Technical Writing
Audience Recognition and
Involvement
Audience recognition
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Determining whether your audience is high, tech,
low tech, no tech, lay, or multiple helps you write
effective correspondence.
The audience any piece of writing is the intended or
potential reader or readers.
This is the most important consideration in planning,
writing, and reviewing a document.
You "adapt" your writing to meet the needs,
interests, and background of the readers who will be
reading your writing.
What about the audience?
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Lack of audience analysis and adaptation is
one of the root causes of most of the
problems in professional, technical
documents—particularly in instructions.
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It's much the same as telling someone, "Talk so
the person in front of you can understand what
you're saying."
It's like saying, "Don't talk rocket science to your
six-year-old."
Determine your levels of audience.
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Who is your audience?
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What does this reader or listener know?
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Audience may not know your jargon or acronyms.
What does this reader or listener not know?
What must you write or say to ensure that your
audience understands your point?
Determine your levels of audience.
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How do you communicate to more than one person
(multiple audiences)?
What is his or her position in relation to your job
title?
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Tone of memo may be inappropriate.
What diversity issues (gender, sexual orientation,
cultural, multi-cultural) must you consider?
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Factor in your audience’s unique culture, language,
and level of understanding.
Audience Variables
Knowledge of Subject
Matter
Issues of Diversity
Age
High
Low
No
tech
tech
tech/lay
Multiple
Gender
Race
and/or religion
Sexual
orientation
Language
and/or
culture of origin—
multicultural
or cross-cultural
Audience variables
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Experts:
These are the people who know the
theory and the product inside and out. They
designed it, they tested it, they know everything
about it.
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Technicians:
These are the people who
build, operate, maintain, and repair the stuff that
the experts design and theorize about. Theirs is a
highly technical knowledge as well, but of a more
practical nature.
Audience variables
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Executives: These are the people who make
business, economic, administrative, legal,
governmental, political decisions on the stuff that
the experts and technicians work with. knowledge
about the subject as non-specialists.
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Non-specialists: These readers have the least
technical knowledge of all. They want to use the new
product to accomplish their tasks; they may just be
curious about a specific technical matter and want to
learn about it—but for no specific, practical reason.
Multiple audiences
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Provide background information, if necessary.
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Define jargon, abbreviations, and acronyms.
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Define terms by using phrases, sentences or glossaries
Must have a matter-or-fact, business-like tone.
Biased Language—Issues of Diversity
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Diversity includes
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Race
Gender
Religion
Ethnicity
Age
Sexual orientation
class
Multiculturalism
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Writing for a global market poses many concerns for
the technical writer.
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Which words to use
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Which terms to define
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What a word might mean in different languages
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Cultural biases
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Effects of graphics and humor
Multiculturalism
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Define acronyms and abbreviations
Avoid jargon and idioms
Distinguish between nouns and verbs
Watch for cultural biases/expectations
Avoid humor and puns
Leave space for translation
Avoid figurative language
Sexist Language
Sexist language offends many readers.
Omission
Biased
When setting up
his experiment,
the researcher
must always check
for errors.
Unbiased
When setting up
experiments, the
research must
always check for
errors.
Sexist Language
Sexist language offends many readers.
Unequal treatment
Biased
Mrs. Acton, a
statuesque blonde,
is Joe Granger’s
assistant.
Unbiased
Jan Acton is Joe
Granger’s assistant.
Sexist Language
Sexist language offends many readers.
Stereotyping
Biased
The manager is
responsible for the
productivity of his
department; the
foreman is
responsible for the
work of his
linemen.
Unbiased
Management is
responsible for
departmental
productivity.
Supervisors are
responsible for
their personnel.
Audience involvement
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When you focus the tone of a document and appeal
to the readers’ needs, you can involve them in the
technical documentation.
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Use a personalized tone
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Reveal benefits to readers
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Use positive words and power verbs
Audience involvement
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A user-centered approach to document design
requires detailed knowledge of the target audience,
as this provides information about user constraints
and preferences on which the design must be based.
Information on the motivation, habits, preferences,
cultural context, technological capacities, and
physical capabilities of the target audiences is
required before a single piece of text can be written.
http://www.bogieland.com/ucd_techcom.htm
Audience involvement
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An easy-to-use document is one that people will
return to, enhances the organization's reputation,
and permits further development of business
functions.
User-centered design is crucial to the success, and
the measurement of success, of all documents:
paper and electronic.
http://www.bogieland.com/ucd_techcom.htm