Getting to know your audience.

Getting to know my audience through the form of a Q&A discussion board was a very interesting experience.  I really enjoyed seeing into the minds of my peers.  One major thing that I noticed is how varied the people in this course are.  One particular question that sticks out is the “Book vs Movie Debate.”  Though the answers were far from “50/50” (books won!!) there were a lot more different answers than I expected.  It was nice to hear the reasoning behind everyone’s answers and not just a thoughtless, one word “Book” or “Movie.”  This really showed me that I am not just writing for my professor, but for a lot of other people with different views and ideas.

Another thing that really stuck out to me was how different and yet similar we all are.  One question was “If you could choose anyone as your mentor, who would you choose?”  There were a lot of varying answers but Jesus came up in quite a few.  Another one was about being able to spend one day with someone and most people put relatives that have passed away.  There were a few oddities, like me, that chose celebrities or historical figures but for the most part the answers were very similar.

I also have to admit how much I enjoyed the sarcasm and silliness in some responses.  These made for some very interesting reads and several times I was quite literally laughing out loud.  One such post was on the question dealing with where you would like to have been born if you could choose and I loved the answer of “…in a barn.  That way I’d never have to shut the door behind me.”

This was a very fun and eye opening way to get to know my audience in the form of my classmates.  I think that this will help me in the future as I now have a better understanding of who I am writing for.