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ClearMark Judges

Judges for the 2012 ClearMark Awards

Robert Linsky, Director of Judging

Robert Linsky, Information Design Doc, is the Director of Information Design at NEPS, LLC, a leading communications management consulting firm orchestrating information for relevant, personalized delivery. His expertise is in information design and document processes and he has been creating solutions for a wide range of nationally and internationally recognized financial, insurance, healthcare and telecommunications companies.

He has taught design and served as the chair of the design department at the New England School of Art & Design. Mr. Linsky served on the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts College of Art & Design for twelve years including two terms as its Chair.

As the executive director of ISGD (International Society of Graphic Designers, Ltd.), Robert led designers on Design Dialogues to Russia, China and Eastern Europe.

He is a life fellow of the Communications Research Institute and is on the editorial board of the Information Design Journal. Robert is a member of the International Institute for Information Design (IIID), the Information Design Association and recently was elected to the board of the Plain Language Association International (PLAIN).

Robert also writes a blog about information design (http://informationdesigndoc.blogspot.com)

Pat Bertini

Patrizia Bertini is PhD Candidate in the Information Systems and Innovation Group, Department of Management at London School of Economics and free lance journalist. She holds a MSc in Sociolinguistics from Università degli Studi di Pavia (Italy). Before joining LSE in 2009, she had been working as consultant and researcher in the e-inclusion and e-accessibility field. In particular, she had worked with CAs and finantial institutions and still collaborate with EU institutions (DG Information Society) in the area of social inclusion. As a researcher she has been awarded with the e-Hungary scholarship for research activities concerning digital TV and social inclusion performed at ITTK (Information Society and Trend Research Institute), a research institute of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and worked for the European Internet Accessibility Observatory, an European project funded by the EU-Commission, focussing on linguistic aspects related to cognitive disabiled people and user needs.

Past research interests include: e-inclusion strategies and technologies, HCI, usability, accessibility, internet for elderly and disabled users, assistive technologies, cognitive disabilities and Dyslexia, e-government, digital television. Currently the focus of her research are: privacy, personal data management, data quality, methodologies, CDA.

Richard Bland

Richard is a highly skilled information designer with over 19 years of experience, helping businesses simplify their communications through strategic thinking and creative design.

Richard joined Information Design Unit (IDU), the largest specialist information design agency in the UK, in 1992. In 2001, IDU became part of the Brand Union. Richard was a founding partner at his own consultancy and/or/if, set up in 2006, before emigrating to New Zealand in 2010.

Richard continues to practise throughout New Zealand, Australia, and the UK. He specialises in forms and dynamic document design, structuring and editing complex information, and using detailed typography to design great-looking, clear, effective communications that connect with people and produce real results.

Richard is an Associate Fellow of the Communications Research Institute of Australia. Examples of his work are included in The Form Book: Best Practice in Creating Forms for Business and Online Use, published by Thames & Hudson.

Thomas Bohm

Studied graphic design at college (BTEC) and university (BA), now works for book publishers and businesses, and continues to run User design a graphic communication design, illustration and production service.

Writes, researches and occasionally publishes. Published Punctuation..? (2nd edition, User design) a fun and fully illustrated book on punctuation. Has been published in Information Design Journal and is a member of the Association of Illustrators and the International Institute for Information Design. In 2007 received 2 merits in the European Design Awards. Fellow of the Communication Research Institute.

Kathryn Catania

Kathryn is the Chief of the Plain Language and Content Division within the Office of Communications at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Department of Homeland Security. She is also the Chair of the USCIS plain language program.

Previously, Kathryn was a Web content editor for www.uscis.gov and a senior regulatory editor at USCIS. Before working for USCIS, Kathryn edited regulations at the Office of the Federal Register.

Outside of USCIS, Kathryn is Co-Chair of the Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN). PLAIN is a volunteer group of federal employees who promote plain language use throughout the government and manage www.plainlanguage.gov. OMB, in their preliminary guidance, named PLAIN the official inter-agency working group for the Plain Writing Act of 2010.

Veronika Egger

As an information designer Veronika has been interested in comprehension and usability of information and products throughout her career. At Philips Design in Vienna, where she began in product graphics and later established and led an interdisciplinary user-interface group, she developed a passion for usable solutions. Her own company, is-design GmbH, was founded in 1997 and focuses on the readability of information and the usability of the built environment. An “inclusive design” approach and measurable quality are fundamental to all her design projects.

Veronika Egger (MSc) is a board member and deputy director of the International Institute for Information Design (IIID) and co-organised the conference “Data Designed for Decisions” in Paris, 2009. She is a life fellow of the Communication Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia, and a co-founder of the Austrian „design for all“ organization.

Rebecca Gholson

As the owner of Plain Language Source, a training, coaching, writing and editing consultancy, Rebecca has on-going relationships with small business clients.

Rebecca’s work with low-literacy adults and her background in sociolinguistic research led her to plain language. This year she worked with Kleimann Communication Group on a new form required by the Affordable Care Act. She analyzed transcripts from consumer interviews and prepared the draft final report for Consumers Union. She is a regular volunteer with the Center for Plain Language.

Rebecca has twenty years’ experience teaching and tutoring adults and years of experience as a project manager in the field of education. A graduate of Wellesley College, Rebecca earned an M.S.Ed. in Intercultural Communication at University of Pennsylvania.

Lynda Harris

Lynda is founder and director of Write Limited, New Zealand’s leading plain English communications company. Wellington-based Write has been well established in the professional services market for close to 20 years and has a broad client base of public and private sector clients. Write specializes in creating custom-built training solutions and provides a wide range of writing and advisory services.

Lynda established the WriteMark, New Zealand’s document quality mark, and is the founder of New Zealand’s annual plain English awards. Her landmark work in bringing the issue of plain language to the attention of the public through the annual awards program was one of the main inspirations for the Center’s ClearMark awards.

Lynda is the New Zealand representative for CLARITY, an international association promoting plain language in the legal profession. She is also a member of the International Plain Language Working Group, which is working to establish international standards for plain language that apply across cultures and languages.

Candi Harrison

Candi Harrison was Department Web Manager at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1995-2005. Under Candi’s leadership, HUD won numerous web awards, including the first Digital Government Award for outstanding use of the Internet to serve citizens. HUD’s web strategies and operations were cited as “best practices” in numerous studies and reviews during Candi’s tenure.

In 2004, Candi co-chaired the working group that recommended policies and best practices for federal public websites. She co-chaired the Federal Web Managers Council from its creation in 2004 until she retired in late 2005 and she helped create the website, Webcontent.gov, as a resource for government web managers.

Since her retirement in 2005 after 24 years of federal government service, Candi has taught courses and workshops on web management and customer service for the General Services Administration’s Web Manager University, Government Educator, and others. An advocate for plain writing, Candi served as a judge for both the Clearmark Plain Language Awards, in the United States, and the WriteMark New Zealand Plain English awards in 2010. Her highly praised blog, Candi On Content, chronicles her experiences and ideas to improve the way government communicates with and serves citizens.

From 1974 to 1980, Candi was a member of student services staffs at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA and Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ. She holds a Bachelors Degree in English Education and a Masters Degree in Higher Education Administration, both from Indiana University.

Dick Horst

Dick Horst is an experimental psychologist and user experience specialist with over 30 years’ experience in applied behavioral research, systems development, and usability engineering. He is the founder and President of UserWorks, Inc., a usability engineering consulting firm in the Washington, DC area. Dick has conducted or overseen usability engineering projects for over 200 organizations in government, the private sector, non-profits, and academia. He has a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Carnegie-Mellon University and is a board certified professional ergonomist (CPE).

Neil James

Dr Neil James is the Executive Director of the Plain English Foundation in Sydney, which combines plain English training, editing and auditing with a campaign for more ethical public language. He established the Foundation in 2003 with Dr Peta Spear to help professional organisations communicate more clearly and to raise the public profile of plain English.

Neil previously worked as a literary critic and publisher, and has a doctorate in English from the University of Sydney. He has published four books and over 60 articles and essays on language and literature. His Writing at Work (Allen and Unwin) is a practical book on the need to reform the rhetoric of the professions. His current book Modern Manglish (Scribe), with illustrations by Alan Moir, was published in November 2011.

Neil is a regular speaker about language in the media throughout Australia, where he features on the ABC Radio network. He is active internationally in developing the plain language profession. In 2008, he was elected to chair the International Plain Language Working Group that is developing international standards and certification for plain language.

Doug Lincoln

Doug Lincoln is Senior Strategist at Simplified Communications Group, a leading communications consultancy specializing in creating customer documents that are easy to use and understand. He has helped Simplified pioneer plain language techniques in North America, working with major organizations in the financial services, utility and telecommunications sectors.

Doug has over 20 years’ experience as a senior communications consultant. He has headed document simplification projects for companies such as Arizona Public Service, Bank of America, Delta Dental, Farmers Insurance, Franklin Templeton, Manulife Financial, Nordstrom, SunTrust Bank, UBS Financial Services and Union Gas.

Doug has extensive international consulting and editing experience. Prior to joining Simplified to specialize in plain language consulting, he held senior communications consulting positions in Canada and South Africa. He also edited trade magazines in Cape Town, South Africa and in Melbourne, Australia, and was features editor of Namibia’s daily English newspaper. Doug is based in Toronto, Canada and is married with one daughter.

Ricardo Martins

Ricardo is a graphic designer and teacher (at Federal University of Parana, Brazil) with a strong interest in reducing information complexity and making communication clearer through research, empathy and considerate conversation.

He is an Associate Felow of Communication Research Institute of Australia, and member of International Institute of Information Design (Vienna, Austria), Type Directors Club of New York and Brazilian Society of Information Design. He is also part of the board of directors of ProDesign – The professional design association of Paraná State (Brazil).

His Masters dissertation was an exploration of research about medical prescriptions and ways of creating better communication between doctors, pharmacists and patients, to reduce medication errors.

Besides working as a teacher and researcher, Ricardo Martins have been doing design projects on several fields, like editorial, digital interfaces and education.

Judith Moldenhauer

Judith A. Moldenhauer is the Interim Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Research in the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, Associate Professor, and Graphic Design Area Coordinator at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA.

She is currently working with nursing colleagues to develop materials for doulas to help reduce or prevent postpartum depression that include mobile applications for cell phones and digital tablets.

Prof. Moldenhauer has authored several papers on information design and design education and received many awards for her work. She was the WSU PI for U.S. Department of Education FIPSE grants (domestic and international). She was a 2006/2007 Fulbright scholar to Sweden and is a Life Fellow of the Communication Research Institute (Australia). She is co-chair of Information Design Education for the International Institute for Information Design, a board member of the Michigan chapter of the Fulbright Association, and a member of several professional organizations.

Tom Murawski

“Close to revolutionary,” says The New York Times of this national leader in writing improvement. Dr. Murawski has taught on-the-job writing for 35 years, first as a tenured English professor at the U. S. Air Force Academy and, for two decades now, as president of The Murawski Group. His company’s clients include Fortune 500 firms such as Google and Starbucks, all 15 federal cabinet departments, and the White House. Tom wrote the current plain-language guidelines for federal regulations.

Brian Parkinson

Brian Parkinson has a background in healthcare and has expertise in designing patient information and clear documentation.

He worked as a graphic designer for the UK National Health Service before establishing Making Sense, a company providing graphic design and information design services within the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.

Brian now works with clients in Europe, the United States and Australia producing patient information material and educational tools.

He has worked on numerous studies developing ways to present complex information clearly and is an Associate Fellow of the Communications Research Institute.

Marćia Riley

An acclaimed writing instructor, a sought-after coach, and an accomplished writer and author, Marćia lives her commitment to the written word every day.

She is the author and senior trainer of three popular writing workshops geared to business, academic and governmental clients:

WIPETM™ (Write in Plain English)
PEPTM™ (Processing, Editing & Proofreading)
GRAMMAR Rammer™

Marćia earned her doctorate at Florida State University in 1978. She completed post-doctoral courses at Ohio State University, George Washington University and Dartmouth College.

Her training resume over the past 30 years includes such organizations as NASA, AT&T, CDC, EPA, MTV and numerous other clients. Marćia was also selected to present her creative instructional writing techniques at the PLAIN International Conference in Australia and Sweden.

She has written, edited, and revised communications materials for a wide range of clients, including: Coca-Cola, Turner Broadcasting Systems, NationsBank, Martin Marietta, Razorfish, etc. In 2010, she wrote a bi-monthly column for the Tennessee Tribune titled “Edit Like a Pro.”

Marćia has taught writing courses for KELLER Graduate School of Management, Central Michigan University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Western Kentucky University, and Tusculum College. She currently serves as visiting professor for the University of Illinois, School of Public Health in Chicago.

Nad Rosenberg

Nad Rosenberg is president and founder (in 1985) of TechWRITE, Inc. (www.techw.com), a communications consulting firm based in Woodbury, New Jersey.

TechWRITE offers a wide range of services aimed at making complicated information easy to access and understand, including

Plain language writing, editing and graphical design
E-learning and e-pubs development
M-learning development
Web design and content development

Before starting TechWRITE, Nad managed documentation departments for several large corporations. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, an Associate Fellow at the Society for Technical Communication, on the Board of Directors of the Plain Language Association InterNational, and a Past President of the Philadelphia Metro Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication.

Nad is a member of the Plain Language Association International, which she supports by managing their website. She also helps support the Center for Plain Language website.

Michael Schwartz

Michael Schwartz, a political scientist by training, retired from the federal government in 2009 after 33 years in the Department of Interior. He spent much of his federal career working on regulations and mineral resource policy and budget. Mike has been a member of the government’s Plain Language Action and Information Network for 12 years, representing first the Bureau of Land Management and more recently the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In his last job, at the Fish and Wildlife Service, he improved clarity of FWS manuals and Federal Register documents by requiring them to incorporate plain language principles. Since his retirement, he continues to be active in plain language matters. Currently, he is working on a searchable bibliography format that captures literature about plain language.

Karel van der Waarde

Karel van der Waarde studied graphic design in the Netherlands (Eindhoven) and in the UK (Leicester, Reading). He received his doctorate in 1994 for a dissertation entitled: ‘An investigations into the suitability of the graphic presentation of patient package inserts’. In 1995, he started a design – research consultancy in Belgium specializing in the testing of information design. His company develops patient information leaflets, instructions, forms, protocols, and the information architecture for websites.Most of the projects are related to information about medicines for patients, doctors and pharmacists. Typical products are information for patients (Bayer Pharmaceuticals, GSK, Proctor & Gamble, Novo Nordisk, Genzyme, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Omnicare, …), information for doctors and pharmacists (Ministry of Health, Brussel), labelling, and design of hospital protocols (KITTZ, Groningen).

The Avans Hogeschool (Breda, The Netherlands) has appointed him as professor in Visual Rhetoric in 2006. It is a research post to investigate the development and use of visual communication with a longer term aim to support the relations between practice, research and education.

Karel van der Waarde frequently publishes and lectures about visual information. Van der Waarde is a life-Fellow of the Communications Research Institute (Australia), a board member of International Institute for Information Design (IIID, Austria) and editorial board member of Information Design Journal, Iridescent, the Poster and Visible Language. He is moderator of the InfoDesign and InfoDesign-Cafe discussion lists.

Melua Watson

Melua Watson is a founder and director of leading New Zealand web content agency Writeclick, whose clients include many of New Zealand’s largest companies and government agencies. Melua started out in public relations and for the past 10 years has focused her career on web content – strategy, writing and web writing training. Melua is a long-time plain English champion for both the public and private sectors. She has helped judge the WriteMark New Zealand Plain English Awards for the last three years. Melua is based in the sunny surf town of Gisborne on New Zealand’s beautiful East Coast.