BP 04

The first and second groups we watched was discussing clean water. Right from the start, they clarified that their prompt was a wicked problem; however, the professors brought up that it is important to clarify if it is an EGC. The second group was more successful because they stated that right from the beginning. We believe that this is the most effective way to present an argument so that the audience does not wonder. The second group was further more effective  because of their speaking skills. They were calm, collected, and took advantage of the rhetorical triangle whereas the first group kept reading off facts. Pathos became very important in driving their argument and increasing persuasiveness in the last moment of the presentation. They also reminded us of their argument throughout their presentation, making it an even more persuasive.

The group following us that also researched health informatics argued that the advancement of health informatics was not a worthy goal to be considered an EGC. There reasoning was that there should be more focus on medical technologies rather than health information. The group began by stating their argument clearly, but the remainder of the presentation faltered in its organization. There seemed to be some gray area regarding what counted as health informatics rather than medical devices and vice versa. They also wrapped the evidence of data breach into the EGC for cyber security. The final argument was that advancing health informatics should be partitioned into securing cyberspace, and engineering better medical technologies, and not considered its own EGC.

Before we came to watch presentations, we all agreed that our idea of how other parts of the world do or do not have access to fresh water was a bit narrow. The groups did a great job of expanding how we see problems that aren’t just ours and of showing the complexity that comes with an EGC.

Now, regarding our PowerPoint, we think we might have dropped the ball a bit with design. Our process of thinking was that the most important aspect of our presentation was the verbal communication; however, we could have done more to make our slides both visually appealing and communicative.

Written by Sam, Julia, and Bo