****************************************************
WAVELENGTH – The ID Newsletter of India – March
2005
****************************************************
Hello Friends,
Welcome to this issue of Wavelength, the monthly e-Newsletter for
the Instructional Design and Content Development community of India.
I would like to welcome the new subscribers. I hope you will enjoy
this journey as much as I do. I also want to thank all those who
sent in their words of encouragement.
The March issue focuses on the perennial problem that continues
to raise its ugly head in some form or the other. Plagiarism evokes
a uniform response of disgust from all, yet it refuses to die. In
this issue, we shall probe into the possible causes and remedies
of this malady.
I hope this issue will generate a lot of discussion.
Thanks and Warm Regards,
Shafali R. Anand
(Editor & Publisher – Wavelength)
******************
Table of contents
******************
* From the Editor’s Desk
* Resources
* Site of the Month
* Mystery of the Month
* Surge Ahead
* India...is a Stage
* Laugh-a-little
* Signing Off...
************************
From the Editor's Desk
************************
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/editorial.htm
*****************
Mystery of the Month
*****************
The mystery word for March is “Plagiarism.” We’ve
all heard this term, and we all have our opinions on what constitutes
plagiarism. We will try to unmask this word and see what lies under
its hood.
As always, we will begin this process of unmasking, with a Wavelength
article (http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/plagiarism.htm
.) This article presents the ethical reasoning behind acknowledging
plagiarism as a serious offence. It also probes into some frequently
asked questions about this issue.
You will find many useful links within this article but when you
are through with the basics of plagiarism, please read the article
“Beyond plagiarism and the new student” by Sucheta Dalal.
Here’s the link: http://www.rediff.com/money/2002/oct/25dalal.htm
********
Resources
********
---------------------------
Resources – Writing Style
---------------------------
Writing for the web needs brevity and clarity – a fact easily
ignored by those of us whose zeal to write exceeds their zeal to
communicate. In this short and interesting article, Kathy Henning
gives us 10 simple rules that can help us communicate with the “web-scanners.”
http://www.clickz.com/experts/archives/design/onl_edit/article.php/836621
In his guide on technical writing, Ronald B. Standler gives some
crisp rules that can make technical writing simpler and easier to
understand. You can find some easy to implement rules about use
of numbers, equations, hyphens, and other such teasers at http://www.rbs0.com/tw.htm
If you’ve ever been stumped by the question – “should
I capitalize it?” I implore you to take a look at this. The
capitalization question always harries me and I know it will continue
to forever, but I am going to take these few basic rules seriously
and try to make life a little easier for my language editor. If
you too are feeling philanthropic today, visit: http://englishplus.com/grammar/captcont.htm
----------------------------------
Resources – Language & Culture
----------------------------------
While we talk about culture all the time, let’s stop for
a moment, and reflect on the definition of culture. Click on http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vcwsu/commons/topics/culture/culture-definition.html
to read the article “A Baseline Definition of Culture.”
This article brings into focus the connection between learning and
culture, which gives us a huge reason to be conscious of the culture
element when we design and develop our courses.
We’ve often worried about using or not using certain words
when we write for the American audience. I chanced upon this essay
by Candace Coleman, a student at Marymount High School in Los Angeles.
I don’t know if this article will be available for long, but
it gives us a first hand account of what an African American feels
about these issues. I’ve also seen a lot of strong emotion
in forums where this issue was being discussed. Click on http://www.tolerance.org/teens/printar.jsp?p=0&ar=33&pi=te
to read the essay.
---------------------------
Resources – ID Concepts
---------------------------
Please visit http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/InstructionalDesign.htm
. In this article, George Siemens traces the links between Instructional
Design and eLearning. The first part of this article defines and
explains Instructional Design. This is followed by brief descriptions
of different instructional theories and models. The third and last
section lists the reasons why Instructional Design needs to bond
with eLearning to make it more useful and valuable.
This article, "Reclaiming Instructional Design" is a
thought-provoking paper by M. David Merrill, Leston Drake, Mark
J. Lacy, Jean Pratt & the ID2 Research Group, Utah State University.
I found this link on the above article by George Siemens, and I
felt that I should draw your attention to this. Please visit http://www.ittheory.com/reclaim.htm
; reclaim your inner voice and rethink why we often talk about Instructional
Design as a subjective discipline. Here is a hint to the reason.
Most often than not, subjectivity is introduced through ignorance
and ignorance is a reality in this imperfect world.
**************
Site of the Month
**************
"Site of the Month" for February is http://www.stylusinc.com
.
For the academically inclined, I propose they relate it to Keller’s
ARCS model of motivation.
Here are the reasons:
* First and foremost, the site looks different. The page body comprises
a few links on the top and three portraits. That’s it! You
begin to wonder... and they get you attention. They’ve started
well by using the first point in the ARCS model. But wait there’s
more...
* For the artistically inclined – Watch those colors in the
portraits move. Yes! They move from left to right, warm to cool,
red to blue!
* For those who like to study their audience well before beginning,
the site home page offers gender as well as ethnic balance (sadly,
none of the portraits seem Indian, but then their audience for the
site is western.)
* Now that we are done analyzing what first meets the eye, let’s
look deeper. They got our attention, what next. Check out those
questions at the top of each portrait. They build the relevance
of StylusInc in the minds of their audience, and they don’t
just leave it there, roll your mouse over the portraits, to see
neatly bulleted answers.
* Check out the other pages to see how the two other points in
the ARCS model are covered here.
* The site is extensive and rich in content. If a term is expected
to raise a question in the audience’s mind, there is a link
to its description.
**********
Surge Ahead
**********
If you know someone who would like to change his job (no matter
whether he wants to do it to help his current organization or the
future one,) this section is for you.
Click on the links to read more about the skills and experience
requirements for each position.
-----
Delhi:
-----
Techbooks International(P) Ltd.- Technical Writer and Instructional
Designer
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(For Technical Writer)
http://corp.naukri.com/mynaukri/mn_minnernew.php?othersrcpnew=browsejobsearchallnext&
cat=0&filename=230205001975&id=
(For Instructional Designer)
http://corp.naukri.com/mynaukri/mn_minnernew.php?othersrcpnew=browsejobsearchallnext&
cat=0&filename=170205002278&id=
----------
Bangalore:
----------
Intel – Technical Writer
------------------------
http://jobsearch.monsterindia.com/jobsearch.asp?re=11
&sort=dt&pg=1&cy=IN&ss=0&brd=1&vw=b&q=Instructional+Design
(While you are here, you can also check some other Instructional
Design vacancies (In Delhi and NCR) posted by an HR Consultancy
called Techroots Solutions Pvt. Ltd.)
--------------
NCR - Gurgaon:
--------------
Cyber Media (I) Ltd.- Senior Instructional Designer
---------------------------------------------------
http://corp.naukri.com/mynaukri/mn_minnernew.php?othersrcpnew=browsejobsearchallnext&
cat=0&filename=211204000354&id=
----------
Bangalore:
----------
Mentorware - Instructional Design Head, Project Managers –
e-learning, Instructional Designer
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.mentorware.com/careers/careers_india_sub.html#idh
StylusInc - Web Content Writer and Manager
-----------------------------------------
http://www.stylusinc.com/Common/career/current_software_jobs_bangalore.php#3
-------
Mumbai:
-------
LearningMate – Vacancies in Instructional Writers' Group
(IWG) and Project Management Group (PMG)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click on the following link, then click on the “here”
link on the page to access the vacancies.
http://www.learningmate.com/index.html?FrameName=Careers.html&
FrameName1=Abtus_leftframe.html
*************
India...is a Stage
*************
In this interview Lydia Lobo (CTO, Enterprise Learning Solutions,
Aptech,) traces the evolution of the learning organization in India.
Please visit http://www.indiainfoline.com/nevi/inwi/
to read this article.
This article at Sify.com, provides a view of Indian eLearning industry.
Please visit
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=13672636
to read the article “eLearning ready for a liftoff.”
***********
Laugh-a-little
***********
“Yeah, sure! I will add another head to my timesheet and
get it approved by my Project Manager. If she allows me, I will
definitely laugh.”
So what are you waiting for, get the approval, and get going! Here
are some fresh links to treasure.
Speaking English can be tricky, especially for the non-native English
speaker. Here's a list of amusing blunders that will take some stress
off your mind. I suggest you read it right after your next conference
call with a western client.
Here’s
the link: http://www.asterisks.com/bonus.html
This list is rudimentary...isn't it? Check out what other technical
writers feel about those usual, everyday lies.
Click on http://www.documentia.ca/lies.htm
We've all seen signboards that make us double up with laughter;
here's a list of translation errors. Let me know if you could stop
at just one! I recommend you start reading it from somewhere in
the middle...those are the best ones!
http://www.istc.org.uk/pages/whoops1.php
And when the technical writer visits the doctor...
http://www.nataliewrites.com/techwriter.htm
*********
Signing Off...
*********
Thanks for being with Wavelength. Before we say goodbye, let’s
promise to meet again. Wavelength shall be back next month, with
more information, news, humor, and enthusiasm. See you then!
*************************************************************************
Feedback: Write to me with your views on Wavelength at shafali@vibrantwavelength[dot]com
with "Wavelength Feedback" written in the subject.
Suggest Links or site for "Site of the Month": Publish
an article in Wavelength or suggest links– Check out http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/contribute.htm
Subscribe/Gift Subscription/Unsubscribe - Click on
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/subscribe.htm
*************************************************************************
|
