I thought it was interesting reading about writing audiences. I guess I never quite thought that when I write a paper for something besides just for a class or something along those lines, I'm writing a paper for readers that I don't know. Like the book said, they are like a ghost-like presence hovering around the production of writing. But the reverse is also true. When a reader is reading a writing, the author is a ghostly presence. Although this is such a simple idea, I've never really thought about it in that way and it was interesting to read and think about!
I also find this idea
I also find this idea interesting, Morgan. You never think about this stuff, so it is surprisingly startling to discover when someone points it out to you! But it's true... in your paper-writing lives as students, your most present audience has always been your teachers, professors, and instructors; usually you don't think about audience because your audience is so focused. Same applies to this class; as much as we may like to imagine a larger audience looming somewhere in the periphery, I am your audience -- and little old me doesn't carry much sway. But what about when you write in a commercial blog or comment site? What if you are writing a letter to the editor of Exponent -- it might get published! That ghost changes with each peice of writing you compose, and it is sometimes interesting to think about how you interact with that ghost.
Similarly, as consumers we are always intrigued by the concept of the ghost-like author. When we read a book, look at a photograph, or examine a video, we are considering what the author's intentions or arguments might have been as we construct our own ideas about a text. A good example of this is the Disney discussion we had; we talked about "intention" and whether that mattered in the delivery of messages. What do you think, everyone?