[ATTW-L] Fwd: the Champlain Towers South engineering report

[Robert Rowan]

In addition to examining the report as a communication artifact, there's
also the messy and tangled communication among the people who received the
report, as described in this McClatchy article.
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/investigations/article252394393.html

Even if this report had been written perfectly (whatever that might mean),
there's no guarantee that all of its recipients would take it seriously and
act on its recommendations.
One of the ugly truths our students will need to confront, either in our
classes or afterward, is that people will often prioritize saving/not
spending money over risks to human safety. No amount of precedent or
"lessons learned" ever seems to eliminate this tendency.
That's a tough conversation to have with students, especially when they
believe or expect that people will behave rationally. What happens to an
engineer (mentally, emotionally, professionally) after their
recommendations are ignored and tragedy strikes?

Rob Rowan

Robert M. Rowan, PhD
Lecturer, Department of English
Case Western Reserve University
rmr122 at case.edu

Subject: Re: [ATTW-L] the Champlain Towers South engineering report
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2021 21:36:43 +0000
From: Lettner-Rust, Heather <lettnerrusthg at longwood.edu>
<lettnerrusthg at longwood.edu>
CC: attw-l at attw.org <attw-l at attw.org> <attw-l at attw.org>

This report is an excellent first week eye-opener. And we could return
again and again to the lessons learned.

Heather G. Lettner-Rust, PhD
Associate Professor of English
Writing Coordinator, Civitae Core Curriculum
434.395.2162

Longwood University
Dept. of English & Modern Languages
Grainger G10
201 High Street
Farmville, VA  23909
------------------------------
*From:* ATTW-L <attw-l-bounces at attw.org> <attw-l-bounces at attw.org> on
behalf of Hilary Sarat-St Peter <hsstpeter at gmail.com> <hsstpeter at gmail.com>
*Sent:* Sunday, June 27, 2021 12:04:52 PM
*Cc:* attw-l at attw.org
*Subject:* Re: [ATTW-L] the Champlain Towers South engineering report


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As a teaching case, it might be productive to show this report to students
and ask them if they think changing the wording or design of the report
would have affected the tragic outcome of the Champlain Towers collapse.
Students would have to ground their answers in tech comm principles and
evidence from the case, and the instructor would need to approach the topic
with utmost sensitivity because some students may have personally lived
through a structural failure disaster or had family members affected.

On Sun, Jun 27, 2021 at 9:25 AM Stephen Bernhardt <sab at udel.edu> wrote:

> You have to wonder whether the HOA was dragging its feet on expensive
> repairs.
>
> On Sat, Jun 26, 2021 at 5:57 PM Dragga, Sam <Sam.Dragga at ttu.edu> wrote:
>
>> A 2018 nine-page engineering report identifies issues that might have
>> caused or contributed to the collapse of Champlain Towers South in
>> Surfside, Florida.
>>
>>
>>
>> The report raises important issues for technical communicators about
>> information design. The report has no headings but alphabetizes issues A
>> through K. The key issues related to the integrity of the building’s
>> foundation are addressed on pages 6-9.
>>
>>
>>
>> As I read this report, I think that a more emphatic display and
>> organization of information could have stirred immediate action on critical
>> repairs and saved lives. This report will likely be a salient and tragic
>> example for classroom discussion of ineffective communication.
>>
>>
>>
>> The report is available at
>> https://www.townofsurfsidefl.gov/docs/default-source/default-document-library/town-clerk-documents/champlain-towers-south-public-records/8777-collins-ave---structural-field-survey-report.pdf
>>
>>
>>
>> Sam
>>
>>
>>
>> Sam Dragga
>>
>> Professor Emeritus, Texas Tech University
>>
>> sam.dragga at ttu.edu
>>
>> 1-806-543-6099
>>
>>
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>>
> --
> Steve Bernhardt
> Bayside DE
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