Essay on Columbia Accident Investigation Board Audience and Use

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Columbia Accident Investigation Board Audience and Use
Making sure that a technical document meets the needs of its intended audience is crucial to successfully facilitate the communication of concepts and ideas. In order to meet these needs, they must be clearly identified and specifically addressed. In the article “COLUMBIA ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION BOARD”, the audience’s identity, needs, personality, and expectations are all clearly defined and addressed.
The first part of the article sets up and identifies both the audience and their needs. The primary and secondary audiences are both defined in the following statement about the origin of the Board: “From its inception, the Board has considered itself an independent and public
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The Board also wanted this, as demonstrated by the document, stating, “[The Board] sought to discover the conditions that produced this tragic outcome and to share those lessons in such a way that this nation’s space program will emerge stronger and more sure-footed”. The persons most affected by the findings of the document will be the families of astronauts that were killed in the accident. Also, NASA and the families of the current team of astronauts will be affected by the findings in the document. Since the temperament of the audience is somber in light of the accident, the document must treat the subject matter with delicateness in order to mitigate the risk of alienating the audience. The Board does do a great job of respectfully identifying the causes of the Columbia accident, so the probable reaction of the audience to the document is that they will become more informed about the events that lead up to the accident.
The audience’s expectations about the document will be very high considering the personal subject matter. The reason the document originated was because of the loss of life in the Columbia accident. The audience will expect a very concise, respectful document that highlights the significance of the losses sustained by the families. An acceptable length of the report would be between six and ten pages, outlining only the material that is most