finding the perfect pitch?
Given the wide range of education by users on the Net, and the increasing reliance of K-12 students on Net research as a primary if not sole tool of research, is it an obligation to “pitch” what one places out on the web to a certain level of education (provided that the site is not intended to be aimed solely within the historical profession) in order for it to be of maximum use? Or is it a matter of doing what one is comfortable with and hoping the audience will manage? Reason I ask is I have run across some history sites which are apparently meant to be popular use sites but use language more frequently found in Ph. D dissertations.
January 22nd, 2006 at 7:28 pm
Although I have not seen a lable on any websites, I think it would valuable to viewers to have a quick reference to what level of education the website has information for.
January 23rd, 2006 at 9:26 pm
I would say it all depends on the target audience. Obviously, if the target audience is the general public, then yes I think a “pitch” would be a good idea. However, if the audience is the scholarly community, then I do not think it is necessary. Of course, there will probably be times when the audience includes both the general public and the scholarly community, like the Smithsonian. I think the Smithsonian’s websites do a nice job balancing its role as a museum for the general public and also as a research institution. They have webpages specifically for teachers and younger students, but also pages designed to meet the needs of those interested in conducting research.
January 23rd, 2006 at 10:17 pm
To me, there’s an interesting assumption underlying these comments, that “pitching” a given site’s tone and language involves “dumbing down” in some sense; I’m oversimplifying, but the notion that we don’t need to worry about how we create sites for professional historians but that we *do* when we’re targeting the general public implies that the default mode for history is the academic; not an argument that I buy. In fact, I’d argue that we should be “pitching” just as consciously whether writing for professional audiences and their norms or the “lay” public…
January 24th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
To some extent, an educational website always has a directed audience.. .
Many museum related websites or educational websites model themselves on a tier system where many different audiences can participate. In doing so though, I think its clarity more so than pitch that is important. This is also somewhat connected to the idea of exhibition design, where the creator builds the (or tries to build) the images and materials on different accessability levels so the same/similar information gets across to everyone.