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 News
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.