MESSAGE
| DATE | 2002-05-09 |
| FROM | Ray Connolly
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Documents and Audiences
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Gd Morning,
I just read through the slashes back and forth on the document/editing
issue. I want to make a couple of quick points. I am not the author of this
obviously but from reading it I *thought* this was geared more towards the
commoner. After all, "We need to broaden our constituents", and by using the
ATM analogy I felt it was trying to show an everyday example how corps pimp
the public in a way everyday common folk will easily relate to and
understand. Constituents are not, in my opinion, the likes of RMS. He is a
person who is extremely well versed, knowledgeable and passionate about the
issues. In turn, I feel those types are not our target audience, they are
the core audience, which we are apart of. Constituents_are_the soccer mom's,
they guy mowing your lawn or painting your house, and the high school drop
out with 1500 CD's 800 LP's and a boom box. They are the everyday 9-5ers who
have enough trouble figuring out how to set the time on their VCR never mind
talks of BIOS encryption or monopolistic franchises. Ruben has stated that
he intended this to be an 'in-house' document and that's perfectly fine. I
would suggest however, that ANYTHING intended for the general population
(the constituents) must be extremely dumbed-down. It must be ultra clear and
concise and follow a very easy train of thought. I also know that this is
difficult to do considering all of the intelligent, articulate and
passionate people involved. It is not exclusive to our group, this is a
phenomena in the tech world in general. And I might add, a problem the tech
world has difficulty addressing. The runaway success of the "...For Dummies"
book series is living proof. The conundrum is that no one person is an idiot
yet the masses are asses. We need to address the masses. They are the ones
who vote, who buy computers, who buy CD's, who go to libraries or Barnes and
Noble. They are the ones who hold true power. They are the sleeping giant.
And if we intend to wake, educate, and motivate them we must speak their
language.
On a side note: The best, most contagious and memorable slogans in history
consist of 3 syllables (i.e.-"I like Ike"). Granted, it is hard to simplify
things this dramatically but full sentences are not gonna cut it. Especially
if we are going to look to paste them all over the web. Let's get the
creative juices flowing. Humans relate easier and more quickly to pictures
than words so let's think about that. For example, I'm trying to sketch the
Copyright symbol as a steel lock box to show what it could be/is. Let's
think out of the box, keep it short and sweet and remember who we are trying
to speak to when delivering a message. It won't always be the mass of asses
but the marketing principles are the same.
____________________________
New Yorker Linux Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
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