TC Talk

For this episode of TC Talk: A Tech Comm Podcast , Abi and Benton interview Dr. Rollag Yoon, a professor of English Education and curriculum editor for the ⁠ Journal of Climate Literacy in Education ⁠ . We talk about definitions of climate literacy, how to communicate about climate to young people, and why hope needs to be part of the message. Check out ⁠ClimateLit.org⁠ , which features tons of te...

Benton and Abi agree to disagree about how to disagree. In our "polarized" political climate, what value is there in a rhetoric that doesn't aim to change minds? Is it possible to embody empathetic listening while protecting ourselves from harmful views? They discuss their not-especially-successful attempts to converse with undecided voters as the election nears, and how presidential debates aren'...

Recycling or trash? It's a question you may have asked yourself when faced with a gross can, a heavily-stickered art project, or some weird plastic thing. Benton hijacks the podcast to teach Abi the behind-the-scenes of the recycling process: How it works, how effective it is, the consequences of "wish-cycling," and why plastic sucks so much. He addresses what steps you can take to make recycling...

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. Sources and further reading Salamon, Margaret Klein (2023). Facing the Climate Emergency: How to Transform Yourself with Climate Truth . New Society Publishers. Bakke, A. & B...

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 wi...

How to turn off your inner literature professor and create a habit of reading for enjoyment. Books mentioned Dies the Fire , S.M. Sterling Name of the Wind , Patrick Rothfuss The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up , Marie Kondo Republic , Plato Sophie's Choice , William Styron Moby Dick , Herman Melville Diary of a Wimpy Kid , Jeff Kinney Where the Red Fern Grows , Wilson Rawls Garfield , Jim Davis...

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,...

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 ex...

More jokes, ChatGPT-generated and otherwise, cut from the recording for the "AI is a joke" episode Transcript AAnd then the third joke I put on Twitter was getting away from profession- oriented humor. Why don't mushrooms ever shared their feelings? BSo this is a little bit of fun with fungus. AYou're right. We haven't had fun with fungus in awhile, but we are doing So right now. A: Because they’r...

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 intelli...