Monday, June 29, 2015
An Assessment of Sorts...
6/29/15
Hi Friends,
This post falls under assignment time. I'll see if I can't fit in some sarcasm to keep it funny, but no promises.
So, as part of English class this summer, one of the things we were assigned this past week was to post a 'Get to know you' kind of question. Read the responses, and then also respond to all the other questions that were posted. Then, peruse all the answers and analyze and get a feel for the type of audience you are writing to. Here goes.
My first observation is that everyone seems to be direct, but not oversharing. I suspect this is due to the fact this is an online course and there isn't the same level of connection with our fellow classmates since we don't share classroom time every week.
Just based on the responses I've read, I would guess that most all of my fellow online students come from varying degrees of a similar background. Most if not all are probably from this area of the country, or lived somewhere quite like it. Most probably grew up in a family somewhere in the spectrum of middle class. Sure, this is a bit of a generalization, but there didn't seem to be any answers that struck me as coming from someone with a radically different perspective on the world. It's also entirely possible I missed some of those answers. So, what are you gonna do?
I don't think I would say anything surprised me, at least, not in the jaw dropping, gone viral on YouTube kind of way. But, I have to say I think that when posed a deeper kind of question, like, "What's one thing you would change in the world" this group all provided rather insightful answers, and most also elaborated on those particular answers as well. Usually in a way that said a lot about the person answering the question.
I like having a good grasp, well, I hope it's a good grasp, on the audience I'm writing to. This kind of knowledge can free a writer from worrying too much about whether or not their readers will understand an analogy or get a certain kind of reference. It leaves you free to focus on just creating something worth reading.
Have a good one folks,
D
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
But what if they were all a bunch of liars? Well, of course not, but could happen. I still worry about "knowing" the audience. Maybe everything I have to say will be totally lost on them. But the exercise, in general, was informative and fun. The creativity of the questions was great. I keep thinking of other questions I would have asked. Like, if you had to live in a store for a month, what store would it be? I would really like to know the answers to that.
ReplyDeleteI did find your post to be funny. And I'd say I agree with some of the things you said. From the questions posed, I gathered we were "varying degrees of a similar background." The exercise was informative and I would say a different, unique route for us as students to see the importance of our audience. Like Jessica, I would have liked to have asked different questions.
ReplyDelete