In this assignment I located four different technical documents addressing various degrees of technical audiences on the World Wide Web. The three degress of sudiences were technical, semi-technical, and non-technical. The following documents are identified by the degree of technical audiences with an assessment of the information in an electronic format.
Technical Audience
Smith, Deborah and Tarkow, Janine. "Individualized Learning: The Self-Paced Computer Lab." T.H.E. Journal. 1998.
http://www.thejournal.com/98/may/598feat3.htm
(19 May 1998).
This journal addresses information for administrators and school principals as primary readers. The secondary readers are teachers and media specialist. The journal addresses the progress of computer technology in school systems. This article has technical terms used by computer specialists. The terms such as pentium based workstations, multimedia CBT's and MPEG technologies, and Java programming are not familiar to the general teacher, administrator, or principal. This article has no pictures, graphics, visuals, or explanation of the technological terms.
Semi-Technical Audience
Introduction to Web Page Development.
http://www.acomp.usf.edu/~ac-classes/html1.html
(20 May 1998)Columbia Online Style: MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources.
http://www.cas.usf.edu/english/walker/mla.html
(18 May 1998)Both of these documents exemplify semi-technical information. The audiences are USF students familiar with the subject and terms described in the document. The documents contain tables, different font types, italic, bold, and underlined words. A technical term is accompanied with a definition. A USF student reading these documents should have prior knowledge of the subjects discussed in these articles.
Non-Technical Audience
Krantz, Alan. "What's Wrong With School."
Parents Journal. July, 1997.
http://www.parentsjournal.org/krantz.html
(20 May 1998)Parents's with school children are the primary readers. Teachers are the secondary readers. The design of the site includes many grahics and colors pleasing to the eye. Pictures of children playing captures the interest of the non-technical readers. No technical terms are used. The font used in titles are letters children would print.
The World Wide Web opens a world of technological information. As a medium, it gives opportunity to a large audience with a myriad of information. The lack of regulations allows necessary information to be viewed by anyone. Graphics, aesthetic designs, and organization determine whether a web site holds the reader's interest.
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