Week 8

Week 8: Persuasion and Authority

Monday, Nov 15

We discussed ethos, logos, and pathos as the three types of rhetoric. The most important for technical communication is pathos, it's where we often have a disconnect.

• Angie brought up abused puppy commercials as an example of the use of pathos. For those with Netflix, I recommend watching Cristela Alonzo's Lower Classy stand up. There's a joke about Sarah McLachlan's music along these lines.

Some references:

• Spotting misleading graphics (via Calling Bullshit)

• The Minard plot (english)

• "The rise and fall of scientific authority", Robert Crease

• "A crisis of authority in scientific discourse", Nichols and Petzold

• The Book of Bad Arguments

Note, some of the following identify political perspectives. You should read them not as advocates for a particular political ideology, but with respect to their message about effective communication.

• JStor Daily: The Fake News Media Literacy Reading List

  • Four Hard Truths about Fake News

  • The Meme or Memes: Information as Objects

• America Dissected Podcast: "Campaign and Health Experts Review Vaccine Messaging"

Wednesday, Nov 17

• Today we're meeting in Skye, but will walk over to the Learning Glass studio to go over the logistics of our recordings. We'll head out right when class starts, and we can do check in after the Learning Glass tour. Special thanks to Siddiq Siddiqui-Ali for hosting us.

• If you arrive late, we'll be walking to Olmstead Hall A139 (I think this is in the basement)

• After seeing the studio, we'll head to the Barn to discuss 

• Discussion of truthiness, scientific authority, and fake news

• How do we guard ourselves against disinformation?

• How do we communicate persuasively?

• Discussion of letters of recommendation

Homework

• Due Monday 11/22: [submission link] Peer Review of Revised Blog Post. Your assigned peer review is on our internal page.

  • Link to submitted second drafts

  • If your peer has not uploaded a second draft, you should review their first draft. Link to submitted first drafts.

• Due Monday (11/22): [submission link] 

  • Brief outline of a 3-5 minute presentation on your blog post. Guidelines are posted here. The presentation doesn't need to necessarily have the same goal as your blog post, but you should still have the following elements:

    • A catchy opening sentence

    • A clearly articulated goal 

    • A technical idea that you explain as part of the goal

    • A reference to your scifi story to support your goal

    • You should show a figure to support your goal

• Due on the last Friday of the quarter (12/3): [Submission link] letter of recommendation for one of your peers. 1-2 pages, use business format. Guidelines are posted here.

• Due on the last Friday of the quarter (12/3): [submission link] one last final draft of your blog post. Same guidelines as draft 2. 

• Due on the last Friday of the quarter (12/3): 3-5 minute presentation. Either live via UCR Learning Glass (Week 10) or via pre-recorded submission.  Guidelines are posted here.

Links

• "This Article Won't Change Your Mind"

• How to Talk to a Science Denier, Lee McIntyre