27 June 2012
Know
Your Audience Blog Post
When
I was in High School I knew my audience. I had grown up with the same
people for years, we were primarily from the same location, and held
many of the same beliefs. When I begin the adventure that is College,
the first difference that I noticed is that it was so much more
diverse. Reflecting much more of what I had experienced in life,
moving from job to job and place to place, college is a melting pot
of culture and diversity. An online class adds yet another element to
the situation because you never meet face to face with the people who
you rely on as your peers. The questions that we asked each other are
but a glimpse into the lives of the classmates that we will never
meet. When I was reading and answering the questions posted in the
discussion board, I found myself reaching deep within to give the
most honest and meaningful answer that I could. Anything but an
explanation of the truth would provide my classmates with a distorted
view of who I am as a person and a student. The questions that we
gave each other to respond compiled a vast amount of personal
information in a very short amount of time. They ranged in emotion
from “What would you do with a day to live?” to “What is your
favorite movie?” I am not going to lie, I teared up as I wrote the
response to the last day to live question.
There
was a common bond between most of the people in the class who
responded to the questions in the discussion, closeness and love of
their families. Nearly every question led back to the same place,
family! I have found that this is the most powerful motivator in most
of our lives, and what we would most like to do is to spend our time
with our families. Though there are many different interpretations of
the meaning of the immediate family, the comfort that we find in
these relationships is unparalleled. We enjoyed all four seasons, and
watched many different movies; but the days would not be as bright,
nor the movies so enjoyable without those that we share them with.
So, though we come from different places, have many different faiths,
are seeking very different careers and goals; the family dynamic
remains the same, our comfort and our support.
Knowing
a little more about the audience that I am writing to this semester
allows me to be more open in sharing my own personal experiences.
Though we do not have faces to put with the names, we have something
much greater, a deeper knowledge of the inner goals and
characteristics that make us all unique.
I think too that it is hard to give an accurate answer to our discussion board questions without distorting the person who we actually are. Lets face it though we don't have to worry about running into alot of these people with whom even if we did would not usually recognize us and remember our writtings.
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