portfolio - ryan murphy

8/20/2019 Portfolio - Ryan Murphy

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Ryan MurphyContextualization of Artifacts from the Written Communication Program

Eastern Michigan University2011-2015


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Introduction I don’t have a long story on how I decided to study written communication. I knew I wanted todo something writing or computer related after high school graduation. After some research Ilearned about written communication and technical writing. Many careers in this field areclosely tied to the information technology field. This increased my interest in becoming a

technical writer. During my study at Eastern Michigan University I was able to take somecomputer information system classes along with the written communication program.

I understood writing as an end product when beginning to take introduction technical writingclasses. My focus was on the results of my writing and less on the actual process. Writersare not just people who write. We are communicators, analysts, interviewers, and subjectmatter experts. All writers embody these things when producing a deliverable, but non-writersdo not realize the importance of these hidden processes. A professional writer is able tounderstand these process concepts and explain how they work to others.

This portfolio will use aquarium design to showcase what I have learned during the work doneas an undergraduate. This theme will be used to provide connections between the concepts

I have learned.

This portfolio will explore four artifacts:

An Instructional Assignment

A Rhetorical Analysis

An Information Design project

A Resume Design project

Callouts using this style will appear

on some artifacts to accompany the

contextualization.

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Instructional AssignmentENGL 323W: Writing in the Professional World

Context of the Instructional Assignment

Writing in the Professional World had students learn about the different kinds of writing thatis used in the business world. Young students are taught about how important the fiveparagraph essay is. At the same time the way we frequently communicate is changing fromlong reports to short memos and emails. The Instructional Assignment involved creating ashort piece of documentation on a feature of the Google Docs suite. Throughout the class werelied on Google Docs to share work and facilitate discussion. Writing about a featurecontributed to a learning while doing approach to that was touched upon throughout thecourse. This assignment also had students condense a large amount of information into aneasily consumable bite.

Writing as User Advocacy

The Instructional Assignment required students to

create a few iterations of their document. My first fewwere simple, bare bones instructions with little text anda single photo. The document soon grew to half adozen pages that were filled with large screenshots ofthe user interface elements being described in the text.This is where I as a writer became an advocate. Theend user of this document needs to understand the linkbetween the text and screenshots. Aquarists use asimilar iterative approach to refining their aquariums byrefining things like substrate depth or plant cover. Asthe author I can integrate small graphics into thescreenshots that help the user do this connecting. A

small graphic signifying importance was added to eachscreenshot. This draws the reader’s eyes to what isimportant to them at that particular moment. Not all users of a particular demographic are thesame, as not all fish of the same species are the same. Writers need to assist users throughthe design of their documents by identifying choices they can make with the visual andfunctional operation of their document.

Writing as User Experience Designers

Document design is important to writers. We need to make something look visually appealingas well as have it convey the intended message. To create something that works, equalconsideration needs to be placed on design and function. This assignment was an experiment

in “learning by doing” because the document must be created within the constraints of GoogleDocs. The software isn’t made for designing a document. Writers can still make good of asituation like this by conducting user acceptance testing. Accompanying a user and observingthem interact with an interface allows for insight on real world function. The document wastargeted at a novice user who would use both the text and images to complete the task andalso an intermediate user who would be able to complete the task using the screenshots. Theuser testing resulted in a document condensed to two pages with images aligned alongsidethe accompanying text. This allowed for quick skimming by the advanced user and a lessintimidating but in depth instruction for the novice user

Writers are advocates for their readers as

aquarists are advocates for their fish.

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Instruction Assignment Artifact

Uploading and Converting PDF Files in Windows 8 to be Usable by Google Docs

1. Log into Google Drive by navigating to

https://drive.google.com/ in your web browser. Enter your

Google Account credentials into the text fields indicated by

the red arrows, as seen in Figure 1. Click the blue Sign in button to sign in.

If you do not have an account, navigate to

https://accounts.google.com/SignUp and follow the steps at

that page to create a Google Account.

2. Once logged in, navigate to the gear icon at the top right of the Google Drive homepage.

This is below your name in the grey Google bar. Click the gear icon, as seen in Figure 2.

Within the drop down menu hover the cursor over Upload settings.

Then select:

● Convert uploaded files to

Google Docs format

● Convert text from

uploaded PDF and image

files.

● Confirm settings before

each upload.

With these settings chosen, all

uploaded files will be converted to

be usable by Google Docs.

NOTE: This is useful if you wish to NOT have your file converted, as Google Drive and Docs

may not be compatible with certain formatting settings in Microsoft Word.

3. From the Google Drive homepage, navigate to the left side

of the screen. Next to the red Create button there will be a

button with a picture of a hard drive with an arrow pointing up,

as seen in Figure 3. Click this and then select FIles from the

drop down menu.

Fig. 1

Fig

The text being wrapped

around this image indicates

that it accompanies Step 2.

The red arrow acts as an

indicator that draws the

user’s eye to an interface

element.

Fig. 3

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https://drive.google.com/https://drive.google.com/https://accounts.google.com/SignUphttps://accounts.google.com/SignUphttps://accounts.google.com/SignUphttps://drive.google.com/


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Instruction Assignment Artifact

4. After clicking Files, the File

Explorer will open up.

Navigate to the directory

where the PDF file you wish to

upload is located. Select the

file, be sure it is highlighted,and then click Open. These

steps are documented in

Figure 4. You will then begin

the upload process.

5. Next, you will be prompted

with this popup window as

seen in Figure 5. By selecting

“Confirm settings before each

upload” in Step 2, you will be

prompted with this window

each time a file is uploaded.

Click the blue Start uploadbutton to continue.

6. Upon the completion of the upload, this pane

seen in Figure 6 will appear in the bottom left of

the Google Drive window. Double click on the file

name to open your PDF file within Google Docs to

begin editing. This file can also be found within

your Google Drive directory.

Fig.

Fig. The short length of the

document contributes to

the ease of use.

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Rhetorical AnalysisWRTG 310: Writing and Civic Literacy

Context of the Rhetorical Analysis

Writing and Civic Literacy had students explore concepts of rhetorical purpose and circulationand apply those concepts to an issue that interests them. To complete the analysis, studentsidentified genre systems where their advocacy issues circulated, genres that circulate withinthis system, and found key arguments made by the authors. This project required successfulcompletion of the previous Advocacy Proposal project where students worked throughdefining their advocacy issue. The Rhetorical Analysis project culminated into a portfolio thatcontained the analysis, a reflection piece on the process of analysis, and work completed inclass that supported the learning process.

Understanding Feedback is Key to Problem Solving An analysis cannot be effective unless it is cohesive.This cohesiveness comes through steady revision.

Reviewing writing with my peers allowed me tounderstand how it met the requirements and what itneeded work. Being able to understand and act on thisfeedback will show if a writer really understands whatthey are doing when working on an academicassignment or a real world project. This is what definesa writer as a subject matter expert and a heuristicproblem solver. Without the ability to understand, awriter becomes someone who simply operates a tool.Professional writers operate tools as well, but have adifferent purpose when doing so.

If something is not working on a particular document, awriter needs to get some kind of feedback from testingon users or directly from their peers. Aquarists usetesting products to gain insight into the interworkings oftheir aquatic environment the same way a professionalwriter would use peer review testing to get a similar kind of insight into how the documentworks within the constraints. Both test will show if revision needs to take place or give resultsthat show that the work is functioning effectively.

Writing in a Changing WordTo return to a concept from the Instructional Assignment, writers need to understand therheotrical implications behind the change in writing from longform documents to short bites of

text. These short bites do not always have to be published on their own. A writer can createhow others see them on platforms like Twitter or Facebook by coordinating their small bitesinto a larger campaign to convince others of their credibility. Many real world projects involvecreating or maintaning smaller bites of information that make up a larger product.Understanding this helps to uncover that the circulation of bites is about the bigger picture

This water test kit is a tool used by

aquarists. Anyone can operate the tool

by filling the vials and adding the test

chemicals. An aquarist will be able tounderstand the feedback from the tool

and revise what they have done to the

aquarium water.

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Rhetorical Analysis Artifact

Introduction and Analysis of Genre Systems

Social media is an effective system where net neutrality and privacy are

discussed. It is important to note that some social media policy is an affront to the core

values of privacy minded Internet users. Information about Facebook or Twitter’s policy

is shared, discussed and analyzed on Facebook and Twitter. This is an effective

rhetorical use of social media by privacy advocates. Social media does not always have

policies that endanger the privacy of its users.

Diaspora is a community run, distributed social network. Diaspora is broken up

into different pods which can be hosted by anybody with a server and the software.

Users commonly join pre-existing pods based in their location or language preference.

The Diaspora software does not track users. There is no real name policy and all users

own their data they post to the site. This is convenient for privacy advocates because

they can discuss and share in a safer way when compared to sites that track and sell

user data. Information can easily circulate within this system, but the system does not

circulate well in others. Privacy advocates are hesitant to sign up and share information

on social media platforms, so they may be hesitant to look for and try a new service.

This also harms the discourse happening within Diaspora as the user base becomes

stagnant. Individual users will gain social clout and dominate the slowed discussion.

4chan is an environment that is socially distinct from Diaspora. It is an

anonymous imageboard which similar to a forum except posts are based on images

instead of text. 4chan is not based on free software, but the anonymity concept is

something that contributes to a privacy friendly environment. Users are not required to

create an account or mark their posts with identifying information in any way. Threads

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are also pruned and deleted from boards as they fall past a certain page. A few boards

on 4chan deal with net neutrality and privacy: Technology, Video Games, and Politically

Incorrect. Technology facilitates discussion about privacy as it relates to technology,

Video Games as it relates to games, and Politically Incorrect as it relates to politics.

There is no unified board where users can discuss general privacy. This forces

users to post about specific privacy issues in specific boards. In order to make a thread

or post that contributes to discussion, users must know the board culture and

conventions. Boards use unique terminology that does not always cross boundaries into

other boards. It is not easy for someone who frequents one board to post about privacy

on another.

Google News is much different from Diaspora and 4chan. It is a news

aggregation service that presents a user with articles about subjects that they choose.

User can select terms or phrases that they wish to appear in their feed. This is fairly

similar to doing a regular Google search, so the level of knowledge required to begin

utilizing the tool is low. The service does not appeal to privacy advocates because it

utilizes the Google ecosystem. According to many privacy advocates, this ecosystem

has a fatal flaw similar to Facebook: data retention. Users will willingly input their

information, sometimes private, into these services. These services will retain this data

and use it to benefit the user, but it also is at risk of being leaked, stolen, or collected by

hackers and governments. Recent high profile companies like Sony and Target have

had data breaches which show how companies store user data: not very securely.

When compared to Diaspora and 4chan, there is little rhetorical use of the actual tools.

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Clickbait as a Rhetorical Device

Through Google News, I found an article titled Snowden Leaks Have Changed

How Americans See Their Privacy by Arik Hesseldahl of Re/code. Re/code is a new

technology news website founded by technology columnist Walt Mossberg from The

Wall Street Journal after the collapse of All Things Digital, a brand he also worked

under, also owned by Dow Jones. This collapse was the result of a failure to renew a

contract. This is important information to keep in mind when analysing this article.

Re/code is a website that publishes a wide variety of articles about technology,

including the culture and politics of technology. The sites young age requires its authors

to attract readers to generate revenue through ads. Attracting readers through

sensational headlines is particularly lucrative, but can risk a publication’s integrity. The

headline of this article is indeed clickbait as it gives the reader just enough to make a

user interested, particularly American readers. The headline plays on the heartstrings of

Americans interested in the growing story around Edward Snowden. The headline

makes a reader think “How have the leaks changed how we see privacy? Have I

changed?” which directly connects to how the reader feels about Snowden situation.

It would be sound to say that Hesseldahl’s article is an analysis of an already

existing study. Hesseldahl did not facilitate or take part in the study; he is just reporting

the study and giving context to the results. When looking at Hessedahls article through

Dr. Dunn’s concept of “genre doing work” we can see what an analytical article does to

support a research study or survey. He uses an example of a lentil soup recipe. We

write a recipe that adheres to the necessary genre conventions of recipes. Someones

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concern with the recipe may be in our taste in food, but the bigger thing for them is if the

recipe helps them cook lentil soup.

This example can be applied to Hessdahl’s analysis. It adheres to the necessary

genre conventions (using a respected source, paraphrasing, attributing information to

the source of an analysis article and what we really want to know is if this article helps

us as readers understand what has happened to the discourse in America surrounding

privacy.

Hesseldahl explicitly states the issue he is writing about in the title of his article.

Fahnestock talks about this by referencing Lloyd Bitzer’s concept of exigence, defined

as an “imperfection marked by urgency” addressed by rhetorical discourse. Fahnestock

adds that arguers need to consider the “why” along with the “what” when arguing a

point.

Hesseldahl does just this. There is a sense of urgency behind his examination of

a Pew Research Center survey on NSA surveillance. The “what” is how Snowden leaks

of NSA surveillance has changed how Americans see privacy. Having the “what” be the

first thing a reader sees is important when conveying urgency to the reader. The article

isn’t titled “Pew Research Center finds Americans Have Taken Steps to Protect

Information” for a reason. It does not have a sense of urgency because it isn’t directly

addressing the reader. It is just reporting a story about a survey. This urgency works by

giving the reader just enough information that lets them know that the article applies to

them. I think this correlates with the rhetorical use of clickbait I mentioned earlier.

Clickbait is a more accessible way for non rhetoricians to understand urgency through

exigence.

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When this concept of “what” is combined with urgency and audience, we can

begin to understand the “why” that Fahnestock writes about. The “why” gives purpose to

the “what”. Without it, there is little rhetorical purpose to the message. There is this

great reaction to what is happening behind the scenes of the American government and

we need to know why it matters.

Hesseldahl made a few rhetorical choices when presenting us with how the

Snowden leaks have affected the discourse around privacy in America. He chose to

paraphrase the Pew Research survey that the article is based around without directly

linking to the survey. This is an important choice because it keeps readers on the page

and on the Re/code site. The only link in the article brings the reader to an article from

2013 on All Things Digital that is a repackaged message from a Washington Post article

on the NSA PRISM program. Re/code must still have some kind of tie to All Things

Digital if its authors share a fluff article from 3 years ago.

Diaspora Users Examined through Aristotelian Concepts

When pouring through privacy tags on Diaspora, I found that a user that goes by

the name of Dr. Roy Schestowitz post frequently to many tags I also followed. This user

is one of the most frequent posters in a few tags that have a low users count. I am going

to call Roy’s userpage, a page where all posts are displayed in a similar way to Twitter,

an example of genre for Diaspora. I will examine a few posts made to identify who this

user is and the rhetorical implications this has on the tags he posts in.

Roy’s user photo is a picture of a young white man in a suit. He also identifies

himself as living in Manchester, UK on his userpage. Postings about the current

weather in Manchester also confirms that he lives in Manchester. Roy also posts about

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privacy issues in Singapore and has Chinese characters that translate to Roy at the end

of his username. Assuming that he also has lived in southeast Asia would also be

sound. He also identifies himself as a free (as in freedom) software and Linux advocate.

With this information, we can identify Roy as young white English man with ties

to southeast Asia who is interested in free software. This identification is important when

utilizing the Aristotelian concepts of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to see why Roy says

what he does. In Jeanne Fahnestock and Maire Secor’s piece Classical Rhetoric , they

touch on the blending of these concepts. “In analysis, students learning the appeals

often want to scissor up an argumentative text and place the pieces into separate bins

labeled ‘ethos,’ ‘pathos,’ and ‘logos,’ and indeed this is a useful first step. But….the

appeals can never be separated so easily”, writes Fahnestock and Secor.

We can attempt to pick apart Roy’s arguments with these concepts by using the

information we have to identify him. He is interested in free software because he uses

Linux. He has interest in the politics of Singapore because he is a stakeholder in

Singaporean politics. He posts about Manchester because he lives in Manchester. Each

of these pieces of his identity can influence how we see Roy’s appeals of persuasion.

Separated, we can identify. Together, we can see how his appeals work in a given

context.

Continuing in Dr. Dunn’s soup scenario, the lentil soup recipe is brought to a

restaurant and the owner agrees to put the soup on their menu. The recipe would

support, as Dr. Dunn puts it, “a variety of interactions between and among individuals

and groups of people associated with the restaurant”. The owner would show the recipe

to the kitchen manager who decides which ingredients to order and stock in the kitchen.

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The recipe would also help cooks decide which cook does what on the line. Through

circulation, the recipe both allows staff to perform the activity of cooking the soup and

also organize how they will most effectively prepare it.

This example of genre supporting interaction can be applied to Roy’s Diaspora

userpage. Roy’s posts about free software supports interaction between individua ls and

groups. Those who are also advocates of free software can share his page and posts

with their advocate and non-advocate friends. These friends can decide on how they

could implement strategies or methods to ensure they use free software and secure

computing practices. Through this circulation of ideas, the posts allow individuals to

implement practices more effectively through having information filtered by someone

who is knowledgeable.

Roy has made some key choices in what he posts to his Diaspora page. Many

posts are links to external pages relating to the overall theme of his page. Roy’s page is

more of a social media campaign, and less of a collection of unrelated posts. This

campaign approach is good and bad. It combats the lack of content that may come from

stagnation of Diaspora, but the volume of posts may flood the network and push other

content away from viewers.

Critical Through Comedy

Through Google News, I found an opinion piece from Newsday titled Can John

Oliver make Americans care about privacy? written by Katie Benner of Bloomberg

News. Newsday is a regional daily newspaper that is sold throughout New York. This

piece is about comedian John Oliver, so it follows that the language in the article is

comedic as well.

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Benner’s piece touches on how Americans did not care about net neutrality

before Oliver talked about it on his new show on Comedy Central. “Remember net

neutrality before it got the Oliver treatment? Probably not.” says Benner. An analysis

like this is not a necessary convention of an opinion article, but injecting comedy into a

message is definitely an optional convention that can be used to set the tone of the

message. A comedic piece like Benner’s probably cannot approach a more serious

topic like the death penalty or abortion. It is not effective to talk about these things by

using quips.

Dr. Dunn touches on the concept of genre influencing the environment that it

appears in. He says, “...how you (and other people) choose to write and read in a given

environment can, with the passage of enough time, actually change what happens in

that environment.” I think this is extremely important to keep in mind when writing for an

audience. We don’t know what will happen once we release something into circulation.

I’m sure Rick Astley never expected Never Gonna Give You Up to become an internet

phenomenon when he released the song in 1987.

Writing about privacy with comedic intent could definitely influence how

Americans understand privacy. I don’t think that Benner’s opinion piece will do all the

lifting, but there may be changes if enough writers find that readers like similarly

composed stories.

Benner argues that “Snowden sacrificed his freedom, in essence, for nothing.

The national debate he wanted to spark got drowned out in a series of twerking clips.”

when touching on Oliver’s trip to Russia to interview Edward Snowden. This statement

is absurd and possibly true. It all depends on what kind of experience Benner’s

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audience has with the Snowden saga. Writers must keep up the act when using this

comedic approach to a serious issue. There may be room for a serious conclusion at

the end, but everything before fights against it.

The section called Approaching Argument Through Style from Fahnestock and

Secor’s piece where they write about how composition courses de-emphasize the

connection between it and rhetoric. They say that students need to select different kinds

of style for emphasis to truly argue effectively. This is important when understanding

why Benner wrote in a comedic style. Her audience must have been cynical individuals

who are into satire programs like Colbert Report and The Daily Show. These shows

establish an environment where those involved do not take themselves as seriously as

other programs that would be on CNN or Fox. Benner has realized this and has tailored

her piece as such. She latches onto the already existing environment that surrounds

this style and provides her own piece. It will have issues outside of this environment,

despite being well aimed.

Getting Back to Our Roots

A big thing missing from observing these systems of circulation is some kind of

document explaining what programs like PRISM do. I am sure that it has been

discussed in the media a few years ago, but it is time for a refresher on what it means to

us as American citizens. A lot has developed over since the Snowden saga and I think it

is time to re analyze the leaked info with the new knowledge and support that has

snowballed.

A new showcase of PRISM slides paired with a modern analysis of how it applies

to Americans in 2015 is sorely needed. The Patriot Act is up for renewal soon and such

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a document could sway public opinion against it. The Patriot Act was unceremoniously

renewed in 2011 before any leaks of NSA activity occurred. We will be more skeptical

about what goes on behind the scenes and an environment may spring up around this

new issue a continued Patriot Act.

This showcase would provide the facts: the NSA is using secret programs to

gather data and is being greenlit by the Patriot Act. Ending the Patriot Act would be a

huge visible blow to the public image of inherently anti-privacy laws and bureaus within

the American Government.

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Information Design ProjectWRTG 484: Seminar in Written Communication

Context of the Information Design Project

The Information Design Project was essentially client consultation. Students selected a clientand some kind of document or text that could be improved. Challenges that accompanied thisinclude communication, revision, and implementation. I had to communicate to my client whatI was offering, work together with them from their revision feedback, and go through withimplementing the document. My client was the Eastern Michigan University IT Help Deskwhere I communicated with veteran and new employees. Eastern Michigan University wasdecommissioning a user facing IntelliResponse help system and integrating the entries intothe employee facing wiki. This wiki stores information and guides that are used by Help Deskemployees.

Elements of UsabilityThe chief complaint with wiki articles was the lack of usability. The visual design was not the

only issue. Articles become hidden in the wiki because there are many with very similar titles.The search function will index articles by title and by keywords added to the article. Very fewarticles have keywords. Employees will either search with a question like “How to setup aprinter on a PC?” or search a single word like “printer” to find articles that can help them. Bothhave different degrees of accuracy. Implementing keywords will help users find what they arelooking for by applying weight to specific words that are commonly used to search for articles.

Communicating the Need for Audience AccuracyI communicated with the veteran employees about what I can do as a writer for the wiki. I canwrite a document for them, but I need their help with solving problems and exploring togetherabout what this document could be. The IntelliResponse entry selected contained informationon why a user needs to change their password. I communicated with the veteran employees

that the entry is currently written for an end user and needs to be revamped for Help Deskemployees. One of the veterans thought that this particular IntelliResponse entry could justbe integrated into the wiki as-is or even deleted. A new employee expressed the need forsomething like this when on a call because they do not have the job knowledge that comesfrom working at the Help Desk. We all established the need for the document to be focusedtowards new employees.

The Jack Dempsey is known for a particular

aggressive temperament. An aquarist needs

to consider the temperament of their fish if

they wish to add one to an established

aquarium. If they do not, there will certainly bea negative effect on the ability of the

aquarium to provide a functional environment

for all of the fish.

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Information Design Project Artifact

IntelliResponse Artifact

These two links are broken

and needed to be removed.

This term is no longer used

by the Help Desk.

Displaying this information in

a paragraph is not useful for

readin while on call.

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Information Design Project Artifact

Wiki Artifact

Article keywords used

for search rankings.

Navigation links for

access to each section.

Location for subject matter

ex ert document review

Updated terminology.

Short paragraph about the Password

Policy legal requirements.

On call information organized into

s ecific bulleted lists for ease of use.

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Resume Design ProjectENGL 444: Writing for the World Wide Web

Context of the Resume Design Project

Writing for the World Wide Web had students explore different kinds of non-academic writing.Students graduating from high school and going to college are stuck in a mindset where theydisplay their thoughts with long documents. This kind of writing is becoming less common onthe job as it is being replaced with short, quick, and efficient communication. In this class,students found an applicable position they could apply to and wrote a cover letter and resumethat was tailored to that workplace and position.

Fake it Until you Become itI had very little work experience when I took this class. In my entire life I had only worked two

jobs for a total of eight months. I did not feel that the positions I had held gave me any skillsor experiences. I mowed lawns and answered phones. We learned to pull transferable skillsand knowledge from these menial jobs and connect them to the position we chose. I chose

to apply to the Eastern Michigan IT Help Desk. At the time I was working the information linewhich was located in the Help Desk. Being in the Help Desk and sitting next to employeesexposed me to the environment and culture of the office. In the resume and cover letter Iexplained that I do not have the knowledge that Help Desk employees have, but I will have astronger ability than others because I have been working in the office alongside Help Deskemployees.

Showing What MattersI was just beginning to finish my general educationrequirements and begin to take classes relating to myareas of study. This meant I needed to organize myresume to display the most relevant information at the top.

Education was near the bottom as I was unsure where itshould be placed. I didn’t have much to show, but I wasapplying to a position within a department I already workedin. I placed my small list of employment information belowa small background paragraph. This paragraph was acondensed version of the most relevant information in thecover letter. I hoped this would cue the reader into seeingthat I work at the Help Desk and I have experience in thatparticular workplace.

I applied a similar concept to the cover letter. The second paragraph explicitly displayed myknowledge of the workplace. The second paragraph displayed the value I have as a HelpDesk employee by demonstrating some projects I have done as a public works laborer.Taking this approach with both the resume and cover letter was the most effective way todisplay this special value I had over other applicants.

These rasboras may be easy to keep

for a beginner, but the skills learned

while taking care of them can be

applied to more demanding species.

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Resume Design Project Artifact

Ryan D. Murphy1112 North Huron River Drive Apt. 4

Ypsilanti, MI 48197(586) [email protected]

March 21, 2012

Mr. Benjamin Peters, Enterprise Support Tech IIEastern Michigan University IT Help Desk106 Halle Library

Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Dear Mr. Peters,

I am writing to apply for the Enterprise Support position. I found the advert on the Eastern Michigan ITwebpage. I would like to fill this position because I am ready to move from Directory Assistance. Enclosedis a resume highlighting my communication experience.

During my time as Senior Technician I have learned the terms used within the office. I am alreadyproficient with all types of calls taken at the Help Desk from my time working as a student. Moving to a fulltime position will allow me to continue to support EMU users with my extensive knowledge. I have quicklymoved through each student position available because of my aptitude to learning and servicing users.

My effective learning, communication, and teamwork skills have been honed during my summeremployment at the City of Bloomfield Hills. I worked with members of the Public Works department andeasily learned how to operate machines from their instructions. My ability to pick things up quickly allowedthe department to maintain the city owned lawns more effectively. Our efforts were constantly recognizedand appreciated by residents. During stormy weather the hilly residential dirt roads would flood. I took partin a system where we created dirt trenches and mounds to channel the flowing water off of the roadsurface and to control erosion. These tasks were urgent because the entire road surface could washaway. We successfully communicated under the adverse conditions and the roads suffered no damageunder our collective care. The skills I learned here helped me become an effective team member andSenior Technician. They will continue to benefit me as Enterprise Support.

I am ready to sit down with you and discuss the positive impact I will bring to the Help Desk as EnterpriseSupport. I will follow this application with a call one week from March 21st. You can contact me at (586)484-1397 if you would wish to speak sooner. Thank you for your consideration.

Regards,

Ryan D. Murphy

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Resume Design Project Artifact

Ryan Murphy

Objective

To make a two year commitment to the Eastern Michigan University IT Help Desk by using customer service skills andtechnical knowledge of the Help Desk gained from my position as Directory Assistant.

Background

I am a Sophomore at Eastern Michigan University studying Written Communication. My further studies will provide mewith experience I will be able to apply during my commitment to the Help desk. I possess knowledge of the functions andprotocol of the Help Desk from my employment as a Directory Assistant. I also have experience in effectively working in ateam from my employment in the Public Works department at the City of Bloomfield Hills.

Employment History

The City of Bloomfield Hills Public Works –

Bloomfield Hills, MISummer LaborerJune 2012-August 2012

Eastern Michigan University IT Help Desk – Ypsilanti, MIDirectory AssistantMarch 2012-current

Projects

The City of Bloom fie ld Hi l ls

Maintained gardens at the city hall per the instructions of the city manager who is a master gardener

Helped coordinate the construction of relief trenches for the protection of dirt roads during severe weather Was part of the painting team that repaired and re-surfaced light poles along Woodward Avenue in preparation for

the Woodward Dream Cruise

Neighborhoo d Comp uter Help

Created instructions for neighbors on how to use certain functions on devices such as iPhones, iPads, andWindows PCs

Taught neighbors how to create photo slideshows, put them on DVDs, and play them on their television

Provided troubleshooting assistance for hardware issues

Education

Eastern Michigan University 2015Ypsilanti, MI 48197Written Communications

Dakota High School 2011Macomb, MI 48044

1112 North Huron River Drive Apartment 4, Ypsilanti, MI 48197(586) 484-1397 – [email protected]

portfolio - ryan murphy

Documents