Blogs Commented on this week

Jenny Mockford 1-29-10

Daniel Storz 2-4-10

Question

I am a little confused. When the assignment is to post on two classmate previous posts do we post the comments in our blog or as a comment on their blog? Last week and this week I posted comments to their blogs. The draw back is they need to review and post the comments, if they don't post them the comments are not seen by anybody.

Media Kit For Viewing

Fortune Media Kit

I was able to follow the directions to map a network drive written by Michael Sasser. His directions were detailed and as far as I can tell accurate. This demonstrates the types of documents that can be written if you are familiar with the subject. To write instructions the more you know helps you to be able to relay the information to someone else.

It was a good job on the rewrite of the sample we were given. The difference between the original, filled with "inside jokes", and Micheal's version shows what a professional document should look like.

Blog for FEB 9

Class Exercise

Text Book Rhetoric

Advertisers need to focus on what their client company does best, package it with the right amount of rhetoric, and have people see it as much as possible. In analyzing the rhetoric it becomes possible to question the value of the claims made. The statements can be accepted as true for the analysis. By observing how the claims are made and what is not claimed enables us to become better consumers.

One of the publishers of my text books, Pearson, has a companion web site. They follow the standard advertising drill of pushing the rhetoric. They build ethos by stating "Pearson is the world's leading education company." They base this on the number of customers. They do not claim to be the best at teaching or the cheapest. A further attempt to build ethos is a statement about awards they have won. The awards were for excellence in book binding. This does not lead me to believe they are the best at teaching.

Pathos is used when they let us know "We aim to help people make progress in their lives through education and information – to help them to 'live and learn'." An appeal to people that Pearson is trying to make sure we move forward and to live. This imperative that we cannot live without buying these books is hard to believe.

Pearson appeals to our logos with "It is known around the world for its independent and authoritative information." If all these unnamed people know about it Pearson must be good. No true testimonials or references are provided at the site.

With all of the rhetoric and lack of any claims that I feel good about my buying habits for text books does not change. I still must buy the books based on the class requirements. This blog has as much impact as Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes. We read it, we agree or disagree, we move on a little wiser for having spent time with it, but we still buy the books we are told to buy.

This Week's Blog

The worksheet

When I reviewed my email files to find one to write about I noticed a pattern. The more familiar someone was with you the less information and "niceties" there was in the email. In each of these messages the tone was set in the first line of the email. I knew the content of the message before reading the entire text.

Chase Bank opens their formal business email with Mr. Charles E. Pelaske Jr... This tips me off there may be something legal in the memo. The opening was followed by legal stuff telling me they changed the terms on a credit card I do not use. Publisher's Clearing House does not know me at all. They refer to me as Mr. Pelaske before they offer to fix my financial position. The most familiar was from my brother. “Check this out" was all he wrote and he included a web site address.

Chase tried to maintain a friendly tone. Other than the opening paragraph, the message was bland and unappealing. Writing this type of message is difficult. The ability to deliver bad news while trying to keep customer goodwill takes talent. Chase effectively balanced the bad news by reminding customers of the services available to them for the increased cost.

Publisher's Clearing House sent their usual promotion of giving away millions of dollars. The email was a full page of how the reader could become rich and how others have already become rich by clicking on the link. The sale of actual merchandise does not occur until you have clicked on the link. The tone is upbeat throughout the entire email. They want the reader to feel the sense of urgency to click the link by the use of bold print with underling. These mental pushes are on the key parts requesting the reader to respond now and prompt entry needed. The reference to others that lost because they failed to respond seems mildly threatening. This approach must work because they have been using it for decades.

My brother's email would be impossible to discern a tone in without the entire context of where the link went and why he sent it to me. This short an email may be acceptable between family members. In the work place it would be a mistake, no matter how well or how long you worked with someone. The intended joke could backfire by misinterpretation.