TO: Professor Jace Gatzmeyer FROM: Jimmy Breakall DATE:27JAN15 SUBJECT: Final Draft This memo analyses the technical communications used in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program application. This memo highlights certain areas that the application has done well with in technical communications and vice versa. This memo shows that I understand the basic principles of technical communications.
Audience The primary audience for the application is impoverished families that require assistance in their heating bills. These families are from Pennsylvania. This application is also for families that are about to lose their heating because they cannot afford to pay anymore. Families must have an income below 125% of the poverty line in order to qualify. The secondary audience for this application is the caseworkers that manages the family's situation and assess whether or not they qualify for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Also, this application is used by any government officials that have to handle and process the application. The application is laid out so that the Personal Identifiable Information is on the top of the application which makes it easy for caseworkers and officials to glance at to pull up other relevant information using the Personal Identifiable Information. Next to the Personal Identifiable Information is a little section that the welfare office uses to condense the information laid out in the application for easy access. The tertiary audience for this application is the census workers wanting to create statistics from the demographic information. Statistics used from the second page of the application is used to inform the public of this program. Statistics from this program is also used to form public policy within the state. For the usage, the primary audience for this application will fill out all the sections of the application with exceptions to the “DPW use only� sections. Most of the audience will skim over the document filling in sections without bothering to read the instructions provided on pages three and four. The secondary and tertiary audience will read over the document glancing at parts they need to know. They won't bother looking at pages three and four. The education level of the primary audience should be around a 6th grade reading level. The majority of the people applying for the application should be literate. This document reflects that by being clear and concise. The secondary and tertiary audience is more educated and well versed with this application. While they don't need to read the questions, they do need to read the answers from both the literate applicants and the illiterate applicants.
Language This application does several good things with the use of language. The language used in this application is curt and to the point. Besides the legaleses, there is no frivolous sentences or words to this application. As stated previously, the language used is around a 6th grade reading level. It avoids using words or phrases that people wouldn't encounter in everyday life. If a person holds a job somewhere they will most likely be able to read anything this application has. 1
TO: Professor Jace Gatzmeyer FROM: Jimmy Breakall DATE:27JAN15 SUBJECT: Final Draft This application also does several bad things with the use of language. Some of the wording and phrasing used in this application can be vague at times. In the instructions page of the application there is a statement saying “A lien will not be placed on your property for energy assistance benefits. If you are eligible for energy assistance benefits, you do not have to repay those benefits.� This statement on the surface sounds innocuous enough yet if we inverse the statement it becomes if you are ineligible for energy assistance benefits, you do have to repay those benefits. The application does not say anything about ineligibility and the consequences that would arise from that. While perhaps that is not in the scope of this application to discuss eligibility, this statement opens up a great deal of questions that this application does not answer.
Purpose The purpose of this application is to apply for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. This application allows the State to evaluate a household and decide whether or not they are eligible for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. If a household is eligible for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program assistance the household receives funds from the program. Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps impoverished families by providing funds to heat their household in the wintertime. This allows families to either save or spend the money that would go to heating on other things. This drastically improves the wellbeing of families around the state.
Design The design of the application works as intended. In the first two pages of the application, all the questions are straightforward and ordered logically. The instruction pages of the application however doubles up on itself from question 7, 8, and 9. This part of the application is describing circumstances that would send Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funds to a secondary heating source. While the the instructions here are ordered in numerical order, the instructions really go from question 8 to question 9 to question 7. The formatting of the application is laid out adequately for the applicant. Many of the sections in the application contains red highlighting to grab the applicants attention for important areas that the applicant shouldn't skim over. One of these sections is the lien section that I previously discussed in the language section. Also several sections have words that are bold to once again grab the applicants attention.
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