Yesterday we talked about the importance of understanding our audience, and the challenge of envisaging our research from someone else's perspective. For next class, I'd like each of you to write a brief (300 words or so) biographical sketch of a real audience you may have to face in the future (you can also consider an audience that you've addressed in the past and want to reach more effectively).
In your sketch, try to address the questions we raised in class. What's the setting of your presentation, and who are you addressing? What do they already know about your topic? Are they experts or novices? Where sources do they rely on to get information about your research? What issues are important to them? What preconceptions about your topic or tools that you'll need to fight against?
Please bring printed copies of your sketch to class. We'll exchange them and have a discussion in pairs and after class, I'll ask you to turn them in to me.
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