1/28/05 lecture02 1

Who is your audience?

1/28/05 lecture02 2

Generally, the audience falls into four broad groups:

1. Technical peers

2. Technically-savvy in another discipline

3. Educated, non-technical

4. Poorly educated infrequent readers

Let’s consider some scenarios

1/28/05 lecture02 3

• First: Imagine you are a PhD-level climate scientist.

• You are writing for a group of other PhD-level climate scientists.

• Thus, you can assume that you ALL know ALL the terminology, and you do not need to explain technical terms.

1/28/05 lecture02 4

• They would all understand this:

How and to what extent the intra-seasonal oscillations (ISO's) influence the seasonal mean and it's inter-annual variability of the Indian summer monsoon is investigated using 42-years (1956-1997) daily circulation data from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis and satellite derived outgoing long wave radiation data for the period 1974-1997. Based on zonal winds at 850 hPa over the Bay of Bengal, a criterion is devised to define 'active' and 'break' monsoon conditions. Typical ISO's have large scale horizontal structure similar to the seasonal mean and intensifies (weakens) the mean flow during it's 'active' ('break') phase.

http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~moltenif/conf-part/abstracts-par.html

1/28/05 lecture02 5

• Second…you are still a PhD-level climate scientist.

• You are reading something from a PhD biochemist.

• Would you understand this?More than 125 genes that regulate pigmentation have been identified to date. Of those, MART-1 has been widely studied as a melanoma-specific antigen and as a melanosome-specific marker. While the functions of other melanosomal proteins, such as tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein-1, dopachrome tautomerase and Pmel17, are known, the function of MART-1 in melanogenesis, is unclear. A role for MART-1 in pigmentation is expected since its expression pattern and subcellular distribution is quite similar to the other melanosomal proteins and usually correlates with melanin content.

http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/abstract/M413692200v1

1/28/05 lecture02 6

• No! we start having to define terms and be careful about “jargon”.

• More than 125 genes that regulate pigmentation have been identified to date. Of those, MART-1 has been widely studied as a melanoma-specific antigen and as a melanosome-specific marker. While the functions of other melanosomal proteins, such as tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein-1, dopachrome tautomerase and Pmel17, are known, the function of MART-1 in melanogenesis, is unclear. A role for MART-1 in pigmentation is expected since its expression pattern and subcellular distribution is quite similar to the other melanosomal proteins and usually correlates with melanin content.

http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/abstract/M413692200v1

1/28/05 lecture02 7

• Third…you are an MS-level Boundary Layer Meteorologist at a private corporation.

• You are giving a talk to a roomful of managers, who are allocating research funds.

• You are presenting a funding proposal.

1/28/05 lecture02 8

• Which is better?

A. We are currently looking to improve the one and half order turbulence closures to allow for the important effects that shear and curvature of the flow have on mixing-length, and develop a closure from the balance that exists between dissipation and transport of turbulent kinetic energy in the separation region.

• Or…B. We need to improve the way in which the model approximates the turbulent behavior of the atmosphere. We have identified a number of improvements that can be made, and will conduct studies to see what impacts these changes can have. Our work will improve our product, generate more accurate forecasts, and thus yield higher returns.

• You might have to give TWO presentations!

1/28/05 lecture02 9

• Fourth scenario…you are a BS-level Meteorologist teaching a Weather and Climate class to freshmen English majors who hate math and science.

• This is quite difficult! You need to explain everything!

1/28/05 lecture02 10

So…think about the following:

1. Who is your audience?• Scientists?

• Engineers?

• Managers?

• Just one person or multiple?

1/28/05 lecture02 11

1. Who is your audience?

2. How much does your audience know?• Technical versus non-technical?

• Multiple readers?

1/28/05 lecture02 12

1. Who is your audience?

2. How much does your audience know?

3. What is your purpose?• Why are they reading the document?

• Proposal?

• Information?

• Manual?

1/28/05 lecture02 13

1. Who is your audience?

2. How much does your audience know?

3. What is your purpose?

4. How are they reading the document?• Will read the whole thing carefully?

• Thesis

• Proposal

• Will they skip over certain sections?• Final report

• Written or web-based (“jumpable”)?

1/28/05 lecture02 14

Do not assume that everybody reads everything!

In reading a journal (e.g., JAS), we often:

• skim journal titles• then read the abstracts of the interesting

articles• then (perhaps) read the introduction• then skip to the conclusions and references.

1/28/05 lecture02 15

Pay closer attention to:

Title

Abstract/summary

Table of Contents

Figure/table captions

Introduction

Conclusions

1/28/05 lecture02 16

TASK

See the handout – transform the jargon-laden forecast into something the general public can understand.

Start!

Must be completed by the end of class.