Notes on Audience

As we discussed on Friday, this assignment will draw heavily on considerations of audience. In many technical writing scenarios, having a solid working model of your audience will help produce effective documentation. As such, this is what we need to consider today.

Primary vs. Secondary

• Primary Audience – People who need this document to carry out their jobs. This category varies based on the type of document: an executive will be the primary audience of a recommendation report, while a user will be the primary audience of an instruction set.
• Secondary Audience – Readers who need to be aware of the contents of your document but don’t necessarily have to respond to the content. An example would be a manager in your company using a new employee orientation document to remember the company phone number.

Both categories of readers matter to the document creation process.

Four Categories of Technical Readers

1. The Expert – A reader with large theoretical / technical knowledge of the subject matter. Experts are usually highly trained specialists who work through the big-picture aspects of technical problem solving. Engineers, physicians, and scientists are examples of experts.
2. The Technician – Readers who work with experts to facilitate the implementation of solutions. Often, this involves the construction and maintenance of complicated technical apparatuses that facilitate the work of experts.
3. The Manager – Often lacking in the specific technical knowledge of the technician or the theoretical knowledge of the expert, the manager will still be largely familiar with the work being done (in a broad sense) and reads for information that can best facilitate long term upkeep and fund allocation.
4. The General Reader – Having no subject knowledge, these readers generally consume text for leisure or out of some sense of self-interest. In any case, unlike the other three categories, there is no possibility of using any specific, technical language.

Identifying Characteristics of your Reader

• Who Is Your Reader?
  • The Reader’s Education: What degrees and when.
  • The Reader’s Professional Expertise
  • The Reader’s Professional Responsibilities: managers care more about cost than experts and technicians, for instance.
  • The Reader’s Personal Characteristics: age
  • The Reader’s Personal Preferences: Pet Peeves, etc.
• What Are Your Reader’s Attitudes and Expectations?
  • Attitude towards you?: Most people will like you because you are hardworking, intelligent, and cooperative. Some won’t. If a reader’s animosity toward you is irrational or unrelated to the current project, try to earn that person’s respect and trust by meeting him or her on some neutral ground, perhaps by discussing other, less volatile projects or some shared interest, such as gardening, skiing, or science-fiction novels.
  • Attitude Toward Subject?
  • Expectations of Document?
• Why and How Will Your Reader Use Your Document?
  • Reasons for Reading
  • The way your reader will read your document. Will he or she
    • file it?
    • skim it?
    • read only a portion of it?
    • study it carefully?
    • modify it and submit it to another reader?
    • try to implement recommendations?
    • use it to perform a test or carry out a procedure?
    • use it as a source document for another document?
  • Your reader’s reading skill
  • The physical environment in which your reader will read your document