ICS 139W Communications Skills for Computer Scientists

Fall Quarter, 2007

Changing The System

For this assignment, you will write about some software system you're familiar with from a variety of perspectives: introducing new users to the system, proposing changes to the system, and promoting the changed system to its users.

Imagine, for example, that you are in charge of the "pine" electronic mail system (available on some UCI Unix machines). Periodically you will have to instruct new users on how to use "pine." You might write an introductory document, explaining the basics of electronic mail and the kinds of operations one might expect to perform (creating a message, sending it, receiving a message, printing it, saving it, and so on); later in that document, or in another document, you might give a tutorial providing the details of carrying out those operations (the specific commands to use), perhaps with a set of examples the reader would follow. You might also give an oral introduction to "pine" to groups of new users.

In addition, you might think that "pine" could be improved in various ways (such as a graphical user interface or additional features). Probably you would have to convince someone (your boss, or a committee in charge of deciding what software enhancements are most important) that these changes would be worth implementing. You would make your case both in a written memo and in an oral presentation.

Any change in an existing system is likely to disrupt the system's current users. If your change were implemented, you would want to reassure the current users that the new system will be better for them--to "sell them," in other words, on your changes. Again you might prepare something written, such as a flyer or brochure or memo or web page, and also make a short oral presentation or announcement with the same intent.

For these assignments, you will choose some software that you're familiar with and do each of these things. As you develop each of these different documents (and their corresponding oral presentations), focus on how the audience for each document is different--they have different experience, different needs, and so on, which means that how you write for each will be different, too. The assignments have several parts:
  1. Choosing a system. First, you must decide what system you will use for this assignment. Your system may be conventional application software; it may also be a web site with significantly complex navigation or interaction. By Monday, October 8, 9:30 am, send me a brief e-mail, that names the system, describes it if it's not something everyone's familiar with, and sketches out the kind of changes you're thinking of proposing. You will give a short "elevator" oral presentation of this information to the class on October 17 and 19.
  2. Introduction and Tutorial. You will write an introduction to the system for novice users, about four pages in length. This document should give a high-level description of the system and its capabilities, describing what tasks the system performs and giving any necessary background. Your introduction should not get into the tedious minor details of which keys to press or which menu items to choose; those details would extend this assignment far beyond four pages any would probably not be read by a new user anyway. A good draft of this is due on October 29; the final version is due November 9.
  3. Change Proposal. You will write a proposal for changing this system, five to six pages long plus a single-page cover letter. Address this proposal to whatever decision-making authority is appropriate for your software: perhaps the company that publishes it, perhaps an individual or committee in your own organization. Try to find out the actual name of the actual person or group who has the authority to make the changes you suggest, and write your proposal with that person or group in mind. Your goal should be to produce a proposal you can actually send. A good draft of your change proposal is due for peer editing in class on November 16; a revision based on the peer editing is due on November 21. The final written version of your proposal is due on November 30.
  4. Oral Presentation. You will present to the class a five to six minute oral summary of either your Introduction and Tutorial (in week 6 or week 7) or your Change Proposal (in week 9). Your presentation should use between 3 and 10 projected slides (made with PowerPoint or similar software). Although each student will make only one of these presentations, every student will turn in paper drafts of slides for both presentations. See the schedule to find out on what date you will present.
  5. System Change Promotion. Finally, you will prepare a one-page flyer, brochure, advertisement, or web page announcing, describing, and promoting your change to the current users of the system. This "promotion piece" may be one- or two- sided and may be relatively informal in tone--just so that it gets the message across without its readers dismissing it as a joke. A draft is due for peer editing in class on December 5; the final version is due on December 7.


    6. Part 5 alternative: Instead of doing the promotion piece, you may prepare your own résumé and cover letter according to guidelines described in class. The promotion piece gives you a chance to apply some of the design skills we discussed, but working on your résumé is also valuable. The choice is yours; the due dates and the course credit are the same with either alternative.


Each part of this assignment shares the same underlying subject matter. What's different in each part is the intended audience (and thus what knowledge you assume, what you cover explicitly, and the level of formality). Novice users have different needs and a different set of assumptions than decision makers, for example. Moreover, the appropriate level of formality is different for each of your different audiences. This table summarizes these distinctions:
 
 

Part 
Due Date 
Audience 
Formality 
System proposal (email) 
10/8
Me
Informal 
Elevator presentation 
10/19
class 
Informal 
Intro draft 
10/29
Novices, unfamiliar with software 
Friendly yet professional 
Intro slides draft 
10/31
Intro oral presentation 
11/5, 11/7, 11/9
Intro slides final 
day of presentation 
Intro final 
11/9
Change Proposal draft #1 
11/16
Decision makers, who know the software and approve the concept of change, but must be convinced of your proposal's value and feasibility. 
Correct and professional, addressing senior management. 
Change Proposal draft #2 
11/21
Change Proposal oral presentation 
11/26, 11/28, 11/30
Change Proposal slides final 
day of presentation 
Change Proposal final 
11/30
Promotion draft 
12/5
Current users of the software, who need to know about the change. 
Brief, professional, eye-catching, informative. 
Promotion final 
12/7

We encourage your effective use of graphics, though graphics may not reduce your prose page count below the specified range.

To the extent applicable, you should state your sources of information in your written proposal, backing up whatever facts and figures you used. This need not be gathered all together at the end as a formal bibliography--it is better to mention the name of the source at the point where you use its information in the body of the paper. If your word processor supports automatic footnotes, use them, but do not waste time trying to include footnotes manually--an in-line citation is fine. Citations should provide enough detail to allow the reader to find the cited work and follow up on the information and all the citations in a document should follow a consistent format, but the precise format you use is not crucial for this assignment.

There's a big difference between spoken and written language. For the oral portions of this assignment, do not simply read from a script. Of course you will use notes, but speak naturally rather than reading a "canned" speech. On the other hand, the presentations are relatively formal in tone; joking, banter and slang are not appropriate.

Grading of oral presentations: Oral presentations are nerve-wracking enough for most people without the addition of grade pressure. The main criterion we will use for evaluating your oral presentations is that you show up to give them, and that you're well prepared. We will not grade down significantly for speaking style or loudness of voice or oratorical polish, though we do expect that you will try to address your intended audience appropriately. We will not grade down at all for nervousness (though we hope that will abate as the quarter progresses) or English pronunciation or the speaker's personality.