Snowdon, Gail (author / Decision Data Specialist, Information Services, Office of Agricultural Communications and Education, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL)
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
1991-08
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 91 Document Number: C06612
Notes:
Snowdon, Urbana, IL : University of Illinois, Office of Agricultural Communications and Education, Information Services, 1991. 2 p. (Decision Data Summary, Information Guide to Communications Planning No. 17)
Ries, Carol P. (author), Tracy, Melanie D. (author), and Eastern Illinois University
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
1994
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 97 Document Number: C07898
Notes:
James F. Evans Collection, Ham, Mimeographed, 1994. 1 p. Presented at the Society for Nutrition Education, Portland, OR, July 16-20, 1994., The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of cooking knowledge among adults of various ages. A convenience sample of 280 adults (71% female) completed a 40-item MC basic cooking knowledge test. The test was developed in consultation with two non-professional, experienced family cooks and validated by a panel of foods and nutrition faculty. The KR20 coefficient for reliability was 0.81. ANOVA was used to compare scores of males and females of the four age cohorts (20-35 yrs., 36-50 yrs, 51-65 yrs., and 66+ yrs.) from rural and urban areal. The mean score for the total group was 75% correct indicating a moderate level of basic cooking knowledge. Over two-thirds (68%) of the total sample scored 70% correct or better. Females (78% correct) scored significantly higher than males (68% correct). Participants aged 35-65 yrs. scored higher than did those aged 20-35 yrs. or 66+ yrs. (79 vs. 70 and 72%, p<0.001). Participants who lived in rural areas (pop.<50,000) as children (78% correct) scored higher (p<0.05) than did their urban counterparts (pop > 50,000, 73% correct). Knowledge comparisons made within each age cohort indicated that females scored higher than males, but no significant differences were found between participants with rural or urban backgrounds. Results indicate that while many adults are fairly knowledgeable about basic cooking procedures, a substantial proportion are not; therefore, food preparation education is warranted.
13 pages., The original website no longer has a copy of the article. Access is available through ERIC database. ERIC Number: EJ890607, Via online source., This article discusses three sites that disrupt accustomed expectations and roles for technical communication. These sites include an agricultural processing site that is requesting tax abatements in exchange for decreased emissions so that it can remain competitive in the global market. The second is also an agricultural manufacturing site that remains globally competitive by increasing efficiencies and expanding the range of products made at the site. Finally, the essay discusses a manufacturing facility that takes finished products-automobiles-and remanufactures them for a niche market of users. Each of these Midwestern sites is globally competitive and challenges expectations for high technology work. Taken together, they gesture toward new definitions of work, in new postindustrial context, and offer insight for defining technical communication in the postindustrial age. The remaining challenge, for scholars and teachers, is to articulate emerging literacy practices supporting postindustrial manufacturing, and to participate in the knowledge management that supports innovation. Here, each site takes something that would have previously been considered either finished product or waste and rearticulates it as an ingredient in a new product. At the least, technical communicators will need to learn to document such organization's innovation and change. At best, such change invites technical communicators, acting as knowledge managers, to articulate opportunities for innovation. Research, a traditional strength of technical writing preparation, allows organizations to better prepare and understand change, turning disruption into opportunity. Postindustrial business practices are no longer the work of futurists, but the reality and structure of the workplace today. Each work site described in this article presents opportunities for basic research into emerging workplaces in need of the expertise of technical and professional writers; each is an example and potential model for knowledge work.
