Perhaps one of the most important aspects of technical communication, or any type of communication for that matter, is audience. Everything we write or communicate--if we expect to do it successfully--depends on the audience for which we design the information.

Understand that the people we write to are not often like ourselves. Each person has a different knowledge set from which they draw to understand the world around them: and none of us does this exactly the same. If you are an engineer, for example, and you are writing a memo to someone in marketing, it is a pretty safe assumption to say that person in marketing probably has no knowledge of the engineering principles you work with everyday. Instead, that person in marketing knows marketing.

Thus, if we understand this, we understand that we must communicate differently to them. This is really one of the founding ideas in technical communication. Yet, it's something that people do everyday without thinking about it. I talk to my friends differently than I talk to my students. I use different words, different concepts, different tones. My students email their friends and use different terms, spelling, and grammar than when they email me. They are more careful about spelling and appropriateness when sending me a message than they would be if they were sending the same note to their friends.

So, if we understand this, we understand that in order to write a successful document, we must figure out who our audience is. This goes from the most trivial type of inter-office communication--say, the memo--to the most formal type of professional communication--maybe a project proposal. BEFORE you begin writing the communication you must understand who your audience is in order to understand HOW to write your communication. Should it be formal or informal? Should you use industry jargon or more clearly-worded explanations? Should you simply summarize or detail everything out? These and many more considerations must be made before beginning a communication, and they can only be made once you understand who you are writing for.

Ultimately, technical communication tries to do two things in relation to audience and message: define the profile of the audience for which the information is directed, and then prepare the information as appropriate to both the purpose and the audience. Both of these are HUGE issues, and will be hammered out throughout this portion of the web site.

For technical, professional and business communication help in the Las Cruces, NM area, visit Lanier Infomedia. 

Last update: 27-03-2009 13:46