for - adjacency - microscopic biology - macroscopic ecology - multi-scale competency architecture - Michael Levin - Jonas Wickman - micro-to-macro

paper details - title - Eco-evolutionary emergence of macroecological scaling in plankton communities - author - Jonas Wickman - Elena Litchman - date - feb 15, 2024 - publication - Science VOL. 383, NO. 6684

reference - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk6901

summary - This is a very interesting finding that links rules in the micro world to behavior in the macro. - It is relevant to Michael Levin's research on multi-scale competency architecture

question - how would this impact the micro relations between - the microscopic world of humans - the normal macroscopic world of humans

This engagement of concrete problems is done by asking thought provoking question, which make the student provide a deeper analysis of the problem. It's not enough to provide a "yes" or "no"answer for a solution to a problem

The complexity of this problem causes a chain reaction which effects the whole world not only the gulf. Gas prices start to increase and oil miners have to find new resources of oil

Wisdom= Spark in taking action.Once you understand the savarity of the problem it becomes harder to ignore.

Wow this is so true. Now I understand why we are going to have real life clients in this class! https://alexandragetsreal.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/shitgotreal.jpg

Overall skeleton of this article. Pretty much enough said

Interesting. In the medical sense hemorrhaging is a term used to described mass amounts of blood loss but here it's used to describe the catastrophic oil spill

Overall this article is about how real life problems affect everyone else indirectly or directly. Wickman used the example of the Gulf oil spill to cover many avenues of wickedness. It was explained that the ruptured well of the Gulf was unpredictable and unpreventable means of other problems that arise from offshore drilling. Part of the article that caught my attention was when Wickman made clear that in class learning and experience can be used in the real world. It's true that as a student we're taught to study for a grade and not understanding. This article allowed me to realize that sometimes a solution to a problem doesn't necessarily fix the greater issue but temporarily corrects an unintended accident.

Just a few of the consequences reported to the media. I wonder if there was more than 11 deaths????

This also reflects how Wickman sees technical communication as an area in which people with different skill sets work with one another with a common goal in mind, in this example cleaning up the coastal oil spill. Wickman also describes how the context of the problem was a complex one that didn't have one simple and concrete solution but different disciplines working together. This also reflects how the author sees problem solving in general with some problems having solutions and some being more difficult to resolve resulting in contrasting people working on the same project.

This is definitely true in the context of the oil spill. If the spill wasn't stopped as soon as possible the situation would get worse. By stressing the importance of each action I think the author is also emphasizing how important the thinking before an action takes place is. I think it's interesting how Wickman sees solutions and critical thinking as both important measures to take before action but also promoting action itself, like in the socially active example Wickman gives.

Praxis. (n.d.) In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.gsu.edu/view/Entry/149425?redirectedFrom=praxis#eid

"Action or practice; spec. the practice or exercise of a technical subject or art, as distinct from the theory of it; (also) accepted or habitual practice or custom."

Topos. (n.d.) In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.gsu.edu/view/Entry/203433?redirectedFrom=topos#eid

"A traditional motif or theme (in a literary composition); a rhetorical commonplace, a literary convention or formula."

Even more complicated problems arise when they are interdisciplinary, that is, encapsulating both natural sciences and governmental planning problems. An example would be disease epidemics, such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s (even though HIV/AIDS continues to be an ongoing epidemic). It posed a problem to researchers in the field of natural sciences as they tried to determine what caused the disease, and it posed a problem to the general public due to social discrimination that was ongoing against homosexual men during the decade. I would classify the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a "wicked problem" because it meets at least four of the 10 characterizations of a wicked problem that were discussed in this article.

(1) It (currently) has no stopping rule, people are on antiretroviral drugs, but they do not cure the disease, and individuals and their relationships are still being impacted by the disease

(2) Solutions may or may not be effective; not every solution works (or is accessible) to every individual.

(3) Uniqueness: the virus itself is unique, and its structure is part of what makes it so difficult to "fix" the disease.

(4) Wicked problems do not have an enumerable set of potential solutions; as mentioned beforehand, not every solution is feasible to implement.

Both cover pages create a sense of unease, which elicits an emotional response from the audience.

Rothman, L. (2015, April 20). What Caused the Worst Oil Spill in American History. Retrieved September 06, 2016, from http://time.com/3818144/deepwater-horizon-anniversary/

Pierce, B. (n.d.). TIME Magazine Cover: AIDS Hysteria - July 4, 1983. Retrieved September 06, 2016, from http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19830704,00.html

Likewise, we must continue to come up with new solutions (and revise old ones) to continue to combat these ongoing environmental problems. Throughout the paper, the issue is termed as a "wicked problem" because it does not have one solution, and the solutions that fix the situation (or seem to fix the situation) must continually be resolved.

The rhetorical/classical Greek idea of kairos can be applied to this. To elaborate, kairos is to take advantage of a circumstance that arises out of a specific time; it is the "right place at the right time." In this article, the issue of the Gulf oil spill was a time sensitive one. For many complicated problems, it is necessary to develop a workable plan of action and implement it at the right time. To be effective, the plan of action must be implemented in the right social situation.

Pedagogy. (n.d.) In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.gsu.edu/view/Entry/139520?redirectedFrom=pedagogy#eid

"The art, occupation, or practice of teaching. Also: the theory or principles of education; a method of teaching based on such a theory."

Heuristic. (n.d.) In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.gsu.edu/view/Entry/86554?redirectedFrom=heuristic#eid

"A heuristic process or method for problem-solving, decision-making, or discovery; a rule or piece of information used in such a process."

In this paper, the students formulated solutions through their own research -- with little direction from the instructor. The framework in this article can be used as a heuristic, or reference tool for other students to create solutions that develop throughout their lives.

Rhetoric. (n.d.) In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.gsu.edu/view/Entry/165178?rskey=Nuf1dR&result=1#eid

"The art of using language effectively so as to persuade or influence others, esp. the exploitation of figures of speech and other compositional techniques to this end; the study of principles and rules to be followed by a speaker or writer striving for eloquence, esp. as formulated by ancient Greek and Roman writers."

Rhetorical conventions and inventions are used throughout this article.

• Rhetoric searches for persuasive ways to present info and elicit an audience response

• Rhetoric uses concise organization in its media; in technical writing, we utilize different modes

• Rhetorical conventions include precise, compelling, and appropriate language. Technical writers must always keep their audience in mind, and must use the right type of language for their user base. It should not be too technical or too simplified.

• Rhetoric functions off of a framework and purposeful planning; technical writing should have a work log, drafts, and revisions.

• Rhetoric and technical communication have a heavily audience-based delivery.

Problem-based inquiry is valuable because it shifts the "teaching" responsibility from the teacher and encourages student-based learning. It stimulates students to think critically and gives them an opportunity to learn using hands-on techniques.This method is important for us, as students, because it develops skills that are applicable to class situations, professionals situations, and day-to-day situations.

Problem-based inquiry can also teach us to be more engaged and active citizens. It is important that we think critically for ourselves, and question information we come into contact with.

It is really interesting to see all the information of Webber and Rittel's information on what they would have thought were wicked problems in the Gulf spill. It helps to make a clearer understanding of what exactly were the issues that were addressed in the situation. I am really glad that he added this into the reading because I feel that it laid out all the information affectively.

I never saw taking place socially in an issue as defining that issue but I now realize that everyone has a small part in doing so especially when we are responding rhetorically, which is hard not to do in most cases. Social and cultural issues are usually environments where persuasion and rhetoric thrive and encourage argument and counterarguments. I can see how disasters create situations, especially political ones, where rhetorical problem solving occurs.

Rhetoric <=> Technical communication

Rhetoricians aim to persuade their audience, or influence them to make an action. Engaging with controversial topics, developing a provoking argument, and encouraging social change through the language they use; whether it be through a speech, essay, article, etc.

Technical communicators are crafty rhetors; technical communication is a form of rhetoric. The two fields have an overlapping relationship. For technical communicators to be effective they must be open and aware of the situation at hand and more importantly, their audience. (Likewise, rhetoricians must have the same awareness). Timeliness and appropriateness are two additional factors that technical writers and rhetoricians must keep in mind while trying to solve problems.

I really enjoyed that WIckman used the Gulf spill to demonstrate the use of wicked problems, this really had his students take on a whole new meaning of critical thinking when addressing research. And like i stated before this research didn't just take place in a environment research but also in politics and economics.

I think Wickman uses the Challenger explosion as another example because it shows how a failure in communication on a routine or seemingly small part of a process can cause a breakdown of the whole system. I think it's interesting that there is enough documentation on these disasters and the communication issues that created them to write whole books about them and how they could have easily been averted in some cases.

In this part Wickman addresses valuative and deliberative in a sense of definition to explain what Rittel and Webber meant when it was important to respond in this way toward wicked problems. I appreciated this very much, because I wasn't very sure exactly what was meant when saying the two for this process. I like that he mentions this before going into more depth on what the two were saying.

I really like what Buchanan did here with identifying placements to help take note of wicked problems. These steps ike stated helps others to notice signs, things, actions and thoughts. This will allow others to really take in critical thinking to a whole new level because they are looking at so many different ascents of the wicked problems.

The interdisciplinary nature of rhetoric and technical communication are a resounding theme in many of the articles, like Sullivans. I think this is because both authors acknowledge the importance of knowing ones audience and how it is essential to adapt your message and medium to fit that audience and purpose. Wickman again ties social action and also a sense of social awareness to rhetorical invention and problem solving as well. Being able to respond to multiple audiences at one time is also an important skill to have when engaging with situations that can be multimodal.

The Gulf spill demonstrates a wicked problem that occurred in real life. It caused many questions from who did it and caused the situation. What we were supposed to do next when handing the oil spill. Why the it was still spilling when the well was closed. This is a great way to discuss a dilemma and find multiple issues with when looking into research.

Horst Rittel and Melvin M. Webber are the ones who created the term wicked problems as I made note of before. They wrote together "Dilemmas In A General Theory of Planning" and both studied at the University of Berkley.

I think Wickman is also vouching for the applicable nature of technical communication here in more than one area. For example, the author doesn't just see technical communication only in the context of education or the workplace but also a tool that enables people to make informed decisions and make the right action, something that becomes especially relevant in a decision making situation like a crisis.

I found this point thought provoking because the path to action that the speaker is referring to is often overlooked. To be influential, the speaker's audience must be given the disposition to make a change. The end goal of the audience is engagement as well as them taking some kind of action as well.

By Wickman giving his students this guide of Buchman's essay it did help to assist them in the research issue of wicked problems and help them to address the issues of the Gulf spill. Wickman points out that there are things that he could have done better when addressing the relationship between rhetoric and design to his students in a way that could helped them further understand theory and practice of technical communication.

I think the differentiation between "wicked problems" and other catastrophes is an important one to make because the situation changes rhetorically based on which one you are addressing. Wicked problems are issues that don't seem to have a linear path to an answer or a simple resolution. For example, the author states that something like an end to poverty would be a wicked problem as opposed to a "tame" one.

I found this line interesting because I think it mirrors Sullivan's view of technical communication in some ways as well. For example, in both texts social issues ,and technical communication itself in Sullivan's article, are both defined as fluid terms with nonlinear and changing meanings. I also think it's interesting the relationship the author draws between pedagogy and technical communication, using issues like climate change and educational reform to teach effective ways of communication.

Like ccooper51 stated (wouldn't allow me to comment on his post), this would be a very effective way to help encourage students to think critically in school. By using the way that Rittel and Webber characterized wicked problems it helped for his students to expand their thinking to not just how the Gulf spill affected the environment but also how it was affected economically and politically. It allowed them to have "multiple perspectives" when analyzing the situation that was then at hand.

Technical communicators are essential in catastrophic situations because it is such an important time for messages and contexts to be analyzed, created and relayed effectively so the crisis can be managed and dealt with, especially when dealing with a time constraint like in the Gulf Coast oil spill. In this situation responders success depended on first how quickly they could stop the oil from spilling and then cleaning up the oil left behind. Without proper analysis of the situation the situation could have become even worse.

Again like I stated before in one of my annotations, the wicked problems that we face can cause a major challenge and frustration.There isn't just one solution or conclusion to it there are multiple issues that are at hand with them. Overtime though, as Wickman states here, people are able to identify them.

"We analyse the reasons for this, highlighting some of the problems with the better known socio-technical design methods. Based on this analysis we propose a new pragmatic framework for socio-technical systems engineering (STSE) which builds on the (largely independent) research of groups investigating work design, information systems, computer-supported cooperative work, and cognitive systems engineering. STSE bridges the traditional gap between organisational change and system development using two main types of activity: sensitisation and awareness; and constructive engagement."http://iwc.oxfordjournals.org/content/23/1/4.full

Not mush of a note for the text, but I found this really interesting and amusing that the term this two men came up with was "wicked term" for a problem that they had when trying to address social policy. But it points out that not everything involving this topic with have solutions to the answer. Only some parts of it can be truly understood, others there can be many conclusions drawn.

Surely not at ONCE. Wouldn't deliberating on a problem before you've properly identified lead to a conclusion based on incomplete information? Or do you keep evaluating the problem as it evolves?

This is very true. Real world problems are far too sophisticated for quick fix answers. Instead, they require long term solutions, and for those solutions to come to fruition, there has to be a significant amount of planning and communication involved. This is where technical writing can be very useful.

I find this statement central to tackling wicked problems such as homelessness and environmental problems within a classroom. Oftentimes, when students are asked to propose a solution to a problem in a persuasive essay format, students can research a narrow issue to find a reasonable solution that could potentially fix it. When students must address a wicked problem, it is a different story. Not only must students address the issue from the perspective of several disciplines, but they must also consider the longevity of solutions to problems and news ways to address wicked problems as society and circumstances evolve. Wicked problems are not problems that can be solved with a single solution, but rather with multiple solutions that constantly change and grow in scope over time.

This statement exemplifies the difficulty of policy making regarding the oil spill as well as general policy making in the United States. In regards to Wickman's example, limiting fishing in the gulf would seem to be a viable option to nutritionists and other healthcare professionals. However, sociologists, activists, and workers would be concerned about fishermen losing jobs. Many people are under the impression that policymakers must only consider public opinion in regards to the political binary of liberal/conservative, but countless groups are affected by policy changes in various ways. For instance, Wickman's example of limiting fishing in the gulf would affect several other groups indirectly. If fishing was limited in the gulf, local grocers and restaurants would experience profit decrease, which would then negatively affect the local economy.

Coyne's statement here appears to be both a cornerstone of wicked problems as well as a weakness. First, as noted earlier in the article, wicked problems differ from tame problems in their complexity. As Coyne noted, the issues within a wicked problem are constructed, depending on "social, cultural, disciplinary, and political factors." Therefore, there is not one single problem or solution to the gulf spill because people will view the issues and circumstances within the problem differently. For example, as Wickman noted, nutritionists may be concerned with the effect of the spill on the safety of fish for human consumption, while engineers may be concerned with the technical errors that caused the spill in the first place. Second, the non-objective nature and social construction of wicked problems could make it difficult to declare certain problems wicked, even if they fit the criteria. For example, to many people, global warming is a complex wicked problem, but to some people, it is not a problem at all and is actually a myth. Although only a small subset of people in the United States believe that global warming is a myth, the fact that "wicked problem deniers" may exist should be considered in addressing any wicked problem.

Wickman's decision to use the Gulf spill as the wicked problem for his class projects was a very smart one. Earlier in the article, i noted that the Gulf spill is a very difficult wicked problem to tackle because it is a current event, rather than a historical event, like the space shuttle Challenger. Because the issue is so current, academic resources pertaining to the spill would be limited, so students would have to research creatively. Luckily, Wickman and his students live in the gulf area, so they had the privilege to gain insight from primary sources and in-field research by interviewing individual business owners affected by the Gulf spill. Because the students utilized their location to produce better data, it is likely that their projects were much stronger than they would be if Wickman's class was in the Midwest. Also, their firsthand experiences with the Gulf spill and hands-on research would add to the credibility, or ethos, of their projects.

Because of the similarities to the Gulf spill, Wickman could have used the Challenger tragedy of 1986 as the wicked problem for his class project. However, because of the timing of the Gulf spill, it proved to be a much more difficult task than hypothetically addressing the issues of the Challenger tragedy. Because the Gulf spill is such a recent occurrence, less concrete, accurate information is available about the Gulf spill. In part, this is due to the urgency of publications regarding the spill, meaning that proper fact-checking was no deemed as vital as getting the story out as fast as possible. Addressing the Gulf spill as a wicked problem is also more challenging than addressing the Challenger explosion because effects of the spill continue today. The long-term impact of the Gulf spill is still a mystery, so in tackling the wicked problem, students must also predict all of the possible effects of the spill 5, 10, and even 15 years down the road.

Summary

Chad Wickman’s article, “Wicked Problems in Technical Communication,” begins by discussing problem-based inquiry as a method for teaching technical communication. In teaching problem-based inquiry, students can become equipped to address real –world problems in both the classroom and professional settings. Many non-linear, complex problems such as the Gulf spill, can be defined as “wicked,” because they are “ill-defined,” and lack concrete solutions. Based off of Ritel and Webber’s “Dilemmas for a General Theory of Planning,” Wickman further explains the definition of a wicked problem by comparing their “10 Characteristics of Wicked Problems,” to the Gulf spill via a chart on the following two pages. Next, Wickman discusses Richard Buchannan’s concept of “placements,” which act as commonplaces for students or researchers to utilize in addressing wicked problems at the invention stage. In the following section, Wickman explores how he utilized the wicked problems framework for addressing the Gulf spill in his technical communication class. He established several objectives for the Gulf spill project, such as addressing a wicked problem with multiple potential solutions, “understanding problem-definition as a rhetorical and methodological activity, and applying general rules of technical communication and rhetoric “toward documents that are designed to address particular audiences and situations.” In addressing a wicked problem that was also local in nature, Wickman’s students were able to engage in broadening their overall social consciousness, while learning technical writing skills that would prove beneficial in academic and professional settings. During the Gulf spill project, students worked in interdisciplinary groups and utilized a variety of data-collecting methods to promote solutions that address the multiple varying issues that occurred as a result of the Gulf spill. In closing, Wickman noted one benefit of addressing wicked problems. By engaging with a wicked problem like the Gulf spill, students can learn effective ways to address complicated, unforeseen problems in the future as well as the importance of research and writing when it comes to solving complex, large-scale problems.

In Patricia Sullivan's article, "Beyond a Narrow Conception of Usability Testing," she noted that usability researchers, and especially technical communicators who study usability, must strategically develop plans of action utilizing a variety of methods, to effectively find a solution a problem of usability. Similarly, Wickman's students also had to develop a rhetorical strategy in order to tackle the wicked problem of the Gulf spill. However, addressing a usability problem has one major advantage over addressing a wicked problem: testing. For example, if a website has proven to be hard for users to navigate, technical communicators and other usability testers can conduct experiments that test proposed solutions by analyzing individuals' responses to changes in the website. In regards to a wicked problems, students cannot test whether or not limiting fishing in the gulf would be beneficial to the local population. Instead, they can only predict the results of potential solutions.

Sullivan, Patricia (1989). Beyond a Narrow Conception of Usability Testing. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 32(4).

Although design is not the first thing that comes to mind in regards to addressing a wicked problem, it is a key tool in addressing rhetorical situations, especially in multimodal and non-linear projects. According to Writer/Designer: A Guide to Multimodal Projects, a rhetorical situation is the "set of circumstances in which an author creates a text." The five design concepts, emphasis, contrast, organization, alignment, and proximity do not look applicable to the oil spill project in Wickman's class at first glance. However, they can all be utilized to produce rhetorically strong projects addressing the wicked problem. For example, students should use the design concept of contrast when drafting multiple documents for the project. By noting within texts how one document contrasts another, both documents will appear rhetorically stronger and a connection between multiple documents will be made.

Arola, C. (2014). Analyzing Multimodal Projects. Writer/Designer: A Guide to Making Multimodal Projects, 20-40.

By using Buchanan's method of placement, students can incorporate one of the five canons of rhetoric in their projects. The first canon, invention, is rooted in "invenire" which means "to find." At this "finding" stage, students begin to develop and explore their argument utilizing topoi, or topics, such as cause and effect. Similarly, Buchanan's placements, act as loci, or "commonplaces" regarding "signs, things, actions, and thoughts." These commonplaces act as starting points for students to generate ideas within the invention stage. Because wicked problems are so complex, it is difficult to know where to begin from a rhetorical standpoint, but Buchanan's placements are like prompts that get students to brainstorm about different aspects of the oil spill. One excellent aspect of the placements is the fact that students can begin by examining and researching any one of the four placements. This breaks down the concept issue into a more manageable and organized process.

Burton, G. O. The Five Canons. Silva Rhetoricae, Brigham Young University. http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Canons/Invention.htm

Because the author lives in the gulf area, he was able to see both localized and global responses to the gulf spill. On a university campus, he was also able to witness the various reactions to the spill among several disciplines. His students were also able to absorb information about the oil spill through multiple avenues. Because the spill was such a "wicked problem," it could not be solved in one particular discipline or with one simple solution, so it is important that multiple disciplines were engaged in discussing potential solutions. The concept of multiple disciplines engaging with a wicked problem reminds me of the concept of "dialectic," or a conversation between several people in an effort to find a truth or "essence," of an idea (such as in Plato's Gorgias). In this situation, solutions could likely be found if as many people as possible, from a variety of disciplines, were to engage in a dialogue to narrow down potential solutions.

Multi-modal communication is very useful when working with placements as it is key to combining the various types of information (visual, lingual, auditory, etc.) that you may come across or even create while researching using a placement.

This is an excellent example of the "No Ultimate Solution" component of of a wicked problem. Even after a plan has been implement there is still discussion about whether the plan worked as well as it should have and whether the plan will cause problems in the future.

This is why rhetoric and dialogue are so important when searching for a solution. After a solution is implemented, there is no easy way to tell how well it is working or if another solution would have worked better. Weighing your options and considering how to apply their various components carefully is central to technical writing and to rhetoric in general.

Multi-modal communication is useful when presenting placements as it is key to combining the various forms of information (visual, lingual, auditory, etc.) that you may come across or even create while researching using a placement.

People might be more biased towards one explanation depending on where they started in their research. Interfacing with other research groups is a good way to broaden you own perspective, and technical writing is an important skill when sharing your research with others.

The emphasis on signs, things, actions, and thoughts can be correlated to different modes. Signs, things, and actions can correlate to gestural or visual modes. Thoughts can be translated into speech and therefore be a linguistic mode.

Perhaps because the students brought biases from their disciplines and ideology into consideration?

Diverse interests bring in diverse points of view onto the table

As a rhetorician, it is important to have this type of consciousness in order to be more credible and connected to your audience.

This characterization is closely correlated to the one above it -- when trying to come up with a solution to a wicked problem, we just have to hope that it works. When it comes to scientific problems, scientists can perform experiments with many trials to test if the solution works or not. With "wicked problems," each solution is one trial, and if it turns out poorly (which is a possibility since testing the solution beforehand is not an easy task) it can result in further problems.

This is what makes is so difficult to fix any "wicked problem." Especially socio-economic issues that have been problematic for decades. More people need to know that collaboration, particularly effective and willing collaboration, is necessary to continue to create solutions to these problems as they continue to persist.

This idea illustrates why it is essential for interdisciplinary collaboration to take place as we try to develop solutions for "wicked problems." One individual or discipline may be biased and associate one isolated cause to the "wicked problem." Likewise, one individual or discipline may be biased in creating an isolated solution for the "wicked problem." Rhetorical inventions should be unbiased and consider all points of view.

The challenger explosion relates here because it is traced to a technological problem, and problems of rhetoric and technical communication; technological in origin due to the part of the shuttle that malfunctioned and rhetorical/technical communication error due to media and societal involvement. Another example of a "wicked problem" or catastrophe to the same effect of the Gulf oil spill and challenger explosion is the crash of ValuJet 592.

Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion [Digital image]. (1986, January 28). Retrieved September 05, 2016, from http://library.artstor.org.ezproxy.gsu.edu/library/iv2.html?parent=true

This is an interesting thought-- that even though the technical failures are at fault for disaster, there is still liability for the technical writers.

Rhetorically, this emphasizes the public speaking skill and how to maneuver different audiences. It is a very different scenario to address, define, and defend a topic in an intimate group versus a large group (i.e class discussions). The approach and availability of simple connection changes as the audience grows.

An important step of Rhetorical consideration; create boundaries to solutions to visualize what an ideal solution would/should look like.

Rhetoric spans over multiple fields, and technical writing bridges the gaps by creating a unified language to correlate different levels of expertise together.

Finding information that matches up on a controversial topic across multiple sources can be difficult-- and as such can put a wrench in technical writing writing goals. After all, how can you clearly communicate a given goal if the basis of information is skewed?

Is the goal of technical writers (generally) to address or solve their content?

Beyond a Narrow Conception of Usability Testing illustrates the benefit of specific goals (or problems) to focus on while discussing the various communication professionals' priorities when reviewing audiences and usability. Essentially, every successful platform, document, and interface is created with a clear goal in mind, making it easier for a user to access and understand the information

These relationships are highlighted in Beyond a Narrow Conception of Usability Testing as different communication fields are being discussed. Each relationship holds different priorities, and serve different purposes within their markets.

Introducing this style of problem solving to our educational system would encourage critical thinking in a real-world scale. It would allow students to effectively experiment with the importance of perspectives. If students were able to justify prior lessons learned by utilizing them in a multi-field issue, then there would be a higher motivation to understanding and pursuing intellectual pursuits.

Finding resolutions to problems such as these are not easy. As stated, governmental planning plays a big factor. It's the government's job to solve problems quickly, which often leads to the lack of finding a solution that also has quality. This reiterates the emphasis placed on finding resolutions, rather than solutions.

I found this section of text interesting because modern curriculum in classrooms is extremely concrete and fact based. As a result, more complex problem solving skills are lacking. Creating solutions to problems that aren't "linear" is nearly impossible for someone who has never had to do it before.

The purpose can be defined with this text

I could also assume that because the "wicked problem" was so close to home, and had an emotional, physical, and economic effect on the students, they were more engaged and willing to find solutions to the issue. An example of this would be Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane was one of the largest, if not the largest, natural disasters in US history. Coastal and Southern states felt the effect of the hurricane through avenues such as mass migration into bordering states.But it was more than likely less prevalent in Midwestern states.

This chart will be a helpful reference when attacking our client-service projects at the end of the semester. This will be a great reference.

"Wicked problems" are never truly solved. All solutions are temporary. My only question is whose job is it to manage those "solutions" post national emergency? What happens when the novelty wears off? For example, attending college in the city means being confronted with homelessness everyday. It's natural for a person to become conditioned to their surroundings. How can we ever find solutions to things that we're emotionally disconnected from?

Another value of "wicked problems" is the advantage of using a collective of different people with different opinions and contributions. This creates more than one viable option to solve one fluid issue.

Real-life application provides students with experience and further develops the skills they've learned in the rhetoric class. Students will never retain skills and information if they never put it to practice.

I understand the ethical obligation to predict outcomes, but it is nearly impossible to guess every single one, especially with a problem that will seemingly never end.

Placements are not concrete but provide great plans of attack in situations that require immediate response.

It is a very good idea to combine these techniques when you are identifying and troubleshooting a problem. Often you have trouble thinking of solutions because you haven't identified the problem. Other times you have trouble weighing your solutions because you've haven't done a good enough idea of identifying the problem.

The students will have a fuller and more objective idea of the wicked problem after they combine the research they attained from different their various starting point. This decreases the chance of the whole class having biased information. Since they began researching different, more specific topics, they will all have to go to different sources. Now it will be easier to spot flawed information.

I imagine it is difficult to solve a wicked problem if you don't have a large community of participants among the general population to assist you and give your solution rhetorical credibility. Using these heuristics widen the amount of people who are able to understand and, consequently, assist.

Identifying what the problem is and what facets of it need to be solved can be the most difficult part of the process. Using the oil spill example, while many environmentalists might consider the damage to the ecosystem to be the most important problem facing the regions, others might deny the importance of the ecosystem all together and want to focus instead on stimulating the local economies that have been depressed by the disaster.

Can I get an example of a causal network?

I like how the article compares the unique thinking or day to day world issues to the 2010 Gulf oil spill. As stated the problems are so complex they cannot necessarily be fixed in one action

Important term

This is very important for the future generations.