While I was reading Chapter Three, I realized that it is just as important to understand the audience that you are writing to then anything else. I thought that there are very good charts (like the Reader Analysis and Context Analysis charts) that a writer can use to evaluate the type of audience that you they are performing for. I also thought that it was unique to learn that there are so many different types of audiences that you can write for. If you break this down and really think about it, there are so many different types of people that you can write for. For example, we can break down some of the people that are simply in our class. While reading the Introductions that everyone has posted, there are endless possibilities that you as a writer could talk about. We have people that enjoy reading about sports, camping, traveling, writing, and many more.
Another major part of chapter three is the ever changing environment that we are living in. This also has to do with the different type of audience that you have. It is so important to understand the different cultural values of the audience that you are writing for, because one thing said in a foreign culture does not always mean the same thing in our culture.
Overall, I think that chapter three has some solid information in it. I think that it is imperative that as a writer you have got to use some of the charts that are included. I have come to realize that it is important to get to know the audience that you are writing for in order to have a good article.
Response
I also liked how the reading gave us examples of those valuable charts to look at. I think that if one was to actually fill out those charts before they start writing it will help them concentrate on what they need to be writing. Not only will filling out these charts help one write more detailed information, it would also be a nice writing tool. It could be used as a writing tool because if you stray off subject or forget what you were going to say you could just look back at those charts and remember what you were thinking. After you get back on subject you can start writing right where you left off.
Reply
After reading the response, I looked back at the charts to reanalyze them and take in consideration what was being discussed. After looking at the charts for another time I was thinking how much easier it would be to write to all the audiences. This would allow you to keep you ideas in parallel and not over use technical terms so that the tertiary readers wouldn’t get discouraged. Also with these charts, as being mentioned in the response, makes a guide to help keep a writer on track. I tend to be a person that gets off track, so going back through the book I will use the charts as a guideline when writing a document to help capture all of my audiences.
Zebulon Rouse
Response
First of all, thank you for talking about the Introductions-so far you are the only person that has even mentioned them, let alone used them as point in your discussion. And you point out a good observation-that there is such a wide variety of readers out there. This, I think, can make technical writing quite difficult, but I like how the text explains how to handle this dilemma in a rather efficient way. When you say ‘ever changing enviornment’ I’m assuming you’re talking about global diversity/communication, and it is interesting to consider this as a dynamic thing as opposed to what I previously thought of it as more static. I suppose it is entirely possible for something completely novel to come along, just as satellites changed communication, and change something else about how we communicate.
To the person above me: seconding the usefulness of those charts.
Reply
The wide variety of readers does present an obstacle for trying to figure out your audience. I think a good strategy for dealing with that is to try to focus on what links readers, what they have in common. I think more often than not that link will lead you toward what the audience will be looking for in your writing.
I'll use the example of the diversity of interests in our class. Yes, the people in this course have varying interests and preferences (travel, sports, etc.). But what unites us is that we are all English 421 Online students. And knowing that, you can start to think about why we are reading each others' blog posts and comments, and what we all are looking to get out of it. Even though we have different interests we all are looking for interesting and relevant points of discussion which we can comment on and use to be a part of the dialogue (or at least meet course requirements). From there you can develop a strategy to appeal to your audience (like making a point that is sure to start a discussion, including an open-ended question, etc).
Response
I would have to agree that with the way the environment is constantly changing and with how rapidly the world is changing from day to day has made a huge impact on trying to figure out what exact audience the writer has to write to. Communicating between two different cultures is also a huge barrier that writers have to deal with. Saying one thing in one culture could mean something totally different in another culture, and that is one thing that the writer would have to consider before making their document. One of the biggest goals for the writer would be for their document to be read, but if it is offensive or goes against a person’s culture no one will want to read it.