I recently attended a webinar on "Better Posters" by Mike Morrison. My key learnings from the webinar:
1. With posters, you need to communicate fast. You have a few seconds to catch someone's attention as they walk past your poster in an exhibition or corridor. The information you are putting out may be important. It's necessary to try and aim at reaching your message to ALL of those who pass by, rather than just a few.
2. Get in touch with your feelings. Mike repeated this often. And I wondered why. It then struck me that perhaps when you are creating a science poster, you reduce the communication to the mere facts and drain out all human elements from it. This can happen when empathy is missing from the communication.
If the poster is about a drug claiming to cure cancer, it is important information for someone who is suffering from cancer and for someone who is treating cancer patients. How can we get the top-level information of a poster to these people in a few seconds? For the communicator, it may merely be information. For the cancer patient, it may make a difference to their life.
Only when we are in touch with our own feelings can we even fathom how the intended audience might receive the message.
3. Another thing that he repeated often was to communicate the same message across visual, verbal, and emotional channels. Sometimes, in presentations the on-screen text is about one thing while the speaker is saying something that is not exactly the same -- the speaker may be introducing some additional information. This can be jarring and delay comprehension.
4. Templates can bring in boredom or synaptic fatigue, as Mike put it. Slide after slide, if information is presented in the same way, you might just zoom out. Bring in variety. Even talk differently during a presentation, Mike advised. I wonder how this piece of advice would sit with marketing folks. The same message is bombarded on to our senses again and again in the name of branding. Perhaps this is one reason why people tune out of advertisements.
5. Avoid chunky text or too much text in posters. It's easy to be over-enthusiastic in pouring out every bit of information into the poster. However, we need to deliver the top-level information in just a few seconds. That's the hook to convert the passer-by into an interested reader. Once this happens, you can go incrementally into more details.
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Plain language: a portal to translation, accessibility, user experience
Plain language intersects with many other professions. It can be an enabler of better translation, better accessibility, and better user experience (UX).
Let me explain how. And, at the end of the article, I also talk about how all four areas of work can and should come together to enable a better experience of the web for anyone.
I write this article because I have worked in the translation industry and I am a plain language writer and editor. Yet, I often see that professionals in both fields work in parallel, but hardly together. Such bubbles also perhaps exist between accessibility and plain language, and UX and plain language. This article is an attempt to show that together is better.
A translator also needs to be a plain language writer and editor. At least, a good translator does.
When a translator first encounters a chunk of text in the source language, they must first understand it. If this is text is not in plain language, the translator – whether or not they acknowledge it – mentally does the plain language editing. Only then, can they proceed to write the text in the target language.
As Dominique Joseph, translator and plain language trainer, puts it, “[Translators] translate the meaning, not the words.” She goes on to describe a number of steps that she takes as a translator to make the text “easy to read, easy to understand, easy to use.” She has put it wonderfully and you should head over to her blog to read it in full.
As I went through her steps, I realized that what she is describing is about “helping readers find what they are looking for, understand it, and then take action based on that information.” And that, my friend, is plain language.
When plain language moves from being a mental process of the translator to being an explicit step in translation, or better still in authoring, translation improves.
Marie-Elise Georgelin, plain language trainer at Labrador Language Services, writes in the latest PLAIN E-journal, “...using plain language means:
• messages can sink in faster
• there are fewer misinterpretations
• translations will be quicker, more effective, and more accurate.”
When Labrador’s translation team worked on plain source text, they produced translations which also had a high plain language score and fewer words. “The quality of the source text systematically improved the translation by the same amount,” Georgelin writes. She says plain language in the source text can also similarly improve machine translation output.
A more targeted version of plain language is available for people with reading and learning disabilities. It is called Easy to Read. It helps “people with intellectual disabilities learn new things and take part in society,” to name a few benefits.
A few years ago, I worked for an online entertainment magazine where I would re-write popular news items into easy-to-read articles. I would first re-write them in plain language and then do an easy-to-read version. Doing the plain language re-write was the bulk of the work, I observed. Easy-to-read was just taking care of a few more technical things from that point.
Again, you don’t always have to be disabled to appreciate how plain language can make text more accessible to you. Imagine going through a dense paragraph filled with jargon and big, confusing words when you have a splitting headache.
When a user is on your website, you cannot hem and haw, throw fat slabs of gobbledygook at them, and expect them to be still hanging around. The user is on your website for a purpose. And, the plain reality is that your content must help them achieve that purpose.
Plain language lets you have that conversation with your user without getting in their way, without alienating them. It is about sharing information they are seeking and came to your website for.
By writing in plain language, you also hit the right spots with SEO. People almost always use plain language when they are searching for something. If your content is already embedded with these keywords, your potential users will find you right away.
Not to forget that all of the above areas of work – translation, accessibility, and UX – also have several overlaps and that none are enough on their own, not even plain language.
For instance, translation increases accessibility. Let’s remember that the purpose of accessibility is to ensure “...social inclusion for people with disabilities as well as others, such as older people, people in rural areas, and people in developing countries”. (Emphasis added.) Or, as Alba Villamil, user researcher from HmntyCntrd, says, plain language is not enough when designing for immigrants or people with English as Second Language (ESL).
Let’s say you have plain language and translation. However, if you have elements on your website that disrupt the user, it’s lose-lose. Large, persistent ads on some Indian newspaper sites come to my mind. I often lose the thread as I am reading on these sites when paragraphs are divided up by huge blocks of ads or distracting, garish video ads display right next to the article.
There possibly are other areas of work with which plain language intersects to enable fulfilling human experiences. Do write in if you think of any.
Let me explain how. And, at the end of the article, I also talk about how all four areas of work can and should come together to enable a better experience of the web for anyone.
I write this article because I have worked in the translation industry and I am a plain language writer and editor. Yet, I often see that professionals in both fields work in parallel, but hardly together. Such bubbles also perhaps exist between accessibility and plain language, and UX and plain language. This article is an attempt to show that together is better.
Plain language and translation
Plain language is, in actuality, an act of translation. A plain language editor converts mystifying mumbo-jumbo into information that the intended audience can understand and use. If you compare the before and after versions, it might just feel like two different languages!A translator also needs to be a plain language writer and editor. At least, a good translator does.
When a translator first encounters a chunk of text in the source language, they must first understand it. If this is text is not in plain language, the translator – whether or not they acknowledge it – mentally does the plain language editing. Only then, can they proceed to write the text in the target language.
As Dominique Joseph, translator and plain language trainer, puts it, “[Translators] translate the meaning, not the words.” She goes on to describe a number of steps that she takes as a translator to make the text “easy to read, easy to understand, easy to use.” She has put it wonderfully and you should head over to her blog to read it in full.
As I went through her steps, I realized that what she is describing is about “helping readers find what they are looking for, understand it, and then take action based on that information.” And that, my friend, is plain language.
When plain language moves from being a mental process of the translator to being an explicit step in translation, or better still in authoring, translation improves.
Marie-Elise Georgelin, plain language trainer at Labrador Language Services, writes in the latest PLAIN E-journal, “...using plain language means:
• messages can sink in faster
• there are fewer misinterpretations
• translations will be quicker, more effective, and more accurate.”
When Labrador’s translation team worked on plain source text, they produced translations which also had a high plain language score and fewer words. “The quality of the source text systematically improved the translation by the same amount,” Georgelin writes. She says plain language in the source text can also similarly improve machine translation output.
Plain language and accessibility
Plain language is an essential part of the accessibility tool kit. The Washington Post says, “Writing in plain language makes our content more accessible to a wide variety of people, including those with cognitive disabilities, lower reading literacy and less background knowledge of the topic or concept being covered. This also matters in the design of user interfaces.”A more targeted version of plain language is available for people with reading and learning disabilities. It is called Easy to Read. It helps “people with intellectual disabilities learn new things and take part in society,” to name a few benefits.
A few years ago, I worked for an online entertainment magazine where I would re-write popular news items into easy-to-read articles. I would first re-write them in plain language and then do an easy-to-read version. Doing the plain language re-write was the bulk of the work, I observed. Easy-to-read was just taking care of a few more technical things from that point.
Again, you don’t always have to be disabled to appreciate how plain language can make text more accessible to you. Imagine going through a dense paragraph filled with jargon and big, confusing words when you have a splitting headache.
Plain language and user experience (UX)
UX is at the very heart of the plain language movement. Plain language was born to serve only one purpose: help the user achieve their objective. “User” may not be the particular word they used back in the 1970s when the first efforts began to write in plain language. But whether you call them the reader, consumer, or citizen, it is still the same thing.When a user is on your website, you cannot hem and haw, throw fat slabs of gobbledygook at them, and expect them to be still hanging around. The user is on your website for a purpose. And, the plain reality is that your content must help them achieve that purpose.
Plain language lets you have that conversation with your user without getting in their way, without alienating them. It is about sharing information they are seeking and came to your website for.
By writing in plain language, you also hit the right spots with SEO. People almost always use plain language when they are searching for something. If your content is already embedded with these keywords, your potential users will find you right away.
Not to forget that all of the above areas of work – translation, accessibility, and UX – also have several overlaps and that none are enough on their own, not even plain language.
For instance, translation increases accessibility. Let’s remember that the purpose of accessibility is to ensure “...social inclusion for people with disabilities as well as others, such as older people, people in rural areas, and people in developing countries”. (Emphasis added.) Or, as Alba Villamil, user researcher from HmntyCntrd, says, plain language is not enough when designing for immigrants or people with English as Second Language (ESL).
Let’s say you have plain language and translation. However, if you have elements on your website that disrupt the user, it’s lose-lose. Large, persistent ads on some Indian newspaper sites come to my mind. I often lose the thread as I am reading on these sites when paragraphs are divided up by huge blocks of ads or distracting, garish video ads display right next to the article.
There possibly are other areas of work with which plain language intersects to enable fulfilling human experiences. Do write in if you think of any.
Monday, April 10, 2023
'Pee-pooh' and other plain language lessons from the NHS
Most of us have been in the doctor’s chamber at some point in our lives. Again, most of us have looked up health information online. How many times have we understood what the doctor or the website said at one go?
Speaking for myself, the smug look on the faces of doctors as they rattle off their medical jargon is simply irritating at best. (“Why can’t he talk human?”) It was confusing and scary one time, as an aunt lay in the Intensive Care Unit and my mind fogged up with all the jargon.
Medical information is not something you flip through to pass time. You need it to make important decisions about your health, understand how to take a certain medication, or use a medical device. You often need the information in a jiffy. And, if you can access it confidentially, all the better.
The National Health Service understands all of this. One look at their website and it left me wondering when we could have something like this for Indians in Indian languages. While that may be some time away (!), let’s take a look at how this British government agency went about translating medical information into accessible, plain language.
Preferring the accurate term to general information. The NHS style guide prefers to say, “4 out of 5 people recover fully in a week,” than say, “You have a good chance of recovery”. The former way of saying it gives the patient a clearer idea of the recovery period than the latter option does.
Even when health information is hard to put across directly, it still needs to be done. And hence, the NHS says, “You are positive” versus “Tests indicated cancer cells still remained”. Unclear language can only cause more anxiety and confuse the patient.
Using the colloquial term over the technical. The NHS does not hesitate from using terms such as ‘pee and pooh’. It argues that these words are widely and correctly understood, rather than the technical term ‘urine’ which might be restricted to people with higher literacy.
But while choosing the common word, the NHS is careful to avoid those that might bring in ambiguity. Like ‘wee’ and ‘stool’. People who use voice technologies might confuse the word ‘wee’ with ‘we’. And, for some people, stool is only something to sit on.
It’s not that the technical term is never used in NHS content. When they have to use the word ‘urine’, the NHS’ content designers make sure they explain it. For instance, “a poo sample (stool sample)”. This way of educating the user helps them understand the technical terms which they might hear form their doctor.
Doing solid user surveys. The ‘pee-pooh’ decision was based on a survey of over 10,000 website visitors. The overwhelming response was in favour of common words, though some people said they didn’t like such words. It also looks at Google search results for synonymous words that people search for.
This level of detailed research is possible only because of a top-down push for plain language. The research places the content authors on firm ground when they make their decisions on terms to use.
And, one step further. One of the hospitals in the NHS network has asked its doctors to communicate with their patients in plain English. It suggests that doctors avoid Latin terms, acronyms, and convoluted language. It has also come up with a guideline for doctors on how to write clearer outpatient letters. It says, “In the Problem/Diagnoses list, you may use some medical jargon. However, use plain English when possible. For example, use ‘kidney’ instead of ‘renal’. In the body of the letter, you can explain jargon, such as with ‘You have an irregular pulse. This is called atrial fibrillation.’”
Those working in health communication must always bear in mind that jargon and acronyms used in healthcare are largely not understood by the people they care for. Avoiding jargon means you are being more patient-friendly, not dumbing down.
The NHS believes there are no conditions that can’t be explained in plain language. It has set the benchmark and provided the guidelines. The journey to clarity in health communication just got more doable.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)