While I would hope that everyone would be interested in reading about my project and research, there is likely a more narrow audience than “everyone.” Being that my project includes elements of theatre, storytelling, and speech, I would expect that most viewers have an interest in one or more of these topics. Furthermore, these topics are rather broad and I presume most viewers will be drawn a more particular aspect of one of these topics. For example, someone may be more interested in the playwriting process, while another might be looking to explore the history of documentary theatre and how it was utilized. Although both of these viewers are interested in the theatrical aspects of the project, their specific interests vary.
Additionally, some audience will likely be seeking information about the Deaf community and the research that took place involving American Sign Language (ASL) and its users. Because theatre and speech pathology are not direct correlated in an obvious way, I want to make sure that viewers can be differentiated based on their interests in certain aspects of the project. Ideally, viewers should be able to sift through the research journals based on topics/themes/tags to find posts that relate to either theatre or speech (deaf studies) or storytelling.
In addition to the researching aspect of the project, there is the play itself. Since the audience will vary in their interests about theatre, the website should offer various types of access to the piece. If a speech student is simply interested in reading one or two scenes about the deaf education system, he/she should be able to easily find that particular passage. If a playwriting student is looking to read about the characters/set/props/ etc., he or she should have access to the introduction and technical information about the play. And another viewer might be interested in reading the entire play. In order to include these different variations of access, I will upload scenes and technical pages separately and include short summaries with key words/tags. I will also upload the play in its entirety to be read on the page or downloaded.
To make the website interactive for viewers, the “Share Your Story” page needs to be prominent for users. Whether the viewer is looking for content about theatre or the Deaf community, the ultimate goal is to encourage them to share their story. To pull the viewers into this portion of the project, the video of Dee’s final monologue will be on the home page (maybe?) so viewers can feel invited to participate.
Although the topics seem unrelated in a general sense, I want viewers to see the relationship that exists between theatre and communication. The front page will include a brief description (and possibly a mind map) showing the connections between communication sciences and theatre and how storytelling can serve as the bridge between these topics.
