plain-language

What is an influencer program? In the rapidly evolving social media landscape, working with influencers has become a popular way to reach a desired audience. A social media influencer is anyone with a social media following beyond their…

The bilingual glossaries, dictionaries, and Spanish language style guides available in this section are resources for government employees, translators, and communications professionals who work with the government to improve the way we…

The Web now contains over 1.51 billion pages of content, according to WorldWideWebSize.com. That’s a lot of reading material, and a lot of content competing with yours for attention. People won’t waste time (even a few seconds) on an…

The more public information is digitized, the more it lands on or sprouts from social media channels. This is why there needs to be a greater level of awareness and consideration for those who can benefit most from that…

I don’t know about your agency. But most agencies are going forward with plans to implement millennial asset paradigm shifts. It’s time that we became uber-efficient with our interactive modular matrix approaches. We need a more blue-sky…

This is Part 3 in a three-part series with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Center for Charge Card Management (CCCM) about building their new, open-source program and training websites, and the new Section 889 web app.…

What is content? Content is not just words; it’s everything that provides meaning to a webpage. Content includes blogs, images, videos, forms, social media posts, reels, data feeds, and more… all the ways we communicate online. Content…

Resolutions and predictions abound this time of year. If you’ve already lost the fight to finally give up sardine ice cream, you can always resolve to maintain or improve your digital media accessibility. Some people say that…

Performance Analytics for Social Media Decision Making. Creating Adaptive Content. Usability Testing. These are just some of the areas of programming we are putting together. abluecup, iStock, Thinkstock After taking a look at the…

Users don’t like surprises. agawa288/iStock/Thinkstock Unexpected or unwanted content undermines the credibility of your agency and frustrates users who come to your website looking for specific information. Using links appropriately…

On the web, people are in a hurry. They skim and scan, looking for fast answers to their questions, so it’s important to get to the point—quickly! Help your readers complete their tasks with these Plain Language writing tips:…

When writing for the web, using plain language allows users to find what they need, understand what they have found, and then use it to meet their needs. It should also be actionable, findable, and shareable. It’s important to understand…

Much is being said and written about the coming Mobilegeddon/Mopocalypse on April 21st—the day Google’s ranking algorithm will begin boosting results for mobile-friendly sites and penalizing mobile-unfriendly sites. While some…

Here at DigitalGov, customer service is a focal theme during the month of May, and by some type of cosmic chance, I was invited to share my insights on content strategy and content creation at a Customer Service Community of…

Digital communities of practice come in many stripes. DigitalGov communities span eight (and counting) focus areas and have thousands of members, but strong collaborations exist in all corners of government. In honor of this…

Following the recent OMB memo that all publicly available federal websites and Web services must implement HTTPS by December 31, 2016, Web content managers across government are considering the SEO (search engine optimization)…

In the circle of Web content life, FAQ sections are an endangered species. We’ve previously discussed the relevance of FAQs: Should FAQs go extinct, or are they a useful tool in your content ecosystem? Kathryn Catania, Chief of the…

Plain language will make you a better writer. For federal employees, it’s also the law. On September 9th, Katherine Spivey, Co-Chair of the Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN), presented a webinar on plain writing…

The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) put together these federal guidelines to help implement the Plain Language Act of 2010.

The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (PDF, 153 kb, 3 pages, September 2010) was enacted to enhance citizen access to Government information and services by establishing that Government documents issued to the public must be written clearly.…

So, you’re tired of seeing little (or big!) errors on your agency’s website, and you flinch at the random writing styles. You feel like your agency’s content is good, but there are still too many inconsistencies. What you need is an…

In the January 2009 Memo on Transparency and Open Government, President Obama emphasized the importance of establishing “a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.” Plain writing is indispensable to achieving…

If good content is essential to good user experience, as Tyrus Manuel proposes in his November 23, 2015, DigitalGov post, then plain language is also part of good user experience. Plain language helps the public do what they need to…

Brings together government plain language practitioners to promote use of plain language, saving agencies time and money and providing better service to the public.The Plain Language community is a group of government…

Want to learn how to clearly communicate your message? Watch the new “Put Your Main Message First” video from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Created by USCIS’ Office of Communications, the video teaches you about the…

This is the start of a conversation that we hope continues throughout your time in government. Accessibility is one of the most important values underlying all of the work that we do. Now, you might already have some experience with…

Much of our work with government partners to deliver better digital services has resulted in full websites, applications, and embarking on large-scale transformation efforts. In addition to those types of projects, we also work on…

We all do it. Whether on Twitter, Facebook, or the comment section on a news article, it’s easy to get our writing on the internet. Many of us have personal websites or contribute to blogs. We work at organizations with content…

Style guides are used to set the tone and guidelines for how an agency communicates with the public. This page is a collection of style guides created by government agencies. Federal style guides Centers for Disease Control and…

Last week, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) unveiled their new website at FEC.gov. This new site is the result of a years-long collaboration with GSA’s 18F and features completely revamped tools for exploring campaign finance data.…

This month’s Plain Language of Community Practice meeting featured Katherine Spivey’s presentation, Plain Language Spectrum: Every Step Counts! In this highly useful DigitalGov University (DGU) webinar, she explains how you can move…

In this month’s meeting, the Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) co-chairs will provide a recap of international plain language initiatives discussed at the 2017 Plain Language Association International conference in…

Join us for our first Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) Monthly meeting of 2018 where we will discuss a variety of the toolkits that were discussed at last years Plain International meeting and how valuable they were.…

We ❤️ our volunteers. This month, we’ll be talking about volunteering for help with plainlanguage in the government. If you’re currently volunteering for PLAIN, or interested in volunteering to help with training, posting social media,…

Join the the Plain Language Community of Practice for an hour-long conversation about what makes a good plain language infographic – one that anyone can understand. We’ll cover: What do you need to consider? What questions do you have…

Join the Plain Language Community of Practice for an hour-long conversation about how best to revise forms and convince your agency that the long-term benefits outweigh the cost. Karissa Minnich, from The Lab @ DC, will be discussing how…

At the beginning of 2017, the ITIF (Information Technology and Innovation Foundation) released a report that benchmarked 300 federal websites in four areas: page-load speed, mobile friendliness, security and accessibility. Some sites…

On Friday, July 20th, the federal Plain Language community will bring together some of the brightest individuals involved in government communications for a one-day series of talks and conversations on how to advance plain language on…

What is trust in digital services? Almost every interaction with government today has an online component, from looking up an agency’s phone number, to making an appointment or filling out a form, to completing an entire transaction…

The Center for Plain Language, a non-profit organization, helps government agencies and businesses write clear and understandable communications. One of its projects is the Federal Report Card. The Center announced the 2018 results…

Join us for a mostly in-person meeting on Wednesday, December 12, 2018 from 2:00 to 3:30 pm, ET. We’ll discuss the Clarity 2018 conference in Montreal and plan out our plain language meetings for 2019. We realize not everyone can…

Get the credit you deserve! We’ll discuss your formal and informal plain language work (teaching, training, reviewing, or copyediting) and how to best document and publicize it so you can get credit for the work you’re doing.…

View live captioning for this event. Plain language matters for speaking as well as writing! In fact, it may be even more important because your audience can’t go back and re-listen if they don’t follow you. An effective speaking…

Read the event transcript (PDF, 84 KB, 12 pages) Is your agency using a tone of voice that connects with customers online, or is it using a stale, bureaucratic voice that repels them and breeds distrust or confusion? Noted…

David Lipscomb from the Center for Plain Language will discuss the documents they’ll review and the criteria they’ll use for grading in the upcoming Federal Plain Language Report Card. This meeting is also a chance for interested feds to…

On Thursday, September 5th, 2019, the federal Plain Language community brought together some of the brightest individuals involved in government communications for a one-day series of talks and conversations on how to advance plain…

Join us for a session with noted user experience (UX) and plain language expert, Ginny Redish. She’ll explain strategies, how they work together, the good that happens when they do, the mess that happens when they don’t, and the worst…

This is the start of a conversation that we hope continues throughout your time in government. Accessibility is one of the most important values underlying all of the work that we do. Now, you might already have some experience with…

U.S. government agencies are required to communicate in plain language. This three-hour online workshop by the Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) through Digital.gov explains how to write in plain language. We’ll cover…

Brings together government communicators to improve communication and make government more effective.The Communicators community was established in recognition that communication is an essential function for government…