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Everyone's Blog Posts - The Content Wrangler Community

The Plain English Campaign: Fighting For Crystal Clear CommunicationYesterday

The Plain English Campaign officially began in 1979, after founder Chrissie Maher publicly shredded hundreds of official documents in Parliament Square, London. Entirely independent, the campaign funds itself through its commercial services, which include editing and training. The organization provides some great examples of clear communication (see before and after) and seeks examples of horrid, jargon-laden writing from the public. Send examples to the Plain English Campaign today. If you're really interested in crystal clear communication, you'll want to subscribe to Plain English magazine.

Previously published issues of the magazine are available online.

My take on electronic readers replacing paper textbooks in the classroomOctober 9

There's been a lot of talk recently about the myth of the paperless
office, but at the same time, there's been a lot of talk about the
rise of electronic reading devices. I find these two arguments
contradictory and tend to think that the rise of electronic reading
devices (and e-newspaper, e-paper, etc) will ultimately be the tools
that help us realize the promise of the paperless office.
The key, I think, is to switch people over to these new technologies
while they are young, before they have settled into a particular way
of working. Hence, I've written a post that covers this issue:

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Electronic Readers Will Replace Paper Textbooks

The days of paper textbooks in School classrooms are numbered. The
prospect of being able to carry around all of your schools books on
one electronic device — with the data backed up on the web, of course
— will be too great for many to resist. How long will it take? Who
knows, but 5-10 years is a reasonable guess.

Read the rest:
http://digitaldocuments.debenu.com/2008/10/07/electronic-readers-will...
---

Does anyone else share this opinion or have a different opinion on the
topic?

It’s In The Mix: The Next Generation Of Open Source PublishingOctober 8

The remix. It used to be a term used purely to describe different renditions of the same dance tune. Now, it’s a term creeping into our daily lives in a variety of new ways made possible by recent advances in computer and Internet technologies.

The same principles behind music remixing are at the heart of a hugely important open source software documentation experiment, taking place on the web today. It’s called FLOSS Manuals, a content remixing project that provides its website visitors with the ability to read, write and remix documentation.

Read the article

Painting The Athletic Male: Interview with Brenden Sanborn, Studio 805October 8

"There’s nothing like working from a live model," says watercolor painter extraordinaire Brenden Sanborn, "but live models can be very expensive. Working from a photo works just fine for me. I make the process of working with a client as simple as possible and always welcome new commissions of any kind. I just have one request of my own; I am allowed to interpret the piece in my own style and expression. I encourage people to view my work and see if my style works for them. When I work with a client I like to ask a few questions about their personality. It sparks images of color, shapes and textures that I like to incorporate in the piece." Read the interview and check out Brenden's profile on The Content Wrangler Community.

I won and then lost a Doc Train East ticketOctober 7

I've just had a phone call that I had won a Doc Train East ticket. This was from the ISTC conference I attended a couple of weeks back. Unfortunately I can't go. We booked a week in Scotland only 2 days ago. I did sugegst I could send one of my writers but they are going to redraw it. I wonder whether they will find any takers. It is short notice plus the trans-antlantic flight and accomodation still made it expensive. Which in these fiscally compromised times may make it difficult for anyone.

I know my company would probably have a baulked at an unbudgeted request for a flight and accomodation particularly with 3 weeks notice.

Funnily enough I am planning my budget for next year and have the cost in the budget for 2010.

It's a pity I would have liked to have gone.