, which I spent on a bike helmet and some + reflective stickers +- An abundant amount of furry stickers +- Four boxes of rapid tests for free +- Social Security Card +- A flu shot (covered by insurance) +- Access to the MESH lab so I can play with soldering irons + :floofmischief: +- Whitfield Diffie signed my PGP key + + + +## Places I Went + +- Festifall North & Central +- Saviors Tour by Green Day + - They played _Dookie_ and _American Idiot_ __on full__ +- [Clancy Tour by twenty one pilots](../music/clancy-tour.md) +- An apple orchard with the furries +- [CAPS](https://caps.umich.edu/) for two therapy sessions + +## Things I Saw/Read/Otherwise Perceived + +- Aurora borealis (2024-10-10) +- _The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys_, written by Gerard Way & Shaun + Simon, illustrated by Becky Cloonan + +## Music I Made + +I covered four songs in two sessions. + +- [I Recorded These Songs Instead Of Going To + A Therapist](https://fkfd.me/jam/i-recorded-these-songs-instead-of-going-to-a-therapist/) + - "There, There" by Radiohead + - "Gay Bar" by Electric Six +- [I Recorded These Songs After Two Therapy + Sessions](https://fkfd.me/jam/i-recorded-these-songs-after-two-therapy-sessions/) + - "The Line" by twenty one pilots + - "Christmas Drag" by iDKHOW diff --git a/docs/umich/img/f24_wrapup/diffie.jpg b/docs/umich/img/f24_wrapup/diffie.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f4c371 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/umich/img/f24_wrapup/diffie.jpg diff --git a/docs/umich/img/f24_wrapup/rtlinux.png b/docs/umich/img/f24_wrapup/rtlinux.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5d7d81 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/umich/img/f24_wrapup/rtlinux.png diff --git a/docs/umich/index.md b/docs/umich/index.md index 86c4534..75e57c6 100644 --- a/docs/umich/index.md +++ b/docs/umich/index.md @@ -11,3 +11,8 @@ so basically i live in ann arbor now - [EECS 311, Analog Circuits](w24_311.md) - [GERMAN 386, Fairy Tales](w24_fairy.md) - [CEE 265, Sustainable Engineering Principles](w24_sus.md) +- [Fall 2024 Wrapup](f24_wrapup.md) + - EECS 473, Advanced Embedded Systems + - [TC 496: Advanced Technical Communications](f24_tc496.md) + - EECS 496: Major Design Experience Professionalism + - GERMAN 231: Second-Year German |
