Audience Recognition

Objective Is to make you understand about the importance of audience recognition and audience involvement in a business communication

What you understand when the word “audience ” comes in your mind?

Audience When you write any memo, letter or report ,some one reads it . That individual or group of reader or listener is your audience. In technical writing the writer and reader both are fused. When a technical writing is submitted, the reader responds

Audience Recognition While writing a technical document ask yourself some questions Who is your reader? What is her/his level of understanding? What is her position in relation to your job title?

If you not ask these questions then what will happen? Your technical writing will miss the mark Your writing may contain jargon and acronyms the reader wont understand The tone of writing will be not appropriate for management or subordinates.

Develop a profile of audience If you want to write well then develop a profile of your audience. The following profile will help you achieve audience recognition High tech audience Low tech audience Lay audience Multiple audience

High –tech audience High tech readers work in your field of expertise. They work directly with you in your department. They share their educational background and knowledge with you. They share jargons and acronyms For example If you are a computer programmer got example another computer programmer who is working with you on same system is your high tech peer. You do not have to explain the word “Boot”, CD , RAM etc

A High Tech Writing in a memo the boss specified that the engineers should use “metric SI unit in their report ” because the boss knows that his audience is high tech, he do not have to explain the SI as “system international” Writing to high tech reader is easy because the writer does not need to define the jargons acronyms ,complex graphs so on.

Low Tech Audience Low tech audience include your co-workers in other department. Low tech readers also might include your bosses your subordinates or your colleagues who works in other companies. For Example You are a software engineer, the technician , accountant or graphic designer are low tech audience. They work around you and they have little knowledge about your jargons and acronyms.

Low Tech Audience Low tech readers are familiar about the technology you writing about but not how they function. Since the low tech reader is not in your normal writing loop so you need to provide the background knowledge.

Lay Audience Any one who neither work for your company nor have any knowledge bout the field of your expertise are lay audience. A lay reader would have no idea what is going on here. What is the purpose ? What will be achieved ? Lay reader are unfamiliar with your subject matter. They do not understand your technology therefore you should write simply. You achieve clarity through precise word usage , depth of detail, and simple graph. Avoid jargons , abbreviations, or acronyms. Lay reader will need a background knowledge.

Multiple Audiences Correspondence is not always sent to just one type of audience. Sometime correspondence has multiple audience. For example When writing a report most people assume that the supervisor will be the only reader. This might be not the case this can be forwarded to manager and so on. Some multiple readers are not familiar about the subject matter The audience will be a mix audience , with high tech , low tech, or lay audience and they will have diverse understanding

How to deal with multiple audience Must give background knowledge because some of readers may not be familiar with some concepts Provide reference You should explain jargons and acronyms before using them.