[Techtalk] [OT] HOWTO Encourage Women in Linux

[Kai MacTane]

At 8/30/02 12:17 PM , Val Henson wrote:
>A general question: I want to define very clearly who my intended
>audience is, but several people have said that they think people will
>stop reading once they discover they aren't part of that intended
>audience, or don't fit exactly into my discription.  I don't know
>about you, but I wouldn't stop reading.  Do y'all really think people
>would stop reading in the middle of the "Audience" section?

Isn't this part of what an "Audience" section is for? If I'm reading 
something, and I see that the intended audience is "Those who are just 
beginning to learn about Linux", or "People who have experience with breast 
cancer", I may very well stop reading. If I do continue, I'll keep in mind 
that I'm not the intended target audience. If the first document 
laboriously explains stuff that I take for granted, I won't assume that the 
author is "talking down to me" or some such; the author isn't intending to 
talk to *me* at all! Likewise, if the second document uses all kinds of 
oncological terms that I don't know, I'll assume that these terms *are* in 
common knowledge in the breast cancer community.

But, for either doc, I think I could just bail when I read the "Audience" 
section, and that would be a *perfectly reasonable* thing to do.

                                                 --Kai MacTane
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Deadly angels for reality and passion..."
                                                 --Shriekback,
                                                  "Gunning for the
                                                   Buddha"