Toscano- (English Studies-) Centered Topics for IRA Essays

IRA-Career Essay

After you've read Alan Cooper's The Inmates are Running the Asylum, I know you'll have an opinion or two about his view of the IT world, a world all of us inhabit and some of us think we run. As you read this book, I want you to think about how the information could be useful for your career or career path. You might not be able to claim Cooper directly is useful, but he may be indirectly useful by getting you to think about what your future may hold. After you've finished the book (and I'm giving you lots of time to read this book), I want you to write an essay, a career-oriented essay inspired by Cooper.

All essays are meant to be at least five pages in a normal typed, double-spaced format. All should have a title other than, "The Inmates are Running the Asylum Essay." Also, all essays should be well written, unified, coherent documents nearly free of mechanical, logical, or structural errors (representative of appropriate upper-level college writing). See the Assignments Page for more detail.

"Important" IRA Topics to Discuss

Just like the programmers--those insensitive beings Cooper talks about in his book--the following list of paper topics would be the English-centric equivalent to looking at the world from one's own technical perspective...

Below are possible paper titles for the English-centric reader and page numbers proving the thesis...what's a thesis? Something you want to propose...

• Goodbye Technical Writers
  Page 53: Demise of the 21st-Century technical writer
  Page 230-233: Technical writers can become interaction designers

• No one fetishizes grammatically correct sentences
  Page 157: hygienic goals are like grammar and (not always) effective communication; grammatically correct sentences are often prerequisites to effective communication but don't motivate communication

• Video Games can Make Users Struggle and they're fun...spreadsheets and desktop publishing shouldn't make users struggle
  Page 161: It's important to hide "stuff" to make a game enjoyable
  Games have to have rules (Juul, p. 36)
  Games have to have player effort (Juul, p. 36)

• Computer Literacy is a Vague, Ineffective Goal
  Page 242: The myth of computer literacy being a 21st Century Goal

The "computer literacy" phrase is ineffectual in describing what appears to be behind the spirit of such a phrase--people should know how to use technology, specifically, computer technology. I often hear the term "critical thinking" being used in educational circles without the speakers really knowing what they mean by the phrase. If one cannot define his or her teaching goals, spouting "critical thinking" as a goal is really just an empty, unreflective pedagogy.*

Why privilege "computer literacy" if technology is obtuse and not made with users/consumers in mind?

Questions to ask Youself for your IRA-Career Essay

The following questions are to help you think about direction for your essay. I normally wouldn't agree with giving so many guidelines because I don't want you to think that you have to respond a certain way. However, I understand that there are different (non-English major) backgrounds in this class, so I provide questions and topics to help you conceive of a topic.

• How does Cooper work in the larger scheme of the world? For instance, is he being realistic in his approach or assumptions?

• What about Cooper's philosophy relates to the technological world you inhabit and/or career identity to which you aspire?

• How does Copper speak to your career path or career assumptions/understanding?

• Does he describe a culture to which you aspire, or is he constructing a context that you question?

• Do your experiences in the computer programming world match his assumptions?
  -or-
  Do your experiences as users match his assumptions?

*For the record, my totally hermetic definition of "critical thinking" is to have students become culturally aware individuals who knowingly (as opposed to passively) operate within our hi-tech, post-industrial society.