Perez1 Juan Perez Professor Daniel Powell ENC 3241 3 February 2013 Critical Analysis 1 It is no surprise that technology

rules and revolves in everything we do. It is easy for us to pick up a computer and start writing a paper but how does one explain how the computer works in order to make this possible? It is simply not easy to explain interfaces, GUIs or even arrays to someone with no computer science background or knowledge. I had the pleasure to read and examine two technical reports in which the authors break down a technological concept and relate them to the general public. Both of these authors incorporate daily routines which the public does, such as learning or streaming videos to familiarize them to their main topic. Although both authors do a magnificent job explaining their topic, each one of them excels in a different category such as stronger communicator, better principles and better report overall, to name a few. To prove a point, communication is a key; this includes clarity, detail and relationship with the audience. I believe that Jeff Terrace accurately covered all those points. The sentence Similar to streaming video services like Netflix and YouTube, which adaptively change bitrate according to a user's capabilities(Terrace 10) accurately describes the main characteristic of Sirikata. He relates to the audience by bringing up Netflix and YouTube, he is clear about his description and gives just the amount of details needed to get his point across by saying that according to the users computer the bitrate will accommodate. I believe that Daniel Lynchs report is very in-depth but fails to break it down for non-technical people as Jeff Terrace did.

Perez2 When it comes to illustrating the concept Lynch did a very well job by showing graphs and examples such as Imagine if middle school students were introduced to calculus concepts through interactive dimensions that provide an instantaneous understanding of a derivative or integral(Lynch 8) and later providing a visual of what an integral and derivative look like. Such illustrations and examples endorse design principles drastically. Even though Terrace also uses illustrations and charts, I believe they work better for Lynchs situation. He also uses historical examples to organize his principles Using text and images dates back to our primates who painted on caves(Lynch 12) and this exactly what he does throughout his report. Although Terrace relates and breaks down the report very well, he does not have very good design principles as I had to jump back and forth to finally realize what Sirikata is. Although structure-wise Lynchs report does a much better job portraying illustration than Terraces, I believe Terraces syntax and cadence outshines Lynchs report. A technical writer should have a fully understanding that not everyone understands technical terms or is a very good reader. Terrace uses very simple, yet clear, words. He also breaks down a 3D concept into very small, yet thorough, paragraphs. We can also see this by Lynchs lack of syntax and typos, which would definitely be a recommendation for future revisions. Both of these reports excel in their own characteristics and did a magnificent writing these reports. Terrace excels in communication, syntax, and cadence and as a technical writer. In the other hand Lynch illustrates his concept way better by clearly explaining his charts and illustrations. In my opinion Content Conditioning and Distribution for Dynamic Virtual Worlds is the stronger technical report out of the two. I really enjoyed reading because Terrace builds up towards a new topic and keeps on keeping the audience hooked on what this open source platform for virtual worlds is capable of. I believed that this report was so strong that I went

Perez3 ahead and downloaded Sirikata to explore the possibilities that could be done with it and I was astonished as how well developed this software was.