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Subject:Re: Audience Awareness From:"Doug, Data Librarian at Ext 4225" <engstromdd -at- PHIBRED -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 22 Nov 1994 23:55:43 -0600
David writes:
***********************
Personaly, I've never found "audience awareness" to
be useful. If I'm not clearly explaining the material to begin with, then
being aware of my audience isn't going to help. I am not aware of this
audience...
...However, I believe that audience awareness, "vocabulary, content level,
visuals, even type size" cannot substitute for clear and concise writing.
************************
Audience *defines* clear and concise writing. What is necessary
background for an undergrad is maddeningly superflous for a PhD.; the
interface between the application and the system software, while
important to a technician, is so much extra baggage to the data entry
clerk. Procedures you can cover in a single sentence for an experienced
operator must be carefully spelled out for the newbie.
While I agree that pompus phrasing, tangled sentence structure and bloated
vocabulary should be eliminated wherever possible, that alone does not
make writing clear and concise for a given audience. Only understanding
what the audience needs and when they will need it will allow you to be
truly "clear and concise."
Doug "Women are designed for long,
ENGSTROMDD -at- phibred -dot- com miserable lives, whereas men are
designed for short, violent ones."
- Estelle Ramey
