Posts Tagged: language

Communications

Plain Language Doesn’t Have to Be Plain

I had a really great conversation with one of my coworkers the other day about the concept of “plain language” which really got me thinking about writing across all parts of government–local, state, federal… Here in the federal government, we talk about plain language–which is the idea that language should be easy to understand for… Read more »

Citizen Engagement, Communications

Meeting Your Web Audience in Their Language

In today’s communications world, you simply can’t ignore the global reach of the Internet, regardless of your industry. The vast majority of organizations — including those without physical offices — benefit from, and are becoming increasingly dependent upon, a strong international presence to communicate and connect with their communities. Every communications professional must face the… Read more »

Career, Communications, Leadership

The Importance of Being Global: Cultural Competence in the Public Sector

A study on trends in cultural competence focusing on healthcare policy, practice and education cites cultural competence as a strategy to improve quality of care and eliminate racial/ethnic disparities. The aim is to “develop a workforce capable of delivering high-quality care and services to everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, culture or language proficiency,” state contributors… Read more »

Communications

Is your marketing content consistent? – why CMOs should care!

Friend of mine just posted the following article on the importance of using consistent language. Last week I booked a flight with Southwest Airlines. I noticed this on the site: Best rate Guarantee! When you make a hotel reservation at southwest.com, you can feel confident that you’ve secured the lowest price for your hotel booking…. Read more »

Tech

New contest: can you describe a new start-up (or organization) without using ANY of these words?

I originally wrote this blog post because I have noticed, as the federal government has gotten more “startuppy,” the language in the articles covering Startup Gov enterprises has started to get more buzzwordtistic, more tech startup delirious. To the detriment of sense. We can stop this, people. We can, and we should, because at a… Read more »

Communications, Tech

3 Crowdsourcing Services for Translating Your Website

Despite popular belief, English is not the universal language of the Internet. The U.S. Government knows this better than anyone, which is why they look to NAICS code 54193 to acquire the services necessary to translate .gov sites into multiple languages. What form do these services typically take? Direct contract labor of course, which isn’t… Read more »

Communications, Miscellaneous, Project Management, Tech

Bridging the language gap between English and Chinese speakers online

Here’s an Australian initiative addressing a key challenge in the Asia-Pacific area: bridge the culture and language gap between English and Mandarin speakers online. The Marco Polo Project is an internet platform where Chinese and English language learners collectively reference and translate Chinese writing for an international audience. The website combines the functions of an… Read more »

Acquisition, Career, Communications, Mobile, Project Management, Social Media, Tech

Web Manager University Gets New Name. Same Great Training

Web Manager University, the federal government’s training program for web, new media, and citizen engagement managed by GSA, has changed its name to DigitalGov University (DGU). We changed our name to reflect the growing demand to help agencies serve customers through digital media and citizen engagement. Our broad curriculum includes training in social media, citizen… Read more »