After reading Chapter 3-Readers and Contexts of Use, I began to look back on past experiences that I had at my internship over the past three summers. There were several instances when I was asked to write a technical document such as a project bid or problem report. While writing these documents, I had to think about the different people who I was targeting the document towards. For example, with project bids, I had to target the document to potential clients. While writing problem reports, I had to realize that my superiors who would be reading the report would want straight answers and were far less concerned about grammar and verbiage. While I am used to thinking about the audience that will be reading my document, I never thought about all the different categories mentioned in the Chapter 3 reading.
It is commonly said that it is not just what you say, but how you say it. The idea of “where” something is said, in regards to context, is a new idea to me. The authors note that the first contextual concern is of a physical nature, such as where the information will be read. Will it be during a meeting, an emailed memo, or on a PowerPoint slide? It is important to consider how these physical differences will influence interpretation of the material. The authors also note that one must take into consideration a variety of personal circumstances regarding the audience. They list economic, political, and ethical factors as important contexts. It is important to understand the economic factors that a reader will encounter when considering my ideas. It is also important to keep in mind their political and ethical frameworks. I experienced something similar to this last summer when working with a Japanese food company. It was helpful to understand their cultural values when approaching a variety of work issues, such as scheduling, time constraints, and daily interaction. Understanding these contexts allows material to be framed in such a way that the material is approachable for the audience.
Response
While your supervisors might not care about the grammar and verbiage of your problem reports (which I'm assuming are an internal document) as a writer I would be concerned. My boss' new boss recently reminded everyone to keep all emails as professional as possible. Even if you are emailing someone in the company, ensuring that you are being grammatically correct, spelling things correctly, etc. helps keep that air of professionalism.
"Will it be during a meeting, an emailed memo, or on a PowerPoint slide?"
That's one thing I didn't think about when I wrote my response. I'd had just been thinking of someone reading a physical document. There's been many times when I've sat through a PowerPoint presentation that was basically a 5 page report crammed on to some slides. Where you can have lengthy descriptions in a report, in a presentation people just want facts and pictures usually go a long way.
Andy
Power Point
The company I work for hires a lot of interns; I guess they figure it's a great way to give potential employees a trial run before hiring. At the end of this past summer all of the area's interns sat in a meeting with some of the higher-ups and had to give power point presentations about the experience. There were probably 20 of us at least.
Most of the presentations were exactly what you described, too much information crammed onto slides. I noticed the one that got the best response was given by a kid who seemed a little nervous and honestly wasn't a great presenter. What made the difference is his slides were broken into bullets with no more than 4 or 5 words per bullet and no more than 4 or 5 bullets per slide. I heard one person telling him afterward that his was about the only presentation that didn't put the whole audience to sleep.
To sum up, it seemed he really took into account the form in which he was delivering his information and thought about how to engage the audience with it. It does make a difference.
Cultural Differences
This reading reinforced for me as well that cultural values are important to consider when using any form of communication. I worked as a PC repair technician this summer at an internet service provider, and we had several Hispanic's bring in their computers for repair. Their ideas about what and when services should be performed varied greatly from our Caucasian customers.
I also hadn't really considered all the categories of audiences that could potentially read your document. In my e-mails and contact with clients and customers I was always professional and politically correct, but in inter-office communications I was much more lax. I'm certainly glad our customer's never saw some of the e-mails sent complaining about how they were complaining!
Response
I would definitely agree with the “where” when you are presenting information. In these past semesters I have had to write detailed instruction manuals for labs as well as brief weekly updates made up entirely out of bullet points. There were different rules when writing each of them. One of which was that I had to type the instructions in third person. It was tedious at first but then you realized how professional the manual read when it was done.
I also liked how you related the reading to a previous work experience. It really shows how this class can help us in the future of our careers.
When communicating with
When communicating with multiple cultures the saying that it is not just what you say, but how you say it should really be taken into consideration. The reading stressed the importance of learning about your audience because they could easily be insulted by an honest mistake. This is a good saying to always keep in mind with every situation.
When?
I completely agree with you that asking where is important. Where your text will end up, such as a powerpoint slide or an email like you stated, is a vital question to ask. I have also seen other reading responses cover the who question also. This is important because documents should be written differently depending on the audience. I have not seen many people talking about the when question though. When writing, asking when will the reader read this is just as important as all the other Five-W questions. I believe that this simple question can be elaborated into many: will the reader read it in the morning or late at night when groggy and susceptible to misinterpretation; during a recession when money is tight; when their company is under stress from a major internal problem. All these questions and many more support that asking when is also another helpful tool.
Response
Your comment on writing for your summer job made me think of mine. Over the summer I too had an internship and while I didn’t do any large amount of writing and submitting, I did take a lot of notes and write comments on construction drawings such as certain depths, materials, locations etc. At the time I only wrote for my understanding, not even thinking about the fact that when I left someone else was going to be left to interpret my shorthand when I left. This I certainly something I am going to keep in mind this summer to ease the burden of the next person taking over my responsibilities.
Reply
I too found it interesting how the physical context of your audience needs to be accounted for. I never really thought about how "where" someone is while reading your technical writing can affect the way they interpret it. I don't think this is something we really consciously notice while we reading something, yet I think it’s a very relevant point. Where we are can greatly affect our mood and make subtle changes to how we interpret someone’s beliefs attitudes and values. Ultimately the way we interpret these beliefs attitudes and values someone else is instilling upon us, determines how we interpret the literary work we are reading.