Reflection Blog: Le Fin

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Reflection Blog: Le Fin

December 19, 2019

 

Dear reader,

 

By the time you are reading this, I am officially finished the course. And what a course it was. I can say this was one of the most grueling and rewarding courses I’ve taken at a university level, and the most grueling part was taking it through distance education. By not having that class time carved out of my schedule, I found myself having days either vastly ahead of schedule or forgetting to that an assignment was due the next day. I would not have changed it for the world though.

As I’ve begun my new job, I produce memos, briefs, and progress reports on the daily and I would not have had any idea of how to execute those documents if it weren’t for this class. I would also like to take this moment to thank my writing teammates Ranjit and Taras for peer-reviewing my work and letting my vastly adjacent education peer review theirs. It has been time to reflect and lean into the fact that technical writing is difficult, thought-provoking, and an exercise in commitment.

In the end, I let out a deep breath knowing that I have grown as a writer and a person because of this course, and anyone who is reading this, I am proud of you too.

Thanks a bunch and merry Christmas,

 

 

Morgan Brandt

Reflection Blog: Webfolios, What a Web

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Reflection Blog: Webfolio

December 19, 2019

 

Dear reader,

 

For someone who works with advanced electronics on a day to day basis, this website engine got the best of me. I honestly was perplexed for more than 2 hours trying to get my posts under one drop-down bar but have managed to scrape together something I am proud of. While I may be running on fumes writing this, I am finishing each piece of this website to the best of my ability while running a production and building another one simultaneously.

In designing my webfolio, I wanted to take the opportunity to showcase some of my lighting portfolio as well. I am aware that this is not made to the best of my creative ability, but this webfolio has all the effort I have left in me. I hope you can find some joy in looking through the things you find.

My best,

 

Morgan Brandt

Unit Two Reflection Blog: A Step in The Right Direction

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Unit Two Reflection: A Step in The Right Direction

 

Hello everyone,

 

One thing that has been ingrained in my writing from this course is the format of letter writing, and the strategic use of headings. So far, I appreciate these moments to write in a less rigid fashion, allowing for a pronoun here and there. But an overarching theme has been how valuable this writing course will be going forward with my new position as a Production Manager at a professional theatre! I had to share. Anyways, let’s go on with reflecting on the work we produced over unit two.

 

LinkedIn

Having had LinkedIn for most of my university career, it never appeared to be a powerful tool for networking and job searching until we did the research for 10 tips to use it effectively. Truly taking this chance to beef up my own profile, I took a branding approach as far as how I want my career represented on the internet for future colleagues. As I was revamping my resume at the time, it was an interesting experience to trim and display the work I have accomplished in the entertainment industry while still in school. Finally, I can display a succinct list of what I have accomplished, what I can do, and where I have gone. When I submitted the profile for peer review, it felt like show and tell. I honestly loved the feedback from Taras about my experience list, because it is always nice to be recognized by a fellow accomplished person in another field.

 

Formal Report

Brainstorming for this assignment was a no brainer as this topic has been the center of coffee breaks at work, especially going into the corporate season and trying to figure out what I was going to do for work come to the end of November. In preparing the proposal I felt very strong about the plan I have laid out, however, there have been some tribulations in laying out how I can execute it while preparing for the progress report. After submitting my notice for my new job less of management has been available for interviews over my last couple of weeks, resulting in no interviews with owners or the VP. I am rather frustrated with how the survey will work out as well because my pool of technicians has shrunk from nearly 30 to around 15. So, extrapolating on this data is a concern, but what responses I do get will be from consistent senior staff that has been at the company for a while. In the end, the report will likely be based on expert suggestions for job satisfaction and how to allocate hours in support of staff longevity, while backing it with survey responses from technicians at SW Event Technology.

 

Peer Review

The peer-review process is still something I am working on. The most trouble I am experiencing is removing pronouns and narrowing it down to a list. When peer-reviewing, I take it as a personal dialogue and that is the problem, peer reviews are professional, not personal. As far as my colleagues’ work, I have been amazed at the variety of topics and credentials in the “chat” room. For example, Ranjit’s proposal is using Highest and Best Use (HABU) to perform a feasibility study on an actual property in Vancouver. Never in a classroom in my field would I get the opportunity to peer review his work and have a basic understanding of real estate analysis outside of HGTV. Accordingly, Taras’ proposal for improving mental health and stress conditions for oncology graduate students is amazingly bold. I plan on reading his report to learn what strategies I can implement in my stressful work schedule.

 

Overall, the peer-reviewing process has impacted my writing in a positive way: practicing concision, objectivity, and revision. It is enjoyable having different perspectives reading my work and providing constructive feedback. Feedback is not a bad word as it turns out. I look forward to improving my writing further while producing final assignments.

 

Thank you for reading my reflection,

 

Morgan Brandt

 

Link to peer review: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-99a-2019wa/2019/10/16/peer-review-morgan-brandts-proposal/

 

Unit 3 Reflection Blog: Where Did the Time Go?

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Unit 3 Reflection: This Was A Lot

Date: December 10, 2019

Dear Everyone,

This was one of the most stressful units of my university career while trying to transition into my new position as a production manager. I was literally writing my draft and peer review assignments backstage in between set changes and follow spot cues. But while I have you here, let’s talk about what we accomplished.

Application Package

I was kicking myself having essentially completed an application package for my new job in November and I have a conscience, so I began investigating internships on broadway if I weren’t engaged, have 2 cats, and a career in the Okanagan. I will be choosing an internship from PlayBill.com  under the technical category postings. Adapting my recently updated resume will be an easy task as well. So I am feeling good about it.

Report Draft

So this I am not feeling as good about. Having to transition from the company my topic is on, data has not been what I envisioned 3 months ago. The response rate was small compared to the desired sample size I wanted. However, the enforcement of the survey was non-compulsory so there was not much more I could do to improve it without purchasing incentives. I have also never made a research report based on my own data, so this is uncharted territory. I also feel like I am floundering with the lack of rules in the outline: no word count, no source quota, no direction for figures. I am genuinely struggling for inspiration to continue with the assignment and am interested in what comes back in my peer review.

Peer Review

After stressing about my own work, it was a sigh of relief to hear from my team that they were in the same spot. We all had trouble writing around our assignments and work schedules. In working on my peer review I had a better opportunity to see what worked in a report, especially in organization and heading use.

Overall, it will be a major push to complete these assignments. I hope this will end well.

Thanks,

 

Morgan Brandt

Unit One Reflection: To Know So Much and So Little

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The Writing Process

I have never written an expanded definition before, let alone for something so technical as Socapex cable. This assignment seemed like the right opportunity to go outside my comfort zone of working definitions in cultural studies and attempt to define a term I use regularly in my career, to an audience that has no background in stage power and electrical. To begin, it was easy to create a parenthetical definition and a sentence definition for an audience requiring a basic conception of what this type of power cable is; but as I went onto the expanded definition, I found myself struggling to define the term further without research. In reading more about the foundations of the cable and electrical itself, the reason we use breakout splays and how we balance what fixtures go on certain circuits became more concrete for me. So, in writing this definition I managed to teach myself more about something I already knew, and that was just the beginning.

The Peer Review Process

The peer-review process managed to pinpoint areas of weakness I had forgotten that I struggle with, particularly jargon and concision. However, working with Ranjit as a partner reminded me that I am not the only one who struggles with these things. In reviewing each other’s work, I had realized that we both share similar struggles with our use of jargon and examples from our industries; so, it hurts less to receive critiques from someone with similar weaknesses because we are working towards a common goal, improvement. Also, reading someone else’s work using the same process as I did, helped me learn other ways of explaining something to my audience outside of sentences and visuals. Accordingly, Ranjit’s use of examples helped me ground his conception of capitalization rate in my own understanding of real estate, which I wanted to replicate in my revision. Overall, it is nice to know that expanded definitions do not come easily and that I have learned a specific set of skills that is not common knowledge feels reaffirming to me.

The Revision Process

As I went onto the revision process, I did have a few moments of frustration in attempting to change how I originally expressed myself. Yet, while something may make perfect sense to me, my assignment was to create a clear and focused definition to our inexperienced audience. Some of Ranjit’s suggestions that I tried to integrate into my new expanded definition include, adding clearer examples of the 80/20 rule in balancing current; rephrasing how to assemble stage power from power distribution equipment by providing working definitions and visuals for these terms. Many of the changes I made were catering to a broader audience of learners, providing clearer real-life visuals of equipment, and integrating short working definitions in a way that better serve the reader in understanding the material.

In Conclusion

This first assignment was an eye-opener on what I have learned and what I have yet to master. It has provided me an opportunity to explore what I have learned outside of the university and challenged myself to write for an audience outside of my field. In general, I feel that this assignment has given me a chance to pat myself on the back for what I am doing outside of my degree while also giving me a firm push into learning what I need to improve on over the course of this peer-review process. I look forward to challenging myself to write with greater concision and to learn how to write for an audience outside of my realm of expertise.

Morgan Brandt

docx file of the revised definition

301 Morgan Brandt 3 Definitions Revised

Peer review of Socapex

Peer Review of “Socapex”

Revised Expanded Definition of Socapex

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DEFINING SOCAPEX

Parenthetical Definition

Synonyms: Soca, 19-pin, multiconductor cable, a large power connecting cable ranging from 25 to 500 feet.

Sentence Definition

Socapex, or Soca, is a large multiconductor power cable with 19-conductive prongs; it is often used in film, television, and stage lighting to connect lighting fixtures on stage to power distribution equipment off stage.

Expanded Definition

What is Socapex?

Socapex, also known as Soca, 19-pin and Multiconductor cable for its characteristic multi-prong connection design, is a large, multicore power cable containing 6 individual 20 A (Amp) circuits (Box 353; Cadena 67). The 19 pins on the male end of the cable are the conductive pieces that connect with the 19 holes on the female end.

The foundations of Socapex’s design is like a household extension cable with 3 prongs: consisting of 1 neutral, 1 live and 1 ground on the male end, that connects to the female end (see Fig 1). Socapex differs with its 19-pin design consisting of 6 neutral, 6 live, and 6 ground pins, with its 19th pin, used purely to aid alignment when connecting “the male end of the connector with a female receptacle” (see fig 2 for alignment and pin formation) (P3connectors.com).

Figure 1 Close up on the male and female ends of a household extension cable from:

Figure 2 Close up of 19 pin configurations on the tail ends

 Fig 1 soca

 

Where is it Used?

This heavy-duty cable is often used in film, television, and stage lighting to connect lighting fixtures on a stage rig, a truss section with fixtures connected to power and data, to the power distribution centre off stage (see fig 3 and 4 for examples of a stage rig and power distro). There are two ratings this cable falls under #12 AWG (American Wire Gauge) for 20 A per circuit or #14 AWG for 15 A per circuit, which fulfills power demands for a variety of fixture types (Box 356).

Figure 3 Portable power distribution centre with 8 Socapex power outlets.

Figure 4 Stage Rig Diagram displaying hung lighting fixtures connected by a breakout cable to the Socapex cable from the power distro.

 How Do You Use it?

To properly distribute power from Soca, you use a breakout splay. This attachment simply divides the 6 circuits carried within the cable into 6 individual outlets; that is why they often “breakout” into conventional household outlets, know as AC or Edison (see fig 6) (Cadena 68).

Figure 5 True1 power connection breakout splay

Figure 6 Edison connection breakout splay

These 6 circuit breakouts can be adapted to a variety of connections such as Edison, a standard AC outlet (see fig 6); PowerCON, a twist-lock connection, and universal plug; True1 (see fig 5), the newest standard plug that offers voltages from 120 to 208 volts (Monk).

Example 1: Setting up 3 moving lightings on an 8ft piece of truss (based on fig 4).

An Elation 5 R requires 2.9 A at a standard 120 Volt service (see fig 7).

Figure 7 Elation 5 R Beam Fixture

There are 3 on one truss requiring 50ft of Socapex cable to reach the truss at height, 30ft on stage while also reaching the power distro below the stage, another 20ft.

To break out the 6 circuits of Socapex to service the 3 fixtures, you will use circuit 1, 2 and 3 to power each fixture with a standard 6 circuit, female end, Edison splay (see fig 6).

This fixture will use PowerCON adapters to connect the fixture to the Edison circuit provided by the Socapex breakout (see fig 8). These adapters work the same way as an extension cable just with the required ends: PowerCON to the fixture and Edison to the breakout splay.

Figure 8 PowerCON to Edison cable


In this case, 3/6 circuits will be used leaving 3 circuits, 4-6, available to be used by other fixtures, if added to the rig.

Precautions to Take?

A principle to follow when balancing power across Soca circuits is the 80/20 rule. This principle asks you to never put more than 80% of the total available amps on one circuit. For example, a 20 A circuit should never have more than 16 A on it at a time, leaving 4 A to allow room for the heat energy produced not to affect the conductivity of the cable. This practice is called de-rating current-carrying conductors based on the number of current-carrying conductors in contact with each other (Cadena 67).

Example 2: Calculating the load on a circuit (continuation from example 1 based on fig 4).

An Elation 5 R Beam lighting fixture draws 2.9 A to power all functions (“Elation Platinum Beam 5R”).

The breakout circuit we are using is 20A.

If we do not want to put more than 16A on the circuit, we can do simple math

20A – 2.9A = 17.1A available on this circuit.

Therefore, we have plenty of room to string together multiple fixtures on one circuit.

How many?

16A ÷ 2.9A = 5.5 therefore, we can put up to five 5R beam fixtures on one circuit, with a remaining 5.5A for current to fluctuate.

It is important to remember to balance how you distribute power across the circuits, as it is rare to put all of one type of fixture on one circuit; we often pair lights with nearby low drawing fixtures to minimize Socapex runs, usually no more than 2 to a truss line.

Conclusion

Overall, this cable offers a variety of ways to bring power to fixtures on a stage, in a theatre, or on a remote site with no infrastructure at all. While the overview presented here is very basic compared to the field, its principles are the same: Socapex carries power from a power distribution centre to a breakout splay that divides the current into useable circuits to service a group of lighting fixtures.

 

Works Cited

Box, Harry C. Set Lighting Technician’s Handbook: Film Lighting Equipment, Practice, and Electrical Distribution. Focal Press, 2010, www-taylorfrancis-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/books/9780080928081.

Cadena, Richard. “Stage-Lighting Systems Overview.” Routledge, 2018; 2010;.

Monk, Elliott. Personal Interview. September 23, 2019.

P3connectors.com. (2019). Socapex Diagram for Wiring Circuits | 19 Pin Circular Lighting Connector. [online] Available at: https://p3connectors.com/Socapex-19-pin-circuit-drawings-wiring-diagram/ [Accessed 29 Sep. 2019].

Figures

Figure 1 “Extension Cable.” Alibaba. Nema Common Use Usa Bulk Extension Cord – Buy Bulk Extension Cord, Common Use Usa Bulk Extension Cord, Nema Common Use Usa Bulk Extension Cord Product on Alibaba.com. [online] Available at www.alibaba.com/product-detail/NEMA-common-use-USA-bulkextension_60762528720.html?spm=a2700.7724857.normalList.2.678c6cd87UH6q&s=p. Accessed 29 Sep. 2019.

Figure 2 “Socapex 19 Pin 1.5mm2 Cable.” Christie Lites. www.christielites.com/Socapex-19-pin-cable/230w4w36w155w657. Accessed September 30, 2019.

Figure 3 Portable power distribution centre with 8 Socapex power outlets from: Cadena, Richard. “Stage-Lighting Systems Overview.” p. 65, fig 3.13.

Figure 4 Stage Rig Diagram displaying hung lighting fixtures connected by a breakout cable to the Socapex cable from the power distro. From: Cadena, Richard. “Stage-Lighting Systems Overview.” p. 51, fig 3.1.

Figure 5 “True1 14/3 Break-in.” Christie Lites, www.christielites.com/true1-splays/228w2w17w148w1013. Accessed September 23, 2019.

Figure 6 “5-15 12/3 Edison Break Out.” Christie Lites, www.christielites.com/5-15-12-3-edison-splays/228w2w17w85w1017. Accessed September 23, 2019.

Figure 7 “Elation Platinum Beam 5R.” Christie Lites. www.christielites.com/elation-platinum-beam-5r/228w2w10w8w313. Accessed September 29, 2019.

Figure 8 “Stage Right by Monoprice 16 AWG NEMA 5-15p to PowerCON Connector 1.5FT.” Monoprice. https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=14557. Accessed September 29, 2019.

 

Link to Original

What is Socapex?

Link to Peer Review

Peer Review of “Socapex”

Docx File

301 Morgan Brandt 3 Definitions Revised

Team Member Email #3

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To: Joyce Wu

From: Morgan Brandt

Date: September 18, 2019

Subject: 301 Writing Team

 

Hello Joyce,

After reading your application letter I felt compelled to write to you with the intention of adding you to my writing team. In creating my writing team I want to add people with a background that would benefit my formal report research on hour allocation and job satisfaction at the AV company I work for. With your experience in Human Resources, you would aid me significantly in the feasibility analysis.

I hope after reading my application you feel my skills as a team member would also benefit your learning process and refining your topic for your formal report.

 

I look forward to hearing from you and seeing what you produce over the course of this class.

Yours sincerely,

Morgan Brandt

 

P.S. Here is my letter attached below to help you during your decision-making process.

301 Morgan Brandt Application Letter

Team Member Email #2

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To: Tameen Imran

From: Morgan Brandt

Date: September 18, 2019

Subject: 301 Writing Team

 

Hello Tameen,

When I first read your letter of application, I could help but see a fantastic use of voice in your writing that appeals to me. In constructing my writing team, I want to choose people with backgrounds that would benefit my research in my formal report on hours allocation and job satisfaction amongst technicians at the AV company I work for. With your experience in writing legal reports for the government of British Columbia regarding employee-employer disputes, I believe you would be a perfect ally peer reviewing my recommendations.

If this sounds interesting to you, I can promise to help you improve upon your transitions and removing “fluff”, as peer-reviewing other people’s work for concision has always been a strength of mine.

 

I look forward to hearing from you!

Morgan Brandt

 

P.S. Here is my letter attached below to help you during your decision-making process.

301 Morgan Brandt Application Letter

Team Member Email #1

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To: Dianne Keyes

From: Morgan Brandt

Date: September 18, 2019

Subject: 301 Writing Team

 

Hello Dianne,

 

After reading your application letter, I could not help but feel you would be a beneficial partner in improving my writing and aiding myself in my formal report about hours allocation and job satisfaction in the AV company I work for. As we share a focus on cultural studies, our different learning strategies will lead to many opportunities over the term for growth in our writing styles. I especially appreciate how you confess an honest weakness in writing overtly direct from your years in clinical writing. Accordingly, I feel your background would benefit my weakness in concision and narrowing my topics.

 

If you would like to pursue a partnership in a writing team over the term, I look forward to hearing from you!

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Morgan Brandt

P.S. Here is my letter attached below to help you during your decision-making process.

301 Morgan Brandt Application Letter

Memo to the Professor

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Hello Professor Paterson,

This is just to notify you that I have responded to your posting regarding writing teams.
In my application letter, I go in-depth with how my academic background in cultural studies and critical theory affords me a strong understanding of framing ideological concepts to various audiences. Furthermore, I share my experience in team-based learning and how I feel it was one of the most beneficial experiences in my academic career. Then I finish by sharing how my personal learning philosophy extends into my career and tutoring practices because I feel that we can learn from everyone we work with, even if they do not have the same expertise. This idea is well reflected in the biographies of our class as everyone has different specializations, but we have a shared goal in learning.
Within this email, you can find the link to the post on my UBC Blog, as well as the docx file attached below.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Morgan Brandt
https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301mjb/2019/09/17/a-letter-of-application/