Others' Responses to Documents for Major Assignment II

Different people read documents differently. Individuals each possess a different set of background knowledge and have different expectations when coming into an interaction with a text. Interestingly, these differences in personal interactions can be noted as different readers see different texts.

To test this, I recruited two other freshman RCAH students, Elleda and Brittany. I wanted to record how their reactions to the menu posted in front of the Gallery differed. They obviously had no idea of what they were getting themselves into when they agreed to eat lunch with me and help me with a 111 assignment this weekend.

As we walked downstairs towards the Gallery, I asked both of my test subjects if they typically stop to read the menu posted by the door. Both replied in the affirmative. I asked them to please read the menu normally, but to make note of their reactions as they were interacting with the text as I would ask them questions after they read the menu.

In taking retrospective accounts of their reactions to the texts, I asked the readers for their reactions to the document using methods outlined by Elbow. First, I asked them to summarize or sayback the main idea or ideas of the document. They both identified what they saw as the "gist" of the text. As a summary, Elleda saidback "It was the menu, I looked at the headings and read to find what items I had interest in." Brittany said that the gist of the document that she noted was "Eat food." She said that the gist could be summarized as the food options available and what looks good. Both gave an extremely broad summary of the text with very few specific details.

Next, I asked each reader what resonated with her as the center of gravity. After reading the document, could they choose the center of gravity or what stuck in their minds? I informed both subjects that there is no right or wrong center of gravity, but just what they are drawn to within the text and take away from it. Elleda said the center of gravity for her was the words "Lunch" and the Berg's selections of soups and salad. This was the center of gravity for her because it was what she went into the experience wanting to eat. Brittany's center of gravity were the words "Lunch", "Dinner", and "Pepperoni Pizza". She liked the idea of pizza; therefore, that piece of information resonated with her. The text itself did not present a definitive center of gravity; it was left open so individuals could choose what information would become the center of gravity. Individuals chose a center of gravity based on their desires, background knowledge, and personal likes and dislikes.

Also, different readers peruse a texts differently. It is not uncommon for a reader to skim, scan, or skip sections of text entirely when it is not laid out in a linear format. Elleda said that she began at the heading saying "Lunch", then she started in the upper left hand corner of the menu and read straight down and through. Once she reached the bottom of the left column, she read the entirety of the right hand column in a similar fashion. Brittany, on the other hand, read the heading of "Lunch", then decided she was more interested in what would be served for dinner later on in the day. She sought out the dinner posting and read the entire dinner document straight down the columns. She then went back and skimmed the lunch menu. When I read the menu, as a reader, I skip from section to section depending on whether or not I like the main dish being served at a particular station. Elleda reads straight through, she says that she reads the sides as well because they are not always directly related to the main dish, just coordinating. Brittany shared this opinion. She said she would be willing to go out of her way to go to stations serving sides that she liked. She says, furthermore, that she always looks especially for stations serving mashed potatoes and scans for those specifically.

Points where the readers got stuck or places where they could "almost hear" what the author was trying to convey were spots where the information in the text was not explicitly stated. First, Elleda said that while reading some of the names for dishes (i.e. "Vermont Cheddar") confused her because they were rather ambiguous. This was a point where the text caused readers to ask questions, but the questions were not answered. Brittany said that because she is a picky eater, stuck points for her included not knowing what was in some of the dishes based solely on their names. She says that while there are times when one would not want to know the ingredients of a dish, for her, it would be helpful to the text if these things were made clear. Both readers felt that elaboration on descriptions of dishes would eliminate their stuck points.

Elleda first read "Lunch", she knew it was lunchtime and totally skipped over the entire breakfast section of the board. Going down to lunch, Elleda decided she wanted soup or salad; she read the section of the menu delegated for the meal options served at the Berg with special interest and care. She decided that she wanted the salad being served. When she went into the cafeteria, she found out that the salad was no longer being served. Brittany, on the other hand, thought she wanted a sandwich. Going into an interaction with the text, Brittany realized that sandwich options were not listed. She saw the word pirogi listed by Brimstone, and she decided that was what she was going to get to eat. Both readers' stories show how their prior knowledge and choices that they made going into their interactions with the text affected the results the text had on them.

In response to the text, Elleda's reply was that she wanted a salad. Brittany decided that she wanted a pirogi. Both went to the stations that were listed as where to find these food options.

Elleda stated that the one point that worked with the text was it showed her many different options and made her feel like she was empowered in choosing what she wanted. However, she said that one thing that does not work within the text is that the menu does not tell you times when options are no longer going to be available. Brittany said that one point of the text that worked was she was able to make a choice of what she wanted, but she could also note secondary options as well. She said that one reason the text does not work is that based on her prior knowledge, she knows that she does not typically favor things served at New Traditions and Latitudes. She typically skims and barely notes the things printed in these sections of the menus. She shortchanges them, although these are the the meals that change on a daily basis and are specially made. She says that although she does not particularly like these meals, they should be emphasized or highlighted for others.

Therefore, based on retrospective accounts, it can be seen that readers react with texts differently; also, that personal preferences, experiences, and prior knowledge affects interactions with a document.

Documents for Major Assignment II

My Response to Documents for Major Assignment II

"Humhmmmhmghphhhflugggnermgggrhuhhhph...."

My stomach is rumbling. I am extremely hungry. I skipped breakfast this morning because it is ill-advised to eat before a yoga class. Yoga began at noon, though. Now it is one-thirty and I have not had anything since my early dinner the night before. I decide to go down to Snyder-Phillips' cafeteria, the Gallery.

I go downstairs. I walk towards the shining entry to the Gallery. I stop. I read the menu. The information posted on the daily cafeteria menu influences many of my daily decisions; yet, I have never paid specific notice to my interactions with these documents before.

The way I interact with the menus affects what I decide to eat on a day-to-day basis. The menus are extremely important, because they allow someone going into the dining hall to decide what they want before they have to get in line to wait for their meals and move things along. With hundreds of people passing through the Gallery to eat each day, it is important for things to run smoothly; people must be able to efficiently get their food, eat it, and leave for the next people to come in. Without the menus, it would make this process much more difficult.

It is said that the Gallery is the best dining hall on the Michigan State University campus. Many students and staff members walk, ride the bus, or bicycle across campus in order to eat a meal there. The MSU website posts an online menu for what the Gallery is serving each day; this is an advantageous tool for the students who travel farther to get here. They are, therefore, able to see if something they want is being served on a particular day. This resource is also used by many students who live more locally; before they even go downstairs, they can know their meal options for the day make up their minds without having to read the posted menu.

The menus are not only posted directly outside of the Gallery's entrance and online, but as soon as one enters the cafeteria, plates with each of the menu items are presented for people to see. There are labels that go along with each platter, making it easy to recognize which station each different meal is served at and again describing the food. Furthermore, at each station itself, there is a posted list of the items being served there. Many students neglect the master menus posted both at the entrance and on the internet, and refuse to look at the plates of food visually representing each meal; they instead wander aimlessly around the cafeteria looking at each of the individual stations' menus.

I am the type of person who always stops outside of the Gallery and looks at the menu sheets posted on the bulletin-style board. The board is divided into four sections, one section is devoted to the menu for each meal of the day, and the fourth section talks about the meal plan option of a combo exchange. The board reads from right to left and top to bottom, like a book. The first meal posted is breakfast, the lunch menu is posted to its right, and the dinner menu is in the next row. This makes it easy for someone to visually find what they need.

When I approach the board, I notice that the menus are printed in black ink, on white sheets of matte 8.5 by 11 inch paper. The paper is matted to black paper and affixed to the board. When I go down to eat at 1:30pm, I realize that it is lunchtime. Therefore, I ignore the rest of the postings, after ascertaining which menu is indeed posting the foods available for me to eat for lunch. I use prior knowledge to determine which sections of the menu I will and will not read, making decisions based on my likes and dislikes and knowing what each station typically serves.

I cannot truly analyze my moment-by-moment response to this text because I did not even think of my interactions with this document as notable until after I was already eating my meal, but it is possible to take my retrospective account to analyze the effectiveness of the text.

To summarize this text, I can tell you that October 4, the Gallery was serving foods at six different stations. That was the center of focus for this document. More specific points that especially resonated with me were that Latitudes was serving a Sunday brunch with french toast and bacon. I remember this specific point of the text, because that is the meal I ended up choosing to eat. Other particular items I am able to sayback are that New Traditions was serving ham, Ciao! had on its menu Denver Omelet, Pepperoni, and Cheese Pizzas, Brimstone was serving Veggie Burgers, Hamburgers, Cheeseburgers, and Chicken Sandwiches, and that the Berg had some sort of salad, a vegetable soup, and a soup du jour. No true arguments were made; however options were presented to the reader of the menu.

The center of gravity for this text was the top of the document having "Sunday, October 4 Lunch". Other than that, the reader chooses their own center of gravity for this text, depending on their personal preferences and what they feel like eating for that meal. The center of gravity becomes what they choose it to be.

As someone who is hungry and wants to eat, I am already aware of my own meal preferences, my likes, and my dislikes. I begin at the top of this document and the first thing I read is "Sunday, October 4 Lunch". I read all of the meal headings, to see which sheet of paper on the board has the right information for me. Since I am not eating a combo exchange, I skip the fourth sheet of paper entirely.

Going back to the lunch menu, I begin reading:

• "New Traditions". I see that they are serving ham and move on to the next subheading, skipping all further information.
  
• "Brimstone" is serving all of its typical items, and I am not really in the mood for grilled food. I skim this section, though, just to see if anything really does strike me. It does not.
  
• I next go down to "The Berg", I might be in the mood for soup or salad. I see that there is vegetable soup and a soup of the day. I have never heard of the kind of salad being served; I move on: I have had the vegetable soup before and I did not like it very much. I am not really that much in the mood to find out and have to explore what the "Soup du jour" is that is being served either.
  
• I go to the next column. "Sunday Brunch" sounds really delicious actually, I keep in mind that that is being served.
  
• I know that "Ciao!" serves pizza and I do not want pizza, I skim this section of the lunch menu.
  
• I then see the desserts on the menu and decide that I should skip dessert for the day.

I go back to the French toast...that does sound satisfying. I ask myself where is it being served, though; it is not under a column heading. I see then that at the bottom of the first column is the heading "Latitudes". It had been mistakenly written there and not tabbed over.

After reading the entire text, I know what my options are to eat, what I want, and where to get this. I enter the cafeteria, get a tray, a drink, and walk over to Latitudes. I get my meal and sit down. My questions are answered and my expectations that the menu would tell me what to get and where to get it are fulfilled.

My response, overall, to the document is to go to the station where it tells me that I can find what I want, and I eat my meal.

My body's response to the menus posted over the past month is the typical "freshman fifteen" (no, it is not a myth) and the inability of me to zip my jeans. Obviously, the document is effective.

Mini Assignment 2

So, early Saturday morning, while everyone else was preparing for the big football game, I found myself scouring the RCAH for texts to interact with and note my observations of for this Mini Assignment 2. There were many options from which to choose that I found lining bulletin boards, hallways, doorways, bathroom stalls, and practically any available surface to which paper could be affixed using scotch tape. I finally found an appropriate document regarding the Swine Flu. The document was intended to raise awareness regarding the sickness and avoid it within the close quarters of a college campus.

The flyer was three-hole punched, printed on white, flat-finish paper, and printed in color. The text was printed giving only the information, there were no graphics or images. The layout of the flyer had some text printed in a bright green box, however. The color caught my eye as I was scouting for documents and made me stop and pause at this one for a second. The block printed font made the flyer's information look clean, official, and scientifically based I thought. The way the flyer was printed almost gave it some credibility and authority which made me stop to read it. The way the document was set up, the paragraph of information in the middle of the document I totally skipped over, but the rest of the text I automatically skimmed.

The flyer was hanging on the wall in the Snyder lounge. It was slightly above the average eye level (it was a little over my eye level still and I am pretty tall for a girl, standing at 5' 8.5"). A disadvantage to the way it was presented was that it was off to the side of the lounge in a spot where not much attention is received by passersby; however, it was advantageously hung where there were not many other flyers in the area to compete with the attention of a potential audience as there would be on, say, a bulletin board.

The message of the flyer is clearly conveyed, the flyer's central message tells students to stay healthy and avoid the flu. The flyer's center of gravity is the text inside the green box. As an audience member, I found the term "safety" more resonating than the actual text talking about avoiding the flu. Being "safe" first catches my attention when I see the document.

Upon seeing the flyer, I noticed it over the surroundings because of the bright color and large print; it is aesthetically pleasing. Because I had intentionally gone into the lounge looking for an encounter with a document, the entire scenario was almost artificial; however, I feel that the interaction itself was not drastically altered based on this. When I entered the lounge, I was scanning the walls looking for documents. I began by walking toward the front desk; nothing was especially eye-catching, so I turned around and as I headed toward the Gallery, this document caught me in my line of vision. I walked closer to the document in order to read it. After finding this piece of text, first, my eye saw the green box, then I immediately read "Stay Spartan Safe". I did not then understand the message of the text until I went down to the next item on the page: "Avoid the Flu". I next read the first four bullets of the bulleted section. After that, my eye jumped down to the bottom green box. Then, because I was still engaged with the document, I skimmed the paragraph in the middle and then read the MSU logo at the bottom of the page and noted the website address provided.

The key ideas or main points of this piece of information are to keep from getting sick and the ways to do that. The points discussed to not get sick were all representing common sense, they included washing one's hands and covering their mouth, staying home if one is sick, and keeping people who known to be sick away from healthy people.

As a reader, I had some questions while I interacted with the text. When it was said to "Stay Spartan Safe", I asked myself "What is dangerous?" and "What is 'Spartan Safe" (is it different from other sorts of safety)?" These questions were answered by the statement "Avoid the Flu" and the paragraph describing H1N1. When the document told me to avoid the flu, I automatically thought "Well...duh. But what do they mean? How?" The bulleted points answer this question.

There is an expectation formed by the reader when first seeing the document that they will tell you how to maintain personal safety and take care of yourself. The reader almost expects that they will delve deeper into their explanations than these basic, sensible sorts of responses regarding personal hygiene. The document, therefore, does not fully live up to this expectation of the reader.

Within this text, there is a distinct relationship between the writer and the audience. The writer presents himself authoritatively. This matter of health is obviously a serious one in their mind and not a joking matter. The font is straightforward and simple to read. There is a "to the point" writing style employed, using brief, terse sentences. Furthermore, the writer does not really ask the reader to do these things to stay healthy, the writer is telling and instructing the reader. I see the writer as possibly a health official. Also, the writer makes several assumptions of the reader. The first is that the reader is a typical college student and they have little experience in caring fully for themselves. All "Spartans" are grouped together. The writer is distant from their audience. The writer presents himself as someone who possesses a higher knowledge over the readers. The writer first grabs his reader's attention at the top. The writer moves in closer to the reader during the paragraph in the middle of the page; there is a personal interaction between the writer and the audience here. Students are given a personal responsibility to "help out" and avoid the spread of the flu; then the instructions are given. The "foreground" of the flyer can be seen as the main point of the flyer, to keep students safe and not to spread the disease as well as the ways to do that. The flyer centers around staying healthy. To the sides (figuratively, not literally) are texts conveying who is telling the reader and who the information comes from, the personal benefits of staying well are seen first and as one fades back, the moral responsibility to keep other students healthy is seen secondly.

All in all, I feel that the text was communicative and achieved its aim. I do intend to stay healthy, and will be doing the things listed on the flyer (even if not because the flyer told me to do so). The flyer served as a reminder of my personal health and its importance when sicknesses such as H1N1 are circulating, and it gave me a chance to analyze the way I look at information is presented to me.

Katie Nowinski: The Textbook Definition

Who am I? How can I define myself for the entire world (well, the portion of the world to whom this blog is available to)? Well, firstly, I am a student. I am not a philosopher; I am not a writer; I am not a scientist; I typically try to avoid definitions of this variety. I feel there will always be others more qualified than you; therefore, I do not think you should be permitted to define yourself using the same terms. Hence, there will always be more for me to learn, and the only thing I can truly define myself as is a perpetual student. My interests lie mainly in acting and theatre arts, reading, meeting interesting people and hearing their stories, history, going on adventures, pretending, making up games, and bopping around. Thus far during my lifetime, I have been a classical "overachiever". I have involved myself in extracurricular activities, made fair marks, followed a schedule of the most advanced courses, and gone above and beyond in excelling while doing it all. I was the Drum Major of the marching band, the President of the National Honor Society, Senior General Managing Editor of my school's literary magazine, I took six AP classes, I attended an advanced math/science/technology program offered by the county, I have acted since I was six years old, and participated in my school's program, as well as in several community theatre troupes, and I volunteered regularly. I have an amazing, eclectic group of friends, and a really strong support system. Mostly, however, I do not want to be viewed on terms of what I have done, but on who I am. I really just love to absorb information, whether it is from reading a new book, script, or arcticle, or watching the history channel with my mumma, I enjoy learning more than anything.

Another thing contributing to my definition of self is that this past year I decided to change my total point of view from what it had been traditionally. I am not sure why this change directly resulted, maybe it came from the disappointment of being rejected by eight of the ten colleges I applied to, or possibly from just evolving and changing my priorities as a natural course of action, but either way, it occurred. I no longer see school and learning in the same way. Whereas I used to learn to "get the A" or have positive comments on my report card, this year, I stopped caring. Instead of learning what was given to me to have a good score on my test, I learned it for the sake of learning it and trying to get as much as I could from the information presented to me. I no longer cared about being graded; I cared more about expanding myself and growing as a person, and that outlook has led me to my current position. I am much happier and enjoy things much more. Being a student is not so much a daunting academic task for me, but it is now a defining term; I am a student of others, myself, and life.