Audience Analysis: Looking Beyond the Superficial  

In performing an audience analysis, it’s easy to focus on simple, obvious issues such as the differences between men and women. In fact, men and women have more similarities than differences when it comes to most of the things that technical communicators document. A discussion of some seemingly obvious differences between men and women illustrates how to look beyond superficial issues to find the truly important differences.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Usability>Audience Analysis

Audience Matters    

By incorporating usability techniques--more commonly used in product design--writers can better understand their audiences and the ways they use (or have problems using) the content. Read on for tips on how to incorporate usability techniques into your work.

Stott, Susan. Intercom (2008). Articles>Writing>Usability>Audience Analysis

Cómo Leen Los Usuarios en la Web

Los usuarios en la Web no leen, o por lo menos no lo hacen de la misma forma secuencial que cuando tienen entre manos un periódico, un libro, un artículo o un cómic. Los usuarios tienen necesidades y objetivos, metas que alcanzar, y saben que la forma de conseguir dichas metas no suele ser dedicando largos ratos a cada nodo web que visitan, leyendo de principio a fin sus contenidos y enlaces. El usuario, en una página, hará clic sobre el primer enlace que crea puede llevarle a lo que busca, necesita o pudiera interesar. Eso quiere decir que muchos de los contenidos y enlaces de ese nodo ni siquiera serán vistos por el usuario.

Hassan Montero, Yusef. Nosolousabilidad.com (2002). (Spanish) Articles>Usability>Audience Analysis

Field Trials: Trials and Tribulations of a Field Visit

I dutifully and eagerly prepared myself for the visit. I read books and STC articles on field visits and questionnaires. I was on a quest, and dangerously close to realizing a dream. At last, I would be able to define my audience, and gage the usability of the online help and hard copy manual. I would finally get the answers to my questions directly from a group of users.

Gunn, Robi. Usability Interface (1998). Articles>Usability>Audience Analysis

How to Know Your Audience  

Lazzaro presents a method for conducting thorough user and audience analyses.

Lazzaro, Heather. Intercom (2001). Articles>Usability>Audience Analysis

Prescriptive Audience Analysis: Moving Beyond the Purely Descriptive

Editing and writing both require an understanding of our audience, because without that knowledge, we can't shape our words to help them easily grasp difficult concepts. To understand our audience, we do what all writers and editors do, whether consciously or unconsciously: We create an image of our audience that guides our choice of words, images, and metaphors. This image is variously known as a 'stereotype' (e.g., Schriver 1997) or a 'persona' (e.g., Graham 2001). Keeping that image in mind as we work helps us satisfy the reader's needs, but if we're not careful, it can also cause us to waste valuable time collecting information that doesn't really help us communicate.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. TECHWR-L (2005). Articles>Usability>Audience Analysis>Tropes

Some Stategies for Addressing the Changing Audience  

'Know your user!' is the first thing every aspiring technical communicator learns. Everyone agrees that understanding the technical skills and needs of your audience is essential to producing high quality technical documentation. However, knowing exactly who your audience is and what they need from documentation is no longer an easy task. The increase in international markets, multiculturalism in America, end the number of people using software products for the first time all mean that the audience you knew so well a short time ago may not be the same audience using your documentation today. As technical communicators, we can no longer assume that our users' language and technical skills remain stable over a long period of time. How to assess and meet the needs of a changing audience is a challenge many technical communicators face today.

Lopes, Jeff and Kimberly E. Willis. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Audience Analysis>Usability

Uncovering True Motivation: The Whys and Wherefore

As a designer of software systems, I believe that the child's spirit of 'why' is something to retain and infuse into our work when gathering requirements, interviewing users, and interviewing stakeholders.

McDaniel, Scott M. Usability Interface (2003). Articles>Usability>Audience Analysis

Understanding the Customer's Business Context  

As an internal supplier of network and system management software, our organization faces significant challenges in assessing and enhancing the value of our products to customers. Traditionally, these types of products focus narrowly on meeting the technical needs of a single user constituency, without considering their impact on customers' overall business. This paper describes an ongoing project to investigate how to increase the perceived and actual value of our products by considering customers' business context. It describes how we got buy-in, what we learned about users and usability, and how we communicate our findings.

Cole, Candace P. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Usability>Audience Analysis

User Research Abroad: Handle Logistics in Four Easy Steps

In our industry, we are often asked to conduct non-directed interviews by telephone with audiences around the globe. This presents several logistical challenges.

Young, Indi. Adaptive Path (2004). Articles>Usability>Audience Analysis>International

Twitter, Tweetdeck and Simplicity

The usability of a website is relative to the audience that it was designed for. A website that is designed well for its primary audience will not necessarily provide a great user experience for everyone that tries to use it. It’s important to identify your target user if you’re going to make a site that works well for the right people.

Hamill, David. Good Usability (2009). Articles>Web Design>Audience Analysis>Usability