TC Talk
TC Talk
A Bakke
Abi is a professor of technical communication and rhetoric; Benton... is not. Abi reads scholarly articles; Benton reads science fiction. And they are both connoisseurs of mixed drinks and bad puns. Listen in as they connect the academic to the everyday, spanning topics like misinformation, science communication, digital rhetoric, and health and medical writing. Go to http://faculty.mnsu.edu/tctalk/ for transcripts and show notes.
Dealing with climate doom
Benton and Abi feel bad about climate change. As they should. They talk about how to channel negative emotions into productive action, as recommended in the book Facing the Climate Emergency by Margaret Klein Salamon. Transcript and sources can be found at http://faculty.mnsu.edu/tctalk/
Jan 4, 2024
52 min
Accessibility and AI
An interview with Dr. Dawn Armfield of Minnesota State, Mankato about how accessibility intersects with artificial intelligence. She shares about AI in teaching, visual AI, inclusivity, ethics, classroom technology, and her current research on virtual reality for young adults with cognitive disabilities. Find Dawn at her faculty bio or her Instagram @dawn_armfield. Plus, what does AI have to do with fungus? Find transcript and show notes at https://faculty.mnsu.edu/tctalk/
Aug 31, 2023
41 min
How to read, revisited
How to turn off your inner literature professor and create a habit of reading for enjoyment. For transcripts and sources, visit https://faculty.mnsu.edu/tctalk/
May 25, 2023
59 min
IBM and the Holocaust, Part 2
This is part 2 of 2 about the book IBM and the Holocaust by Edwin Black. In Part 1, we described how IBM, through its German subsidiary Dehomag, supported the mass extermination of the Jewish people. How do we know IBM's involvement made a difference in the scope of the mass murders? One clue comes from comparing how things went down in the Netherlands vs. France. We also talk about surveillance, ethical hacking, why the logical fallacy "argumentum / reductio ad Hitlerum" shouldn't be a thing, and what the story of IBM and the Holocaust has to do with UX design. For transcripts and sources, visit https://faculty.mnsu.edu/tctalk/
Apr 27, 2023
39 min
IBM and the Holocaust, Part 1
Nazi Germany systematically identified, relocated, and murdered millions of Jewish people during the Holocaust. But how were they able to kill so many so efficiently? IBM equipment played a key role. Meanwhile, IBM CEO Thomas J. Watson got rich off of Nazi Germany and strategically escaped scrutiny for his collaboration. In this episode, drawing on Edwin Black's book IBM and the Holocaust, Abi explains how intertwined IBM and Nazi Germany were by tracing their paths through the Hitler years.
Mar 23, 2023
46 min
BONUS: All the jokes we couldn't fit in the last episode
More jokes, ChatGPT-generated and otherwise, cut from the recording for the "AI is a joke" episode
Mar 2, 2023
8 min
AI is a joke
We reflect on AI text generators, creativity, technical communication, writing instruction, algorithmic literacy, magic, and more. Importantly, we reveal the results of our Twitter experiment: Are we funnier than a robot? (Results were mixed.) Also, find out what happens when we drink an AI-generated cocktail recipe and ask ChatGPT to write a stand-up routine about the ethics of artificial intelligence. 
Feb 23, 2023
54 min
Disaster comm, Part 3: Constant vigilance
This is the last of our 3-part series in which we discuss The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disaster, by Juliette Kayyem. In this episode, we talk about the importance of continually examining your systems, and learning from mini disasters instead of brushing them off.  Finally, we put our newfound knowledge to the test when a baking attempt goes awry. Content warning: Gun violence.
Jan 26, 2023
41 min
Disaster comm, Part 2: Listening downward
This is part 2 of our 3-part series on disaster communication, where we are discussing the book The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disaster, by Juliette Kayyem. Last time, we talked about the barriers that make comprehending and communicating about crisis challenging. This time, using cases such as Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon explosion, we address how to overcome those barriers and get quality info to the people who need it. The first step is listening downward, or gathering info from people who are closest to disaster.
Dec 22, 2022
43 min
Disaster comm, Part 1: Disaster is the new normal
Many organizations focus on preventing disaster from happening, but don't have plans in place for when disaster inevitably does happen. And as climate change worsens, we need to buckle up for living in an age of disaster. What does this mean for communicating about risk, crisis, and disaster? To answer this question, Benton shares insights from the book The Devil Never Sleeps by Juliette Kayyem. Benton and Abi also discuss their own very different reactions to disaster in their own lives, as well as their favorite zombie media.
Nov 24, 2022
49 min
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