Members-only opportunity to advertise with purpose
How listing your company on our Consultant List page boosts your visibility and supports our mission If your organization helps others communicate clearly—whether through plain language, UX writing, accessibility, or content design—there’s one place your company should be seen: the Consultant List page of the Center for Plain Language. As a nonprofit organization championing clear […]
Honoring Karen Sokohl: Advocate, Colleague, and Friend
Karen Sokohl joined the Center for Plain Language Board in 2021, eager to serve a three-year term. Her passion for plain language was immediately clear—as was her creative and generous spirit. She was bright, enthusiastic, witty, and always ready to jump in and help.
Happy 10th Anniversary Plain Writing Act
The Plain Writing Act is turning 10 years old on October 13, 2020. The Act gave U.S. federal employees the legal oomph to turn the stereotype that government writing is overly complicated, stilted, and obtuse on its head. No longer was plain language just a good idea that could easily be tossed aside for lack of time or tacked on the end of a project as if it were synonymous with proofreading.
Center Announces New Board Member Appointment
We are pleased to announce our newest Board member, Kathryn Catania. Kathryn is a champion of providing information that is easy to find, understand, and use. She has more than 15 years’ experience promoting plain language in government writing.
Awards Recognize: “Plain Language is Everywhere”
The Center for Plain Language announces finalists for its highly popular annual ClearMark awards which recognize the best in plain language communications created by North American organizations. Held every year since 2010, “The theme for this year’s ClearMarks is ‘Plain Language is Everywhere,” says Jeff Greer, Chair of the Center. This year the event happens online, Tuesday, May 7th, at 12 p.m. EDT.
A Plain Language Veteran Puts Her Expertise on Trial
An interview with Deborah Bosley
Deborah Bosley is owner and principal of The Plain Language Group and professor emeritus of technical communication at UNC Charlotte. For two decades she has helped organizations create written information that exceeds compliance standards and is easy for people to understand and use. A former board member of the Center for Plain Language, Deborah agreed to sit down for an interview about her career and a recent court case.
International Plain Language Federation
We recently sent an email to our members about an effort to develop international standards on plain language. The information below is a summary of that email, including what you can do now to support this effort. As we noted in the email, any efforts towards developing standards will not only have the potential to make our work in plain language easier, but may also provide more opportunities for those of us working in this area. Therefore, we can all benefit from the success of this effort.
Do you have the write stuff?
If you’re reading this, you are probably a pretty big enthusiast for plain language and are promoting the cause in some way or other. Thank you for that! Here’s a way you can help the cause even more – as a Board Member for the Center for Plain Language.
We’re holding elections next month for a number of openings on our corporate board and are looking for people with a passion for Plain Language.
Center founder wins International Plain Language Achievement Award
As the Center approaches the close of 2017, we celebrate a prestigious award received recently by our founder and former Chair, Annetta Cheek. The Center’s international counterpart, Plain Language Association International (PLAIN), awarded Annetta the Christine Mowat Plain Language Achievement Award in September at its conference in Graz, Austria. The award honors a “significant contribution to advancing plain language at the local, regional, national, or international levels.”
A note of thanks — and a few good things we’ve done
Now that we have another round of ClearMark Awards behind us – phew – I’d like to take a moment to thank our sponsors and donors who make it possible for the Center to stay in business. THANK YOU! Your support has helped us do so many things – here are just a few highlights.
A Short History of the Center for Plain Language
As we look ahead to 2017, let’s take a look back at where we began.
How did the Center begin?
In the mid-1990s, a group of federal Plain Language advocates met monthly in Washington, DC. We called ourselves PEN – the Plain English Network. In 2000, we changed the name to PLAIN – the Plain Language Action and Information Network. And PLAIN still exists today.
Unite with clarity champions at the ClearMark Awards
I’ll never forget my first ClearMark Awards.
My business partner, Deanna, and I had travelled to D.C. to attend the 2012 Clarity Conference and decided to stay for the Awards. As writers and clarity experts, we looked forward to learning more and seeing the best new work coming out of the plain language world. But after attending countless conferences and awards ceremonies, I had modest expectations.
PLAIN’s International Conference – Were you in Dublin?
On Sept. 17 – 20, 2015, our sister organization, the Plain Language Association International (PLAIN), held its 10th conference, co-hosted by Ireland’s National Adult Literacy Agency. Practitioners from around the world gathered in Dublin at the Dublin Castle to discuss and learn about plain language principles.
Speakers shared their expertise on an array of topics that gave us new insights into writing and designing with clarity.
The role of plain language in ethics: A conversation with an author
I recently watched a video where a patient defined “hypertension” as “when you’re not able to sit still.” It made me sad—and reminded me (again) why plain language, or clear communication, truly matters.
Since our founding in 1975, Healthwise has been committed to producing health information that people can understand. That was years before plain language became a discipline, a movement even, and the worthy focus of conferences, organizations and workshops. Now there’s a new book on the topic, Plain Language and Ethical Action, by Boise State University technical communications professor Russell Willerton.
Privacy notices: Some takeaways from the TIME.com article
Early this summer, TIME.com asked the Center for Plain Language to evaluate some online privacy notices, using the types of assessment we use for our ClearMark awards and our Federal Plain Language Report Card. I took the lead on the project and learned some great lessons along the way. TIME.com published the article in August.