Report on My Interviews

Overall, I think that my interview went pretty well. I acquired a good amount of information plus I think I may have made new contacts with professionals in my field. Here are the base results of my interviews with Dr. Jerzy Rozenblit, and Dr. Kelly Potter.

Pasquini, Laura. "Curating Job Interview Questions" 8/14/2006 via flickr. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic

1. Significant Genres
The genre that kept on coming up over and over again was the genre similar to a lab report that I called the technical report. According to Dr. Jerzy Rozenblit, it is crucial to learn how to write these.

Another important genre that came up was that of patent law. These are critical for professionals working in companies or laboratories. However, for professors such as Dr. Kelly Potter, patent law is not really of concern.

A third genre that came up was that of conference presentations. Both Dr. Kelly Potter and Dr. Jerzy Rozenblit stated that they do about 3 to 4 of these a year. They are important because it can help them get support for their work.

2. Differences Between Genres
The patent and the technical reports are actually quite similar in conventions. They have a very similar format. The only difference is probably that the patent does not really have a results section. The conference presentation, however, seems to be somewhat different. It really is not divided into an abstract, introduction, results, conclusion, and citation. They all appear to be structured with an introduction, a problem, and a solution.

The purpose of these three genres differs. The purpose of the technical report is to report on the results of an experiment or derivations of theory. The purpose of the patent is to claim an idea. Finally, the purpose of the presentation is to inform and possibly gather support.

The audience for the presentation is typically a bit more broad than the audience for a patent or technical report. As for the context, presentations pretty much happen anywhere. Technical reports mostly appear on academic journals or as conference proceeding. Patents go more into the legality of the electrical and computer engineering profession.

3. Difficult or Challenging
Some of the difficulties that were stated by the professionals I interviewed were meeting deadlines, collaborations, and going through the revision process. Meeting deadlines is sometimes difficult with so much going on in their professional lives, but of course they have to do it. Collaboration can be difficult depending on who they are working with. Finally, the conference revision process. Dr. Rozenblit stated that only 10 % of all submitted work to conferences gets published.

4. Exciting or Rewarding
One thing that is rewarding is actually getting their work out there for people to see. Furthermore, it is even more rewarding once people actually start responding to their work.

5. Mass Media
Examples of presentations are somewhat generally available on video sharing websites such as Youtube. The patents are not really on mass media, but there are various websites, such as Google Patents, where you can see patents. Technical reports sometimes appear on websites such as Wired.com, but they are mostly on academic journals and professional sites such as IEEE.

Round two of cyber stalking! No, but really, I do not think that people within my field really use social media that much. I scanned Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter, WordPress, and Youtube only to find minimal results.

Walsh, Paul. "Facebook Illustrations" 2/19/2009 via flickr. Attribution-NonCOmmercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic

1. Who I am Stalking and Social Media Networks
 I decided to look into Dr. Christian Scharfenberger, the primary author of "Salient Region Detection Using Self-Guided Statistical Non-Redundancy in Natural Images." Well actually, I looking into various authors and he was the only one I could find anything on.

I was only able to located a LinkedIn account. However, that LinkedIn account does have a lot of information. I found out that he currently resides in Canada at the University of Waterloo, but is from Germany. He is also a project manager at Continental AG. I also found out about his other works.

2. Social Media Presence
Dr. Christian Scharfenberger had no other presence on social media besides LinkedIn. His LinkedIn, however, looks well maintained. It talks about his current job, previous jobs, education, and his interests.

3. Persona on Social Media vs Persona in the Pages of the Academic Journal
There is not too much to work with, but from what I can see, the persona is pretty much the same.  His LinkedIn profile is pretty much as technical as his publications.

Furthermore, the interests listed in his LinkedIn profile match up with the his publication. His main interest lie in using image processing techniques for various applications. His publication essentially discusses improvements in image detection.

Academic Discourse & Genre

By this point, I have seen various academic journals from various professional in my field. They all seem to have a similar format. The one in IEEE Access is no different.

Jimmie. "Lab Report" 3/28/2009 via flickr. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic

1. How many different kinds of genres seem to be published in this particular issue of the journal you selected?
From the looks of it and after making careful calculations, there only appears to be one type of genre present in the issue of the academic journal, IEEE Access.

2. Significant formal differences
This is somewhat tricky. For the most part I see almost the exact same genre which, I am going to title technical report. However, upon a more detailed inspection, I noticed that there are some minor differences.

These differences are rather small and I do not think that they should be classified as two separate genres, but as sub-divisions of the technical report genre. I will call these sub divisions a conceptual technical report and a data-intensive technical report.

The overall structure is the same. They both began with an abstract and an introduction and end with a conclusion\discussion and references. They both have various figures to help with understanding as well and they both essentially have a results section. This is were things somewhat change.

In the data-intensive technical report, the result second is full of numbers, calculations, and how those calculations were acquired. In the conceptual technical report, this section is mostly theories and explanations to back up their initial claims.

3. Definition of Genre
Technical Report: A publication based on results or derivations of theories from an experiment strictly used to convey its results. It is divided into five major sections: abstract, introduction, results, conclusion/discussion, and references.The intended audience are individuals with in the field of study that the experiment was conducted in.

This genre can also be sub divided into two smaller sections; a conceptual technical report and a data-intensive technical report. The main difference between these is the type of results that are being reported in results section.

Rhetorical Analysis of Academic Journal

I found a bunch of academic journals at the University of Arizona Library's website. However, all of them were online copies. The only non-online copies I found were from like the 1990s. They seemed to be a tad bit too outdated for this project.

IEEE Access

1. Authors and Speakers
There was a total of 16 primary authors:

• Derek Abbott
• Alexander Wong
• Omid Kavehei
• Ajay Kumas
• Damith C. Ranasinghe
• David A. Clausi
• Hussein Al Osman
• Said F. Al-Sarawi
• Amioy Kumar
• Christian Scharfenberger
• Yansong Gao
• Nicola Lanuale
• Enrico Capobianco
• Duccio Schiavon
• Audrey G. Chung
• Mohamed A. Eid

 One important thing to note is that all of theses authors are from all over the world. For example, Amioy Kumar is from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong. Nicola Lanuale, on the other hand, is from the Science and Technology Park of Venice, Italy. The authors mostly use a neutral technical language, but due occasionally refer to themselves in first person. They use word such as we and us.

2. Intended Audience
The intended audience is other researchers and professionals in the IEEE field, which includes electrical and computer engineers. The language is technical and therefore requires the reader to have some knowledge on the topic. It is not an introductory piece for just anyone to read to inform themselves on a topic.

3. The Context
This is an academic journal from IEEE. I have been saying that a lot and I should probably elaborate. The IEEE stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. It is a professional association for professionals in the electrical and computer field. IEEE Access recently launched in 2013 as an open access online journal that has skyrocketed in popularity since its launch. What sets IEEE Access apart from the rest is its paper peer review system.

4. Overall Message
The message of the journals various from volume to volume and publication to publication. For example, this journal has 5 different messages. The message of "Smart Cities, Big Data, and Communities: Reasoning from the Viewpoint of Attractors" is how to define what a smart city is and what it need to contain to achieve this classification.

The message of another section of this journal, "Emerging Physical Unclonable Functions with Nanotechnology" is that there is an issue with Physical Unclonable Functions that must be addressed.

5. The Purpose
The purpose of this journal, I think, is pretty much stated in the first page of it. In the first page, as pictured above, it states that the journal is: 
      "A multidisciplinary, applications-oriented, all-electronic archival journal continuously presenting the results of original research or development across all of IEEE's fields of interest."

My Field of Study

 Engineers have the potential to change the world with their inventions. Sure it is a difficult discipline, but it is worth it.

IEEE. "Logo of IEEE" 2/1/2013 via wikimedia. Public Domain

1. What do students in your program or department learn how to do?
In the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department we learn and apply the fundamentals of computer coding and electricity/magnetism to the engineering discipline.

2. What do people who get degrees in this field usually go on to do for work?
People who get degrees in the ECE field can work for a vast array of companies. There is a demand for ECE majors in companies that range from Amazon to Motorola to NASA. If there is electricity or computers involved, then there is probably a position available for an ECE major.

3. What drew you to this field?
 I have always been into fixing things and seeing how they work. That is what brought me to engineering. However, engineering has many divisions. The challenge arose when I had to pick one. I think that the reason I choose ECE was because I there is a lot you can do with it into today's world. Secondly, I find coding in my ECE 175 class really interesting.

4. Name three of the leaders/most exciting people in this field right now. Why are they interesting or exciting to you?
   3. Microsoft (Bill Gates) - Microsoft was somewhat slacking around 2010, but now they are well on their way to being, once again, one of the most innovative companies in world. Recent developments such as HoloLens and Surface are just the beginning of a tech boost that will once again propel this company, once again, to the top.
   
  2. Google (Larry Page) - Google is on top of its game like never before. With a product in almost every tech field, Google's innovate line up has no end in site. It took the web as a search engine in 2000. Revolutionized cellphones with Android in 2008. So what is next?

   1. Elon Musk - Elon Musk wanted a new payment method, so he created PayPal. Elon Musk wanted a new way to travel into space, so he created SpaceX. Elon Musk wanted a new way to commute to work, so he created Tesla. How can one not be interested in Elon Musk? 

 5. What are the names of three leading academic/scholarly journals in your field? 

• IEEE Access
• Published by IEEE in College Park, Maryland
• IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation
• Published by IEEE RObotics and Automation Society
• IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering
• Published by the IEEE Computer Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
 

 

My Interviewees on Social Media

Social media is a great way to communicate. However, I feel like once we get to the professionals, the allure of social media dies down. This is probably due to various reasons such as security, communication through professional sites, and maybe even the age barrier. In this post I scanned Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, Twitter, WordPress, and Youtube for information on my interviewees.

Herbalife. "Social Media Tag Cloud Network" June 2015 via pixabay. Public Domain

1. Interviewees and Social Media
 I had a hard time finding something on Kelly Potter. I was not able to find much on any of the social media sites stated above. The only things that I really found were Facebook and Twitter posts that referenced her name, but that was about it.

As for Jerzy Rozenblit, I was able to find a bit more. I found that he has a Facebook and a LinkedIn account, but by the looks of them, he is not very active in either of them. I did, however, find a lot of mentions of him in almost all of the above social media sites. The only social media sites that did not mention him were Instagram and WordPress.

2. Social Media Presence
I did not find much on Kelly Potter. I did find out, though, that she was recently elected Fellow of the American Ceramic Society. I also found out that Kelly Potter is collecting research from a project on the ISS. On Twitter I saw essentially the same information.

Jerzy Rozenblit had a bigger presence on social media. He is mentioned various time by various people for his work in computer aided surgery. In addition there are various videos. Facebook, Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter, and Youtube all have various post on Dr. Rozenblit's work.

One interesting thing that I found on Youtube was a video that tells a lot of Dr. Rozenblit's backstory. It also answered many questions to why he got into computer aided surgery.

I decided to try to find my backup interviewee, Hal S. Tharp on social media and I yielded very minimal results. I found that he has a LinkedIn--that seems to be rarely used-- and a Youtube channel. The Youtube channel only has tutorial videos for his classes

3. Persona on Social Media vs. Persona in the Pages of the Academic Journal
Well the main difference is that there is not much on social media compared to the academic journals. Dr. Jerzy Rozenblit has over 140 combined publications, but zero posts on his Facebook page. Nonetheless, the post that mention him do correlate with his work in computer assisted surgery.

Most of Dr. Rozenblit's recent publications have been on computer assisted surgery and the Facebook posts mention his work and the presentations he has done on it.

As for Dr. Kelly Potter, her social media presence is negligible. However, she does have over 40 academic publications.

I found one journal titled "Effect of low-earth orbit space radiation-induced absorption in rare-earth-doped optical fibers" that correlated to a Twitter post talking about how Dr. Kelly S. Potter was in the process of analyzing research that was conducted on the ISS. I do not really know what else to compare here since there really is not much.



 

My Interviewees as Professional Writers

 Now we begin the stalking! No, but really. For these post, I am investigating the types of works that my interviewees have authored. I was able to find a good amount online on both of them which is great. Here is what my research turned up.

OpenCLipartVectors. "Detective Clues Find Fingerprints Mystery" 10/15/2013 via pixabay. Public Domain

1. Professional Publications
Dr. Jerzy Rozenblit
Dr. Rozenblit has collaborated in the publishing of over 40 academic journals. Furthermore, he has written various book chapter such as "Models and Techniques for Computer Aided Surgical Training" in Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

 Dr. Rozenblit also has also collaborated in the writing of more than 100 conference proceedings. In addition to his written works, Dr. Rozenblit has also done various public address and presentations such as at the TEDx conferences.

Dr. Kelly Potter
Dr. Potter has collaborated in the publishing of two patents relating to refractive index structures. Furthermore, she also authored the book Optical Materials. She has also published, in collaboration with others, approximately 80 academic journals.

Ufnalska Sylwia. "Publications of the European Association of Science Editors" 9/4/2011 via wikimedia. Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

2. Examinations of Publications
Dr. Jerzy Rozenblit Publications
 One of the online publications I found by Dr. Rozenblit was a journal titled "The Computer Assisted Surgical Trainer: Design, Models, and Implementation."  It structure seemed very similar to what I would write for a lab report in class. It did have some variation, but overall, it was similar. It had bold headings and 5 major sections.

These sections were the abstract, introduction, design concept, technical realization, and conclusion. The lab report we write in physics or chemistry have an abstract, introduction, theory, description of procedure, results, and conclusions.

The other online publication I found was a video on his presentations on Computer Aided Surgery. This presentation seemed to have been divided into an introduction, the problem, proposed solution, problems with the solution, solutions to the problems of the solution, technical explanation and a conclusion.

One difference in these two genres was the targeted audience. For the journal, the audience is other professionals in the field. For the presentation, it was essentially to anyone who is interested in engineering or medicine. Another difference is the formatting. It would seem a bit monotonous to make the presentation in the same format as a technical paper.

That is how you lose the audiences attention. This is another important thing to note. The academic journal is all facts and numbers without any of the extra fluff. It is not meant to entertain. It is strictly meant to inform.

Dr. Kelly Potter Publications
 For Dr. Kelly Potter, I was able to find two sources. One was her book Optical Material. The book is structured like most academic text book. It is divided into 9 chapters. It also includes a table of context and an index.

 The other source I found was her patent: "Formation of Bulk Refractive Index Structures." This is divided into 6 major sections which are an abstract, images, descriptions, claim, patent citations, and classifications. It is similar to a lab report except with less technical aspects and more legal matters. One main differences is that the patent is short compared to the text book. The purpose of the text book is to educate, while the purpose of the patent is to claim an idea as their own.

 3. Context
The Computer Assisted Surgical Trainer: Design, Models, and Implementation (Dr. Rozenblit)
This journal was published in 2014. The conventions are technical and almost always follow a set format of having an abstract, introduction, descriptions, results, and conclusions. As for events going on around the time of its publication, the only thing I can image having an affect is the rise of virtual reality head sets such as Gear VR. 

The audience is mainly the professionals attending the 2014 Summer Simulation Multiconference in San Diego, California. Other audience includes other professionals with an interest in the topic.

 In 2014, the academic journals being published related to invasive surgery by Dr. Rozenblit spiked. In prior years, he had only published 1 or 2 journals, but in 2014, he published 6 journals related to surgical training using computers. 

 Computer Aided Surgery (Dr. Rozenblit)

This presentation was done on April 25, 2013 at a TEDx conference at the University of Arizona. For the most part this presentation was both informative, but not to technical. Dr. Rozenblit kept the audience attention by keeping his presentation dynamic yet straight forward. An event that may have influenced this is the recent interest in moving toward minimally invasive surgery. 

The audience for this presentation included students and faculty of the University of Arizona, as well as other individuals interested in the topic. 2013 was relatively slow in the amount of publications related to this that Dr. Rozenblit did. However, in the next year, he released more publication then he ever had relating to minimally invasive surgery. 

Optical Material (Dr. Potter)
This book was published in 1999 while Dr. Potter worked at Sandia National Laboratories. The conventions here are typical of an academic text book with it being divided into different chapters. Her work at Sandia National Laboratories seems to have influenced this book since her primary area of research was optical materials. Around the time of its publication, Dr. Potter also released two patents. These patents also related to optical materials. 

Formation of Bulk Refractive Index Structures(Dr. Potter)
This patent was filed for in 2001. The patent is structure similar to a lab report, but does not really have a data and results section. It also has more sections that pertain to the legality of the invention. This patent was released during her work at Sandia National Laboratories.

Sandia National Laboratories are research and development centers of the United States. The audience is most likely lawyers and possibly other inventors. 

5. Overall Message and Purpose of Each Piece
The purpose of the journal by Dr. Rozenblit is to talk about a new surgical training system called the Computer Assisted Surgical Trainer. This is explicitly stated in the abstract of this journal. The message is to convey how effective something like the Computer Assisted Surgical Trainer can be. 

The purpose of Dr. Rozenblit's presentation was to inform the audience on computer aided minimally invasive surgery. His message was that this type of technology can greatly improve the outcome of surgical procedured. 

The purpose of Dr. Potters book is to educate the reader on optical materials. I am not to sure what type of message this would have though since it is to educate. Maybe the message is the importance of optical materials?

The purpose of her patent was to legally claim her invention as hers. The message in this could be to other inventors that something like this was already done so do not waste your time, but you can build up on it.

My Interview Subjects

Time for round two! Here comes the rhetorical investigation. One of the main parts of this project is the interview. I thought preparing for them was a bit difficult because I really didn't know what to expect. Furthermore, I do not really know if I am asking the proper questions for this project.

Tumisu. "Interview Job Icon" 11/28/2016 via pixabay. Public Domain

1. Names of the two people you're scheduled to interview
For this project I am scheduled to interview Dr. Jerzy W. Rozenblit and Dr. Kelly Potter. However, as a back up, I am also scheduled to interview Dr. Hal S. Tharp.

2. The Names of the Organizations and Job Titles
Jerzy Rozenblit  is a Distinguished Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona. Kelly Potter is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. Hal S. Tharp is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Arizona.

3. Higher Education Degree and the Names of the Institutions
Dr. Rozenblit received a Masters degree and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Wayne State University.
Dr. Potter received a Masters degree and Ph.D. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona.
Dr. Tharp received a Ph.d. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois.

4. Professional Years
 Dr. Rozenblit has been a professor since 1986. Dr. Potter began her career at Sandia National Laboratories in 1994.

5. Photos and Websites

 Dr. Jerzy Rozenblit

(website: http://mbdl.arizona.edu/)

Brown, Pete. "Dr. Jerzy Rozenblit at a Gala" 11/14/2014 via wikimedia. Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Dr. Kelly Potter

(website: http://www.optics.arizona.edu/research/faculty/profile/kelly-simmons-potter)

ECE at the U of A. "Dr. Kelly S. Potter" via ece.arizona.edu

6. Date, Time and Location

 I plan on interviewing Dr. Rozenblit at on Wednesday, February 24 at 1 p.m. in his office, ECE 506.

My scheduled interview with Kelly Potter is on Monday, February 22 at 2 p.m. in her office, ECE 406.

7. Interview Questions

Questions for Dr. Rozenblit

1. How would you describe your position/job/professional works?
     2.      In what ways do you publish your work? Via reports? Presentations?
     3.      What kinds of writing do you do? How often?
     4.      What kinds of audience do you write for?
     5.      How much collaboration goes into your publications?
     6.      How did your background prepare you for your publication?
     7.      What works are you most proud of?
     8.      How do you integrate other works in your field?
     9.      What can you tell me about your work with minimally invasive surgery?
    10.   What were your motives behind your publications such as your text book: Codesign?
    11.   Would you be open to some follow up questions through email?
   
   Questions for Dr. Potter
   
   

   1.         How would you describe your job here at the University of Arizona?
        2.      How has your educational background prepared you for the kinds of writing in your profession?
        3.      What is the most common type of writing genre that you regularly engage in for your position?
        4.      Would you consider social media important in your profession and if so, what role does it play.
       5.      When you write, who do you normally write for?
       6.      Can you tell me more about your book Optical Materials?
       7.      How do you approach time management for your professional writing? Do you ever struggle with procrastination?
       8.      What type of planning do you do before you begin writing?
       9.      Can you tell me more about your work with Sandia National Laboratories?
      10.   What kind of writing did you mostly engage in while you worked there?
      11.   How much work was put into publishing your patents, aside from creating the actual invention?
      12.   Is there anything about professional communication - in general or in your particular position - that you think students just starting out in the field should know?