RE: know your ... who?

["Lauren" <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net>]

> From: McLauchlan, Kevin

> So, you seem to be saying:
> 
> "Be one of the people to whom your documentation is addressed"
> 
> OR
> 
> "Make educated guesses, based on assumptions about the people to whom
> your documentation is addressed."
> 
> Is that a good summary?

No.  It isn't.

"Knowing" one's audience does not mean "be one of the people" or make
"guesses" about the audience.  In my high school graduate audience example
we've graduated high school so we should "know" how a high school graduate
learns, since we have been in that position ourselves.  If we wrote from the
perspective of "being" a high school graduate, then we would write crap.  If
we made "guesses" about high school graduates, then we would not do our jobs
as writers.  If we have not been in the position of the audience, then we
should learn about the audience so that we can know the audience.  SMEs and
other staff are good resources to interview to understand the audience of
the document.

Lauren

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