The words we use in science, engineering or any other technical field aren’t familiar to the general public. So we use them — translate them, as it were — and in the process arguably lose the technical accuracy of the language we use.
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 forRead… Read more »
Keeping people’s attention is important for government communicators. When we tell a story, people need to remember more than one weird trick.
For all you “Mad Men” aficionados, the hit TV show is partially based on the life of Draper Daniels, a creative director at Leo Burnett Company, an advertising firm with a global reach. Agency founder Leo Burnett was legendary even in his day (he lived from 1891 to 1971) for the advertising icons he createdRead… Read more »
As someone who writes stories for a living, I spend a good share of my time reading them. These days, my reading time is mostly spent among news articles and opinion pieces so I can sharpen my skills in technical writing and see how personal and technical writing styles have merged thanks to digital spaces like Medium. Even ifRead… Read more »
This is a salute to my brethren from the liberal arts, but also anyone who has ever thought English composition class was useless. What is it about understanding how writing happens that is so boring even if writing itself is fun, especially if you have only 140 characters and are not bound by spelling orRead… Read more »
Last week, I wrote about how I go through my creative process, essentially how I get down to the nitty-gritty of how I write a story. When I started this job, I thought I’d just be blogging. Just like I do on any of my personal digital spaces. But instead, I’m doing some “digital storytelling.”Read… Read more »
I’m the Digital Storyteller for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It’s a new position that I’m happy to say I’m really enjoying. I’ve gotten to learn so much about digital platforms, content, and subjects within the Agency. Back in January and February, I wrote and published a series on our blog about Community EmergencyRead… Read more »
Last month, we put out a call for our fourth round of GovLoop Featured Bloggers – and you responded with amazing enthusiasm. Over 100 people from all walks of government and industry life sent in great ideas for posts, about everything from technology challenges in city government to using Twitter to monitor food safety in yourRead… Read more »
The details: We’re looking for 15 (or more!) great GovLoop voices to blog once a week for the GovLoop community for three months starting in late April. We want you to write about subjects you think are important — from experiences at your agency, to the way big data is impacting your job, to tips… Read more »