Plain Language Act of 2008 passes in the House!

[Whitney Quesenbery]

Most governments are full of archaic-sounding terminology. Even the
EU, one of the newest governments is not above a mouthful of tongue
twisters. For those who work in this environment day in and day out,
remembering to write usable documents is hard. If the bill is passed,
it won't guarantee results, any more than 508 has instantly made all
federal ICT accessible. But it starts the conversation, and it
requires agencies to create plans for action. None of this would
happen on its own.

Would I like to be able to wave a magic wand? Sure?
Am I happy to see the US government taking the next step in
acknowledging how important plain language (and usability and
accessibility). Even more.

I'm a surprised that there is so little interest in plain language
within STC. I've always seen it as way of explaining usability for
documents - heart and soul of technical communication.

Make fun if you like, but there are some really good things happening,
which need all of our encouragement and support. Many of the people
working to make this happen are "everyday heroes" -- people who have
quietly gone about the business of trying to make a difference.

Kudos to Bruce Braley and Daniel Akaka for taking this issue
seriously. Kudos to Christopher Cox for continuing to defend the need
to write clearly, in his testimony in support of the bill. He's taking
on one of the toughest audiences I can imagine: financial lawyers! And
he's been doing it since before 1998. (Take a look at the excellent
SEC Plain English Handbook: http://www.sec.gov/pdf/handbook.pdf)

Whitney

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-- 
Whitney Quesenbery
www.wqusability.com

Storytelling for User Experience Design
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/storytelling