TC Talk

TC Talk

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TC Talk episodes

  • The case for climate hope: A talk with Dr. Stephanie Rollag Yoon

    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 teaching resources.

    The TC Talk webpage has transcripts and sources.

    53 min
  • Listen to this

    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't the right format for solving problems. Abi gives a quick rundown of alternatives to persuasion throughout the rhetorical tradition, culminating in the 2022 book Rhetorical Listening in Action by Ratcliffe & Jensen.


    Stay to the end for Abi's most embarrassing high school debate experience.


    Sources and further reading

    • Braver Angels. (n.d.). Our Mission. Braver Angels. Retrieved October 21, 2024, from https://braverangels.org/our-mission/
    • Burke, K. (1969). A Grammar of Motives. University of California Press.
    • Compassionate Listening Project. (n.d.). History. CompassionateListening. Retrieved October 21, 2024, from https://www.compassionatelistening.org/history
    • Foss, S. K., & Griffin, C. L. (1995). Beyond persuasion: A proposal for an invitational rhetoric. Communications Monographs, 62(1), 2–18.
    • Gearhart, S. M. (1979). The womanization of rhetoric. Women’s Studies International Quarterly, 2(2), 195–201.
    • Heller, C. (2015, March 9). Life Inside Jabba the Hutt: Toby Philpott Explains How Puppeteers Operated Jabba the Hutt. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/387298/life-inside-jabba-the-hutt/
    • Inman, M. (n.d.) "Piggers are going all the way this year." The Oatmeal. https://theoatmeal.com/pl/minor_differences2/locker_room
    • Jarratt, S. C. (1991). Feminism and composition: The case for conflict. Contending with Words: Composition and Rhetoric in a Postmodern Age, 105–123.
    • Organizing and protest security culture. (2022, March). [Audio recording]. The Poor Proles Skillshare. https://open.spotify.com/show/2Xb99VLft9T9ObBLFJkj3n
    • Perelman, C., & Olbrechts-Tyteca, L. (1973). The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation. University of Notre Dame Pess.
    • Quintilian. (1987). Quintilian on the teaching of speaking and writing: Translations from books one, two, and ten of the Institutio Oratoria (J. J. Murphy, Trans.). SIU Press.
    • Ratcliffe, K., & Jensen, K. (2022). Rhetorical Listening in Action: A Concept-Tactic Approach. Parlor Press LLC.
    • Talking radical politics with Dr. Ayesha Khan. (2022, March). [Podcast episode]. The Poor Proles Skillshare. https://open.spotify.com/show/2Xb99VLft9T9ObBLFJkj3n
    • Talking Sense: Navigating relationships across political divides. (2024, September 5). MPR News. https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2024/09/04/talking-sense-navigating-relationships-across-political-divides
    • Weil, Z., & Goodall, J. (2024). The Solutionary Way: Transform Your Life, Your Community, and the World for the Better. New Society Publishers.
    • WeRateDogs (Director). (2024, September 30). Tim Walz and His Rescue Dog Scout | WeWalkDogs [Video recording]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spiwlde4kys

      • Music credits: 

      • Opening theme:  S: Disco Funk Loop by SergeQuadrado | License: Attribution NonCommercial 3.0
      • Julius Fučík (1897) "Entrance of the Gladiators" op. 68

        • Visit https://faculty.mnsu.edu/tctalk/ for transcript.

        1 hr 23 min
      • Recycling: You still don't get it

        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 work better, besides just putting things in the right bin.

        Sources and further reading

        TC Talk episodes mentioned:

        • “Cult rhetoric.” https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/techcommtalk/episodes/Cult-rhetoric-e1b1gpi/a-a70h9n0
        • “Tech comm from outer space: More lessons from alien movies.” https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/techcommtalk/episodes/Tech-comm-from-outer-space-More-lessons-from-alien-movies-e1md55n/a-a8cdbc1

          • Wikipedia articles mentioned:

          • “Recycling” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling
          • “Sustainability” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability
          • “Microplastics” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microplastics
          • “Greenwashing.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing
          • “Wishcycling.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wishcycling

            • Music credits:

            • Opening theme:  S: Disco Funk Loop by SergeQuadrado | License: Attribution NonCommercial 3.0
            • Ensemble. (2008). “So they say” [Song]. On Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog Soundtrack [Album]. Mutant Enemy.
            • Wheatus. (2000). “Teenage dirtbag” [Song]. On Wheatus [Album]. Columbia.

              • Image credit:

              • Siera Wild, “Recycling sign green.png.” CC BY-SA 4.0
                • , via Wikimedia
                Commons

                Transcript at https://faculty.mnsu.edu/tctalk/podcast/recycling-you-still-dont-get-it/

                1 hr 49 min
              • 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/


                53 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/

                42 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/

                1 hr
              • 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/

                40 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.

                47 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. 

                55 min

              About TC Talk

              From the publisher's feed

              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.