Save our brains (SOB)

by Rachel McAlpine on 7 September 2010 · 0 comments

Brain parts

Much research tells us that heavy internet use can rewire our brains, not necessarily for the better.

Distractions abound and we follow them. Thoughts go “galloping off in all directions”. Multitasking becomes a curse. Concentration and focus atrophy. Creativity suffers. Neural pathways turn into spaghetti.

I’m not about to abandon using the internet and nor are you. But I reckon brain-danger deserves serious attention. Here are a few tricks I’m using to protect my lovely little brain. Silly acronyms may work as memory joggers, or confuse me further.

  1. TOTV: Turn off the TV. In New Zealand, TV is becoming more and more and more bitsy. Watching TV is an excruciatingly fragmented experience. Ads, previews, running headlines, breaking news. It’s not good. Yay for DVDs.
  2. ROBAW: Read a book a week. Yay for the absorbing, linear, focused experience of reading a book. The pleasure of reading books increases as we become more internet-focused. Suggestions below.
  3. AWOTH: Alerts—wot’s the hurry? You could be receiving alerts for emails, texts, Tweets, blogs, investments, news and software updates. They demand your attention, now. Right now. But why? Who’s controlling your workflow, you or them? Many people advise checking email only a few set times a day. Do the same for other alerts, or all jobs are interrupted.
  4. TEFT: Tech-free time. You know it but do you do it? Turn off the mobile phone and keep away from all computers during meals, conversations, visits, events, meetings, even home movies.
  5. DOTAT: Do one thing at a time. This is the key. The challenge. It’s not easy. Mini-meditation helps: even one minute spent doing only one thing, thinking only about that thing, can benefit us.
  6. Do one thing (DOT). OK, start by doing just one thing in this list. Do it for 3 weeks. Then it becomes a habit… don’t stop!

The 5-minute Meditator. Eric Harrison.
The Shallows. Nicholas Carr.
The Brain that Changes Itself. Norman Doidge.
Image from www.rainbowskill.com

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Accessibility problem in Word: don’t rely on colour

by Rachel McAlpine on 1 September 2010 · 0 comments

Color pencil tips, Michael Lee
Today I struck an accessibility problem in an otherwise perfectly clear Word document. Though small, it was a healthy reminder that web content accessibility guidelines, as in WCAG 2.0, apply to everything we write on a computer.

Later this week I’m to present a couple of awards. I received the script, and because I want to read the judges’ comments accurately on the night, I printed it. On paper, what else?

Only then did I notice the problem.

“MC part in black font. Reader’s part in blue font (Rachel).”

Why is this a problem?

  1. First, I use a black-and-white-only printer most of the time, for good housewifely reasons. So the printed version was not entirely satisfactory, even though blue font appeared grey, very different from bold-black for the MC’s words.
  2. Secondly, the printed script covers three pages, and the colour cue was only visible on page one.
  3. Thirdly, while I’m not colour blind, as a fully fledged older person with incipient cataracts, I don’t have perfect sight. I regard my own responses as a valid test case for whether content (on the web or elsewhere) is distinguishable to millions of slightly disabled people.

Being a playwright, I instantly fixed the problem by inserting characters’ names before each of their speeches— “MC:” or “Rachel:”

Let’s keep this in proportion: this was a tiny problem that affected only me, and was easily fixed.

But it’s a good reminder that content is not only web content, and many WCAG 2.0 accessibiilty guidelines have much wider applications. Bear them in mind also whenever you’re writing any electronic documents.

Image via Michael Lee’s blog, 2002

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Plain language: even buskers need it

28 August 2010

Plain English Week starts Sunday 28 August in New Zealand. Everyone needs to write clearly: even buskers. Michel des Godins is a thrilling throat-singer, performing his incomprehensible poetry on the streets of Paris—through a false beard. His documentation, on signs and on paper, is a nightmare. He’s gone to a huge effort to explain himself, [...]

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Hyperlink-text, alt-text and the CMS

23 August 2010

New web content authors are sometimes mystified about the mechanics of entering link-text and alt-text. Here’s a typical letter from a brand new web content author, and my reply. Hello Rachel, I have just been given a website to write content for—very convenient timing as I have just completed your course! 1. Hyperlink text. Can [...]

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ROT vs. SEO: dilemma for content managers

20 August 2010

Recently a member of the Google group Content Strategy raised a perennial problem: what to do when a redundant, outdated or trivial page (otherwise known as ROT) is bringing in a significant number of visitors? On the one hand, you don’t want ROT on your web site. It’s misleading and gives you a bad name. [...]

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SFIA, CONTENTED, and sustainable capability IT workforce training

17 August 2010

The Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), the world’s most popular definition of IT skills, has now been updated to reflect the need for sustainability in information technology. It’s not just IT practitioners who need SFIA skills. The skill we teach is Information Content Authoring (INCA). Sustainable capability is at the heart of our [...]

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Writing tip: don’t use a long word when a short word will do

13 August 2010

Don’t use a long word when a short one will do. That’s a short, sweet plain English writing tip in plain English, after I overextended myself in the last blog. (Unsucked: I wrote too much.) Plainer English is not Nobrainer English. You’ll note we offer writing tips, not reinforced concrete writing rules. You do need [...]

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Career advice for technical writer

11 August 2010

A New Zealand journalist and technical writer asked me for career advice this week, and agreed to share. So if you are a writer contemplating a career change to web writing or SEO writing, feel free to eavesdrop on this conversation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

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A personal waltz in The Shallows: what the internet has done to my brain

31 July 2010

It’s an alarming title: The Shallows. What the Internet is Doing to our Brains. But it’s the work of a serious journalist and thinker—not a Luddite or cynic—and the title does ring a bell, so I’m reading it. Carr’s central premise is that (according to research) our dependence on the ubiquitous internet is literally changing [...]

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Writing tip: Number procedures in sequence

23 July 2010

Whenever you write instructions, direct or indirect, put the steps in real-life sequence, and number each step. Here’s an example. This is a mixture of direct instructions (steps 1-4, addressed to you), and procedures carried out by other people (steps 5-8). 1. Think of a place or situation where you felt very contented. 2. Study [...]

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