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FEDERAL SECTOR
REPORT
December 2004
IN THIS ISSUE
e-Government Can
Benefit from the Plain Language Movement
PLAIN Is Coming to
Washington!
Links of the Month
Home Page
(c) 2004 by the P2C2 Group,
Inc.
e-Government
Can
Benefit from the Plain Language Movement
Enhanced Electronic
Government is a key initiative of the President's Management Agenda,
and it takes a citizen-centered approach to making the Federal Sector
more cost efficient and results oriented. A key ingredient is plain
language that enables the general public to access information and
services quickly and easily.
Federal
web servers collectively support millions of users every day, and the
challenges for conducting government business electronically are
daunting. Ineffective language and presentation styles cause many
problems:
- Time wasted in
attempting to read and re-read confusing language
- Delay in
implementing crucial policies, regulations, and
procedures
- Increased error
rates in filling out government forms and
paperwork
- Misunderstandings
and frayed customer relationships
- Unnecessary (and
expensive) meetings and calls to help
desks
- Reduced productivity
and a slow-down in program results
- Increased costs.
Fortunately, the plain
language movement offers several decades of experience and success
in transforming turgid, bureaucratic prose into lucid messages. Almost
all of these principles can be applied to online content, presentation
styles, and formats.
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Plain
English
is clear, straightforward expression, using only
as many words
as are necessary. It is language that avoids obscurity, inflated
vocabulary and convoluted sentence construction. It is not baby talk,
nor is it a simplified version of the English language. Writers of
plain English let their audience concentrate on the message instead of
being distracted by complicated language. They make sure that their
audience understands the message easily.
- Robert Eagleson
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The
Costs and Benefits of Language
Poorly-written
government prose is not only a hassle to read, but it is also expensive
to agencies and taxpayers. Joseph Kimble, a leading plain language
proponent, has published a review of studies that investigate the cost
savings derived from clear communication. Kimble makes the point about
cost consequences:
One study focused on
U.S. naval officers who read a business memo that was written either in
a plain style or in a bureaucratic style. Officers who read the plain
memo, besides having significantly higher comprehension, took 17% to
23% less time to read it and felt less need to reread it. A follow-up
study put a dollar figures on their results:
- The investigators
determined the average hourly
pay for a naval officer.
- They then
constructed two scenarios to estimate
how many pages of how many pages of reports and memos an officer reads
in a year
- Under the first
scenario, the Navy would save
between $27 and $37 million worth of time each year if its officers
routinely read plain writing.
- Under the second
scenario, the savings would
total between $53 and $73 million.
- Even more
staggering are the savings if all naval
personnel (not just officers) read plain documents: $250 to $350
million a year.
Given that
e-Government will serve millions and millions of users, many times more
than naval personnel, the cost-benefit consequences of plain language
for Web contents are in the billions of dollars.
Rules of
Plain Language
The rules for plain
language are well established, and here is a snippet from the SBA web
site:
Plain Language means
writing in a way where the message ...
- Looks
good,
- Is
organized
logically, and
- Is
understandable the
first time you read it.
Plain language saves every taxpayer time, effort, and $$$$$!
Instead
of wading through pages of legalese and bureaucratic gobbledygook,
small businesses can simply get down to business!
BUT
You
need to THINK CLEARLY to WRITE PLAINLY!
SO
-- here are a few tips to help you WRITE PLAINLY:
- Reach
out
to your
readers!
- Know
your
audience!
- Organize
to
serve
your reader!
- Write
to
one person!
- Use
"you!"
- Use
questions and
answers!
- Use
the active voice!
- Use
"must!" (rather
than shall)
- Appeal
to
the reader
visually!
- Use
headings that
inform!
- Use
vertical lists
(like this one)!
- Avoid
confusing
terms!
- Use
clearer words!
However, the SBA web page is also a reminder that all web
sites need regular updates. By today's web standards, which feature
highly effective visual layouts, the SBA page doesn't look good.
According to the HTML source code, the page was developed in the year
2000, when we were overjoyed to have rudimentary information online.
SBA is not alone; many web pages in other organizations need a face
lift as well.
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Applying Plain Language to the Web
The plain language
movement is applicable to all documents, but the Internet brings
additional challenges: Web content must be readable, browseable, and
searchable. Clearly, web pages must be more than easy to read, and the
user must be able to:
- Find information
quickly
- Follow a clear path
for completing online tasks
- Navigate help and
search functions.
Federal agencies are
experimenting with "my web" concepts, enabling users to customize web
presentations and personal account information … all of which must be
done without violating privacy rules. A logical offshoot is the
creation of dynamic pages, which are constructed on the fly using
database information to building personalized pages.
Web designers and
programmers need to collaborate with plain language specialists. The
information must be clear, understandable and usable … and well as technically
correct. Such collaboration is particularly important when programmers
develop dynamic pages, which are assembled "on the fly" in response to
user queries and responses.
Upgrading
Your
Web Site for e-Government
Improving a
web site is no easy task, and it is particularly daunting for agencies
with thousands of pages of legacy documents and complex directory
structures. So how do you begin?
- Tie your web
strategy to your agency mission
- Incorporate your
e-Government plans into your
strategy
- Study your users'
needs and problems
- Develop a phased
transition plan
- Apply plain
language rules to new web content
- Establish a
schedule for rewriting or replacing
legacy
documents
- Evaluate results on
an ongoing basis.
Seeking
Assistance
Developing
and maintaining a web site that enables e-Government takes a lot of
work, and you are well advised to seek assistance by using:
- Feedback from users
- Metrics including
indirect indicators like
error rates and
number of calls to help desks
- Focus groups and
customer satisfaction surveys
- Work flow
specialists who map online tasks to web
presentation
- Plain language
specialists.
PLAIN
is coming to Washington!
Plain Language
Association International will conduct its 2005 conference in
Washington
,
DC
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We have recently improved the
search capability of its own web
site. Just click the button for a "test drive."
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LINKS OF THE MONTH
One
of the more delightful discoveries while researching this newsletter
was an online article by Eric Lease Morgan of Infomotions, Inc. (South
Bend, IN). His article, Readability,
browsability, searchability plus assistance, was first
published in 1996 but recently updated. The database technology he
identifies is out of date, but all of his concepts about designing,
presenting, and laying out content score a bulls-eye.
Joanne Locke of the Food
and Drug Administration
presented a paper about federal progress with plain language: http://www.plainlanguagenetwork.org/conferences/2002/progress/progress.pdf |
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HOME PAGE
We
have been upgrading our own web site at the P2C2 Group. Thanks to
comments by readers and detailed recommendations by associates, we have
begun to make changes.
Best wishes,
Jim Kendrick
4101 Denfeld
Avenue
Kensington, MD
20895
301-942-7985
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The P2C2 Group, Inc.
4101 Denfeld Avenue | Kensington, MD 20895
Point of Contact: Jim Kendrick, President
e-mail: kendrick@p2c2group.com
phone: 301-942-7985 | fax: 301-942-7986 |
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