Do you speak plainly?

Once a notorious offender of obfuscation, the federal government is making strides when it comes to writing clearly.

Check out these tips we've put together on plain language for government (after all, plain language is the law) websites!

What other plain language advice do you have? What are some of the best (and worst) examples you've seen in government for plain language?

Tags: CIO, OCIO, OPA, PA, PAO, PR, Web, affairs, communication, communications, More…

Awesome

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Permalink Reply by Jeff S on June 21, 2012 at 9:31am

Plain language will only reach my Division when we have enough retirements to move the Baby Boomers out of the way they were taught.

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Permalink Reply by Joshua Aaron DeLung on June 21, 2012 at 8:14pm

Ha. Any chance you'd have luck getting an outside group of strategists to come in and help?

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Permalink Reply by Jeff S on June 25, 2012 at 9:46am

I would say nope. We are still having issues with the mandated teleworking. First we needed a policy which they wrote that made no one eligible. I expect the same with this clear writing act. Unless it becomes a major performance issue with upper mgmt then it will get implemented.

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Permalink Reply by Joshua Aaron DeLung on June 25, 2012 at 4:29pm

Hopefully it will. In fact, the new digital government strategy that was just released provides even more requirements for agencies to meet in this area.

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Permalink Reply by Samuel Lovett on June 21, 2012 at 9:42am

Great tips. Love this quote:

“You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.”

Keeping it simple is about accessibility as much as anything else. Even if some government writers may feel that professorial is official, it is more useful to convey the facts in a simple way.