Plain writing is concise, simple, meaningful, and well-organized. It avoids jargon, redundancy, ambiguity, and obscurity. It does not contain unnecessary complexity.
Plain writing should be seen as an essential part of open government.-- Cass Sunstein
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Plain Writing: It's the Law
The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-274, 124 Stat. 2861) last month, and now Cass Sunstein, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, has issued a memo giving agencies guidance. Here's a post about it: Alex Howard, Sunstein: Plain writing should be seen as an essential part of open government, Gov 2.0 blog, Nov. 24, 2010.
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Let us hope that the Plain Writing Act won't become a way for government to give Americans less information, removing details from its communications that it decides the public doesn't really need to know. After all, they'll say, it's the law. But at least, it's a requirement being made of government rather than of its citizens, for a change. I run the Honest Government blogs (at www.ConservativeWords.com) and am encouraging use of editing software by Federal agencies to assist in writing more clearly (see www.StyleWriterForGovernment.com).
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