This blog is mainly about Internet technologies and communication — the new things we are using or can use to develop our communities.

There’s one thing though that we all need, whether we use old technologies, new, or no technology at all, and that’s plain language.

Printed materials that use plain language are easier to read and often cheaper to produce (plain language tends to use fewer words, less paper, less ink).

On the web plain language is crucial: readers don’t plough through long-winded prose. Instead they click and go somewhere else.

Plain English Power is a New Zealand lobby group, free to join, that needs our support:

We’re a network of New Zealand residents promoting the use of plain English for official documents and web sites. We believe that comprehensible information from government is a basic democratic right. We want to make plain English the standard for all New Zealand contracts, consumer information, and communications from government organisations.

We believe plain language in government documents is a democratic right

When ordinary people understand official information, they gain:

• the information they need
• a sense of control and confidence
• the ability to make informed choices
• fair access to benefits and pensions.

[Via : About Plain English Power in New Zealand: goal, services, strategy, history.]

This is a lobby group we all need. It cuts across all sectors and philosophies. Check it out now. Oh, and spread the word.

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