The Montréal Clarity Conference was remarkable for its setting, for the varied presentations, and for the particularly strong legal presence. Quite special was the Plenary Session for the Plain Language Federation which was co-founded by the Center for Plain Language, Plain Language Association International, and Clarity-International. During the session,
- Annetta Cheek, Chair of the Federation and former Chair of the Center, reviewed the history of the effort for international plain language standards.
- Christopher Balmford, Chair of the Standards Committee from Australia, discussed the recent work of the Standards Committee and the importance of their applying across languages.
- Susan Kleimann, Standards Committee member and former Chair of the Center, described the current proposed structure of the Standards.
- Rosa Margarita Galán Vélez, Standards Committee member from Mexico, emphasized the cross-language challenges and considerations.
At the end of the presentation, attendees overwhelmingly supported the Federation’s efforts to move forward on developing international plain language standards.
The Clarity Journal, Number 79, is entirely devoted to the international standards effort and provides detail about the four presentations. Articles explain why our first push is through Standards Australia and the benefits of establishing international standards for our profession. Center members will receive an email in late January 2019 with a link to download this special issue. (A special thank you to the Clarity-International organization for providing this issue to Center members at no cost. We encourage you to join Clarity-International to receive a full subscription to The Clarity Journal at its website www.clarity-international.net)
As we proceed, the Center will provide you, our members, with updates on the progress, and you can choose to play an important role by commenting on Principles, Guidelines, Techniques, and success criteria as the International Standards Committee develops them. If you want more information, you can check out the Federation’s webpage at www.iplfederation.org/
What’s next?
| March 2019 | Apply to Standards Australia to start the formal process |
| September 2019 | Progress report and partial draft of Principles and Guidelines presented at PLAIN Conference, Oslo, Norway |
| September 2020 | Progress report, Principles, Guidelines, some Techniques presented at Clarity conference, location TBD |
| September 2021 | Australia process complete; define success criteria at PLAIN conference, location TBD |
| And then | From Australia to the world: Process can be initiated from Australia or within a country |