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State targets bureaucratese to improve communication |
January 06, 2008 If any government entity can confuse the public, it's the tax collectors. That's why Gale Garriott, director of Arizona's Department of Revenue, was so intrigued when he heard tax collectors from Washington state raving about a program there that was making government easier to understand. At a conference in late 2005, Garriott heard about Washington's "plain talk" initiative. The revenue department there claims to have collected millions more after rewriting confusing letters to taxpayers. "I'm thinking 'Really? You just change words on paper and good things will happen?' " he recalls. Garriott began talking to Washington officials to find out more. The plain-language movement has been around for decades, said Don Byrne, executive director of the Center for Plain Language. The Maryland-based non-profit advocates the use of plain language in government, law, business and health care. In the federal government, it geared up when Vice President Al Gore led a plain-language initiative. A handful of states now have plain-language requirements. The goals are simple: Make documents understandable on the first read. Make them useful and easy to scan for information through better design, headings and bullets. Use language geared for the intended audience. Avoid jargon. Improving government communication, Byrne said, can save money and help people comply with laws. In Washington, state officials hired consultants to help them rewrite government correspondence and train thousands of state employees in the principles of plain talk. After Garriott approached them, officials there agreed to send two Washington state employees to Arizona to share plain talk concepts with Garriott's staff. Since then, a team within the Arizona Department of Revenue has identified about 400 form letters it would like to redo. So far, it has completed rewrites on about 100 of them, working to simplify, organize, shorten and make sure that they say what they are supposed to say in a way that doesn't require an accountant's interpretation.
From: www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0106plaintalk0106cappage.html
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Gov. Gregoire honors eight leaders in Washington Plain Talk initiative |
November 06, 2007 Governor Chris Gregoire today named eight state agency projects as
recipients of the 2007 Governor’s Plain Talk Award. This year’s
awards mark the first year that the Governor will distribute annual
Plain Talk awards, which will be given as recognition of outstanding
state agency plain language efforts.
Full Story: www.governor.wa.gov/news/news-view.asp?pressRelease=681&newsType=1
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A push for plain English |
October 29, 2007 Gobbledygook. It's the stuff of government. Maybe its No. 1 export.
From: tinyurl.com/2yvo96
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State gains ground in burying bureaucratic babble |
August 06, 2007 Too many cooks spoil the broth. That is the plain language version of an old saying. Translated into government speak: A plethora of individuals with expertise in culinary techniques vitiates the potable concoction. Until now, that is. Gov. Charlie Crist is on a crusade to rid state government communications of unclear or confusing writing and speech, one of the first projects he began when he took office in January. Since then, departments have had monthly "plain language" meetings with the goal of training staff to write information that is understandable to the average Floridian. One of those departments, the Agency for Health Care Administration, launched a Web-based program several months ago that lets workers translate governmentese into plain language. Sometimes the agency uses sayings such as the one above, and other times, it allows employees to translate real examples of government jargon into writing that is easier to understand. Workers enjoy the "splash screens" that pop up on their computers when they log on in the morning, challenging them to turn nearly incomprehensible language into everyday English, agency officials say. Such as this one: "Minuscule erudition jeopardizes security." Translation: "A little learning is a dangerous thing." Or this: "Pursuant to Section 409.913(3), Florida Statutes, the Agency for Health Care Administration has determined that prepayment review be conducted on your Medicaid claims. This action is effective for those claims currently in the system for processing as well as claims submitted after this date. These claims will be suspended by the Agency for review prior to processing." Its translation: "Under Section 409.913(3), Florida Statutes, the Agency for Health Care Administration will conduct a review of your Medicaid claims prior to processing them. This action affects claims in the system as well as future claims." Participation is voluntary and meant to make employees aware of language patterns they sometimes fall into at work, said agency spokesman Fernando Senra. "The foundation of plain language is pretty basic," he said. "When you're not at work, you are using plain language, or you think you do. Sometimes when you walk into work, you get into work mode and you have these not easy ways of explaining things." Besides the splash-screen exercises, the agency has issued a "Plain Language Booklet" to about 300 employees in supervisory or communications-related jobs. A Florida State University business writing professor said the booklet, which Crist's office is considering as a model for other executive departments, includes some helpful tips, such as writing in the active voice, editing ruthlessly and avoiding wordy expressions. But she said it is written in such a way that it probably provides little help for bureaucrats. "I can't see it motivating anybody to change what they do," said Lise Diez-Arguellos, who includes plain language in her business writing courses at Florida State University. For example, she said, the handbook often includes "deadwood," or words that don't add anything to the information it's relaying, such as its advice, "Every time you write about something, you are - in effect - marketing yourself and the Agency." The plain language version of that, Diez-Arguellos said, would be: "When you write, you are marketing yourself and the agency." The effort to train Florida government workers is part of a national trend. In 1995, a group of federal employees created a group now called the Plain Language Action and Information Network to help government workers craft documents that are "easy to read and understand." The definition of plain language is simple: "communication your audience can understand the first time they read or hear it," according to the group's Web site, plainlanguage.gov. The same goal would apply to English or any other language. In addition, the splash-screen exercises the agency uses also are used by government and private agencies nationwide trying to retrain employees to break things down simply for clients. Diez-Arguellos said she is thrilled that Crist introduced the idea to Florida. "This is an extremely difficult task, and they work in an environment where they don't even recognize it anymore," she said. "Plain language is not academic writing. It is not personal writing. It isn't even technical writing. It's just what's called plain English."
From: www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/state/epaper/2007/08/06/m1a_plainlang_0806.html
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