It’s Okay to Use AI

A background shows black, gray, and white code with orange highlights. On top of this faded background are these words: It's okay to use AII was just thinking about the “Run the dishwasher twice” advice this early morning. I take it to also mean “It’s okay to run the dishwasher twice” when you just don’t have the energy to unload the 1/2 pile of dishes in there. It’s okay to add what’s on the counter and run it again.

I apply this general concept to EVERYTHING (or at least I try to). The general idea to me is that it’s okay to take shortcuts, even if they may not be the ideal, best choice for you, your family, or the universe. I spent a few minutes this morning making myself some “Run the dishwasher twice” mini-posters to hang up and remind myself that it’s okay to do what you need to do, even if it’s not the most perfect choice in the universe. Believing that there’s only that ONE allowable way to do things is just perfectionism, and we all know perfectionism is the enemy of getting things done.

While in this “Run the dishwasher twice” headspace, I next picked up my to-do list of AI-related ethical scenarios that I’ve been working on. I’ve been using chatGPT to help me write these scenarios. Don’t get me wrong: They are my ideas and I edit the heck out of them. That said, I let AI brainstorm options, clean things up, and even do the HTML coding for me. It’s not that I can’t do all this myself. I’m simply using AI to speed up my productivity.

Of course, there’s a problem with all this. Those negative voices immediately showed up in my head. I frequently—VERY frequently—feel as if I’m cheating when I use AI. The kerfuffle over students using AI to cheat the system and plagiarize their way to graduation doesn’t help. I know that’s a ridiculous claim, but it’s still in my head. So when I go about using AI, I have this belief that I’m cheating the system. “Real” writers would never use such artificial shortcuts. “Real” writers would never use AI to create the images for their text. They would search for Creative Commons images. “Real” teachers would never, never use AI.

As I was sitting here in my self-loathing, telling myself that I could and should do better, my eyes glanced back over the “Run the dishwasher twice” mini-posters that I just made, that I haven’t even hung up yet. My remarkable voices shifted completely: “Stop it!” they said. “You’re just running the dishwasher twice. There’s nothing wrong with using AI to get things done.’ Sometimes my voices are super-freaking amazing.

So in case you’re in the “using AI is cheating” headspace, let me say this loud and clear:

It’s NOT cheating to use artificial intelligence to get things done. You’re using the tools you have at hand to get things done. Use it! Do your best work! Be your best you!

In fact, if you’re like me, a NTT teacher, you already have fewer resources and more to do than many colleagues for whom writing and research are required and supported. If you’re a person of color, a person with disabilities, a woman, or LBGTQ+, you historically have fewer resources and more demands on you. So take advantage of the tools you have available. What if you could write that code yourself or brainstorm a list of sample topics for your class? Let AI do that work so that you have time to mentor a student or colleague, pick up your child, or just take a deep breath. Run the dishwasher twice.

Ethical Scenario: “The Cake is a Lie”

Sometimes when you area very tired, you ask ChatGPT to do silly things. Like maybe you’ll say this to it:

Write an ethical scenario for college students to discuss. Focus on the statement “The cake is a lie.”

And then ChatGPT comes up with the following in response:

Scenario:

A black and white image showing a slice of cake with a cherry on top and the tagline, The cake is a lie.You are a group of project managers in a software development company, FutureSoft, working on a highly anticipated video game. The company’s marketing team has heavily promoted a special in-game reward, a unique item referred to as “The Cake,” which players can earn after completing a series of challenging tasks and puzzles. “The Cake” has been touted as an exclusive, must-have item that offers significant in-game advantages and status.

However, as the project nears completion, the development team encounters unexpected technical issues. These issues make it impossible to include “The Cake” in the game without delaying the release by several months and significantly increasing costs. The marketing campaign has already generated considerable excitement and expectations among the gaming community.

The leadership team at FutureSoft is considering an alternative: to include a humorous message in the game stating, “The cake is a lie,” implying that the promised reward does not actually exist. This would allow the game to be released on schedule and within budget, but it could also lead to disappointment and backlash from players who feel deceived.

Discussion Points:

  • Honesty vs. Marketing:
    • How should FutureSoft balance the need for honesty with the expectations created by their marketing campaign?
    • Is it ethical to use a humorous message to cover up the absence of a promised feature?
  • Stakeholder Impact:
    • Consider the impact on different stakeholders, including players, developers, and the company’s reputation. How might the message “The cake is a lie” affect their trust and loyalty?
    • Should the company prioritize its commitments to its customers or its internal project constraints?
  • Transparency and Communication:
    • How should the project managers communicate the issue to the players? Should they be transparent about the technical difficulties, or try to downplay the absence of “The Cake”?
    • What strategies can be used to mitigate potential backlash while maintaining transparency?
  • Alternative Solutions:
    • Explore alternative solutions to address the issue. Could the company offer a different reward or compensate players in another way?
    • What are the pros and cons of delaying the game’s release to include the promised feature versus releasing it on time without “The Cake”?
  • Ethical Responsibility:
    • Discuss the ethical responsibility of the company in delivering on its promises. How does this responsibility weigh against practical business considerations like cost and deadlines?
    • Is it ethical for the company to mislead players, even if it’s done humorously? Why or why not?
  • Long-term Implications:
    • What are the long-term implications of this decision for the company’s brand and player trust?
    • How might this situation influence FutureSoft’s future marketing strategies and promises to players?

Your Task:

As a group, you are tasked with preparing a detailed report that addresses the ethical, communication, and project management challenges associated with the “The Cake is a lie” scenario. Your report should include:

  • An assessment of the potential impact on players and the company’s reputation.
  • Recommendations for handling the situation ethically and transparently.
  • A communication plan for addressing the issue with players and the broader gaming community.
  • An evaluation of alternative solutions and their feasibility.
  • A reflection on the company’s ethical responsibilities and long-term brand strategy.

Prepare to present your findings and recommendations to the company’s executive team, emphasizing the importance of maintaining player trust and delivering on marketing promises while managing project constraints.

ChatGPT Revises “The Children Are the Future”

A young child dressed in a red devil costume with orange and yellow flames for Halloween

Devil for Halloween by Matthew Rutledge on Flickr, used under a CC-By 2.0 license

I asked ChatGPT to “Rewrite the song The Children Are the Future from the perspective of someone who is certain that the children are mini-demons.” The results are spectacular satire.

(Title)
Dark Future: Mini-Demons Unleashed

(Verse 1)
Whispers in the dark, beware the young,
Their innocence is just a mask, their wickedness has begun.
They’re lurking in the shadows, with mischief in their eyes,
Mini-demons in disguise, spreading chaos ‘neath the skies.

(Pre-Chorus)
Teach them well in the art of manipulation,
Feed their cravings for power and domination.
Show them how to sow discord and strife,
For in their hearts, darkness thrives.

(Chorus)
Mini-demons, oh, they’re the future,
Unleashing havoc, a twisted suture.
Corrupting all that’s pure and light,
In their hands, malevolence takes flight.

(Verse 2)
Their laughter is a sinister melody,
A symphony of malefic glee.
They twist and turn with every word,
Their devilish charm can’t be unheard.

(Pre-Chorus)
Guide them to deceit, teach them to lie,
Nurture the malevolence deep inside.
Let them revel in their wicked ways,
Innocence lost, darkness stays.

(Chorus)
Mini-demons, oh, they’re the future,
A generation of chaos and rupture.
Watch them dance upon the ashes,
As they paint the world in devilish splashes.

(Bridge)
Gone are the days of hope and trust,
Replaced by the children, cold and unjust.
Their hearts are black, their souls are cold,
A generation of darkness to behold.

(Pre-Chorus)
Shape their minds to crave despair,
A legacy of malevolence they’ll share.
Let them spread their poisonous seeds,
Fuelling humanity’s descent into heed.

(Chorus)
Mini-demons, oh, they’re the future,
Agents of darkness, each a corrupter.
The world shall tremble at their command,
As they grasp it tightly with malevolent hands.

(Outro)
So beware the youth, their innocence a lie,
For in their hearts, darkness will never die.
The future unfolds with wicked delight,
As mini-demons rise, casting eternal night.

Finding Sources for My Community Action Assignments Project

Covers of six books on Community Writing

I’ve felt a bit scattered as I’ve searched for sources for the project. Writing up the theoretical, pedagogical underpinnings is not my forte. I always feel a bit lost as I try to find the material to (in my mind) justify the assignments and strategies that I want to use.

Some would say I’m just suffering from a massive case of impostor syndrome. I would argue that it is at least partially that I am always stepping into topics that I haven’t had enough time to examine. I own lots of books, but I rarely get to read them all. I never know the latest articles or the most relevant publications. I always have to seek them out.

So that’s my situation. I have assignments and strategies to write up more fully. I have a strong sense of what will work and what students and teachers need to make an activity work. What I don’t have is a literature review that supports what I want to write.

Unfortunately the academy does not work on a “trust me” system. You have to spell out your support. You can’t just say what to do. You have to have a system that explains why it’s the thing to do.

During and since the ATTW Conference, I have been seeking out the sources that would help me explain the answers to some of those questions I mentioned from Lucía Durá and Bill Hart-Davidson’s featured workshop: Why these projects? What undertake these assignments now? What will the results be?

My simple search for resources that fit keywords such as community and writing yielded a handful of books:

Alexander, Jonathan, & Dickson, Marcia (Eds.). (2006). Role play: Distance learning and the teaching of writing. Hampton Press.

Deans, Thomas (2003). Writing and community action: A service-learning rhetoric and reader. Longman.

Deans, Thomas, Roswell, Barbara S., & Wurr, Adrian J. (2010). Writing and community engagement: A critical sourcebook. Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Faber, Brenton. D. (2002). Community action and organizational change image, narrative, identity. Southern Illinois University Press.

Grabill, Jeffrey T. (2007). Writing community change: Designing technologies for citizen action. Hampton Press.

Ryder, Phyllis Mentzell. (2011). Rhetorics for community action: Public writing and writing publics. Lexington Books.

What worries me most about these books is that while they are all appear to be quite relevant, they are not exactly the newest publications. Spanning the range from 2002 to 2011, the most recent title, Ryder’s Rhetorics for community action is over a decade old. The oldest of the titles, Deans’ classroom textbook Writing and community action, is two decades old. So I have to wonder if the entire topic is out of date. Is this a project that I should have been working on 20 years ago? Should I be approaching my ideas from a service learning angle rather than community writing and rhetoric? Who knows? I’m not even sure how to figure that out. For now, I’ll keep looking for more recent interest in the topic.

Community Action Assignments Project, #2

Cover of the ATTW 2022 Conference Program showing large bands of black, green, and pink with the text 24th Annual Conference, 2022 ATTW, Taking Action, Reimagining Just Futures in Technical Communication
Cover page of the ATTW 2022 Conference Program.

More things to record and think about for the collection I mentioned in my previous post. I described the advice I gathered from the works-in-progress session during the ATTW Conference in my previous post. It wasn’t the only session that seemed perfectly aligned with the issues that I have been exploring however.

Featured Workshop 3

Lucía Durá and Bill Hart-Davidson’s featured workshop focused on “Preparing Larger-scale Grant Proposals through an Equity Lens.” I’m not applying for a grant (If only. Wouldn’t it be grand to have a grant to pay for writing time?). That said, their heuristic for “creating an idea others will invest in” gave me these questions that I need to spend some time with before I fully commit to whatever it is I’m trying to write:

  • Why this project?
  • Why us [or me, in my case]? Why now?
  • What will we [I] do?
  • What results can we expect?

I don’t have the answers written out. I have an idea of the answers, but it’s not concrete. I am convinced however that I need to have solid answers if I’m going to get this project done.

Session E.2

Wesley Mathis, ryan moeller, and Hannah Stevens presented “Enacting Social Justice in Technical Editing.” I gained some useful resources from the session, including The Subversive Copy Editor (2016) and the Conscious Style Guide. I care very much about how the issues I plan to discuss are languaged. Words matter. It occurred to me during the session that style guides themselves should probably be folded into the collection of assignments I am dreaming about.

At one point during the session, I stated that we need to “stop talking about it as a style guide and start thinking about it as a descriptive discussion of how and what we value when we talk about people and issues.” The idea is that style guides are prescriptive systems, editor and publisher centered. My idea was to draw on the prescriptive/descriptive understanding of grammar. There’s more to figure out, and I’m glad I attended both Part 1 & 2 of the session.

Featured Workshop 5

Chris Lindgren, Marissa Buccilli, and Amilia Evans shared the analytical model behind their “Socially Just Content Strategy.” They are working with Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq on rematriation of Inuit knowledges (and there’s lots more on what goes into this work, but I stupidly did not write down enough notes on it).

What stuck with me was their system of landscape analysis, which considers how/if website design fit with the needs and ways of thinking and knowing of the readers the site. They use a three-part metric that examines (1) accessibility, (2) positionality, and (3) overall impressions. In small groups, we practiced using the analysis on the Passamaquoddy People: At Home on the Ocean and Lakes website. We worked through the site and considered how Passamaquoddy people would use the site, recording information in a spreadsheet.

As I considered the pages, I realized that this analysis strategy belonged in the community action work. Likely not in the exact form as Lindren, Buccilli, and Evans use it, yet students would very much need to consider the existing resources that a community has through the lens of that community. Further, the resources that they might make for the community must attend to the same issues. If the community action materials students create do not it the ways of thinking, knowing, and acting, they will be useless to that community—regardless of whether they are on point for the mission and message of the community.

Session G3

Erika Sparby’s session on “Tactical Meming” gave me the language for adding memes to the collection of community action assignments. I knew that they could fit, but before this session, I would have had trouble explaining the rhetorical and pedagogical reasons. In tactical meming, the images serve to make critical comments on situations and values that matter to a community. Further they can provide advice and resources to a community (such as handwashing memes at the beginning of the COVID pandemic). It’s a perfect piece to include in the collection.

Session J2

Megan Bronson, Sweta Baniya, and Liza Potts demonstrated a method for analyzing the rhetorical situation for disasters in their session “Collaborative Strategies for Networks for Collective Action Disasters.” Using examples from Potts’ 2014 Social Media in Disaster Response the three led attendees through the analysis of a disaster, asking that we identify “the people, places, technologies, organizations, groups, etc. that responded to, were affected by, or are somehow involved in a given disaster. Folks might refer to them as actors, change agents, chaos agents, participants, etc.” The group I was in focused on the BP Oil Spill Deepwater Horizon, creating this map:

Participant Map for the BP Oil Spill which includes the BP company, oil workers, protesters, oil costs, beach goers, animals, the oil righ, people buying gas and automobiles, boaters (including fisheries), and the legal system.

This additional way of mapping the communication related to an event can fold into the communication action projects as well. Whether looking at an event that has happened or planning one, writers need to think through how all these participants impact the messages, the medium, and the messengers. The visual aspect of the analysis seems likely to appeal to students, even if the maps are only used to make behind-the-scenes decisions about the projects.

Up next . . .

That’s all the notes I have from the conference. My next posts need to examine notes on the technology that might work for the collection and the resources that I have found in my brief research. I’m still trying to hammer down what this thing is, if it even is. That is coming soon as well.

 

Community Action Assignments Project, #1

Rally to Prevent Gun Violence
Image Credit: Rally to Prevent Gun Violence by Maryland GovPics on Flickr, used under a CC-BY 2.0 license.

I am gathering notes for a collection I want to write on community action projects, focusing on assignments and classroom activities. I came up with the idea in mid-June.

I thought I could start with the "writing about/for community action/social justice" things I’ve done recently and then pull in revision of older stuff to fit. I’ve gathered 60+ pages in a Google Doc. Just copy/paste from originals with no revision, but still a large collection of notes.

ATTW’s Works-in-Progress Session

I attended a works-in-progress session during the ATTW Conference, for which I wrote this abstract:

I’m focusing on "writing about/for community action/social justice" in a collection of composing assignments and classroom activities. The collection will include various technical communication genres (e.g., technical description, instructions, white paper, correspondence, press releases). Composing media will include video, images, illustrations, and audio.

I’m working on a sort of mini booklet, PDF-ish, bigger than a pamphlet but smaller than a real book (I think). My practical approach to writing probably won’t work for a “real” press, so I’m guessing that this will be short and self-published. I am committed to an open access format and digital publication.

I realized later that I left out the fact that I am thinking of the audience to be writing teachers but also community organizers, if possible. I’m thinking of a collection that has multiple paths. There’d be one way to work through the collection if you were a writing teacher and a different way if you were a community organizer.

I had three questions for the session:

  • How much pedagogical framing is enough?
  • What would you look for in such a resource?
  • Any ideas on outlier places to place such a resource?

My group suggested that I might break things out so there are paths for learning objectives, genres, and kinds of social justice projects. For pedagogical framing, the group suggested that I could keep the intro brief and then follow it with an annotated bibliography where readers could find more information.

They also suggested some useful resources, including “Hashtag narrative: Emergent storytelling and affective publics in the digital age” by Paul Dawson.

More notes soon.

Memes and Protest Posters

Women's March, January 21 2017, Chicago, by Jonathan Eyler-Werve on Flickr, used under a CC-BY 2.0 licenseHow do the current political posters (say like at the women’s march) compare to political protest posters from another time period (let’s say the 60s)? I’m wondering if the rhetoric and content of image-based memes is influencing the phrasing and content of today’s posters.

Take that Grumpy cat poster, for instance. It’s building on the Grumpy Cat meme, of course. And it’s obviously referring to the Billy Bush tapes and Trump’s suggestion to “grab them by the pussy.” There were surely pop culture references in the protest posters of the past, but did they incorporate memes as this one does?

 
 

[Photo credit: Women's March, January 21 2017, Chicago, by Jonathan Eyler-Werve on Flickr, used under a CC-BY 2.0 license]

CWPA 2016 Presentations

Using the WPA Outcomes Statement to Support Innovation in Meeting Discourse Outcomes for a General Education Curriculum.” Sheraton Hotel, Raleigh, NC. 15 July 2016.

[gdoc link=”https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TCxsGL5MvS31MPHSnszr_pfk6ES3BlWN6XMObWb8BMQ/edit?usp=sharing” height=”800″]

 

Toward a Programmatic Assessment Model for Multimodal Projects.” Sheraton Hotel, Raleigh, NC. 16 July 2016.

[gdoc link=”https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1P3jM4c5wI8GyLo5EdnOeyym8HtyAlDkpGEXECyt7U8Q/edit?usp=sharing” height=”800″]

Writing on Eggshells

shellsDamn the uncomfortable readers. It’s time to start writing again.

Some time ago, more than a decade, I wrote on this blog all the time. There were daily updates on what I was writing, links to things that I found, stories about my crazy dreams, and varied random ramblings. Some of those posts are harder to find because I made some dumb decisions about post titles, and I haven’t fixed them all (it’s on my to-do list). The point is that they are there.

I said what I thought, talked about the things I was working on, and described what was going on each day. When I was sad and depressed, I talked about it. I have dysthymic depression, social anxiety, and have had issues with major depression a few times. I didn’t put the names to what I was going through, but I talked about being overwhelmed and sad and scared and anxious.

And that was the problem. My posts made some people uncomfortable. Someone came to me and told me that I shouldn’t write everything I feel because I was “making everyone feel like they were walking on eggshells around me.” I could write about what I was working on, but I was told not to write about being sad or depressed or anxious.

So I stopped writing. I’m a black-and-white thinker, so it was my standard response. I let the uncomfortable readers silence me.

Eventually, I started posting news links. If you check the archives, there are years where nearly every post is a summary of the links I have posted to Twitter about educational news and writing resources.

I wanted to write and post more, but there were people worried about walking on eggshells always in my thoughts. So I said nothing for a very long time. And now, I am going to start writing again. I’m going to say what I want. I’m not sure what has made me brave enough to talk again. Perhaps it’s that I started taking antidepressants again in November after six years without them (when I couldn’t afford them at $800/month). Maybe it’s that I am teaching again. Maybe I just feel like a writer again.

Part of it is that I finally figured out how to move all those news posts to their own page and take back the blog’s homepage. That’s what I am going to do: take back my writing space and say what I want. I will no longer worry about my readers. I will write on those eggshells and post what I want. Here’s to writing whatever I want to say whenever I want to say it.

Connecting Selber and Halliday

Cover of Selber's Multiliteracies for a Digital AgeEver since I looked at the review of Stuart Selber’s Multiliteracies for a Digital Age in Composition Forum 14.2 (Courtesy of a tip from Bradley Dilger), I have been reflecting on my notes about M. A. K. Halliday’s literacy engagements.

I have a pile of old notes on how I thought Halliday might be used to understand technology engagement from my time at ReadWriteThink when the site used Halliday to structure the site.

Halliday’s literacy engagement system (learning language, learning about language, learning through language) parallels Selber’s. There are nuances that would need worked out, but generally I think I could argue that literacy learning follows the same kinds of meaning making, even when the kinds of literacy are different. I’m just not sure that matters as an observation. What does that knowledge really bring to the conversations and scholarship on literacy?