Set expectations
Good survey questions, inclusive communications for teams, writing good AI prompts and a super accessibility tool.
Hello there
Another edition of Plain English Weekly here for you to peruse and enjoy. Please do forward this on or share it on social bits and bobs.
And if find or have written something you think might be a good fit for the newsletter, feel free to send it my way.
Iain
Writing Good Survey Questions: 10 Best Practices
There is an art to writing good survey questions. The trick is to set expectations, make it clear what's being asked, and overall do no harm. The tips outlined here are full of practical things you can do to improve your own survey content.
Communicating inclusively beyond our products, services and users
I like this piece by Amy Hupe because I've now been through many onboarding processes as a freelancer and getting it right is hard.
How do you communicate as a team in a way that people feel able to ask questions and offer feedback? How do you know people in your organisation know what the heck everyone else is talking about?
From the post:
There’s lots of information out there on how to create inclusive content. But the vast majority that I see focuses on how we communicate within our products and services, and the need for inclusive communication goes beyond that.
Clear, inclusive communication within teams. Yes please.
This content design method can change the way your brain reads
The content design method in question here is – spoiler alert – plain language. The article is actually full of useful tips for writing in plain English, combined with some of the reasons why it is indeed very sensible to do so.
How to write great AI prompts for ChatGPT
I offer you this link with no comment on the merits or otherwise when it comes to using AI in your content work. But if you are starting to experiment and looking for ways it might work for you, these tips seem like a good starting point.
Fascinating and potentially useful tool alert!
It's a tool that brings attention and understanding to how color contrast can affect different people with visual impairments.
Just enter two colours, one for text and one for the background, and Who Can Use shows you how people who have various conditions might actually view those colours on a screen. Could be very helpful when making decisions around accessible, inclusive content.
"Research shows that higher literacy people prefer plain English because it allows them to understand the information as quickly as possible. In fact, the more educated the person and the more specialist their knowledge, the greater the preference for plain language."
Hannah Collins
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