Internet Exercises

Audience:

• Based on the features of the documents, who do you think will be reading or using each of these pages?
• Is it the same audience for each page? Why or why not?
• What special characteristics might each of those audiences have? What characteristics might they share? What communities might they belong to?
• What is the audience’s background and attitude toward the subject?

Purpose:

• Why is this communication important?
• Why is it needed?
• What will users do with the information on each of these pages?

Context:

• What role(s) might the users of these documents play in their organization?
• What political or social situations for their users do each of these documents suggest?
• What might their professional values or affiliations be?

Compare how the documents are written for different intended audiences and analyze the style and discourse of each by answering the following questions:

• For whom do you think each document was written? What discourse communities might each of the audiences belong to? What special characteristics might each audience have? What characteristics might they share? What is the audience’s level of knowledge about the subject?
• What do you think the purpose of each document is? How will readers use the information? How do the purposes of each document differ? How are they similar?
• How do the characteristics of the audience, the communities to which they belong, and the purposes of the documents affect how the documents are written (i.e., writing style, word choice, etc.)? Support your answer with specific examples from the documents.