Response to Ethical Writing Research

I found the research for dehumanizing language quite interesting. It seemed as if all logical examples were intentionally omitted from online publication. I must have thought up of five excellent possibilities of where to find dehumanizing language, and every time I search for that topic I came up with no examples. Some of the possibilities were of European tyrants who slaughtered a certain people, basically some sort of ethnic cleansing. Those included Francisco Franco, who alongside Hitler slaughtered the Catalan people for trying to secceed from Spain. In more recent history, Slobodan Milosevic butchered the Bosnians because they were Muslims, and he believed that all should be Christian like the Serbs. I found my sites talking about such tyrants using dehumanizing language, but never managed to locate the original documents. I began to suspect as if this might have been an exercise to find out first hand that such documents are so offensive that their publication is looked down upon.

Ethics in the Workplace

In response to the article, I think that first unethical conduct in the workplace is natural. Human psychology can be blamed for that. Everyone has different standards of ethics, therefore different people will behave differently at work. Talking about the actual ethics of employees is one thing, but more importantly we must discuss the solutions for unethical conduct at work. What struck me the most of all the fact listed in the article were not the percentages of unethical conduct or the number of people involved relatively, but the three reasons listed to why unethical conduct is not reported, especially conduct which could result in a scandal. All reasons had to do with the company as opposed to the employees. Employees interviewed were reluctant to report such actions because of company procedures, whether it is how much action the company will take or the method of reporting. I think it is very important to highlight ethical situations on the company's part. By setting high standards of ethics, there would be no question to the ethical nature of any situation. Coming 5 minutes late to work everyday is unethical to such a company, and the employees will agree if ethics are stressed. If the company does its part, so will the employees.

Web vs. Paper writing

From an architect's perspective, it's all a matter of design. Most paper writing must be designed to fit certain borders, sizes, and length. When considering web writing, the restrictions can possibly be fully eliminated. Technically, you can have unlimited space. There are no restrictions. Linking can easily be compared between the two. I recall an example of a magazine to which I subscribe, Saltwater Sportsman. One can read most of the articles published in the physical magazine on the SWS website. The same article that would have to be restricted to a quarter of a page can be displayed in a full link from the main section. Another issue is the consideration of the audience, and how much time that audience will be spending reading a certain portion. In physical form, an article has to be designed to include a lot of information in a concise form that keeps the reader interested. In web design, things can be seperated with links that direct the user from one page to the next based on interest. Concept of designing the two is very similar, but the possibilities are different. On webspace, paperspace is unlimited, but nothing can compare to having the physical copy in your hands.

Spring Break Reflection

We headed down to Florida with high hopes. Everything was going perfect. The spring storms were contained in the Carolinas and Georgia. The weather in the Keys was going to be flawless according to the news. It was almost too perfect; too good to be true. Sure enough, my luck ran out. As soon as we reached the house and unloaded our luggage, things started to go badly. I started the trip by chipping a tooth biting on a fishing rod instead of using a pair of pliers. Half an hour later, we decided to go out for dinner in an attempt to improve my morale. While backing out of the driveway, I ran into a tree. I was barely moving when I hit it, but to my continued misforture, a branch was perfectly positioned to miss the bumper and hit the rear glass dead-on. After dinner, I prayed for better luck the next day. The next morning I had to pick up the boat. To my luck, it was low tide, and the boat owner decided to pick the shallowest boat ramp in the area. Five minutes after leaving the ramp, I ran aground. We spent the rest of the day trying to manually push the boat in futility. Not until the tide rose again were we able to get out with the help of another boat. I wasted a day of fishing wallowing in a saltwater flat. At this point I was losing all hope. Everyone assured me my streak of bad luck must have run out, but I doubted. Unfortunately, I was right. The rest of the trip was cursed with bad weather. We were able to reach open water once in five days. On that day, we pressed our luck to reach blue water, only to have most on board get sea sick. We ended the trip with two mackerel and a small shark. This was by far my most disappointing fishing endeavor.

Resume Cheating

At first, I did not fully understand how someone can expect to lie and get away with it on a resume. My assumption was creating positions not held, which in fact was mentioned. Predominantly, however, the article focussed on smaller "white" lies. At first, one must wonder why should there be the need to lie in order to get a job, since experience is gained as time goes by. When considering the situation of someone who has been rejected over and over, and the period goes into months of unemployment, it is easy to see why such a person would lie about something so trivial as expanding the timeframe of a job held. It is human nature to try to mask the imperfections. More shocking, however, was the mentioning of elaborating on job titles, and how this can be viewed as lying, leading to termination. It is easy to see how one can expand on a previous job position. Speaking from experience, if certain tasks performed are not part of the position's description or title, one can easily be tempted to expand on the title to include those tasks. The scary thing is that is still considered dishonest, even if it were meant with honest intentions. I guess the best thing one can do is thoroughly understand the description of a title, and ask for modifications to that title if certain tasks are not part of that position. Otherwise, don't mention those tasks in the form of a newly invented job title.

Presentation Response

Last week we were busy in class giving presentations. The presentations could be about anything, from persuasive to instructive. Personally, I chose an instructive presentation on the preparation of the perfect burger. I felt that appealing to the audience's sense of taste would be the force behind my presentation, and the reason to be attentive. Hence, I chose the most vivid pictures of what I would expect a burger to look like. Surprisingly, I had someone talk to me about cooking after class because of my presentation. I thought the other presentations were excecllent. I especially liked the one on the presidential election. I felt that she addressed an issue that is always ignored because of ignorance. Many people, especially students, ignore the election because of the crazy terminology that comes with it, such as "superdelegates," "caucuses," and "primary." The student did an excellent job of explaining most terms and procedures of both parties. She kept it concise, and managed to remain unbiased in her presentation of the two parties. In the end, she stressed the importance of voting, which I thought to be a nice ending.

Interview Reflection

I felt the interview went very well. I was relaxed, and Angie seemed to sense that. We conversed freely and casually at the beginning, discussing issues such as my origin and travels. She incorporated my foreign experiences into several questions, which I feel I used successfully to show my broad knowledge and experience of Architecture. I was limited by my clothes (I only had jeans, leather shoes, and a nice sweater at my disposal) but was comforted by the fact that Angie, herself, was not in extremely formal attire. Coincidentally, Angie shares some of my experience in French. Both of us have been involved in the Clemson Declamation, she as a coach and I as a student. We shared some memories of competition, and Angie recited some of the popular poems used. Overall, it was a comforting experience. I never felt choked up or nervous to converse and share my thoughts.