Meta-comment, Week 3
Team Gorgias provided five separate launch posts for our required week three readings. While many of the forums concentrated on the same essays, each thread produced different ideas and focal points. In this meta-comment post, I will make an effort to summarize the topics of conversation in each thread, and to identify major points and concepts brought up throughout each discussion.
I think it is clear that this class viewed Katz's essay, "Professional Writing as Organizationally Situated Action" as the most engaging of the readings, as three of the five launch posts concerned this essay. In these launch posts and the corresponding replies, it seems that the notion of "expertise" is treated with great interest by many posters (this is especially true of the discussions launched by I.R. Hardy and Brian). The concept is also treated with a fair amount of skepticism, with comments like this perhaps being representative of many sentiments:
The discussion this week began with Katz’s ideas concerning socialization, individuation, and individualization as applicable to various workers, and their individual, social, and situational authority (Darcie Fuller, Brad Fawaz). The discussion soon turned to Linda Driskill’s article which explored the internal and external influences, or the context in which professional writers work and produce documents (Matthew Mohamed, Brad Fawaz).
This week’s forum posting did not concentrate on a specific part of the reading like last week’s Faigley article, and instead centered around launch posts created from many different parts of the reading. From doubting that people are drawn to the career of PW because of the “free, relatively unrestrained writing experiences” that PW provides as commented on in Ingrid’s launch post, to Matt’s launch post about communication failures resulting in tragedies such as the Challenger explosion, this week’s posts were insightful and often commented on.
As chapter 3 begins by speaking about people being drawn to professional writing by the “free, relatively unrestrained writing experiences” (Peeples 103), I cannot help but wonder how many professional writers have actually experienced this in their careers. Professional writing, as I view it, especially within an organizational context, is anything but free.
One of the biggest roadblocks that can be set before a professional writer, and to almost all disciplines, is that of uncooperative clients and authorities. People that do not listen and choose instead to prove that they know what is best for their company or the current situation may result in catastrophic ends. In chapter 3 on page 112, there starts an account of how the total disregard of important data resulted in the loss of millions of tax dollars and the lives of seven astronauts.
Susan M. Katz’s article “Writing Review as an Opportunity for Individuation” describes the importance individuation specifically in the field of writing. Katz refers to individuation as a way in which individuals both assimilate into a group and then make themselves known within that group. “Organizational individuation is the process by which the individual develops his or her particular character within the organization” (Peeples 123). She looks at what the requirements are for people to stand out from the group positively, becoming leaders, especially in the workplace.
The value of a professional document is directly proportionate to the value it is ascribed by its audience. This is a focal concern in the articles of Driskill, Katz, and Spilka, where successful writing in a nonacademic professional atmosphere is tantamount to the professional writer’s attentiveness to their professional environment, as well their contribution to it. Writers must not only be aware of the social constrictions and norms in their immediate professional setting, but also that they are direct participants in the evolution of corporate culture via their personal insights.
In “Writing Review as an Opportunity for Individuation”, Susan M. Katz uses the idea of authority through the practice of written review to help individuals advance in their chosen careers. Katz, I believe, uses authority as the key to success in professional organizations. She explains that socialization is how newcomers in organizations learn to adapt to their surroundings while also maintaining and changing their personality as a valued worker (Individualization).