Audience plays a major role in rhetorical analysis and technical communications, as it is often the first thing a technical communicator will think of when asking rhetorical questions for their document. But one may ask, how do I figure out who my audience is? How do I know what information to use? These questions are answered through audience analysis, where a technical communicator will analyze an audience and determine what information is needed and who the target audience is for the artifact or document.
When writing a document, one of the most important aspects that a communicator must keep in mind is who or what the document is for. So much of a technical communicator's time is spent on thinking of who is the document for and how to best communicate information to them. Antonio Ceraso (2013) writes that technical communicators must "build mechanisms that facilitate genuine two-way... relationships between developers and users"(p. 250). Building a relationship between the communicator and the audience is key, as it helps the communicator connect their piece of technical communication to the audience, who will have more vested interest if it applies to them.
Communicators sometimes rely on their own self experiences and viewpoints, with little usage of audience support. This can lead to a disconnect between the communicator and audience. By taking in audience feedback, it could help a technical communicator better understand what themes or subjects are appropriate for their media. One could get these answers by asking rhetorical questions like "What skill level should I expect my audience to be with this subject matter?". Derek Ross (2013) notes that "technical communicators are tasked with learning how to define their audience, deciding how best to analyze them, and then determining how to design information for them" (p. 96). He also brings up an excellent point in which the analysis section of audience analysis can be dangerous, in that you don't want to stereotype or "entirely overwhelm a writer with too much nonessential information. It becomes the author’s role to determine what information is needed for effective design" (p. 97). One must find the appropriate balance of what information is needed, thus building a connection or relationship with your audience could help you prevent information overload.
Jenifer Turns and Tracy Wagner (2004) discuss in their study of how they used polls, quizzes and user-asked questions to better design their website, a topic that is very fitting for this assignment in which we are designing our own website for an intended audience. Through their research they found that "[t]he online survey permitted more breadth, leading to varied insight, while the phone interview permitted us to probe specific issues, leading to deeper insight"(p. 82). What I get from this is that, while surveys and polls will help you reach a wider audience, actual person to person feedback can help a technical communicator better understand their audience's needs and preferences more clearly, as they have the option to delve further into the audience's needs and opinions.
Another efficient way to incorporate audience into your documents would be to ask rhetorical questions regarding your audience. Ceraso (2013) provides some very insightful considerations to look at when thinking of audience. Considerations such as: demographic, cultural factors, experience, level of technical knowledge and previous and current problems encountered by users (p. 250). These considerations help form a picture of who you want your document geared towards.
Summary of Research on Audience