audience questions

“Whom do you want to reach?”

One audience I want to reach is the people of Milltown. Another audience who could benefit is the people occupying counties surrounding Crawford County. I actually live outside of Crawford County and even though I know about the shoe tree my parents did not even know until I told them about this class.

“What is your audience’s background-their education and life experiences?”

Crawford County is a rural area and most people have a farming or small town life. The education would consist of mostly high school or less with maybe a few college degrees. The county consists of all ages but a majority of older citizens as the younger ones have started going to college and therefore leaving the rural community.

“What are their interests?”

They have a variety of interests but live a country life. There have been quite a few articles lately about the people there being motivated by a want to fix up the small town of Milltown. Also, they would like to bring more tourism to the community by advertising attractions the blue river canoeing and many others including the shoe tree.

“Is there any demographic information you should keep in mind?”

Again, it is a small, rural community. The majority of the population is white and holds a conservative point of view as far as religion, sexual orientation, and beliefs are concerned. The people for the most part are economically poor.  

“What political circumstances may affect their reading?”

The people of Milltown see the shoe tree as something very special, so they would be particularly biased in the way of seeing it. They would want to read something that paints the shoe tree as something good rather than a negative point of view about it. They are mostly conservative.

"What does your audience know or already believe about your topic? What do you need to tell them? What is the best way to do so?"

                The audience should for the most part already know about it. The only thing to tell them would be to tell them that other people do know about it a little bit. I also think there has been talk of trying to make it a landmark type thing. I want to argue otherwise as I think it would take away from the essence and uniqueness of it. The best way to do this is just give examples of why and use my previous narrative to show how people see it now and how people would see it if that happened.

"What’s your relationship with your audience, and how does it affect your language and tone? "

                They are strangers to me. I do not know anyone from Crawford County.  I think they most of them will take my stance as far as the landmark idea, but there will be a good amount of them that do not.

"What does your audience need and except from you?"

                They would expect that the paper would be easy to read and follow because of the overall education level. Also, they would hope that the paper would take the same viewpoint that they have.

"What kind of response do you want?"

                I think I would want the response to be to believe what I believe on the landmark topic. Also, I would want a little of the “accept the information I am giving” part as well.

"How can you best appeal to your audience?"

                The best plan would be to hype of the idea of the shoe tree as it is to help convince them to not make it a landmark.

6/29/2011

Audience and genre have to fit each other. The particular genre must be interesting to your audience or apply to them specifically. An example of this used in the text was the mom wrote a short undetailed note to her son because she knew he could fill in the missing details and the note "genre" applied to him and that situation. If you are writing to a specific audience you have to make the genre fit the audience and the situation. If, instead, you are writing a specific genre you must identify your audience and connect it to them. When identifying your audience the main three categories are "known, multiple, and unknown," unknown being the most difficult. The audience should affect how the paper is written and specifically the genre of the paper. The genre and audience should go hand in hand.

6/24/11

The angle of Holson's question was to see the effect of a popular movie on the people of the town and maybe even the tourism of the town. She focused mostly on random people just see how they feel about the movie and the new attention they have recieved from it. She went to the town's Napolean Dynamite festival to conduct her research. Here she talked to many different kinds of people to get different perspectives on the movie and the town festival. I know that from how she presented the narrative. The first story she tells is about a dancer that she needed to have watched to describe it and tell the story as she did. She presented many detail she would only be able to know from being there in person. She talked to people at the festival so they all had some connection on the movie. Most of the people she talked to were from the town or from close to it. She also talked to a man in the movie that lives in the town. Anyone she talked to had a connection either with the movie or the town.
I think the option that best fits this story is option c. Place the individuals experiences and/or perspectives into a larger histoical or social context. In this story in particular she is placing these people experiences into the larger social context on how a film can change a small town and the people in it and how it affects the people.

edit questions

What do you want to find out?
I want to find out basically anything about the tree. There was not much research to find about it and I think an oral history would be the best way to discover the history of the tree. I would also like to find out how the tree effected someone who is invested in it and try to pull out thier feelings about the tree.
What is the primary goal of this oral history?
The primary goal of this oral history is to find out some history of the tree and get a response to the little research I could find.


1. About when and how did you first find out about the tree?
2. How did you react to the news andhow did you feel about it then?
3. How did the original tree burn?
4. How have your feelings changed over time and how do you feel about the tree presently?
5. About how many tourists do you talk to about the tree and what are some of thier reactions?

New questions:
1. I read in an article that you own the land that the shoe tree sits on, can you estimate a time that you first discovered the shoes?
2. How did you find out?
3. How did you feel about the fact that kids were putting shoes up in one your trees at first?
4. How have your feelings changed over time to the present?
5. The original shoe tree is accross the road from the present tree. There are a few stories on how the tree burned down like lightning and arson. Can you tell me how you believe the original tree caught on fire?
6. On the internet, many sites tell the reader to ask for informationa and directions in town. How many tourists come asking about the shoe tree?

June 22, 2011

It is considered an example of oral history because it is about a man asking his father about his past. The story is mainly the father talking about his war stories and the son asking him questions and keeping him on a track that he was interested in. The oral history site talks about asking questions according to what a person says to keep the person going and get more information. It says under How do I Ask Questions "Ask for specific examples if the interviewee makes a general statement and needs to know more." It also says, "Ask followup questions and then ask some more." An example of this in Maus is when the father is talking about his training and the son says, "Wait a minute, they only trained you for a few days before sending you into combat." This is an example of keeping the interviewee on the right track and extending there story to get more information. The son is also taking notes in the interview which the oral history site says to do in some form whether it be actually writing, video taping, or a voice recorder.

5 questions

1. About when and how did you first find out about the tree?
2. How did you react to the news andhow did you feel about it then?
3. How did the original tree burn?
4. How have your feelings changed over time and how do you feel about the tree presently?
5. About how many tourists do you talk to about the tree and what are some of thier reactions?

3 People

The main person I want to talk to is a lady by the name of Maxine who owns Maxines Market in downtown milltown. She owns the land on which the shoe tree is on. She will hopefully talk to me since she has talked to other reporters about the tree. The other two people are Tom and Katie Crecilius who own a potter shop in downtown Milltown.